A “tabernacle” is used in Scripture to show how God desires to dwell with us and be our God. The word “tabernacle” means “a fixed or movable habitation, typically of light construction.” The Tabernacle in Ex. 26-27 was a place of worshipping God and atoning for sin, revealing God’s holiness and how we should enter into His presence.  The “Feast of Tabernacles” was a personal reminder of God’s relationship with Israel. He loved each one of them just as He loves each of us today and wants a relationship with us.

  God gave Moses the blueprints for the Tabernacle as God’s temporary dwelling place with His people. The Tabernacle had a heavenly pattern, revealing God’s future plan to permanently dwell with His people. (Heb. 8:5, Rev. 21:3)  Later, God established the Feast of Tabernacles to personalize this picture. (Hos. 12:9)  Israelite families made temporary shelters out of tree branches and lived in them for a whole week, reminding them of their hasty deliverance from Egypt. (Leviticus 23:34-43)  They were commanded to be joyful during this celebration because the shelters (booths) became a picture of a Jewish “chuppah”: a wedding canopy under which a bride and groom joyously start a new life together.  At this feast, God pictures Israel as His bride, offering to dwell with her if she chose Him.  When Israel returned from her Babylonian exile, Nehemiah reminded the people of this special Feast of Booths, and, with zeal, they constructed the booths. Haggai later used this feast to motivate them to build God a new Temple. “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled (roofed) houses, and this house lie waste?” (Hag. 1:4)  During the Feast of Tabernacles, Haggai reminded Israel that the glory is not in the Temple itself but Who God would bring into the Temple: Emmanuel, “God with us.” (Hag. 2)

God desires to dwell with Israel and with all those who choose Him, now and for eternity. In the Tabernacle, God dwelt in the center of the camp of Israel.  When the time came, God Himself put on flesh and dwelt or “tabernacled” among us as Jesus. (John 1:14)  He promises to dwell forever among those who choose Him. The same Greek word for “dwell” is found in Revelation 7:15, “…and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” John describes the New Jerusalem “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:2)  Then a voice said, “…Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Rev. 21:3)  As God invited Israel to be His bride, so He called the Church His Bride. The word “tabernacle” should remind us that life is short, and only by walking with God can we have joy. He wants to enjoy and walk close with us, but that choice is ours.