God’s Sovereign Pattern

Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. - Exodus 24:18

Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. - Exodus 25:9

And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain. - Exodus 25:40

Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain. - Exodus 26:30

God’s pattern

“We cannot stress too much that God gave the pattern and that He gave it in order to provide a correct picture of Christ and His work. For if it was to be a pattern of what was to come, it could not be left to men’s minds to think it up. God had to give it so that it would be an adequate illustration (in the living, deep sense of illustration mentioned above) of what Christ would do. The points we have seen so far are: (1) Old Testament worship was not sufficient in itself; and (2) it was a God-given, correct pattern of what Christ would do.”

“It is interesting that God described everything (with one exception of which we shall speak later) from the Holy of Holies outward. This means that the tabernacle was not to be viewed from the perspective of the worshiper, but from the perspective of God, as He would see it from His declared special presence in the Holy of Holies. The order was from the Holy of Holies flowing outward.”

“God placed the ark there as a representation of His character. The important thing is what the content of God’s character is, and that content is represented in the ark.”

“The comprehension of who God is begins with an understanding of His character. God is a holy God, God continues to be a holy God, and God will always be a holy God.”
(Quotations from No Little People - Francis Schaeffer