#2 Tabernacle: Explanation

The Tabernacle of Moses was not just a structure as an isolated Holy Place but must be seen in it’s relationship to the sacrifices, the Sabbaths, the feasts, the law, the priesthood or the various rituals of washing etc. It cannot be understood in isolation but only as a part of an overall plan of God. It relates to Genesis, the first chapter and through to Revelation, the last chapter. Indeed it is even related to God’s eternal purpose and to the Kingdom of God and His promises to Abraham and to Israel. While these things are seen in symbolism and in type and shadow, the correct interpretation defines the reality. The mechanics of the Tabernacle, even though not clearly exposed, are recorded in the Bible and open to all who will search. The interpretations are rather subjective and therefore open to challenge. Ideally the interpretations should be by pure revelation but that also is subjective. When we understand that the Tabernacle of Moses represented the social life Israel as well as the political and economic and the religious life of Israel it should be clear that many aspects of revelation are necessary to probe the depths of it’s meaning. Also keeping the feasts and obedience to the laws were directly tied to the economics of Israel as well as the political protection of the land. The Jewish Theology and understanding of the God of the Bible are linked to the Tabernacle of Moses and later the Temple of Solomon. The Tabernacle and later the Temple were central to the whole life of Israel.

The family, the education, the theology, the presence of God, and most social life was all focused around the Tabernacle and later the Temple. All sacrifice and all the feasts centered in the Tabernacle. In our culture today it is difficult to understand how God’s presence could once again be the central issue of the Christian life. The television or sports are closer to the central issue of life than God. However, God designed the central physical structure to be place of the manifestation of His presence. In other words the Tabernacle and Temple were designed to be the central issue of the Jewish life. Nothing else could substitute for the Tabernacle as the central focus of the corporate life.

The Tabernacle was more than just the sacrificial center of Israel, even though it was certainly that is was more than that. It was really the “symbol” of eternal things. It was where the sinner went to make peace with God and was in a certain sense central to the Kingdom in David’s time. The Temple was surely central in Solomon’s time! Even the absence of the Ark from the Tabernacle of Moses and the mighty Presence of God in Tabernacle of David is all part of the revelation of eternity.

If we had to make an application to the church in our day it would have to be strained because of all the various “central focuses of Christian life” that vary from group to group! Our jobs probably take the number 1 position, then our families, then our recreation and then our entertainment and somewhere is “the church” and our “religious issues..

However, during times of revival when the presence of God is so real, all other “things” begin to take lessor priorities in our life than getting to the presence of God. The length of the meeting is irrelevant as long as the presence of God is manifested. The church problems and conflicts with people have to be laid aside because the presence of God is the only focus. Then when the presence of God “returns to normal” we revert back to the normal “Christian culture” and observations. That means our worship returns to normal. Our music, our fellowship, our prayer and outreach all return to the “normal system”.

If the “normal” was a conviction and a consciousness of who I am in relationship to the body or where am I within the body, we would see that the collective presence of God dwells in the corporate unit on a daily basis. If two or more come together in symphony, there am I in the midst of them should be “the normal”.

Still, this is beyond intellectual reasoning or analytical investigation and has to be experienced to be understood. The Tabernacle and the Temple contained the “PRESENCE” that confirmed what the intellect couldn’t comprehend. However, because of all the departures of Israel from the living God, we know that flesh can not comprehend God or the things of God. It seems that even the mighty Presence of God couldn’t hold Israel’s attention very long.

This is emphasized in the account of the 70 elders of Israel along with Aaron and his two sons that went up Mt. Sinai and ate and drank with God and had such a revelation of God that they were amazed that God didn’t kill them. Then they went down from the manifested presence of God and built the golden calf. Then they proclaimed “This is the god that brought us out of Egypt” but insisted upon worshiping something they built with their own hands. In some ways we haven’t progressed very far from that concept with all our buildings and projects that are more for us than for God.

God’s manifested presence in the Tabernacle was not meant to be just be an objective phenomenon ( that is an object that is just known from a distance by the senses) but was required to be visited with continual visits by the statutes and the ordinances. This required the “Presence” to be the central focus of the corporate life of Israel.

Now all this is a type or symbol for us of what God has designed for the reality. The cohesion of the spiritual life of Israel and their collective identity focused upon the “presence of God” within the Tabernacle and the Temple. This is exactly why the rebuilding of the Temple is of paramount importance to all serious Jews. The manifested presence of God should be and must become the central issue of the Christian life. If this can only be experienced when the body is together in unity then that must be the focus and the # 1 priority. Everything else is marginal and superficial and probably unnecessary. At least everything else is on the outward boundaries and must revolve around His presence .

One of the problems with the advancing and the emerging church is our conception of spiritual things and the priorities in which they are set. Are they number one, two or ten? Our central priority makes a tremendous difference in how the church advances.

Beginning with Solomon, in Israel there was first the nation of Israel ( not in importance but in location ), then Jerusalem, then the Temple mount, then the Temple, then the Outer Court, then the Sanctuary or the Holy Place, then the Holy of Holies, then the Ark of the Covenant and finally the Presence of God and the voice of God. When the Ark and the Presence was gone everything else was marginal or irrelevant. It was the Ark and the Presence that gave life and meaning to everything else in Israel.

Because the Christian “religion” is so intricately linked to the Jewish religion it is important that Christians harvest all the knowledge that these types reveal. Of course all revelation is God’s prerogative and should not be conjured up because that would certainly give a wrong interpretation. The sovereignty and isolation of Israel from other Gentile nations made Israel unique. However, that was all linked to their religion or we might say to their “spirituality”. When their “religion” failed so did their sovereignty and isolation. The Bible says these

things are pictures for us, the church, so we understand our precarious position in exercising our sovereignty and isolation that was given us in Christ. Those who have taken up their position “in Christ” must also see that isolates them from all who are not “in Christ”. Our sovereignty depends upon our obedience to God’s ways. Just proclaiming the Name of Jesus without obedience is popular but powerless.

The Tabernacle was central to Jewish education, society, family life, theology, worship and the very presence of God and the place of His Voice and where He proclaimed His Word.. It was much more than a sacrificial center. It was the center of Jewish life. It was central to the feasts and harvests of Israel. We should see the Tabernacle is “the symbol” of eternal things and therefore should be recognized beyond the sacrifices. While all the sacrifices are looking forward to the True Lamb of God and the sacrifice that ended the sacrificial system, the Tabernacle is a symbol of many other things including the Kingdom of God, the Throne of God and the Eternal Government of God and the Eternal Purpose of God. Even the Bride of Christ cannot be properly understood without the revelation of the Tabernacle of God.

The Tabernacle of Moses was central to the consciousness of Israel and the conviction of sin that came by the Law and came from the demands of God. The demands of “religion” could only be satisfied at the Tabernacle. All this is beyond intellectual and analytical reasoning and had to entered into by faith in what God had said. In the case of the Tabernacle, it was the physical presence of the structure that conveyed to Israel what the intellect or analytical reasoning couldn’t comprehend. The fact of all the departures of Israel from the presence of God in Israel confirms that the intellect cannot comprehend God. For that reason the Tabernacle is a “symbol” of God’s personal Presence to Israel..

In that same way the “culture” of the Christian life and observances ( that means the

corporate worship, praise, fellowship, prayer, the Lord’s Table etc.) contribute to our conviction

and consciousness of who I am and where I am in the body of Christ and in the plan of God.

Without the interaction within the corporate body of Christ much conviction and purpose of the Christian life is lost. Of course many “Christians” neglect the corporate assembly for that very reason, to escape conviction by escaping participation. This is true today of the unregenerated “believer”. The presence of God is offensive. The “body” is where the collective Divine Presence is supposed to be found today and which should accounts for the conviction.

God’s design was for Israel to be totally dependent upon the presence of God in the Tabernacle for everything they needed. All this was sharpened by the various demands of God, which required continual visits to the Tabernacle for forgiveness and cleansing. All this is just a symbol or a type of the reality that would be revealed when Messiah came.

We are now living in the time of the reality. As the Old Testament type was the central focus of Israel and the symbol of the cohesion of Jewish life so also in the reality of “CHRIST and HIS KINGDOM” must be the central focus of the Christian life individually and corporately. In Jesus’ words we could express this by saying “ Seek ye first the Kingdom of God----- and all things are provided within”.

As each Jew had his “collective identity” when Israel focused upon the Presence in the Holy Of Holies so also the church must have her collective identity when she is focused upon the Throne of God and the Presence of God and the Sovereignty of God. Every other aspect of the Christian Life is peripheral when the Kingdom and the presence of God is central. The opposite is also true. When other things are central to the corporate life, the Kingdom and the presence of God are peripheral. That means they are just on the outer limits, marginal, external and beyond the central region of focus.

To the true Jew the rebuilding of the Temple is of central importance because without a Temple they have no focal point. As the Tabernacle was the moving focal point of Israel as they traveled in God’s purpose so the Temple was the stationary focal point of Israel when they were to establish God’s purpose.

The serious Jew faces toward Israel when he prays. He prays first for Israel then for Jerusalem and then for the temple and then the sanctuary and then for the Ark and the presence of God. His thought is toward the rebuilding of the Temple and all that means. However, all that is just type and shadow of the reality that should be the foremost thought in our mind and our prayers. It was “the Ark” that provided the constant, the central issue or the focus of their existence and the meaning to their life. All else was designed to be peripheral. It was not that the other things weren’t necessary but that all other things had to be external to the central focus. When the central focus is upon the Ark and His presence and His Sovereignty all other things can be added without affecting our focus. If the central focus is altered to include the peripheral things, the confusion is what is seen all around us in the church.

One of the things that is confusing the “advancing church” or the “emerging church” is our conceptions of spiritual things and God’s eternal purpose. When the goal is clearly defined, those who will press on toward it and those who won’t will be clearly seen. As some step forward there must be separation with those who only want to stand still.

There is coming another division in the church. After a continuous series of divisions we wonder what more division can happen. The next division will be seen in those who press into the Kingdom of God and the Holy Place life and ministry and those who are content to just experience the Outer Court measure of God’s purpose and His presence

If the church is going to come into its full inheritance and the power and authority that has been assigned to the church something more is going to have to come into the experience of the church. This restoration of power, authority, purpose and inheritance is related to the Incense Altar and standing in the circle of His Sovereignty at the Ark of the Covenant.

It will also require the revelations of the Showbread under the illumination of the pure gold Lampstand and the seven Spirits of God. This will also require the Eternal Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec ministering to God for His benefit. This is the same Kingly Priesthood by which Jesus functioned and by which His body must learn to function.

Since the priesthood BEGAN in the Holy Place and not in the Outer Court it seems clear that the next restoration [which will be the Holy Place life and ministry] must function in an entirely different dimension than is present experience for the visible church.

It is this vision that is the “Explanation to the importance of the Tabernacle of Moses” as the type of heavenly, spiritual and eternal things AND as a type of heaven itself. If we fail to make the proper application to the church in its Holy and Royal Priesthood function we have failed to deliver the vision of God’s Eternal Purpose. At best we then end up with the mechanics of a physical structure that only has historical significance.