YHVH’s Plan of Redemption and Yahshua HaMashiach is revealed in the Mishkan.
The Tabernacle/Mishkan
In Hebrew, the Tabernacle is called the Mishkan. The earthly Tabernacle constructed by G-d’s direction found in Exodus chapters 25-40 is a copy of the Heavenly Mishkan. The Tabernacle as a type is most revealing when taken as a type of the Person and the work of the Yahshua HaMashiach.
(Exodus 26:15-30.)
Exodus 27: 9-18. gives us a description of the court. The court which surrounds the Tabernacle is 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 5 cubits high. There are 20 posts or pillars on the South side, 20 on the North, 10 on the West and 10 on the East. These brass pillars were dropped into’ sockets of brass (Exodus 27:18), and then curtains of fine twined linen were hung upon them. The gate was 20 cubits wide, and the hangings of the gate were blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
Obviously the Mishkan had to be portable and easily set up and easily taken down, because in the wilderness journey it was taken down and set up a great many times. It was made of boards of shittim wood covered with pure gold. These boards were dropped into silver sockets and were supported further by bars slipped through rings on the sides and end. There were 20 boards on the South, 20 on the North, and 8 on the West. The Tabernacle was 30 cubits long, 10 cubits wide, and 10 cubits high. For the front or East end of the Tabernacle there was a hanging of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. (Ex. 26: 36.)
The Mishkan was divided into two sections. The large section is called the Holy Place; and the small section, which was an exact cube, being 10 cubits each way, is called the Holy of Holies. The curtain, which separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, is called the Veil. This Veil was made of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with the figures of cherubim. (Ex. 26: 31-33.)
The Mishkan had four sets of coverings. The first to be put on (described in Ex. 26:1-6) was, like the Veil, made of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The next set of curtains (Ex. 26:7-13) was of goats’ hair, pure white. The next covering (Ex. 26: 14) of rams’ skins, dyed red, and the last (Ex. 26:14) of badger skins.
(Exodus 25, 27 and 30.)
There are six objects found in the Mishkan. One in the Holy of Holies, three in the Holy Place and two in the court.
In the Holy Place were three pieces of furniture.
2. The Altar of Incense, or Golden Altar. This stood just in front of the Ark of the Covenant, but on the other side of the Veil. The Golden Altar was made like the Ark of the Covenant, of shittim wood covered with gold. On the Golden Altar was fire, and on the fire the priests sprinkled incense; so there arose before the Ark of the Covenant a cloud of fragrant smoke, representing prayers ascending before the throne of G-d. The Golden Altar stood for Intercession, or Worship.
3. The Golden Candlestick (Menorah) (Ex. 25: 31-40), which stood on the south side of the Holy Place. This was not made but was made of one solid piece of gold beaten into shape. There were seven lampstands and throughout Scripture, seven is the number of perfection. The middle lampstand or light was called the Shamash or servant light. A type of Yahshua. There was no other light for there were no windows in the Mishkan. We too have no other light but that of the Messiah. No dimensions were given for the Golden Candlestick.
4. The Table of Shew Bread (Ex. 25: 23-30) was located on the north side of the Holy Place opposite the Menorah. This table was made of shittim wood overlaid with gold. Placed upon it twelve loaves of bread, one loaf for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. After remaining on the table seven days, this bread became the food of the priests. Therefore, within the Tabernacle the priests had not only light, but food. Yahshua is our bread of life.
Everything within the Tabernacle has the appearance of gold, yet when we leave the inner court and go into the outer court we find brass instead of gold. Brass represents judgment while gold represents majesty.
5. The Laver (Ex. 30: 17-21). Stood not far from the door of the Mishkan. This was brass. It was made of brazen looking-glasses of the women, and was for the cleansing of the priests. When the priests came from the bloody altar, before they could enter the Tabernacle they must cleanse their hands and their feet at the Laver. The mirror finish symbolically meant that the priests should examine themselves to expose sin in their souls.
6. The Brazen Altar (Ex. 27:1-8), stood near the gate of the court. This was a hollow box made of shittim wood covered with brass, and here it was that the sinning Israelite brought a substitute to die in his place. Ever since the fall, G-d had been teaching man that the penalty of sin was death. Therefore the Israelite who had sinned against G-d’s Torah, not wishing to suffer the penalty of death himself, brought a spotless animal, a substitute, often a lamb, and after confessing his sin he sent the animal in to the Brazen Altar, where it died in his place, and he went away pardoned. The lamb or substitute animal had to be without spot or blemish and reconciliation to G-d was obtained by the life of an innocent lamb, without spot or blemish. G-d thus taught us that sin costs. In the B’rit Chadasha (New Testament) we are taught this same truth. We are there told that the wages of sin is death, death not only to the body, but death to the soul. We are taught also that a Substitute, Yahshua HaMashiach whom John called the spotless Lamb of G-d, has taken our sins and suffered the penalty of death in our place. By trusting in Yahshua’s faithfulness we are then reconciled to YHVH Elohim and forgiven of our past sins (Romans 3:24, 2 Peter: 1:9). Isaiah 53 tells us that “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes are we healed.” It was on the execution stake of Yahshua that this debt was paid. The Brazen Altar is a type of the execution stake of Yahshua.
In Exodus, 25:8 G-d tells us why He wants the Mishkan built: “And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” G-d ever ‘wishes to dwell among His people; so He tells the Israelites if they will build Him a tent or Tabernacle He will come and dwell among them; and we read in Exodus 40, when the Tabernacle was completed, that the glory of the L-rd filled the Mishkan, and from that time on for many years it was His dwelling place among them. Since the destruction of the Mishkan and before it destruction G-d’s Shekinah departed the Temple but it will return upon Yahshua’s return.
The Mishkan was a way to give to us a typology about the truth of the Incarnation. G-d descended at Sinai and dwelt among His people in a house made of wood and gold. Fifteen hundred years later He came again, and dwelt among men for 33 1-2 years; this time not in a house made of wood and gold, but in a house made of flesh and bones, the body of our L-rd Yahshua HaMashiach (John 1:1 and 14). The Mishkan was a foreshadow of Yahshua.
The Person of Yahshua is typified in many ways by the Mishkan: The outward appearance of the Mishkan was ordinary much like the tents of the Israelites. However, on the inside there is no comparison. Within the Mishkan was beauty and splendor. The Mishkan like the Israelite tents was subject to the varieties of the weather, but the greatest difference was that G-d dwelt in the Mishkan. Yahshua had a human body like ourselves and He was subject to the same varieties of human temptation and adversity as we humans. He passed through all the experiences of life from birth to death as humanity does, but like the Mishkan within Yahshua’s human body dwelt the Spirit of G-d fully. The three-fold construction of the Mishkan (Court, Holy Place and Holy of Holies) suggest not only Yahshua’s, but our own tri-partite Echad (Unity), body, soul and spirit. (This does not suggest a triune god /See paper on Trinity on this site.)
The articles within the Mishkan also typify Yahshua. The scriptures present Yahshua as our Substitute; as the One who cleanses and regenerates us, He is the Bread of Life, and the Light of the world. The Mishkan is a foreshadowing of His work. If we meditate upon each one, and its use, we see how clearly they set forth these different aspects of who Yahshua is and His work. In the Brazen Altar we have Yahshua our Substitute; in the laver Yahshua our Cleanser and Regenerator; in the Menorah, Yahshua the light of the world; in the table of shewbread, Yahshua the Bread of Life; in the altar of incense, Yahshua our Intercessor; and in the mercy seat, Yahshua our Propitiation.
These six pieces of furniture are arranged in the form of the execution stake. If you were to draw a straight line from the veil that separates us from G-d at the Ark of the Covenant to the Brazen Altar, and another from the Table of Shewbread and the Menorah (Candlestick), you would have the figure of the execution stake. It is Yahshua’s work, faithfulness, and our trust in His faithfulness, even unto death that opens the veil allowing us into the Holy of Holies. Yahshua is found in all the Temple cult and sacrifices. (See on this site the paper on “Sacrifices and Offerings”).
Progressive salvation is typified in the order in which the furniture is arranged. At one end, we have the Holy of Holies, containing the Ark of the Covenant, G-d’s throne. At the opposite end is the Brazen Altar, which speaks of the Atonement of Yahshua. Judgment of sin and reconciliation for the sinner. We enter into the outer court by way of the entrance that has four posts the number of 3 + 1 =YHVH and His creation humanity, G-d and humanity reconciled. Go to Overhead view of Mishkan. Mishkan
These objects of the Mishkan teach us the proper approach to reconciliation to G-d. We as unredeemed sinners must step through the gate of grace, trust in Yahshua’s faithfulness and work (Brazen Altar). We are then cleansed from the power of sin, and granted new life through Yahshua our Cleanser and Regenerator (John 3:5), which corresponds to the Laver (Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit) . Then we must feed upon Yahshua (John 6:35, Table of Shewbread). He must become our Light and Guide (John 8:12, Menorah). He becomes the Cohen Gadol (High Priest), after the order of Melchizedek, becoming our intercessor to G-d. Our prayers are represented by the Altar of Incense. Notice that all these references are in John. See the study on this site (Gospel according to John).
Visualize yourself standing before the Ark of the Covenant surrounded by golden walls, above you heavenly creatures, the ark of gold with the cherubim bending over the mercy seat and above the mercy seat is manifested G-d’s presence in the Shekinah-fire. There is nothing here but light and beauty, love and worship, and G-d’s presence. Conversely, at the other end of the Mishkan when we stand at the Brazen Altar, there is nothing but suffering, blood, and death, as the substitute dies in place of the sinner. Enormous as the contrast between these two extremes of the Mishkan structure are, it is but a faint picture of the contrast between the two extremes that Yahshua experienced for us, His Father’s throne in glory and the execution stake of redemption.
The colors and materials used in the construction of the Mishkan also speak of Yahshua. The wood speaks of His humanity, the gold of His divinity. There is white for purity, blue for promise or prophecy, purple for royalty, red for blood. There is not a thread of black, which denotes sin.
More typology is suggested by the arrangement of the camp. The Mishkan stood in the center of the camp. Around the Mishkan were grouped the people of G-d, each under his own standard and with his own tribe, in perfect harmony and order rally around Him.
There are three classes of people in this camp, Priests, Levites and Israelites (common people.) Within the Mishkan itself only the Priests ministered, representing the whole camp. The Levites were the workers; they erected, took down and carried the Mishkan. The Israelites supported the work of the other groups and provided security As such we too should arrange ourselves in the biblical model to ensure the true word of YHVH Elohim marches on as the Hebrews marched to the Promised Land. Our fight is against the principalities and powers and rulers of this world’s darkness and we must not forsake it. We learn to that even in the order of march (Numbers 10) or whether in camp the Mishkan was in the midst typifying the centrality of YHVH/Yahshua in our life.
I will be adding other teachings and elements on the Mishkan and its typology periodically. If you are on the mailing list, I will notify you otherwise, check back often.
Rabbi Davis (R. Milchamah b. David)
Select link below for video of Tabernacle. Fastest way is to download file to hard disk and then play with your default player.