God's House Rules: The Architecture of Redemption Text: Exodus 36:20-34
Introduction: More Than Just a Tent
When we come to passages like this one in Exodus, our modern sensibilities can tempt us to skim. We see cubits and tenons, boards and bars, silver and gold, and we think it is little more than an ancient architectural blueprint, a tedious inventory list for a long-gone tent. But to do this is to commit a grave error. It is to walk past a room full of treasure with the door wide open, thinking it is just a broom closet. We must disabuse ourselves of the notion that God ever wastes a word. Every detail in Holy Scripture is freighted with theological meaning. God is not just telling us how to build a portable sanctuary; He is showing us the very structure of our salvation. He is giving us a schematic of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and a blueprint for the nature of the Church He is building.
The Tabernacle is a scale model of the cosmos, a pre-incarnate portrait of Jesus Christ, and a typological prophecy of the Christian Church. It is a little piece of Heaven brought down to earth, a temporary embassy of the Kingdom. The book of Hebrews tells us plainly that it was a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Heb. 8:5). Therefore, we are not just looking at acacia wood and precious metals. We are looking at the grammar of our redemption. These details are not incidental; they are intentional. They are not decorative; they are didactic. God is teaching His people, then and now, what it means for a holy God to dwell with sinful men. And He is teaching us that the only way this is possible is through the Mediator He would provide, the one who would perfectly embody everything this Tabernacle pointed to.
So as we work our way through these verses, we must ask the right questions. Not just "what is it?" but "what does it mean?" Why acacia wood? Why silver sockets? Why overlaid with gold? Why constructed in this particular way? The answer to all these questions is ultimately, Jesus Christ. This entire structure is a sermon in wood and metal, preaching the gospel to Israel in the wilderness, and to us today.
The Text
Then he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright. Ten cubits was the length of each board and one and a half cubits the width of each board. There were two tenons for each board, fitted to one another; thus he did for all the boards of the tabernacle. And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side; and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards; two bases under one board for its two tenons and two bases under another board for its two tenons. Then for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, and their forty bases of silver; two bases under one board and two bases under another board. For the rear of the tabernacle, to the west, he made six boards. And he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear. And they were separated beneath, but were together at their completion at the top, at the first ring; thus he did with both of them for the two corners. And there were eight boards with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under every board. Then he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the rear side to the west. And he made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end. He also overlaid the boards with gold and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars and overlaid the bars with gold.
(Exodus 36:20-34 LSB)
The God-Man's Frame (vv. 20-21, 34)
The fundamental structure of the Tabernacle walls is described first.
"Then he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright... He also overlaid the boards with gold..." (Exodus 36:20, 34)
Here we have the central Christological lesson of the entire structure. The walls were made of acacia wood, but they were completely covered in gold. No wood was visible, only the gleam of pure gold. This combination of materials is a picture of the two natures of Jesus Christ, as defined for us at the Council of Chalcedon. Acacia wood was a common desert wood. It was strong and durable, but it was still wood. It grew out of the earth. It represents the true, genuine, authentic humanity of our Lord Jesus. He was a man, born of a woman, who got hungry and thirsty and tired. He was, as the creed says, "true man."
But this wood was overlaid with pure gold. Gold in Scripture consistently represents that which is divine, heavenly, and glorious. It speaks of the deity of Jesus Christ. He was not merely a good man or a great prophet; He was and is the eternal Son of God, "very God of very God." The gold completely encased the wood, just as the divine nature was united to the human nature in the one person of Jesus Christ. You could not see the wood for the gold, and yet the wood was what gave the gold its structure. In the same way, the glory of Christ's deity was manifested through His humanity. As John says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (John 1:14).
This is crucial. The Incarnation was not God in a man-suit. The two natures were not mixed or blended. The wood was not somehow turned into a golden wood, and the gold was not a woody gold. The wood remained wood, and the gold remained gold. Humanity is not divinity. But they were inseparably joined together in one person. This is the foundation of our salvation. Because He was a man, He could stand in our place and die as our representative. Because He was God, His death had infinite value, sufficient to atone for the sins of all His people. The walls of God's dwelling place are the God-man Himself.
A Redeemed Foundation (vv. 22-30)
Next, we see what these glorious boards stood upon.
"And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards; two bases under one board for its two tenons..." (Exodus 36:24 LSB)
The entire structure, these massive gold-overlaid boards, did not rest on the dirt of the wilderness. They rested upon solid silver bases, or sockets. Where did this silver come from? Exodus 30 tells us that every male Israelite, twenty years and older, was required to pay a ransom for his life, a tax of half a shekel of silver. This "atonement money" was used specifically to cast these bases for the sanctuary (Exodus 38:25-27). This is profoundly significant. The entire dwelling place of God, this picture of Christ, stood upon a foundation of redemption. The price of atonement was its footing.
Each board, representing the God-man, was set securely into two silver sockets. This tells us that the work of Christ is grounded in the redemption He purchased for His people. The stability of God's house rests on the atonement. It is not founded on our good works, our best efforts, or our pious intentions. It is founded on the ransom price paid. It is a monetary transaction that speaks of a spiritual reality. We have been "bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20), not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). The silver here is a type, a shadow, pointing to the true cost of our redemption. God's presence with us is not a cheap grace; it was purchased at an infinite cost, and it is therefore infinitely secure.
Notice also the precision. Each board has two tenons, little pegs, that fit perfectly into the two sockets. This speaks of the stability and security of our standing in Christ. We are not precariously balanced on one point of contact, but firmly established. Our salvation is not a wobbly affair. We are "rooted and built up in him and established in the faith" (Col. 2:7).
Structural Unity (vv. 29, 31-33)
The text gives us specific details about how these individual boards were made into a cohesive whole.
"And they were separated beneath, but were together at their completion at the top, at the first ring... Then he made bars of acacia wood... And he made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end." (Exodus 36:29, 31, 33 LSB)
Here the typology shifts slightly from Christ's person to His body, the Church. The Church is God's new temple, His dwelling place on earth (1 Cor. 3:16, Eph. 2:21-22). We, as believers, are the individual "living stones" being built into this spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). These boards, standing upright, side by side, are a picture of the people of God. Each board is an individual, yet they are not meant to stand alone. They are designed to be part of a larger structure.
The corner boards were especially important, being "together at their completion at the top." This speaks of the unity that we have in Christ, who is the cornerstone. We may come from different places, with different backgrounds, "separated beneath," but in Christ, we are brought together at the top. Our unity is found in Him.
This unity is not merely theoretical; it is structural. It is accomplished by the bars of acacia wood, also overlaid with gold, that passed through rings on each board, binding them all together. Five bars on each side. And most importantly, one "middle bar" passed through the very center of the boards, running the entire length from end to end. This middle bar, hidden from view but providing the core strength, is a picture of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who unites the body of Christ. It is the Spirit who binds us together in a bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). It is by one Spirit that we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). From the outside, you would see the individual golden boards. But what made them a wall, what gave them their corporate strength, was the system of bars, and especially that unseen, central bar holding everything in true alignment.
The Assembled Body
When you put it all together, what do you have? You have a multitude of individual pieces, each one made of wood and gold, each one standing on a foundation of silver, all of them locked together by golden bars into one, unified dwelling place for the glory of God. This is a picture of the Church. Each one of us, as individual believers, partakes of this same reality. We are human, yet we have been made partakers of the divine nature through Christ (2 Peter 1:4). We are "in Christ," which is to say we are covered in His righteousness, His golden glory. Our standing is not in ourselves, but on the solid foundation of His redemptive work.
And we are not saved into isolation. We are saved into a body. We are made to be boards in a wall, fitted together, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. The modern evangelical heresy of a "personal relationship with Jesus" that has nothing to do with the corporate body of the church is a flat contradiction of the biblical testimony, and it is a flat contradiction of the architectural theology we see right here. You cannot be a board for the tabernacle and decide you want to be a free-range board out in the wilderness by yourself. You were created with rings for the bars. You were designed to be connected.
This is why we gather. This is why we are members of one another. The strength of the wall is not in any one board, but in all the boards, standing on one foundation, held together by one system of bars. Our individual strength comes from our corporate identity. Our stability comes from being locked in, side-by-side, with our brothers and sisters, all of us pointing upward to the one who is our head.
Conclusion: Built by God
This passage is far more than an ancient construction manual. It is a glorious portrait of our Savior and His Church. In these boards, we see the perfect union of deity and humanity in Jesus Christ. In the silver sockets, we see the unshakable foundation of His atoning work. And in the unified structure of the walls, held together by the bars, we see the nature of the Church He is building.
God is still in the building trade. He is taking men and women, rough-hewn lumber from the wilderness of this world, and He is overlaying them with the gold of Christ's righteousness. He is setting them on the firm foundation of the cross. And He is fitting them together, by His Spirit, into a dwelling place for His own glory. The work that Bezalel and Oholiab did with their hands was a shadow. The true work is being done by the Holy Spirit, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against this building project.
Therefore, find your place in the wall. Understand that you were designed for connection. Stand firm on the foundation of redemption. Rejoice that you have been covered in a glory not your own. And give thanks to the great Architect, who in His wisdom, designed such a glorious salvation, and who, in His grace, has made us a part of it.