The Tabernacle: Communion with God

Introduction

Let’s turn to .

Hebrews 9:1–7 NASB95

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

Introduction

Let’s turn to .

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. 3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, 7 but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. ()

In verse 5 the writer of Hebrews – most likely the apostle Paul – says that he could not speak of these things in detail. He was certainly limited by the space available to him in this letter. But it is also true that it wasn’t fully necessary for him to speak in detail about the Tabernacle, because he was writing to Jews; they knew their own history and culture very well.

Let’s be honest; these are verses that we would tend to rush through, looking for more important statements. Old Testament details often cause our eyes to glaze over; we might even mentally detach these verse from the rest as unimportant, just background material.

The truth is that these are verses many of us would be tempted to rush through, looking for the more important statements that come later. Our eyes might tend to glaze over when we read about the details of the tabernacle. We might even be tempted to mentally detach these verses from the rest as unimportant since we aren’t Jews, and the Temple no longer exists.

And that’s too bad, because there are incredible riches laying just beneath the surface here, and with a little digging we can unearth them.

It is abundantly clear from the New Testament that the old Tabernacle was picture of Jesus Christ, His work on our behalf, and our eternal relationship to Him. The word “tabernacle” is applied to Jesus’ incarnation in :

John 1:1 NASB95

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 NASB95

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word “tabernacle” is also applied to our eternal relationship with the Triune God in :

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us [or ‘took up residence,’ or ‘set up His tent’ or ‘spread His tabernacle’ as translates the same word], and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (, )

The word “tabernacle” is also applied to our eternal relationship with the Triune God in :

Revelation 21:3 NASB95

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell [the verb form of ‘tabernacle’] among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, ()

So the better we understand the original Tabernacle, the more insight we will have in the Person of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and in our eternal destiny as Christians.

Over the next four weeks we are going to look at the Tabernacle as a place of communion, of reconciliation, of provision, and of fellowship.

Let’s begin with the Tabernacle as a place of communion, where God dwells with man.

The Tabernacle: A Place of Communion

Brief: 1) The Hebrews lived in houses in Egypt, but tents in the wilderness. 2) As a result they were nomads, roaming from place to place as Yahweh led them. 3) Their anchor was not their dwelling, but the presence of Yahweh: HE was the constant. 4) The outer courtyard of God’s tent. 5) Yahweh dwelled in a tent more or less like that of the people. 6) The tent itself is a picture of Jesus Christ, God in human flesh. 7) God always intended to be WITH His people. 8) This is God’s work from beginning to end. 9) The desert Tabernacle was a picture of God’s relationship with His people, both Israel and the church. 10) The fulness of communion with God is yet to come in the eternal state. 11) Let us rejoice, increase our hope, and be compelled to hold to the truth of the Gospel.

1) The Hebrews lived in houses in Egypt, but tents in the wilderness.

While the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt, they more or less lived in permanent dwellings. We know this because the instructions for Passover included placing blood on the lintel of the house, the beam over the doorway (), something lacking in a tent.

If you were a Hebrew living in Egypt at that time, you had a place that was yours and your family’s, a place where you belonged.

2) As a result they were nomads, roaming from place to place as Yahweh led them.

Along with deliverance from slavery came a nomadic life. You lived in a tent, and you moved from place to place as Yahweh Himself led you through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud during the day, or a pillar of fire during the night. You might be in a particular location for a day, or a week, or a month, but sooner rather than later, the pillar of cloud or fire would begin to move, and the entire camp of Israel struck their tents, gathered up their belongings, and follow. There was a constant sense of transience to the camp.

3) Their anchor was not their dwelling place, but the presence of Yahweh: HE was the constant.

But there was one constant in the camp no matter where you were: the pillar of cloud during the day, and fire by night. That pillar stood above the Tabernacle, where Moses met with Yahweh, and where Aaron brought offerings to the Lord. Like every one of His people, Yahweh lived in a tent.

4) The outer courtyard of God’s tent.

One day you move toward the tent of Yahweh, the Tabernacle in the middle of the camp. The first thing you see is the outer courtyard, a rectangle 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, with a 7-1/2 foot linen drape concealing what was inside. You enter the 30-foot wide entrance on the eastern side.

Ahead of you, past the altar where sacrifices were offered, and the bronze basin where the priests wash their hands and feet, is the Tabernacle itself, the tent of God, 45 long and 15 feet wide and high. It is set at toward the back of the courtyard, with its entrance also facing the east. In that tent is the Ark of the Covenant, the place where Yahweh speaks with Moses, and where Aaron makes atonement for the sins of the people.

The Tabernacle: A Place of Communion

5) Yahweh dwelled in a tent more or less like that of the people.

As you stand there, you remember the massive and magnificent temples of Egypt, built from solid granite and covered in shining limestone, leafed with gold. There is nothing outwardly impressive about this large tent standing before you. It strikes you, perhaps for the first time, how greatly Yahweh humbled Himself, coming to dwell among His people not in a massive, grand Temple, but in the same kind of tent that they live in.

What you see before you is a large spread of leather made of porpoise skins, dark brown, scuffed, dusty: unimpressive. You know that there are a number of layers beneath, but you can’t see any of those inner layers. What you see simply looks like a very large version of your own dwelling, including a larger space at the front for fellowship, and a private space at the back.

6) There was more to the Tabernacle than met the eye.

Looks can be deceiving, though. You know that beneath the waterproof leather covering are a number of other layers: ram’s skin dyed red, goat’s skin, woolen fabric dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, and then an inner layer of fine linen. And you also know that the value of the material is enormous. For instance, the purple layer was colored with dye taken from ocean snails; it took 250,000 of them to make just one ounce, and there were 280 square yards of fabric that needed to be dyed. The same holds true for the blue layer, dyed with indigo from the east, and the ram’s skin and scarlet layers, colored with dye taken from cochineal insect. All of that time and trouble and expense for layers of material that will never been seen, sandwiched between coarse leather on the outside, and white, fine linen on the inside.

You probably would not have understood that Yahweh was given His people a living picture of His own Son, who would take on human flesh in the man Christ Jesus, many centuries after the Tabernacle was constructed. You would not have understood that the Tabernacle itself was a picture of the nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus is fully God, holy and pure, symbolized by the white, fine linen. As God, He is King, symbolized by the purple fabric. As God, He is the High Priest, symbolized by the red fabric. Jesus is also fully man, symbolized by the goat skin. As man, Jesus is the sacrifice for sin, symbolized by the scarlet fabric and the ram’s skin dyed scarlet. And since He is perfectly and fully man, what you can see – the outer layer of worn leather – symbolizes what everyone saw of Jesus Christ: just another man, just another Jew from northern Israel.

7) God always intended to be WITH His people.

Why construct the Tabernacle, the tent of God, in this way? Because God had always intended, going back to before creation ever happened, to be WITH His people. It was never His intention to create man, and then gaze down on Him from a distance. That’s why He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. That’s why He came to Abraham and Sarah, wrestled with Jacob, spoke to Moses face to face, and stood with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in the fiery furnace.

God is Immanuel, God-With-Us.

Sin violated the nature and holiness of God, and so had to be judged. With Adam’s sin, all became guilty; all died, and were hopelessly separated from their Creator. This didn’t take God by surprise; He not only knew that Adam would sin, He decreed that Adam would sin. It was through human sin that He would display His justice and His love; His justice by condemning sin and sinners to eternal punishment in hell, and His love by redeeming those whom He freely chose, and bringing them back into intimate relationship with Himself.

8) Everything that the tabernacle represents is God’s work from beginning to end.

All of this is the work of the Triune God: Creation, Redemption, and Communion.

In the Tabernacle God the Father came to dwell in the midst of His people.

In the incarnation God the Son took on human flesh, became Jesus Christ, and came to dwell in the midst of His people.

In our regeneration God the Spirit fills us, takes up residence within us, ‘tabernacling’ among us, making US the Temple of God.

This was not our idea. This plan was devised in the mind of God before creation ever took place. The desert Tabernacle was God’s idea.

Adam didn’t ask God the Father to come and live on earth. Noah didn’t. Abraham didn’t. Moses didn’t.

No one asked God the Son to take on human flesh, and become the perfect God-Man, Jesus Christ.

And no one asked God the Spirit to take up permanent residence within fallen, redeemed human beings, making us His Temple, His tent, His home.

The final outcome of the New Covenant is always perfect communion with God:

Jeremiah 32:38 NASB95

“They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

Jeremiah 32:28 NASB95

Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.

We see this more than 30 times, from Genesis to Revelation, and it is always due to God’s commitment to His people, by His grace, in spite of their sin.

38 “They shall be My people, and I will be their God” ()

The Tabernacle: A Place of Communion

We see this more than 30 times, from Genesis to Revelation, and it is always due to God’s commitment to His people, by His grace, in spite of their sin.

9) The desert Tabernacle was a picture of God’s relationship with His people, both Israel and the church.

The desert Tabernacle built by Moses would travel with the people. We can truly say that for hundreds of years the people accompanied the Tabernacle, and the Tabernacle accompanied the people.

The tent gave way to the Temple during the reign of Solomon, and for 1,000 years the people of Israel were obliged to come to Jerusalem for communion with God.

And then, following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came to permanently indwell the people of God, making them into His holy Temple.

God gave His ancient people an illustration of His final relationship with His people in an dusty, leather-covered tent in the desert.

We are closer to the reality of that relationship today than they were. They couldn’t imagine what it means to be born again by the Holy Spirit, to be regenerated, to be made new creations in Jesus Christ, to be granted the very same righteousness as the Son of God, to be temples of the Holy Spirit, to be the dwelling place of God Himself.

10) The fulness of communion with God is yet to come in the eternal state.

But there is more to come; we ourselves haven’t yet seen the fulness of what God is doing!

Revelation 21:1–4 NASB95

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

rev

The fulness of redemption is yet to come. We who are in Jesus Christ have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, so that we are no longer of the world, even though we remain in the world. But the day is coming when the Lord will announce that it is time, and bring about the final redemption of God’s own possession – that’s the church – to the praise of His glory.

The fulness of redemption is yet to come. We who are in Jesus Christ have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, so that we are no longer of the world, even though we remain in the world. But the day is coming when the Lord will announce that it is time, and bring about the final redemption of God’s own possession – that’s the church – to the praise of His glory.

The plain, coarse, unappealing outer layer of porpoise skin and sinful humanity will be replaced with light and glory and indescribable joy, as we are fully and finally transformed into the image of Jesus Christ Himself, the epitome of glorified humanity.

This won’t happen because of our own efforts, our good works, our praiseworthy intentions, or because we pulled ourselves up by our own spiritual sandal-straps. It is given to us as a gift, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Tabernacle: A Place of Communion

11) Let us rejoice, increase our hope, and be compelled to hold to the truth of the Gospel.

So what do we do with this?

I hope you rejoice! Your Creator wants a relationship with you. Sin is a barrier between you and God that you can’t cross, but Jesus Christ took on the burden of sin. All those who trust in Him alone for salvation are reconciled to their God and Creator.

I hope you have greatly increased hope! What you encounter in this life is not the end of all things; that’s actually true whether someone believes in Jesus or rejects Him. But for those who believe in Jesus Christ, as the apostle says,

Romans 8:18 NASB95

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

18 … the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ()

That glory is, more than anything else, intimate communion with our God.

That glory is, more than anything else, intimate communion with our God.

I hope that you believe these things so strongly that you are compelled to tell others, including others who have their own self-confidence in their religion. We are not saved by OUR confidence, but by Jesus Christ. Those who either reject Jesus completely, or who add to His work with works and rites and rituals, will not be saved. Jesus alone saves.

And I hope that you have a greater sense this morning of God’s love for you His people, His perfect commitment to intimate communion with you, His constant care and concern for you. You don’t need to long for a place to go that is fabulous and majestic and LOOKS like a church; as long as you are gathered with other saints in the name of Jesus Christ, you are not only IN the Temple of God, you ARE the Temple of God!