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LINK LINE TO HEAVEN.
THIRTY ONE DAILY MEDITATIONS
ON THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS
AS DESCRIBED IN EXODUS
Text by Philip Collier, first published in booklet form by Grow & Go Publications, with illustrations by Wilf A Caunce, November 1999. ISBN-0-9537328-0-0
All Grow & Go publications my be copied freely.
There is a link line to join the inner Holy of Holies in the human spirit with the supreme Holy of Holies in Heaven.
It is set in place by Christ who went “Through the Heavenly Realms” to appear in the presence of God as our High Priest, and who also comes through the outer shells of our personalities into our hearts.
The line passes through the war zones; the battles in the Heavenly Realms, the confusion on Earth and the conflicts in our souls, bringing Heaven’s peace with it and permanently uniting the two places where that peace reigns.
DAY
1. The Anchor Rope.
2. Setting the Link Line in Place. - The Far End.
3. Setting the Link Line in Place. - The Near End.
4. The Views through the Windows.
5. First View.
6. Outer, Inner, Innermost.
7. Unobtrusiveness. The Courtyard.
8. The Craftsman.
9. A Fund-raiser ’s Nightmare - The Collection.
10. The Bronze Altar.
11. The Bronze Altar continued.
12. Keep Clean - The Laver.
13. The Tabernacle Structure.
14. Into the Sanctuary.
15. Gold Leaf on Timber - The Boards.
16. The Bars.
17. The Lampstand.
18. The Table and Bread.
19. The Golden Altar and Incense.
20. The Censer.
21. The Veil.
22. Their Names on His Heart.
23. The Lights and the Perfections - Urim and Thummim.
24. The Ark.
25. The Mercy Seat 1.
26. The Mercy Seat 2. Atonement.
27. The Mercy Seat 3. In the New Testament.
28. Temples.
29. Physical Human Bodies.
30. No Temple There.
31. Going On.
Day One.
THE ANCHOR ROPE.
“And the cable passed from His heart to mine,” - old hymn.
Sailing in the first century was a dangerous business. Wooden ships with no power or radio could be driven before a storm for great distances and if the wind happened to be heading in the direction of rocks or a dangerous lee shore the only hope was to drop anchor in the approaching shallows.
Once the anchor held, the ship would still be just as much subject to the storm, indeed the buffeting of the waves might actually be felt more, but instead of going where driven it held fast, bucking and heaving, every life on board dependent on the unseen anchor.
In Hebrews there is a curious mixed metaphor, drawing imagery both from the turbulent and terrifying experience of sailors riding a storm at anchor and from the calm peace of the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, in Old Testament symbolism.
Grasp hold of the sure and certain hope He has put within our reach. It is like a ship’s anchor rope, holding the vessel safe while it rides out a storm. The seamen know their lives depend on it, yet the far end is out of sight. For us, the end of the rope is not in the sea-bed but out of sight because it is firmly fixed in highest Heaven - in the Holy of Holies - in the very throne-room of God. Jesus led the way for us into that Holy of Holies, just like the High priest of old. (Hebrews 6:18-20)
The Link Line passes from the deepest place in the human heart to the highest place in the throne room of God, the far end is out of our sight. Even the near end is rooted deeply inside us and not directly perceivable by others or always by ourselves. The failure of the storm to wreck us is evidence that the line is in place, evidence which may be clearer to others than to ourselves. We may merely feel seasick. They can see that we have not foundered.
The Holy of Holies in Moses’ Tabernacle was the inner sanctuary, beyond the “veil” or curtain that separated it from the main Sanctuary, (called The Holy Place). Priests would go in there daily, but only the High Priest went into The Holy of Holies and he only went once a year.
We, however, have a permanent link line - an anchor cable, a telegraphic wire, a diver’s air line, an internet link, an umbilical cord, a mountaineer’s rope - think of it how we will the reality is the combination of security and communication at a distance. Amidst the turbulence here, we are in touch with Highest Heaven, deep with deep.
Day Two.
SETTING THE LINK LINE IN PLACE. - THE FAR END.
We have a High Priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus God’s Son. So hold on tight to the Truth we declare. Our High Priest is not immune to our feelings, He knows our weaknesses, has been through every temptation we suffer, and He came through it all without sinning. So don’t be afraid of Him, come with confidence before God’s throne and you will discover that it is a throne of free ungrudging open-hearted open-handed goodwill. There we can receive mercy and the kind of help that exactly fits the need of the moment. (Hebrews 4:14 - 4:16).
We do not know much about the heavenly realms, that knowledge is yet to come for most of us, though there are a few hints thrown out in the Bible and a few glimpses permitted to some people.
What we do know is that there is conflict going on somewhere in realms beyond earth but before God’s throne room. Our Lord Jesus Christ passed through those realms to reach the throne room itself. He “sat down on the right hand of the greatness on high” (Hebrews 1:3) and, “Christ went in, not to a man-made copy of the true, but into heaven itself. He is there now, appearing before God for us,” (Hebrews 9:24).
Christ has access to that supreme Holy of Holies, that place which is “beyond the veil” and untouched by conflict. It is above the realms in which there is turmoil. No enemy, human or demonic, can cut or tap the line. Our position here may be isolated and beleaguered but our Link Line is to a place of peace.
Day Three.
SETTING THE LINK LINE IN PLACE. - THE NEAR END.
Look after your heart carefully; for out of it are the issues of life.
(Proverbs 4:23).
That Christ may live in your hearts by faith. (Ephesians 3:17).
Down the ages Christians have described the beginning of their Christian experience in terms such as “Christ came into my heart,” “I received” or “I invited” Christ in. An old hymn sings, “Since Jesus came into my heart.” Sometimes the childlikeness or apparent sentimentality of the phrase embarrasses us, but we go on using it.
The Christian life begins when The Lord Jesus Christ gains access to the centre point, the deepest inner self, whether we call it heart, spirit, identity, real self, ego or Holy of Holies.
He who went through the heavens also comes through the outer layers of defence and pretence, the physical, the mental and emotional parts and establishes His base of operations within us, right at the centre.
Once again, the areas of conflict are bypassed. He secures the Link Line at the two ends, The Holy of Holies in Heaven to The Holy of Holies in the individual human being.
The conflict and turmoil goes on. There are spiritual battles in the heavenly realms and human struggles among people on earth and physical, emotional or mental struggles within our own personalities.
The Christian life is not the life of a person who has escaped or resolved the conflicts. It is life with the Link Line established, running right through the conflicts, human heart to highest Heaven.
Day Four.
THE VIEWS THROUGH THE WINDOWS.
For there was a tabernacle made - - (Hebrews 9:2)
- - - a greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands (Hebrews 9:11).
THE TABERNACLE
The Tabernacle was a movable structure made under Moses’ direction while he was leading the people through the wilderness. Detailed instructions for it were given him in mount Sinai. (Exodus chapters 25 to 31 and 35 to 40).
The Holy of Holies was at the heart and centre of the Tabernacle and in order to receive from God what He has to show us about relating intimately with Him, let us take a journey in imagination, feeling the heat of the desert, the sand beneath our feet, the noisy busyness outside and the protected calm within; sharing the feelings of the priests of old. Those of them with eyes to see it, saw living realities behind those symbols even then. Today we are in a better position to see these realities more fully.
THE WINDOWS OF SYMBOLISM.
As we find our way through the Tabernacle we shall see in each part of it, not so much pictures as windows. From the windows of a house there may be many views, some looking out onto panoramic mountain vistas, others close-up at lawns and flower beds, others on scenes of busy human activity, but even one window may reveal different views or angles or aspects to different viewers.
So this guided tour will involve finding the windows, taking a look through them and a few comments by the guide on what may be seen. Then viewers, you must look for yourselves.
God presents Truth in multicoloured, many-sided, three dimensional, moving, sound pictures. All too often we try to pass it on to others in flat, black-and-white, silent snapshots.
To ask of any symbolism, “What does it mean?” is to ask for such a snapshot. To attempt an explanation is to offer one.
Yet even this is worth doing if it helps another to start looking and seeing and understanding. The comments that follow may be said to be snapshots of what the writer sees through the windows, and their purpose is not to explain but to stimulate. Readers, take a quick look at what is presented to you here, then move on, looking for yourselves at what God has to show you. It will be much more exciting.
Day Five.
FIRST VIEW.
A stranger approaching the Tabernacle from a distance would notice one thing first. Above it was a pillar of cloud and fire, the token of God’s presence. Everything else was unobtrusive.
In the Tabernacle are glimpses of Heaven. It also shows something of Heaven-on-Earth demonstrated in the lives of God’s people; pictures of the individual person living with God; pictures of whole communities, churches, families or teams, in which God’s presence and character is revealed. And the most striking thing about a godly person or group is God’s presence, seen over human unobtrusiveness.
THE PILLAR CLOUD
The people of Israel were fleeing from Egypt where they had been slaves. God led them by means of a pillar of cloud which went in front of them in the daytime and glowed with light at night (Exodus 13:21-22).
Later when they fled from Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 14:19) the pillar of cloud stood between them, blocking the view of the pursuers. And when the Tabernacle was set up (Exodus 40:33-38 & Numbers 9:15-23) the cloud came down upon it. Thereafter it led them, they moved on when it moved, stayed encamped when it stopped.
Guidance and the evidence of God’s presence - that was the pillar cloud. When people learn to live with God, His presence in their lives becomes evident for those with eyes to see. Presented with such evidence, people who do not know God will know where to look for Him.
The pillar cloud was not man-made. There are people who wear themselves out desperately trying to put the evidence of God’s presence into their lives or their churches. To them the Tabernacle says, “Get your relationships right in the secret place, behind the coverings, and leave God to provide the pillar cloud on the outside.”
Day Six.
OUTER, INNER, INNERMOST.
The Outer Court was full of activity.
The Sanctuary was quiet and calm, visited daily by the priests.
The Holy of Holies was silent, visited once a year by the High Priest alone.
The Outer Court was lit by the sun. The Sanctuary was lit by the golden lampstand. The Holy of Holies was only ever lit by the “shekinah” - the glory of God’s presence.
The life of the Outer Court was sacrifice, washing and work. The life of the Sanctuary was beauty, enlightenment, worship and spiritual food. The life of the Holy of Holies was direct relationship with God - made possible only because blood from the sacrifice outside has been placed on the Mercy Seat.
All three were permanently based on dry earth.
All three were permanently concerned with the relationship between God and His people.
New Testament interpreters may perhaps draw a parallel between Paul’s terms, “body, soul and spirit” and indeed it is our bodies which we are told to offer as living sacrifices, to keep clean for our Lord, to use energetically in His service. It is our souls that think, learn, worship, feed and appreciate Him. It is in our spirits that we relate directly to Him. Yes, it fits, but it would be a pity to limit the comparison. There is more.
Our outer lives meet with others, many others, all kinds of people. Our inner lives meet with a few whom we trust. Our innermost lives are for God, though there is such a thing as sharing at a deep level which touches the Holy of Holies, even if it does not go right in.
And changing the picture from an individual to a whole church or group or team: most churches have an outer life of action. Most have at least some inner life of devotion, worship and teaching. Many would have no innermost corporate life at all if the Lord had not had the foresight to give us the holy communion; but a church’s innermost corporate life need not be limited to the bread and wine.
If time is taken for unhurried prayer and silence together in the conscious presence of the Lord, with just an occasional word fitly spoken, a whole church may touch Holy of Holies together. It must not stay there of course. There is much to do outside. But what is done outside will take its character from within.
In an individual, a church, a marriage or a team; the fullness of life in Christ is meant to span all three aspects, outer, inner and innermost. Dare we hope that there will ever be a day on earth, in this age, before Our Lord returns, when the Church world-wide will experience a Holy of Holies life as well as a life of Sanctuary and Outer Court?
Day Seven.
UNOBTRUSIVENESS. THE COURTYARD.
(Exodus 27:9-19 & 38:9-20)
We come closer. The outer court is a rectangle 100 cubits by 50 cubits.
(Whatever Bible version we have, let us think in cubits. The dimensions may have significance which could be lost if we convert into yards or metres. A cubit is about 18 inches or 45 centimetres and the court area would fit twelve times into a soccer pitch.)
ENTRANCE
The outer curtain is five cubits high, (I am four cubits high). It is supported on bronze posts at five cubit intervals. The curtain is plain linen except for the four sections (20 cubits) east end centre, which form the entrance. These are the only exterior sample of the embroidery we shall see inside. Blue, purple and scarlet threads are worked into the linen.
Those who take the trouble to come close are given a hint of the colourful beauty inside. Such is the experience of those who begin to approach God, or become acquainted with His people and see multicoloured variety where the world had led them to expect dullness and drabness.
INSIDE THE COURT
Once in, we see two items between us and the Tabernacle itself. First, directly ahead, standing well clear of other structures, the Bronze Altar for burnt offerings. Beyond it but before the Tabernacle stands the “Laver” a container from which washing water was dipped or tapped for washing hands and feet; (not a basin, they always washed under running water).
On a normal day there is also much activity as priests and Levites work on the practical tasks of dealing with sacrifices - meat to offer to God on the Altar, meat to cook for themselves, meat to return to the offerers, instructions and explanations to give to offerers.
The Outer Court was hot and dry in the desert sun, busy and probably noisy with priests and Levites milling about. Nowhere in the courtyard (or Tabernacle) is there any mention of of a place where priests could sit down. The Old Testament term for “ordination” of priests is literally “filling the hands.” It was hard work.
Yet this activity was screened from the outside world. It was not totally hidden, people could enter by the gate if they chose to, but it was unobtrusive. The visiting stranger would be so taken up with the view of the pillar cloud that noticing the activity here would be secondary.
So it must ever be. Let God’s people work hard in the heat of the day to fulfil His purposes and serve His kingdom, but leave to the public the vision of God’s presence not our achievement.
The Lord Jesus said, “Pray to your Father in secret and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6).
(Note: Measured in 5 cubit sections, the court was 20 by 10. Exodus 27:9-16 gives numbers of posts and is often misinterpreted. Count the sections, so that each post is counted once only. Then and only then do the numbers add up and make sense.)
Day Eight.
THE CRAFTSMAN.
BEZALEEL. Exodus 31:1-11 and 35:30-35
A skilled craftsman, a whitesmith like John Bunyan, a carpenter like Our Lord, an engraver and a teacher of all these crafts, Bezaleel was commissioned to take charge of the task of making the Tabernacle.
He is the first person of whom it is said that he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
As he produced the artefacts, his painstakingly-acquired human skills were overlaid with gold like the wood he was working on. Spirit-filled competence, divinely-inspired hard work, Creator God working through creative people, it is ever God’s chosen way to accomplish His will.
In Acts 6 the Apostles were presented with a problem of organisation. A team of practical people was needed to handle administrative work and leave the Apostles free to lead and teach the church. So they called for a team, “full of the Spirit and wisdom.” Both were needed. The human wisdom, learned over the years, grown into maturity and also the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
We shall see the picture again - in the wood overlaid with gold of which so much was made - in the beautiful structure which had no flooring so that the priests’ feet were always on the dry desert ground.
Heaven and earth united; described in a hymn as “God with man in oneness blending,” or by St Paul as “Treasure in earthen vessels;” - a skilled craftsman filled with the Holy Spirit; like Christ Himself “in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily.”
And ourselves - “We are His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10) the product, not only of God’s transforming power poured out from Heaven, but also His skilled and loving care worked out in us day by day in everyday life. Even God Himself blends the Heavenly with the earthly to produce His Masterpieces.
Day Nine.
A FUND-RAISER’S NIGHTMARE. - THE COLLECTION.
Exodus 35:4-29 and 36:1-6
The people were not ideal examples of godliness - only a little earlier they had been worshipping a golden calf. That episode had left scars on the whole community, but now they had another chance - Moses called on them to contribute, as a freewill offering, the materials and labour needed to make the Tabernacle.
The response from these recent-backsliders was such that if it came from a church today the resources for the church’s mission would be doubled or trebled. Gifts poured in; the riches they had brought out of Egypt and possessed for only a few months were now given to God’s service.
The linen and embroidery was probably the accumulated result of years of painstaking hard work. Other items such as timber and goat skins they had to go out and fetch from the wilderness where they were, or take from their herds and flocks.
With the materials there was effort and skill, all given freely.
Then came what modern fund-raisers fear as their worst nightmare - the people gave too much - and we are never told what happened to the surplus! (Donors today take note and always give undesignated or at least with permission to use the gift in some other way if there is a surplus. Designated generosity can produce a nightmare for mission.)
There is a more important principle for today, however, the principle of Matthew 10:8 “Freely you have received, freely give.”
Throughout all eternity, we shall live with the history of what was done with what we gave. Free giving, freely contributed creativity, art and skill, above all freely given labour (including labour for a pittance by one who could earn more elsewhere - a kind of giving), - these are the materials out of which Christ is building His church, His kingdom, His people throughout the world.
God’s character is grace - free ungrudging open-hearted open-handed goodwill. He wants His character to be the character of all His work. I may be entitled to reserve rights for myself, but if I do, my contribution will not be valued in Heaven.
The people enjoyed the giving.
Day Ten.
THE BRONZE ALTAR. (Exodus 27:1-8 & 38:1-7)
We have seen at a distance the evidence that God is here. Wanting to know more of Him, we have approached the area within which He is known and served, found it discreetly screened from us, yet having an open entrance. We part the coloured curtain and step into the courtyard.
Thus do seekers begin to come to God, attracted by a glimpse of His reality, surprised to find Him so unobtrusive, yet accessible. Then comes the realisation that the plain screen is not all, there is multicoloured splendour, and a sample of it is visible at the point of entry.
The first item to be seen after entering the courtyard is the Bronze Altar. It is 5 cubits square, 3 cubits high, hollow with a grating and fire permanently burning.
On it were burned the offerings, sometimes the whole carcass, sometimes a sample token, always with the symbolism that this belongs to God and will go up to God in the smoke. To that outdoor community of herdsmen, meat was a luxury and the smell of it roasting mixed with wood smoke was indeed a “sweet-smelling savour” which in other places told of a feast to come. Here, however, it was God’s not theirs.
The symbolism went further. Before it was killed, the offerers would lay their hands on the head of the lamb or goat or bull, to identify themselves with it. The ceremony was a shocking reminder that coming to God is a matter of life and death.
It was a matter of life and death for Christ who “gave Himself for us, to be a sacrifice offered to God like fragrant incense.” (Ephesians 5:2).
It is a matter of life and death for us. My brothers and sisters,
by all God’s mercies I call upon you to present to Him as living sacrifices, your own bodies - and let them be holy and pleasing to Him. This is the logical, rational, intelligent service you can render Him, (Romans 12:1).
Day Eleven.
THE BRONZE ALTAR continued.
A British Army sergeant, training soldiers in survival skills, had trekked with them for two days eating nothing but edible plants they found on the way. Now he taught them to kill a duck, swiftly and painlessly, to provide a meal. He told them, “I don’t want to hear any jokes about this. You need this bird for food, but you are to respect the life you are taking.”
The same attitude was found three thousand years earlier in the Law of Moses. When a hunter or a herdsman killed an animal for food he was required to pour out its blood ceremonially on the ground, in recognition that the life he had taken, actually belonged to God.
Blood was seen as a symbol of life and respected. For that reason it was never eaten.
When the animal was a sacrifice, the blood was normally presented to God by pouring it out at the side of the Bronze Altar. There were a few special sacrifices where the blood was taken into the Tabernacle, and once a year into the Holy of Holies. (These special carcasses were burned outside the camp.)
Remember the most specially sacred of the offerings (such as the sacrifice for sin on the Day of Atonement). From those the High Priest takes the blood right into the Holy of Holies; and the carcass is not eaten but taken away and burned outside the camp. Jesus too was an outcast, crucified outside the city gate, yet His blood was offered up to God to make us, His people, holy. Our place is to follow Him outside the camp and share His rejection. (Hebrews 13:11-13)
(Some people have a question over the present-day application of the Old Testament ban on eating blood. What is the “letter” and what is the “spirit” of this rule? Does it mean blood transfusions are wrong? Or eating black puddings, made from blood?
Personally my stomach turns over at the thought of eating blood; so I never touch black pudding. It is not a moral issue, however, because we have Christ’s plain words; nothing that goes into a person can defile them - Mark 7:14-23. We should not eat it in the company of our Jewish friends, but that is manners rather than morals.
As for blood transfusions - surely to accept blood from a person who has willingly given it to save life is no disrespect for life, quite the opposite. Even the letter of Moses’ law is not transgressed, certainly not the spirit.)
Day Twelve.
KEEP CLEAN - THE LAVER (Exodus 30:17-21 & 38:8)
Between the Bronze Altar and the Tabernacle stood the Laver, a container made from the ladies’ donated mirrors - mirrors in those days were of polished brass, not very effective as mirrors and in any case a mirror can not make a person clean, only show them if they are dirty; but the Laver was effective for its purpose which was to provide washing water just where it was needed.
This was not the fastidious five-times-a-day complete wash of the Egyptian priests. This was reasonable and necessary cleaning on the job. Priests washed thoroughly before coming, but in the dry dusty heat and with the kind of task they had to do, they needed a constant supply of water for hands and feet.
A couple of millennia later, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet John 13). They had walked in open sandals to the place where they were going to eat the Passover.
Peter was troubled at seeing His Lord doing menial work. These two men were best friends and their conversation should not be taken as being packed with intensity. Hear the words in the gently bantering tone which rugged men normally do use between buddies.
Peter
Lord what are you doing!
Jesus
You’ll see, and later you will understand.
Peter
No! Stop it. It’s not your place to serve me.
Jesus
I wash all my followers. Those I don’t make clean can not belong to me.
Peter
If it’s like that, go ahead and wash me all over.
Jesus
No need for that. You had a shower before you came, I just need to wash off the dust of the road. That’s how it always is - people come to me dirty and I make them clean all over once and for ever - from then on I keep them clean each day like this.
We live in a dirty world. The daily life of Christ’s disciples involves a constant need to be cleaned, from our own sins or from involvement with the corruption around us. God does not want our lives to be packed with intensity, imposing deep repentances for every unintended fault. We have already repented - a life-changing turn-around. We have already been put right with God by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The way to deal with daily dirt is simple washing, then get on with life.
The Bronze Altar is behind us, we could not have reached the Laver without passing it. The Bronze Altar reminds us of the massive cost to Our Saviour of that first cleansing. It is the greatness of that sacrifice which gives Him the right to say to us now, gently as to a friend, “No need for another bath. Just let me wash your hands and feet. Then get on with living.”
Day Thirteen.
THE TABERNACLE STRUCTURE
(Exodus 26 and Numbers 4) .
The Tabernacle was heavy. Putting it up and taking it down was a major task. A hundred silver sockets and five bronze ones had to be positioned on the ground, a straight row of forty for each side, sixteen at the far end, four for the posts that held up the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The five bronze sockets held the five posts of the entrance. Each socket weighed one talent - about as much as one man could lift conveniently.
Then the boards were set in place, each on two sockets, two prongs fitting into the sockets. Already the structure was fairly secure because of the sheer weight of the sockets; but the adding of the bars to hold the boards together made it all rock solid.
Then came the curtains, the dividing veil and the first layer of embroidered linen, (lovely handicraft, blended colours, but only visible from inside), then the goats-hair curtains, then the rams skins dyed red, finally the outer protective covering of rough but very strong leather. Anyone who has had to handle large tarpaulins can imagine the task, especially when it came to the last one, the weight of which must have been formidable.
Precision teamwork coupled with brute strength was needed every time the structure was put up or taken down - yet the object of it all was a place of silence and peace and spiritual communion with God.
THE SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE OF SHEER HARD WORK.
The history of Heaven will include billions of worker-hours of effort to fulfil the Great Commission and build Christ’s Church; to hallow God’s name among people, bring in His kingdom, do His will on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Setting up even a small unit of service can mean seemingly endless routine with documents, deeds, figures, cleaning, decorating, moving furniture - the hard slog goes on and on.
Yet it all leads to places and moments in which relationship with God is established for people who did not know Him before, or deepened for those who know Him already.
The effort, the teamwork, the giving of time and skill, these are part of the whole, they are God’s way - as distinct from human ways involving mass production, machinery and efficient methods of avoiding the toil and sweat. In God’s order, human beings working together in teams to do His will, form part of the message. The world is saturated with business methods. God’s character is demonstrated in human effort and teamwork.
Day Fourteen.
INTO THE SANCTUARY. ( Psalm 73:17)
The entrance is before us, ten cubits high (remember I am four cubits high) and ten cubits wide, a curtain of fine linen, colourfully embroidered like the outer gateway with blue and purple and scarlet thread. It is the same area as the outer gateway, but half as wide and twice as high.
We step out of the glaring sun and noisy bustle, into the quiet calm. Above us and in front is more of the same embroidered linen. On either side are the upright wooden boards, standing edge to edge and looking like panelling but with gold leaf beaten into the grain. Beneath us, as ever, is the desert sand.
It is all seen only by the light of seven golden oil lamps each topping a branch of the golden lampstand. Our entrance has disturbed the still air and set the flames gently flickering.
The lampstand is on our left as we enter. On our right is a small table with twelve pieces of unleavened bread upon it. In front of us, just before the veil, stands the golden altar of incense.
What do priests do in here? The simple duties of tending the lamps, replacing the bread and the daily ceremony of burning incense are not time-consuming. What else? Do they stand in silence before God? Do they pray? Do they meditate?
So it would seem, but we are told little. That which takes place between an individual and God in silence is not for the public, even when that individual is there as our representative, to pray for us. For that is at the heart of priesthood. Priests represent people to God, then go out and represent God to people.
Let there be a Sanctuary in each of our lives.
Day Fifteen.
GOLD LEAF ON TIMBER - THE BOARDS
(Exodus 26:15-30 & 36:20-34)
The sides of the Tabernacle were of acacia wood boards overlaid with gold, standing on end edge to edge. Each was 10 cubits long by one and a half wide (15 ft by 27 ins or 4.57 metres by 69 cm). Each stood on two heavy silver sockets which held them firmly onto the ground and also separated them from it. They were secured by bars - of which more later.
If the gold was overlaid by the leaf process we believe it was, the grain of the wood showed through the gold leaf, giving a softer reflection of the lamplight than the hard gloss of polished gold.
There were twenty boards for each side and eight for the far end, (of which two were corner boards; the width of the Tabernacle was ten, not twelve cubits).
THE PARABLE OF THE BOARDS.
This is the story of an acacia wood tree. It stood rooted in desert earth until it was cut down, a hard wood for the carpenter to work with, but durable. It was shaped into a board, ten cubits long, one and a half cubits wide.
Then it was overlaid with gold leaf, beaten into the wood until the grain showed through.
It was placed side by side with others, held in place by silver sockets, and linked together by bars or rods. So based they were as secure as when they had been rooted, but now they were movable. The sockets stood on the sand and could be taken up and carried to the next location.
Each board was of equal size, shape and importance though unique in beauty because of its wood-grain. Together they held up the embroidered curtains and formed the Tabernacle.
Let those who would form part of God’s dwelling place on earth be willing to be uprooted, shaped, overlaid with heavenly gold while keeping their earthly characteristics, refounded on a base which holds them firm upon earth but never lets them take root again in it. Let them be linked together with others, each unique, all equal. And let them be willing to be covered by curtains, so that all attention be fixed on the glory of the Lord.
Day Sixteen.
THE BARS. (Exodus 26:26-29 & 36:31-34)
Also made of acacia wood, also overlaid with gold, the cross bars held the boards together. They were threaded through gold rings fitted to the boards.
There is some uncertainty about exactly where the rings were placed but the usual interpretation is that they were top middle and bottom, with one very long bar running the full length at the middle, two running half the length each at the top and a similar two at the bottom. One misconception arising out of a misreading of the text, is the idea that holes were drilled through the boards to take the centre bar. Unless the boards where unrealistically thick, or the bars unrealistically thin, the drilling of such a hole would have unacceptably weakened the structure. And the whole point of the bars was that they were there to strengthen the structure.
THE PARABLE OF THE BARS.
A Minister was asked how his church remained so well united when there were wide differences of both doctrine and tradition among its members. He replied simply, “We spend time together as friends.”
It is the very ordinary human factor of friendship, overlaid with the gold of heavenly love, that holds God’s people together, and is strong enough to do so even when there are serious disagreements, and widely differing traditions.
On the other hand, if that factor is missing, trivial differences will split a church.
Wood overlaid with gold - wood that grew in earth and needed a carpenter’s skill to shape it - human friendship is a very earthly affair and needs practical measures to promote it - wood with knots and faults and imperfections; ordinary friendship binds together teams and churches and families to make up God’s task force on earth.
If we try to rely entirely on the heavenly gold of divine love, imagining that God will miraculously unite us without any effort on our part, we miss the point. On the other hand our human friendship does need the overlaying of gold, just because it is a faulty human material.
Failing unity can be restored by working on the ordinary human friendship factor. That is a sound principle when seeking to heal a marriage - even a deeply spiritual marriage - neither romance nor spirituality will substitute for ordinary sharing of life at the friendship level. It is a sound principle for uniting a divided church, or bonding together a working team, or a group of churches.
Mounted on their sockets and held together by those bars, the Tabernacle boards could withstand a gale.
Day Seventeen.
THE LAMPSTAND.
(Exodus 25:31-40 37:17-24 Numbers 8:1-4)
(also Exodus 31:8 35:14 39:37 40:4 40:24 Leviticus 24:4 Numbers 3:31 4:9 and see Revelation 1:12-20)
“Take care to make them according to the pattern which was showed you on the mountain,” (Exodus 25:40) - this verse related particularly to the lampstand and its vessels. In Numbers 4:4 it is repeated that the lampstand had been made according to the “pattern” though the word there is the word for appearance or visual pattern while the first is the word for a technical plan.
The lampstand was described in much greater detail than any of the other furnishings, with even the intricate ornamentation. Moses must have had some difficulty passing on the instructions to Bezaleel.
The seven branch lampstand is well known today as a Jewish symbol. It was made of solid beaten gold, one talent weight, and stood on the priest’s left as he went in to the Sanctuary; a separate lamp on top of each branch, giving a soft but adequate light for all his duties.
ONE LIGHT - MANY LIGHTS.
There is no shortage of symbolic uses of light, all through scripture and in the world’s literature. Jesus called Himself the Light of the World and His followers lights of the world.
In Revelation 1 we see a vision of Him walking among seven separate free-standing lamps, no longer enclosed but open for all to see.
Still Christ walks amidst the lights He has lit around the world. The seven has become a multitude. Each can if necessary stand alone. Many have been put out by persecution and pressure and corruption, yet millions more burn on and the number is still increasing.
INNER LIGHT.
To return to the Sanctuary. This is the inner life with God where His people come out of the heat and glare and busyness. In our own sanctuaries, God has light for us. It does not dazzle. Its soft gleam shows us His beauty and truth. This light is individually our own.
And in a community of God’s people - church, team, family or whatever - there has to be a source of light which needs to be internal to that particular community; something unique which has been learned by some, shared perhaps unconsciously but also taught and learned.
Day Eighteen.
THE TABLE AND BREAD. (Exodus 25:23-30 37:10-16)
(also 1 Samuel 21:1-6 & Matthew 12:4)
It stood on the priest’s right as he entered, two cubits long by one wide; one and a half high. It was made of wood overlaid with gold and bread was placed on it. When the bread was removed it was eaten by the priests and new loaves set in place (unleavened bread would not go stale quickly).
No explanations are given. The symbolism has to speak for itself.
Christ never fully explained the Holy Communion. Its mystery, therefore, remains and a billion people take it two thousand years after He instituted it. We can draw parables of course - from sowing and reaping, grinding and baking; from receiving necessary nourishment or sharing a meal in friendship - but they are our parables. God left them unsaid.
Of the bread in the Sanctuary, we may say that there is spiritual food for us to be received as part of our inner life with God. Beyond that there is no obvious symbolism as there is in light or incense or sacrifice. Some things God leaves unsaid.
THE SEQUEL. (1 Samuel 21:6 Matthew 12:1-4)
David, in urgent need of food, was given this bread by the priest Ahimelech. It was strictly against the rules. Both David and Ahimelech knew God well enough to be able to break the strict ceremonial rules in an emergency to meet a genuine need.
A thousand years after that, Christ used the incident to illustrate that God is not petty. It upset the Pharisees. People who know God well enough to realise that He is not petty, will upset religious legalists today.
Day Nineteen.
THE GOLDEN ALTAR AND INCENSE.
(Exodus 30:1-8 30:34-38 37:25-29 also Luke 1:5-14)
Worship today is regarded as a human right. Anyone may worship as he or she chooses. So far as human law is concerned that is as it should be, but the right to worship God is only God’s to grant.
The golden altar on which incense was burned was not in the outer court. To reach it the priest had to pass through the outer court with its sacrifice and its washing, then come quietly into the Sanctuary, where by the light God gave him and using only the incense God had prescribed, he stood alone to carry out the act of worship on behalf of the nation. Even so he stood with his feet on desert earth and the altar was of wood overlaid with gold - the blending of human and divine, earthly and heavenly, is present in worship, but under God’s direction.
The need to worship is built into every human being, but God only receives worship on His own terms. Sin must be dealt with first by sacrifice, daily human defilement by daily cleansing. Then worship must be under God’s authority - the exact formula for the incense was given by God.
If Christians today spent less time in worship they might value it more. There is a cheapness about the attitude which says, “I did not like the worship in that church; I will try another,” as if worship were a matter of personal taste. In fact what we do together in what is called corporate worship is mainly something different - it is praising God. Moses and the people did that too, but outside the Tabernacle Court.
What then is the difference between singing God’s praises outside and burning incense in the sanctuary, alone with God? Simply put, the first is worship as an activity. The second is worship as a relationship.
The incense-burning of our life with God is often solitary, and when it is corporate it is something very special indeed. Anyone who has been part of such worship is likely to remember it for a long time.
AND IN HEAVEN (Revelation 8:3-5)
In John’s vision there was an angel in Heaven who was given much incense to offer “together with the prayers of the saints” and the effect on earth was not peace and serenity but “voices, thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake.”
We know very little of what goes on in Heaven, though it affects us more than we realise, but similarly we know very little about the secret prayers God’s people are offering in their personal Sanctuaries.
Yet these are what turn human history.
Day Twenty.
THE CENSER. (Leviticus 16:12-13)
The Censer was a portable incense-burner which The High Priest took with him when he went into the Holy of Holies.
The golden altar was in the Sanctuary, not in the Holy of Holies. This is clear in Exodus and also in Luke 1 where Zechariah went into the temple for the daily ceremony of burning incense. The Holy of Holies was only entered by the High Priest and only once a year.
(Some modern Bible translations have mistaken the Censer for the Golden Altar and translated Hebrews 9:4 as if that were in the Holy of Holies, behind the veil.)
The Censer speaks of a deeper level of worship, not confined to the Sanctuary. This belongs in the Holy of Holies. We carry it with us when we go behind the veil and it is part of our closest most intimate relationship with God.
The Censer contained, not only incense from the Golden Altar, but also fire from the Bronze Altar. At that deepest level of relationship with God, worship is still only made possible or acceptable by the sacrifice which has taken place.
Day Twenty-one.
THE VEIL.
(Exodus 26:31-35 36:35-36 Numbers 4:5-6 Mark 15:38
Hebrews 6:19 9:3 10:20)
A curtain of fine linen embroidered in blue, purple and scarlet hung on four posts separating the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. On one day a year only the High Priest and no one else, went past that veil. When the Tabernacle was moved on, the priests only went in and took down the veil, throwing it forward to cover the ark and mercy-seat, then covering it with cloth before others could see it.
The veil may have been the way in, but to most people and most of the time it was a barrier.
This veil, (or rather its successor in the Temple) was torn in two from top to bottom in the moment Christ died. (Presumably temple officials stitched it up again, but its significance was ended. Indeed it is rather horrifying to realise that the High Priest that year was Caiaphas himself.)
Three more times the veil is mentioned, all in Hebrews.
For the first, Hebrews 6:19, see the comments in Day One - the anchor within the veil.
The second, Hebrews 9:3 is part of a brief description of the Tabernacle, and the last, Hebrews 10:20 speaks of the veil as “His flesh.” By taking on humanity, Christ made our new way to God, open for all who will come through Him, closed to any who presume to come by any way of their own choosing.
NEW CONFIDENCE
So, brothers and sisters, let us come confidently to God - it takes courage - but a new route into the Holy of Holies has been opened for us; a living way - we come with Jesus who is alive - yet still with a sacrifice - Jesus shed His blood. His humanity is our way in. He is our great priest, ruling God’s household.
Come with true hearts. Come with total trust. Come with consciences that have been washed clean (and bodies too). Hold on steadily and openly to our sure and certain hope. God keeps His promises. (Hebrews 10:19 - 23).
Day Twenty-two.
THEIR NAMES ON HIS HEART.
THE HIGH PRIEST IN THE SANCTUARY (Exodus 28).
It was in the Sanctuary that the High Priest wore his finery. He took it off and wore plain linen for the Holy of Holies. This then is the place to take a look at some of the regalia, described in Exodus 28.
There was a blue robe, an embroidered tunic, turban and sash and a highly decorative item called the “ephod” which was embroidered not only with the blue, purple and scarlet thread of the curtains but also with gold thread. It hung down like a heavy apron front and back, but even the ephod had to give pride of place to the central items - breastplate, shoulder stones and turban engraving.
BREASTPLATE. Exodus 28:15-29
This was a small square of doubled material, the same embroidery as the ephod, bound on with gold chains and having twelve precious stones, all different, one for each of the tribes the priest was to represent before God.
THE SHOULDER STONES. Exodus 28:9-12
Two larger onyx stones had the names engraved six on each and were on the High Priest’s shoulders.
THE TURBAN ENGRAVING Exodus 28:36-38 (compare Zechariah 14:20-21). A gold plate with the words upon it “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.”
- - - - and wearing these the High Priest entered the Sanctuary to stand alone in silence before God, the gems lit only by the lights of the lampstand, his feet on the dry earth, his eyes on the symbols around him.
There he was to bear the people’s names on his shoulders and on his heart.
The High Priest was above all else a living parable of prayer - the prayer of Christ in Heaven for us and our own prayer for others (for as He is so are we in this world - 1 John 4:17). Into the place of holiness goes the intercessor, quietly bearing on his shoulders the burdens of others, caringly bearing on his heart their multicoloured many-sided characteristics, himself solemnly marked as belonging to the Lord and therefore holy.
Such prayer is serious business. The intercessor stands alone before the awesome majesty and holiness of God, on behalf of people who fall far short of that holiness. Yet he identifies himself, both with the holiness and with the people.
Day Twenty-three.
THE LIGHTS AND THE PERFECTIONS - URIM AND THUMMIM. (Ex 28:29-30 Lev 8:8 Num 27:21 Deut 33:8 1 Sam 28:6
Ezra 2:63 Neh 7:65)
Over his heart the High Priest, first Aaron, later Eleazar, wore the breastplate on which there was a different gem for each tribe. It was called “the breastplate of judgment” - the word judgment here being used in the sense of decision-making or discernment. In Exodus 28:30 the decision-making is specifically linked with “bearing of the names on his heart.”
There are various theories as to what were the Urim and Thummim - the Lights and Perfections (both plural words). Some have suggested a means of decision by drawing lots. Another suggestion (preferable in my opinion, but this is only opinion) is that the High Priest used the stones as a basis for meditation and prayer, something like a rosary, before seeking God’s guidance for the tribes.
Whatever the meaning of Urim and Thummim, however, certain things are clear. The High Priest had a role in corporate decision making. We can learn from it without resolving all the details.
When Moses consulted Aaron, or Joshua consulted Eleazar, that High Priest would enter the Sanctuary in full regalia and stand before God. The stones representing the tribes would sparkle (showing their lights and perfections?) in the soft lamplight. The priest would pray in silence, separated from the outside world. There alone in God’s presence, he would hear from God what God had to say about the decision.
Two essential points emerge. First, those priests were not hermits, they were deeply and intimately involved in the daily life of the people. They were informed, experienced and in touch. The second is that they went into the Sanctuary alone with God before a decision was made.
Those two points are the essentials of spiritual decision making. The decider must be involved and in touch, good decisions do not come from absentee bosses, only from on-the-spot workers. But second, the place to decide is not in the middle of the cut and thrust of busy activity or discussion. The decision maker should hear everything, consult everyone, observe and be well informed - but then go away alone to be with God and God alone, letting His light fall on the realities of the situation. Then and only then can a right decision be made.
All too often Christian organisations copy secular decision making. Sometimes an organisation’s constitution, or even the law, may lay down a “system” for making decisions. Such systems produce wrong decisions.
Spiritual decisions are made spiritually, not by discussion, consensus or majority vote, not by an independent absentee board, not by reference to figures. Spiritual decisions are made by people who are intimately involved with the situation - AND can withdraw into God’s presence. If missions and churches made decisions that way, they would get them right.
Day Twenty-four.
THE ARK. (Exodus 25:10-16 37:1-5)
“Put into the ark the testimony I shall give you.” (Exodus 25:16).
The ten commandments were engraved on two stone tablets and placed inside the Ark - a wooden box two and a half cubits long, one and a half high and wide; overlaid with gold and fitted with rings so that rods could be passed through them to carry it. No hand was to touch the Ark.
It stood alone on the desert earth in the Holy of Holies and was seen there once a year by the High Priest - a fleeting glimpse through the smoke of the censer in his hand. Even then it was not the Ark which he came to, but the Mercy Seat. Unapproachable, unattainable, that was the Ark.
The ten commandments were called the Testimony - the witness. Even before they were instructions for people they were the revelation of God’s character. The Bible is given us, first and foremost, to reveal God Himself, His nature, His character. His law is part of that character.
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Righteousness is central to everything, central in Heaven, central in the lives of any who would seek to be called God’s people, central in the hearts of all who love God. This is not the slavish obedience to a powerful command but the loving response of heart to heart “If you love me,” said Christ, “keep my commandments - I love the Father and keep His.”
This Righteousness, however, is unattainable as was the Ark. Whether we want to attain it out of fear or love, we are equally unable to reach it. If the relationship between God and people depended on our righteousness, we could never come near Him. To ignore His righteousness is to ignore Him, we cannot have Him without it, yet we cannot achieve it.
By itself the Ark would spell hopelessness. God is too good for us. We are not good enough for Him. That would be the end of the story if it were not for the Mercy Seat.
Day Twenty-five.
THE MERCY SEAT. (Exodus 25:17-22 37:6-9)
At last we come to the centre of it all, the meeting place between God and His people, the Mercy Seat.
It was the lid of the Ark, made of a single piece of pure wrought gold. At either end was a cherub with wings spread out over it. The cherubim (plural of cherub) faced each other and looked down towards the top of the Mercy Seat.
Cherubim guarded the way in to the Garden of Eden, (Genesis 3:24). They seem to represent guardianship of God’s holiness, beings who stand no nonsense if God’s law is broken.
And God said, I will meet you and commune with you from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubs, (Exodus 25:22).
THE REALITY BEHIND THE SYMBOL.
Even before the Tabernacle was made Moses knew what it was to commune directly with God. He had his own tent or tabernacle where in Exodus 33:7-11 we read of his relationship with God, And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
This deep close intimate relationship with God has been at the centre of the lives of countless men and women down the ages. Abraham was called the friend of God. Paul said that the central object of his life was, “That I may know Him.” Jesus told His disciples, “I have called you friends.”
It is symbolised in the High Priest’s annual visit to the Mercy Seat. No doubt godly priests such as Aaron and Eleazar did indeed commune with God on those occasions. For others right down to Caiaphas it was a mere ceremony - yet what it symbolised can be experienced.
THE MEETING PLACE.
“Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” - Psalm 85:10 - said to be the middle verse of the Bible.
The Mercy Seat was the lid of the Ark and the Ark was inaccessible, containing the written law and representing God’s unattainable righteousness. Before the High Priest went in on the Day of Atonement, He had offered the main annual sacrifice which was in a sense the focus of all the sacrifices of all the people through the year, (Leviticus 16).
From that sacrifice he took some of the blood into the Holy of Holies. He also took the censer, billowing fragrant smoke, and went through the veil where he sprinkled a few drops of blood on top of the Mercy Seat.
That action was called, “making atonement” for the sins of the people.
Day Twenty-six.
THE MERCY SEAT continued. ATONEMENT.
The word “atonement” does not occur in the New Testament except as a rather inappropriate translation of “reconciliation.” We all know the meaning of reconciliation. (It is that rare and happy thing, a word which means the same in the Bible, in everyday use, and in theology; all three!)
“Atonement,” is an entirely Old Testament word and comes from the word for “covering.” It was what the High Priest did in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
The cherubim were so placed as to be looking down at the ten commandments, God’s law which we have broken; God’s righteous character which sinful people cannot reach; the unattainable Ark and its uncompromising contents.
When the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, he put a few drops of blood on the Mercy Seat. Now what those cherubim were looking at was the bloodstain on the gold, proof that sacrifice had been made.
Christ is the High Priest and serves in a greater, more perfect Tabernacle, not made by human hands or built on earth. And He does not offer the blood of bulls and goats. He shed His own blood. With it He entered once and for ever into the real Holy of Holies in Heaven, having achieved for us, eternal redemption.
(Hebrews 9:11-12).
Christians are used to referring to Christ’s death for us on the cross as “The Atonement” but to grasp the full wealth of meaning in that word we need to know it from the Old Testament.
Somewhere in the highest place of Heaven, surrounded not by gold and incense but by the true Majesty and awesome holiness of The High and Lofty One Who Inhabits Eternity, there is evidence of eternal law that I have broken. Sin cannot be dealt with down here where we are. I cannot look inside myself and sort out the mess I have made of my life. The stench of my wrong actions has gone up to Heaven, that is the only place where it can be set right.
And that is the place where the crucified and risen Lord has gone, “with His own blood” to place the evidence of His death over the evidence of the broken law. (Hebrews 9:24).
Heaven, not Earth, is the place where sins are covered. There where everything is vividly clear, where no excuse can stand and no issue be blurred, before God’s all-searching gaze, there in the ultimate Holy of Holies, my sins are blotted out by Christ’s blood and no further action is required on Earth.
Day Twenty-seven.
THE MERCY SEAT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The symbolism of the Mercy Seat brings together the facts that:
1. We cannot approach a Holy God because of our sin.
2. A sacrifice has been made. Christ died for our sins.
3. Evidence of that sacrifice has been carried into the Holy of Holies. Heaven not Earth is the place where sin is dealt with and relationship restored.
4. A direct relationship between God and people is possible as a result.
In the New Testament the Mercy Seat is referred to six times:
Luke 18:13 “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” This sinner’s prayer asked for more than he may have realised. The word for merciful is linked with the Mercy Seat and he was asking, perhaps unwittingly, for God to deal with his sin in Heaven and enter a relationship with him on Earth.
No one can become right with God by keeping the rules. The most the rules can ever do is show us where we are wrong. But now a new rightness has been demonstrated. It comes from God and has nothing to do with keeping the rules (although the Law and the Prophets point to it). This rightness comes from God to all who will trust Jesus Christ for it. There is no distinction. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory; but justification is gratis - by God’s free ungrudging open-hearted open-handed goodwill - and the liberating ransom of Christ Jesus. God has put Him forward publicly as the one who, by shedding His own blood, became the meeting place between God and those who trust Him (lit. “Mercy Seat through faith”). This shows how God could be right to pass over sins in years gone by and, without compromising justice, can still be right to justify those who trust Jesus. (Romans 3:20 - 3:26)
This passage rolls Old and New Testament salvation into one, both are through Christ alone, but for centuries this was not understood. The nearest anyone came to understanding it in Old Testament times was in the ceremony of the Mercy Seat.
He did not become an angel, but was born into Abraham’s family. Once again the way He did it perfectly fits His character - He was made like His family in everything. This experience qualified Him to be a merciful and faithful High Priest to represent us before God - to restore our relationship with God when we have sinned. He has been through the same temptations that we have and knows what it feels like. (Hebrews 2:16-18)
Hebrews 9:5 mentions the Mercy Seat in a description of the Tabernacle. In 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 the word Mercy Seat is translated “propitiation” and means more than Christ’s sacrifice, it also includes His High-Priestly work in Heaven and the restored relationship we have with God as a result.
Day Twenty-eight.
TEMPLES.
The Tabernacle was a movable and apparently temporary structure fitted for desert travel, yet it lasted longer than any of the Temples that succeeded it. What is more it was never, like them, pillaged or desecrated or destroyed. After nearly five centuries it was (presumably) dismantled when Solomon’s Temple was dedicated. We do not know what happened to it. If any parts were ever to be discovered they would be interesting but of no spiritual significance. We are involved now with the realities that lay behind it.
The Tabernacle was superior to the Temple. Solomon’s temple :
1. Was of human design.
2. Was founded on the earth.
3. Involved massive finance, and public finance, not donated.
4. Was the product of centralised organisation.
Nevertheless, God accepted it, David’s motives for planning it and Solomon’s for building it were genuine, whatever later went wrong. And Solomon at the prayer of dedication showed that in one area at least he was in tune with the heart of God. He said it was for all the peoples of the Earth. Isaiah later rephrased it “A House of Prayer for ALL NATIONS” and Jesus quoted this when driving out the temple traders. “All Nations” is one of God’s favourite phrases, used in the promised blessing through Abraham, in the Great Commission (which is the centre of the Christian Faith and the purpose of the Church’s existence) and in the vision of Revelation.
Just because it was so obvious, so visible, so high profile, the Temple was vulnerable, not so much to outside threats as to the loss of God’s favour. When God’s people choose to sin, God may forgive them privately but cannot vindicate them publicly; so the more they go public the more likely they are to be discredited if they are not genuine. The Temple was robbed of its gold after only three decades, desecrated many times, destroyed after only four centuries.
After Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, Ezekiel (in captivity) had a vision of a great and remarkable Temple, Ezekiel 40-48. There was no suggestion that it either ought to have been built or ever will be, its message is the message of a vision and as a vision we should learn from it.
The building of the next Temple under Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel and Haggai makes dramatic reading, including the complications of bureaucracy. It was, perhaps, the simplest of the Temples and the most closely rooted in the hearts of the people who built it. Willing co-operation rather than central authority brought it into existence, and it was built in the face of opposition.
Herod’s temple was standing in the time of Christ. It was massive and built of tremendous stones yet it was the most short-lived, being destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman Titus - as Jesus had foretold.
Each has its message, we can learn from them all, and even in their own times there were people sufficiently in tune with God to see beyond the physical structures to the realities behind them.
Day Twenty-nine.
PHYSICAL HUMAN BODIES.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt (lit. tabernacled) among us, (John 1:14).
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 6:19).
You are therefore no longer strangers and expatriates but fellow-citizens with God’s own people in His household. This home is still under construction. The apostles and prophets are its foundation, Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone - indeed He is the whole building because we are incorporated into Him. It is taking shape, growing into a holy temple where God’s Spirit will be at home.
(Ephesians 2:19-22).
You have come to Him and found that He is a solid reliable foundation stone, a stone that is alive. People threw away that precious stone, but God chose Him. You too are living stones, being built into a spiritual house where you are a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which God accepts through Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 2:4-5).
God’s temple on Earth now is in the bodies of human beings, through which He makes Himself known, fulfils His purposes and overcomes the forces of evil. “Where is God?” people ask when evil is triumphing, and the answer comes, “He is in human hearts, or He is not in human hearts.” If all the people available have refused to have Him in their lives, no one need ask, “Why is He doing nothing about the situation?”
He came Himself first, took a physical body of flesh and blood and muscle and bone, the toughened body of a working carpenter. In that body He worked the redemption of the world.
Now His body on Earth is that of His people.
Your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit - not your spirit or soul but your body - and not the body you would like to have or the body you had when you were younger and stronger, but the body you have now, just as it is. That is God’s dwelling place among people who do not know Him.
His people together also form a body on Earth which is His Temple. Once again, not the church as we would like it to be or the church we remember as it used to be, but this present group of people with all their faults, overworked, exhausted, struggling with family pressures, finding it difficult to get on with each other; each with his or her own idea of what is needed to put the church right.
What applies to each local group also applies to His people throughout the world, separated by language, culture, doctrine, tradition and sheer distance.
This is where God is at home.
Day Thirty.
NO TEMPLE THERE (Revelation 21:3 and 22.)
John 1 tells us that the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, but in John’s vision of the new Heaven and new Earth the Tabernacle of God is with people and He tabernacles amongst us - dwells, pitches His tent or is at home with us.
In that vision, there is no temple. There God and His people relate as freely as when He spoke with Moses face to face “as a man does with his friend.” There is no need of sun or moon because God is its light - as the shekinah glory lit the Holy of Holies, or the fiery pillar cloud lit the way by night.
The vision was of a city which came down out of Heaven - it was not the whole of Heaven, just one small part of it, and its gates were permanently open.
It featured all that was good or worthwhile from Earth - the kings of the Earth bring their glory and honour into it - yet nothing that defiles shall enter in.
All that humankind lost at the fall, symbolised in the Tree of Life, is there.
The city was big enough to hold the all-time population of Earth - or to put it another way, many times over the population of Earth as it was at the time John saw the vision.
Read the vision but make no attempt to provide explanations of the symbolism - each item is a window like the items in the Tabernacle. The views through the windows are many but no one will see them all until we arrive in the reality of which the symbols speak. Poetic and visionary imagery does not need to explain why, when all sickness and suffering and death have been abolished, the leaves of the Tree of Life are “for the healing of the nations;” nor yet how it bears a different fruit every month when times and seasons are no more.
An artist who paints a great picture means people to stand back and look at it, not to examine its detail with a magnifying glass. The symbolism of the Bible, is meant to be viewed in a similar way. Too much detailed explanation detracts from the picture, but what a magnificent view the pictures show.
Meanwhile back on Earth we pray, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” We are citizens of Heaven, samples of its lifestyle, agents for fulfilling its programme.
Live tuned in to Heaven, for there is a link line joining the inner Holy of Holies in the human spirit with the supreme Holy of Holies in Heaven.
Day Thirty-one.
GOING ON.
These brief glimpses at Old and New Testament symbolism have been no more than a sample or taster. I hope they will encourage readers to go on, digging out more for themselves.
GOD WANTS HIS CHILDREN TO GROW UP.
He wants us to learn to handle difficult questions, make decisions, know the difference between true and false, help others to learn, cope with emergencies, get priorities right. He wants us to begin by learning from others (as children do), but then to question everything (as teenagers do), and finally to know how to sort out what we are told, separating true from false and rightly evaluating half-truths, (as adults should). He wants people who can be apprenticed to life and become, over the years, master-craftsmen in it.
So He has given us His Truth in a form which forces us to mature as we work with it. The Bible is a mixture of narrative, symbolism, letters, visions, poetry, lists, family trees, specifications, designs, job descriptions and planning regulations.
With the Bible, God has given us three helps for learning:
The Holy Spirit,
Time, and
Problems of life to handle.
The Christian life begins when the Link Line to Heaven is connected, it goes on growing and maturing and being shaped by Our Lord’s skilled hands while we, for our part, fill our minds with His Word and live tuned in to Heaven.