Exodus 25:1 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Doubtless when Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and abode there so long, he saw and heard glorious things, but they were things which were not lawful or possible to utter; and therefore, in the records he kept of the transactions there, he saith nothing to satisfy curiosity, but writes that only which he was to speak to the children of Israel. Probably there never was any house or temple built for sacred uses, before this tabernacle was erected by Moses. In this God kept his court, as Israel's king, and it was intended for a sign or token of his presence, that while they had that in the midst of them they might never again ask, Is the Lord among us or not? And because in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, even this royal palace was ordered to be a tabernacle too, that it might move with them. And these holy places made with hands were the figures of the true, Hebrews 9:24. The gospel — church is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, Hebrews 8:2. The body of Christ, in and by which he made atonement, was the greater and more perfect tabernacle, Hebrews 9:11. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, as in a tabernacle.