The tabernacle was a portable structure used by the Israelites as a place for worship. It became the primary place for “spiritual encounter” between Jehovah and His people. The construction of the tabernacle most certainly was done according to God’s precise instructions to Moses at Mount Sinai during the years of wilderness wandering (Ex. 26; 35). When God gave instruction to Moses concerning how to construct the tabernacle, He was initiating a system of detailed law which would necessitate a meeting place where His people would participate in the prescribed rituals (Ex. 36:8-40:33). Because there had been a detailed pattern given to Moses, God cautioned him to follow it precisely in constructing the tabernacle.
God’s instructions to Moses do not typify or foreshadow our instructions from God. It is true that the tabernacle was a type of the church, but Moses was not a “type” of Christians. Jesus was the one Moses foreshadowed (Deut. 18:15-18; Acts 3:22-23). Just as the tabernacle was built by Moses “according to the pattern,” so the church has been built by Christ according to instructions He received from the Father (Jn. 6:35-51; Matt. 26:39; Jn. 4:34). To say that we, like Moses, have something to build “according to a pattern” is to say that we fulfill the type of Moses. But we do not—Jesus did. “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” (Heb. 3:1-6) Moses foreshadowed the work of building that Jesus would do, namely, the construction of His church.
The tabernacle in the wilderness, built by Moses, was but a picture of the true tabernacle, the church, built by Christ. “The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.” (Heb. 8:1-2) This is the context in which the Bible speaks of “the pattern.” “They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Heb. 8:5)
Christianity is about what Christ has done at the cross. This we would all affirm. But a second fact, not as easily recognizable at times, is that Christianity is also about what Christ is doing and will do through His people by the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship in Jesus means a life governed by the Holy Spirit. If we fail to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will fail to live the way God wants us to. It is that simple.
The Holy Spirit not only imparts life to us when we receive Christ as Savior, He also comes to indwell our hearts. We become a dwelling place—a tabernacle, a temple—of Almighty God by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us (Eph. 2:22; 1 Cor. 6:19). Because we are God’s children, we may be assured that we have experienced the Holy Spirit—for He dwells within all of God’s children. Every child of God has the Spirit and everyone who has the Spirit of God is a child of God. And God dwells in His children.
Bryan Dunaway
Grace and Peace Ministries
www.gandpministries.org |