Tabernacle
The tabernacle built in the days of Moses was the center of
divine worship in Israel. It was a figure for the time then present, indicating
that the gifts and sacrifices being offered at that time -- while good and
righteous and from God -- were not yet the perfect sacrifice, which was yet to
come (Heb 9:9).
Nevertheless, that tabernacle was glorious: its plans were
divinely revealed, its workmen specially endowed, and all its materials were
brought "out of Egypt". It was built, as God told Moses, on the "patterns of
things in the heavens" (Heb 9:23). As there was an earthly tabernacle, so there
had been before -- and still is -- a heavenly tabernacle.
The heavenly sanctuary pictured in the Apocalypse, or
Revelation, contains cherubim, a seven-branched lampstand, officiating priests
(the angels), and the overshadowing glory of God (Rev 4:5,7,10). This is the
model upon which the Almighty works.
The Apostle John (who received the visions of the Apocalypse)
might have seen from Patmos, looking eastward, a tabernacle pattern written
large on the earth:
- Directly in front of him, he would have seen Jerusalem, with its most holy
place, where dwelt the glory of God;
- To his left, looking north, he would
have seen the seven ecclesias of Asia Minor, corresponding to the seven-branched
lampstand [in the Old Testament, north and south are left and right respectively
-- with orientation toward the rising sun being assumed];
- To his right,
looking south, there was Egypt, the "breadbasket" of the ancient world,
reminding him of the special shewbread in the tabernacle;
- Right beside
Patmos, there was the Mediterranean Sea, symbolizing the laver, or "sea of
glass";
- All around were the prayers of the saints, arising like incense
from the altar of burnt incense (cp Rev 5:8; 8:3,4; Psa 141:2); and
- Behind
him was Greece and Rome and the rest of Europe: all the "court of the
Gentiles".
The whole tabernacle was erected on bare ground, that is the
"dust of the earth". In figurative terms, it was to be built upon the foundation
of humanity, and God Himself was to dwell among men, and be glorified in their
midst.
Thus the tabernacle foreshadowed God manifestation, in three
distinct stages:
- justification, or mental [lampstand = light; laver =
baptism];
- sanctification, or moral [shewbread, memorial table; incense =
prayer]; and
- glorification, or physical [the most holy place, with the glory
of God].
