A Pattern that Reveals the Church (part 1) - The Tabernacle
Introduction: When hiring a contractor to build a home, we give him specifics of our expectations. The number and size of each room and the materials and furnishings are given to draftsmen to draw up plans. With our desires in writing, we sign a contract with confidence, knowing if a problem arises, the contract and plans will always point out exactly what was agreed upon.
Plans reveal expectations. God has done exactly the same thing at pivotal moments. When God commanded Noah to build the ark, He gave the type of wood (gopher); the exact length, width and height; and the number of decks, doors and windows. Only God knew the forces of the flood and the room needed for each animal. This exact pattern was necessary to save them. It was a fellowship between God who knew what was needed, and Noah who built it. This fellowship ended well because Noah did exactly what he was told: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22; 7:5).
God’s very first revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai did exactly the same thing. He wanted Moses to construct a sanctuary. He again gave precise measurements and specific materials for the structure and all its furnishings: “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” (Ex. 25:8-9, 40; 26:30; Num. 8:4). Along with furnishings were details of how the priests would work within it with daily, monthly and annual sacrifices. Moses did exactly what God asked and the Book of Leviticus closed with everything built and working exactly as God had commanded.
When Jesus built His church, once again an exact pattern was given. The sanctuary Moses built was used as “the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed.” (Heb. 8:5). This amazing revelation opens a great vista of understanding for us. Since the pattern for our salvation was completed before the creation of the world, and God knew exactly what would transpire, the copies and shadows revealed truth that would strengthen our ability to understand.
The pattern of the sanctuary and the tabernacle shown to Moses on the Mount was destined to become the “copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” The tabernacle was built to God’s exact pattern because it would become an explanation of the pattern for the church. The true spiritual realities of the church could not be fully understood without the tabernacle. God knew exactly what would need to be created in heaven to fulfill His desire to save man. He used the tabernacle and its furnishings to explain and illustrate what Jesus accomplished after He returned to heaven to complete the building of His church.
To explain the greatness of Jesus, our Savior, God used the material creation. “all things were made through Him.” (Jn. 1:1-3; 14; Heb. 1). To explain the greatness of what Jesus accomplished with His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, God used the tabernacle. The power involved in this was beyond our comprehension. Since it is in heaven, He could have explained exactly what was accomplished without the sanctuary built by Moses. The tabernacle and priesthood were used to illustrate, illuminate and elaborate on exactly what was done in heaven after Jesus’ ascension.
There is no doubt that Jesus built the church in heaven exactly as God had designed and planned it in eternity. It is evident that once it was built, it would remain perfect and flawless until the end of time. After Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus told him that fact was the rock and foundation upon which He would build His church. He also gave Peter the keys to open the door, and when Peter preached the sermon fifty days after Jesus’ crucifixion and ten days after His ascension, sinners were invited to enter. (Mt. 16:16-19; Isa. 2:1-3; Acts 2). Yet even when those 3000 souls were added and the church on earth began, the things Jesus did in heaven that brought this about were still hidden.
Hebrews 8-10 fills in the details of the completion of the church. First, Jesus became the true High Priest that the pattern on earth copied. As the High Priest, He brought His own blood into heaven, “the true tabernacle,” that “the Lord erected,” and “not man” was completed. How could we “see” these things without copies and shadows of the pattern Moses was shown on the Mount?
This greater and more perfect tabernacle could not be understood if God had not given Israel the copy of the first tabernacle. How could we comprehend a tabernacle not made with hands and not of this creation without the one Moses built? The copy of the High Priest entering the Most Holy place on the day of atonement became the true spiritual reality of Jesus entering heaven with His own blood and bringing the power of eternal redemption into His church (Acts 20:28). This is the portion of the church that exists in heaven as the Most Holy Place did in the first tabernacle.
While the copies of the tabernacle and its furnishing were cleansed with the blood of bulls and goats, the heavenly things themselves needed better sacrifices. When Jesus entered heaven with His own blood, He was able to use it with these “heavenly things” as copies and shadows seen in the Most Holy Place and the mercy seat. How these things correlate is still beyond our ability to comprehend, but at least we can see and seek to understand them. When Jesus entered heaven as the High Priest, heaven became the Most Holy Place where the High Priest on earth had entered once a year.
Thus the tabernacle, divided by the veil has become the church. The Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place where Jesus sits at the God’s right hand is the church perfected for all time in heaven. Founded on the rock of His eternal Godhead, it will stand absolute and eternal until the end.
Yet even with these copies and shadows, It towers above our ability to comprehend or understand. These things are very heart and essence of God’s manifold (multi-faceted, many-hued) wisdom. Even the angelic beings stand in awe of this church, which is not of this creation and is built without hands, eternal in the heavens. When Jesus returned to heaven, it was the culmination of God’s eternal purpose and reflected a wisdom far above anything the material creation could show. It is these heavenly things that tabernacle copied and shadowed that revealed this wisdom.
This is the perfected church man had no role in building. It was built by God and His Christ. It is the “the sanctuary and true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” It is “the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands,” and “not of this creation.” It is “the Most Holy Place” in “heaven itself,” and “in the presence of God,” where He sits and reigns as king and priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Conclusion. The church Jesus purchased with His own blood is far more complicated and profound than man can comprehend. The pattern of the tabernacle Moses was shown on the Mount was given to make it possible to at least explain the incomprehensible. Reading through Hebrews 7-10 reveals how this pattern was used by the Holy Spirit to explain the power of the heavenly side of the church. If the fellowship with God and man is to continue in each generation, the same pattern that exists in heaven as shadowed by the tabernacle must be reflected in each local church on the earth. The day we add our own ideas to it, or lose our first love, the lampstand that ties us to the heavenly things will be removed. (Rev. 2:5; 2Jn. 9; Jn 17; 1Cor 1:10-12).
Plans reveal expectations. God has done exactly the same thing at pivotal moments. When God commanded Noah to build the ark, He gave the type of wood (gopher); the exact length, width and height; and the number of decks, doors and windows. Only God knew the forces of the flood and the room needed for each animal. This exact pattern was necessary to save them. It was a fellowship between God who knew what was needed, and Noah who built it. This fellowship ended well because Noah did exactly what he was told: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22; 7:5).
God’s very first revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai did exactly the same thing. He wanted Moses to construct a sanctuary. He again gave precise measurements and specific materials for the structure and all its furnishings: “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” (Ex. 25:8-9, 40; 26:30; Num. 8:4). Along with furnishings were details of how the priests would work within it with daily, monthly and annual sacrifices. Moses did exactly what God asked and the Book of Leviticus closed with everything built and working exactly as God had commanded.
When Jesus built His church, once again an exact pattern was given. The sanctuary Moses built was used as “the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed.” (Heb. 8:5). This amazing revelation opens a great vista of understanding for us. Since the pattern for our salvation was completed before the creation of the world, and God knew exactly what would transpire, the copies and shadows revealed truth that would strengthen our ability to understand.
The pattern of the sanctuary and the tabernacle shown to Moses on the Mount was destined to become the “copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” The tabernacle was built to God’s exact pattern because it would become an explanation of the pattern for the church. The true spiritual realities of the church could not be fully understood without the tabernacle. God knew exactly what would need to be created in heaven to fulfill His desire to save man. He used the tabernacle and its furnishings to explain and illustrate what Jesus accomplished after He returned to heaven to complete the building of His church.
To explain the greatness of Jesus, our Savior, God used the material creation. “all things were made through Him.” (Jn. 1:1-3; 14; Heb. 1). To explain the greatness of what Jesus accomplished with His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, God used the tabernacle. The power involved in this was beyond our comprehension. Since it is in heaven, He could have explained exactly what was accomplished without the sanctuary built by Moses. The tabernacle and priesthood were used to illustrate, illuminate and elaborate on exactly what was done in heaven after Jesus’ ascension.
There is no doubt that Jesus built the church in heaven exactly as God had designed and planned it in eternity. It is evident that once it was built, it would remain perfect and flawless until the end of time. After Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus told him that fact was the rock and foundation upon which He would build His church. He also gave Peter the keys to open the door, and when Peter preached the sermon fifty days after Jesus’ crucifixion and ten days after His ascension, sinners were invited to enter. (Mt. 16:16-19; Isa. 2:1-3; Acts 2). Yet even when those 3000 souls were added and the church on earth began, the things Jesus did in heaven that brought this about were still hidden.
Hebrews 8-10 fills in the details of the completion of the church. First, Jesus became the true High Priest that the pattern on earth copied. As the High Priest, He brought His own blood into heaven, “the true tabernacle,” that “the Lord erected,” and “not man” was completed. How could we “see” these things without copies and shadows of the pattern Moses was shown on the Mount?
- “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. (Heb. 8:1-2).
This greater and more perfect tabernacle could not be understood if God had not given Israel the copy of the first tabernacle. How could we comprehend a tabernacle not made with hands and not of this creation without the one Moses built? The copy of the High Priest entering the Most Holy place on the day of atonement became the true spiritual reality of Jesus entering heaven with His own blood and bringing the power of eternal redemption into His church (Acts 20:28). This is the portion of the church that exists in heaven as the Most Holy Place did in the first tabernacle.
- But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” “With His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:11-13)
While the copies of the tabernacle and its furnishing were cleansed with the blood of bulls and goats, the heavenly things themselves needed better sacrifices. When Jesus entered heaven with His own blood, He was able to use it with these “heavenly things” as copies and shadows seen in the Most Holy Place and the mercy seat. How these things correlate is still beyond our ability to comprehend, but at least we can see and seek to understand them. When Jesus entered heaven as the High Priest, heaven became the Most Holy Place where the High Priest on earth had entered once a year.
- Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these (blood of bulls and goats), but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. (Heb. 9:23-25)
Thus the tabernacle, divided by the veil has become the church. The Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place where Jesus sits at the God’s right hand is the church perfected for all time in heaven. Founded on the rock of His eternal Godhead, it will stand absolute and eternal until the end.
Yet even with these copies and shadows, It towers above our ability to comprehend or understand. These things are very heart and essence of God’s manifold (multi-faceted, many-hued) wisdom. Even the angelic beings stand in awe of this church, which is not of this creation and is built without hands, eternal in the heavens. When Jesus returned to heaven, it was the culmination of God’s eternal purpose and reflected a wisdom far above anything the material creation could show. It is these heavenly things that tabernacle copied and shadowed that revealed this wisdom.
- to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Eph. 3:10-11).
This is the perfected church man had no role in building. It was built by God and His Christ. It is the “the sanctuary and true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” It is “the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands,” and “not of this creation.” It is “the Most Holy Place” in “heaven itself,” and “in the presence of God,” where He sits and reigns as king and priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Conclusion. The church Jesus purchased with His own blood is far more complicated and profound than man can comprehend. The pattern of the tabernacle Moses was shown on the Mount was given to make it possible to at least explain the incomprehensible. Reading through Hebrews 7-10 reveals how this pattern was used by the Holy Spirit to explain the power of the heavenly side of the church. If the fellowship with God and man is to continue in each generation, the same pattern that exists in heaven as shadowed by the tabernacle must be reflected in each local church on the earth. The day we add our own ideas to it, or lose our first love, the lampstand that ties us to the heavenly things will be removed. (Rev. 2:5; 2Jn. 9; Jn 17; 1Cor 1:10-12).