This is the second post in our series on Old Testament typology, and more specifically on Old Testament Typology with relation to the Old Testament tabernacle. When God gave Moses instructions for the construction of the tabernacle He was very specific and Moses had to follow those instructions to the letter because there was a much deeper meaning behind the tabernacle than simply its construction and Jewish worship, this tabernacle would be a prophetic picture of Jesus Christ and what was to come in the New Testament.
For starters the outer court in the Old Testament tabernacle was made from an outer covering of badgers’ skins and then inside this was rams’ skins died red. The badgers’ skins would have been quite plain and their nature protective in order to protect the tabernacle from the elements. This reminds us of Isaiah 53:2 “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of the dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”
CW Slemming in his book “Made According to Pattern” tells us a little more about this covering of badgers’ skins: “We conclude, therefore, that they were skins of a preservative nature used as a protection for that which was beneath from the outward elements of storm, rain and scorching sun. It must have been a weather-beaten skin with no beauty or attractiveness. The skin would be practically all that could be seen by the onlooker. Here then is our first picture of Christ. He has become the covering of all who put their trust in Him. The wrath, which was our due, fell on Him, the storm cloud of judgement broke upon His head, the scorching sun of infernal hatred spent its rays upon His body.”
Underneath the badgers’ skins were ram’s skins died red. Rams were one of the sacrificial animals used in the Old Testament for the forgiveness of sins for the Israelites and of course Jesus is our Sacrificial Lamb. The red colour also points to the red of His blood shed on the cross.
The gate to the outer court of the tabernacle is also a type of Jesus and is described in Exodus 27:16 “For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen” Blue represents Jesus’ divinity, scarlet His humanity and purple the fact that He was a Mediator between God (blue) and man (scarlet). Finely twisted linen is also another type which often represents Jesus.
Another interesting fact about the tabernacle is that it faced east, towards the rising of the sun and this indicates for us how we are to have our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Jesus also tells us that He is the gate, in John 10:9 and John 14:6. In John 10:9 He says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” and John 14:6 says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
In other articles we will be looking at the furniture within the temple and how they point towards Jesus and our lives as Christians after the New Testament. We trust that you have found this post interesting and that it has helped draw you closer to God.
