Have you ever wondered why there’s so much repetition in the Bible? Chapters 36-39 describe how Bezalel and Oholiab fashioned all the things that were involved in the worship of God – the plated wooden objects, the embroidered textiles, and the objects of cast metal. And then they’re all listed again in Exodus 39:32-41. And then they’re all listed again as Moses assembled everything in chapter 40. Why go through all the same detail again and again? Why not just say, “And Bezalel made everything exactly as Moses had described it, and then Moses put it all together?”

In general, whenever something is repeated in the Bible, that means it’s important. Joseph made this point back in Genesis 41:32: he said the reason God gave Pharaoh one dream of the cows and another dream of the ears of grain was to underscore the certainty that the dreams would come true, that seven plentiful years would be followed by seven years of drought and famine.

So, why were all the details of the Tabernacle important enough to repeat over and over again? Because every one of them pointed, in one way or another to the Person and Work of Christ. In fact, before Jesus went to the cross, the ceremonies at the Tabernacle provided the clearest picture of His sacrifice that was to come. So, every part of the Tabernacle had to be made and used in exactly the right way so that people could get the most accurate description of God’s plan of salvation.

And doesn’t the same principle apply to us today? Because Jesus has gone away into Heaven, the best way that unbelievers can see Him is through our own lives, through our words and deeds. It’s just as important for us to illustrate God’s justice and mercy, to demonstrate God’s goodness and grace, to speak God’s light and truth as it was for the Tabernacle to do all these things.

And no, we don’t have to understand everything about God’s plan in order to show and share the claims of Christ. The people of Moses’ time certainly didn’t understand all the symbolism of the Tabernacle, but they made sure everything got done in the proper way (Exodus 39:42). Just so, it is as we love our enemies and turn the other cheek and give self-sacrificially for the benefit of others that we display Christ’s love and grace, whether any of that really makes sense to us or not.

When the people finished all their work, when they did what they could to describe God’s plan of salvation, Moses blessed them (Exodus 39:43). What greater blessing should we expect today from showing and sharing Jesus with others?

Exodus 39:32-43 (NASB)

32 Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses; so they did.
33 And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings: its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars and its sockets;
34 and the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of porpoise skins, and the screening veil;
35 the ark of the testimony and its poles and the mercy seat;
36 the table, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
37 the pure gold lampstand, with its arrangement of lamps and all its utensils, and the oil for the light;
38 and the gold altar, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the veil for the doorway of the tent;
39 the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the laver and its stand;
40 the hangings for the court, its pillars and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords and its pegs and all the equipment for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting;
41 the woven garments for ministering in the holy place and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.
42 So the sons of Israel did all the work according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
43 And Moses examined all the work and behold, they had done it; just as the LORD had commanded, this they had done. So Moses blessed them.