Deep study
Exodus 25-40 - a tent that preached the gospel in shadow
God specified a portable sanctuary down to the smallest detail, because every part of it pointed to Christ and the way back to God.
God's stated purpose was relational: let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst (Exodus 25:8). The Hebrew mishkan means dwelling place. The astonishing message of the tabernacle is that the holy God desires to live among a redeemed people - the same longing fulfilled finally in Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23).
Entering the courtyard, a worshiper first met the bronze altar of sacrifice, then the bronze laver for washing. The order preached a sermon: you come to God only through atonement (a substitute dying in your place) and cleansing. There is no approach to the holy God that bypasses the blood.
Inside stood three pieces: the golden lampstand giving light, the table of the bread of the Presence providing fellowship and sustenance, and the altar of incense before the veil, picturing the prayers of God's people rising to Him (Revelation 5:8 makes the same connection - golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints). Light, bread, and prayer - the life of communion with God.
Behind a heavy veil sat the ark, and over it the mercy seat (kapporeth), where once a year the high priest sprinkled atoning blood on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). There, above the blood, God met His people. Mercy and justice kissed at that golden lid - the place where sin was covered and God's presence dwelt.
John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and tabernacled (eskenosen) among us. Jesus is the true meeting place: the Lamb on the altar, the laver of cleansing, the light, the bread, and our great High Priest who entered the true Most Holy Place with His own blood (Hebrews 9:11-12). At His death the temple veil tore from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51) - the way into God's presence is now wide open.
The tabernacle's deepest hope is the last word of the Bible. The new Jerusalem needs no temple, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb (Revelation 21:22). And John notices the city is laid out as a perfect cube (Revelation 21:16) - the exact proportions of the Most Holy Place - because now the whole of the new creation has become the sanctuary where God dwells with His people and they see His face. The tent in the desert was always a sketch of home.