The Tabernacle and Typology

The tabernacle solves the dichotomy vs. trichotomy debate (the debate over whether man is a 2 part or 3 part being). Are humans made up of 2 parts (body and soul or spirit) or 3 parts (body, soul and spirit)? It depends how you look at it. Looking at the tabernacle from the outside, you would say that it has only 2 pats, the outer court and the inner part. But if you go inside, you find that the inner part is also made of of two parts, the holy place and the holy of holies. It's the same with man (or humans). Looking at it one way, we can say that we are made up of the physical part (the body) and the spiritual part, which some may call soul and some spirit. However upon closer observation, we find that the spiritual part is also made up of two parts. Thus Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God divides between soul and spirit. Thus the human being, though seen as a physical and spiritual being is actually made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit. Check out the diagram above. The Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was the part in which God actually dwelt, just as our spirits are the part of us where God dwells by the Holy Spirit (assuming we have already been saved), It's where we communicate with God. Our body is that with which we contact the outside world. And in-between is our soul, determining whether body or spirit will have dominance.
You can see in the diagram of the tabernacle that the holy place also contained 3 pieces of furniture. These relate to the the 3 things which go to make up the soul. These are not shown on the diagram of the soul, but just as the Holy place of the tabernacle has 3 pieces of furniture, the table of shewbread, the lampstand and altar of incense, so the soul has 3 parts or functions, the will, the mind and the emotions. The table was the display center of the holy place, so the will is the display center of the soul. The lampstand was the light of the holy place, so the mind is the light of the soul. The incense altar was the worship center of holy place, so the emotions are the worship center of the soul. And we are told in Col.3:2 to set our emotions on things above.

In the outer court of the tabernacle, everything was brass, which, as we saw, represents judgement.
The first thing you see after you enter is the brazen (brass) altar of sacrifice. This represents calvary where Jesus sacrificed His life for us.
Going further, you see the brazen (or brass) laver (or washing basin) where the priests would wash their hands and feet. It represents the word of God in its judging (brass) and cleansing (water) aspects.

Coming through the outer court, you then pass through the 2nd of 3 veils or gates all which have the same 3 colors representing the incarnation of Jesus, thus indicating that the only way to come to God is through Him. In the Holy place, everything is gold, representing Divinity, or coming into Divine character. The first thing we see is the table of Shewbread, which is wood overlayed with gold, representing humanity overlayed with gold. We said the table represents the human will, so a human will overlayed with Divine will. On the table are displayed 12 loaves. The number 12 is the number of Divine order. There were 12 for the 12 tribes of Israel, but now they represent the 12 apostles and thus the Church.

Next we notice the lampstand, which gives light to the Holy Place. The lampstand is pure gold and as such represents the pure mind of Christ but also our renewed mind in Christ (I Cor.2:16). It also represents the light of our testimony. Oil is needed to light it. Our mind and our testimony is lit by the Holy Spirit upon salvation (Eph.1:18) in the inside part. But in Zech.4, it is outside because of the darkness of the world around (Eph.4:18, 5:14, II Thes.5:4-7. Jesus told us to let our lights shine. The lampstand has 7 branches, a center branch and 3 on each side. This represents that He is the vine and we the branches. He is the center shaft and we the 6 branches.

The final object in the Holy Place is the golden altar of incense. Like the table, it too is wood overlayed with gold, thus representing human emotions overlayed with Divine emotions. It was 4-square (Ex.30:2) representing stability.
On it was to be burned sweet incense day and night. This represents our prayer and praise which we should offer up to God day and night. (Exod.30:8--Ps.141:2)

Only the priests were allowed to enter the Holy place and only high priest was allowed to enter the holiest of all and only once a year on the day of atonement. Passing through the final curten, he would see the Ark of the covenant with the cherabim above the mercy seat and the shikina presence of God. He would have to bring incense from the incense altar, indicating that we are to come before God's presence with praise. The ark also was of wood, but it was overlayed with gold within and without indicating a human spirit overlayed with the Divine spirit inside and outside. There is much I could say about the contents of the ark, but it would take up too much space and I think I'll leave that up to you to discover on your own. Check Hebrews chapter 9 and follow the references if you have them in your Bible. This should be enough to get you started on your own in-depth study of the tabernacle. May God bless.