The Architecture of Heaven on Earth Text: Exodus 25:1-9
Introduction: God Moves In
After the thunder and lightning of Sinai, after the giving of the Law which revealed the unbridgeable chasm between a holy God and a sinful people, we might have expected the next chapter to be one of judgment. The standard has been set, and Israel, along with the rest of mankind, has already failed. But God’s purpose in revealing our sin is never simply to condemn; it is to prepare the way for grace. And so, immediately following the establishment of the covenant, God does something astonishing. He does not set up a remote observation post. He does not establish a distant colonial outpost. He gives instructions for building a house. He intends to move into the neighborhood.
This is the central theme of the entire Bible: God with us. Immanuel. From the garden of Eden, to this tent in the wilderness, to the incarnation where the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, to the final glory of the New Jerusalem, the story is one of God drawing near to His people. The instructions for the Tabernacle are not a tedious architectural appendix to the book of Exodus. They are the gospel in blueprint form. They are a detailed, typological portrait of the person and work of Jesus Christ. To the modern, pragmatic mind, this can seem like a long list of bizarre and irrelevant details. But to the heart instructed by the Spirit, every detail is pregnant with meaning, every material shouts of Christ, and every measurement points to the perfection of His work.
Here, God lays out His plan for a sanctuary, a holy place, where His presence can dwell in the midst of a sinful camp without consuming it. This is the fundamental problem that the Tabernacle, and ultimately Christ, is designed to solve. How can infinite holiness coexist with human filth? The answer is found in the pattern God reveals to Moses on the mountain. It is a pattern of mediated access, of substitutionary sacrifice, and of a beauty that is not of this world. And it all begins, not with a divine tax or a compulsory levy, but with an invitation for a contribution from a willing heart.
The Text
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak with the sons of Israel so that they take a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart is willing you shall take My contribution. And this is the contribution which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall make it."
(Exodus 25:1-9 LSB)
The Royal Invitation (v. 1-2)
The project begins with a divine summons for an offering.
"Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak with the sons of Israel so that they take a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart is willing you shall take My contribution.'" (Exodus 25:1-2)
Notice the glorious paradox here. God commands that an offering be taken, but He immediately qualifies it. This is not a tax. This is not a coerced payment. The only gifts He will accept are those that come from a willing heart. The Hebrew phrase is potent: "every man whose heart moves him." God is not interested in building His house with the grudging compliance of slaves. He is building His kingdom with the joyful worship of sons.
This is the fundamental principle of all true Christian giving. It is not a matter of hitting a percentage, though the tithe remains a good and salutary benchmark. It is a matter of the heart. God is after our hearts, and where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. A willing heart is the only kind of heart that can truly worship, because worship is the free offering of adoration. Compelled worship is a contradiction in terms. Paul echoes this very principle in the new covenant: "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).
And where did Israel get these fine materials in the middle of the wilderness? They plundered the Egyptians on their way out (Exodus 12:36). God first gave to them in abundance what He would later ask them to give back willingly. This is always the pattern. We love because He first loved us. We give because He first gave to us. Our giving is never a way to earn God’s favor; it is always a response to favor already received. The Egyptians’ gold, which might have become a snare and an idol, is now to be consecrated and transformed into a dwelling place for Yahweh. God’s grace takes the plunder of our old life in Egypt and repurposes it for His glory.
The Gospel in the Materials (v. 3-7)
The list of materials is not random. Each item is a theological symbol, a pointer to the coming Christ.
"And this is the contribution which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece." (Exodus 25:3-7 LSB)
This is not just a shopping list; it is a catechism. Let us consider a few. The metals represent a progression. Gold, the most precious, speaks of divinity, glory, and the throne room of God. It was used in the innermost parts of the sanctuary, in the Holy of Holies. Silver, in the Old Testament, is the metal of redemption, the price of a life (Exodus 30:16). Bronze is the metal of judgment; the altar where the sacrifices were burned was made of bronze. So you have the deity of Christ (gold), the redemption He provides (silver), and the judgment He bore (bronze) all pictured in the metals.
The fabrics tell a similar story. Blue speaks of the heavens, of Christ’s heavenly origin. Purple is the color of royalty, for Christ is King. Scarlet is the color of blood and sacrifice, pointing to His atoning death. And the fine white linen speaks of His perfect, spotless righteousness. When you weave these colors together, you get a portrait of the God-man, the heavenly King who would shed His blood to clothe us in His righteousness.
The acacia wood is crucial. This was a common desert wood, hardy and durable. It represents the incorruptible humanity of Christ. This wood was always overlaid with gold, a perfect picture of the hypostatic union: the uncreated divine nature (gold) joined to the created human nature (wood) in one person, forever, without confusion or mixture. The anointing oil is a clear symbol of the Holy Spirit, by whom Christ was anointed for His ministry. The spices for the incense represent the prayers of the saints, made fragrant and acceptable to God through the intercession of our great High Priest.
Every detail preaches. The entire project is a testimony to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true meeting place between God and man.
The Central Purpose: God With Us (v. 8)
Verse 8 gives us the magnificent purpose statement for this entire enterprise.
"And let them make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them." (Exodus 25:8 LSB)
This is the heart of the matter. God does not need a house. The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a tent made of badger skins. The purpose of the Tabernacle is not for God's benefit, but for ours. He desires to dwell, to tabernacle, in the midst of His people. The Creator of the cosmos wants to pitch His tent in the middle of their dusty, noisy, sinful camp. This is scandalous grace.
This desire of God to be with His people is the engine that drives the entire story of redemption. This is why the Word became flesh and "dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The Greek word for "dwelt" is literally "pitched His tent" or "tabernacled." Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this verse. He is the true sanctuary, the place where God's presence dwells fully and permanently in human flesh. In Him, God is not just among us, but one of us.
And the story doesn't end there. Through our union with Christ, the church itself becomes the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 3:16). And it all culminates in the New Jerusalem, where the cry goes out, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them" (Revelation 21:3). This verse in Exodus is the seed from which that final, glorious reality grows.
The Divine Blueprint (v. 9)
Finally, God makes it clear that this project is not open to human creativity or innovation.
"According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall make it." (Exodus 25:9 LSB)
Moses is not given a general idea or a rough sketch. He is shown a "pattern." The book of Hebrews tells us this was a copy and shadow of the true, heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:5). God has a very specific way that He is to be approached. We do not get to invent our own methods of worship. We do not get to redesign the sanctuary to be more in line with contemporary tastes. We are to build according to the pattern.
This is the regulative principle of worship in seed form. God, and God alone, determines how He is to be worshiped. The Israelites were not free to add an extra lampstand because they thought it would look nice, or to alter the incense recipe to suit their preferences. They were to be faithful to the heavenly pattern. In the same way, we are not at liberty to add to or subtract from the elements of worship God has prescribed in His Word. Our worship must be governed by Scripture, not by our own imaginations, traditions, or marketing strategies. God is holy, and He must be approached on His terms, according to His pattern.
Conclusion: Building the True Temple
So what does this mean for us? We are not called to build a physical tabernacle. Christ has come; the shadows have given way to the reality. But we are called to build. We are "living stones" being built up into a "spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). The principles here still govern the construction of Christ's church.
First, the church is built by the free-will offerings of its people. Not just our money, but our lives, our talents, our time, our very selves, laid on the altar as a living sacrifice. This is not done out of grudging duty, but from a heart made willing by the grace of God.
Second, the church is built with consecrated materials. God takes the stuff of our fallen world, the gold of our accomplishments, the wood of our humanity, and He consecrates it, setting it apart for His glory. He redeems our pasts, our personalities, and our resources, and makes them fit for His temple.
And third, the church must be built according to the divine pattern. That pattern is the Word of God. We must be faithful to the blueprint of Scripture in our doctrine, in our worship, and in our lives. We are not building a monument to ourselves, but a sanctuary for Him, that He may dwell among us. And as we build according to His pattern, with hearts made willing by His grace, His presence will fill the house, and the world will see the glory of God tabernacling once again with men.