THE tabernacle of the Old Covenant was a literal tent, made by God's command for his worship. It was built according to a pattern given by him to Moses at Mount Sinai. The Lord charged Moses to make everything by that pattern. Ex. 25 : 40; Heb. 8 : 5. In the account of the making of the tabernacle, we do not learn that the pattern or the tabernacle itself was a miniature of things in the Heavens; but Paul in his letter to the Hebrews distinctly says the tabernacle and its appurtenances were copies (New Version) of things in the Heavens. This language, and all pertaining to this subject in Heb., chaps. 8 and 9, is very explicit and literal, and need not be misunderstood.
In the first verse of chapter 8 we read: "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens; a minister of the sanctuary [hagion, place set apart], and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." We ask, (1) Who is this high priest? Who but Christ? Was he not the antitype of the high priest in the earthly tabernacle? (2) Into what sanctuary (place set apart) did Christ go when he became an high priest? Was it not into the very presence of the Father, to be seated on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens? (3) Was not Christ, the great high priest, as personal and as literal a being as the high priest under the law? (4) As a personal and literal being himself, and a minister of the sanctuary, must we not conclude, and with reason, that, in entering into Heaven, he went into a literal, real place? (5) Where but in Heaven is this "true tabernacle," which the Lord pitched, and not man? Where else can it be located? If it be where Christ now is, how can it be said that the sanctuary and true tabernacle are now upon the earth? or that the church of Christ is the sanctuary and tabernacle of the New Covenant? We aver that the sanctuary and tabernacle named in Heb. 8 : 1, 2 are where Christ himself now is. He himself went away. He said, I go to my Father. He went there really, truly, a personal, literal, high priest. He went there to offer that the high priest of the worldly sanctuary could not offer—his own blood.
In verse 5 we are told that they who officiated in the wilderness tabernacle "served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." It does not read, the example and shadow of heavenly things on the earth. There is no evidence proving that the tabernacle itself was typical of anything here. The high priest under the law did not officiate apart from the tabernacle and sanctuary. Neither does Christ in his work of mediation leave the true sanctuary in Heaven. When he does leave it, his mediatorial work will be finished. He will be no longer a high priest after he comes out of the true sanctuary and tabernacle and blesses his people. When once he comes out, he never returns to mediate again between God and men. We affirm that there can be no mediation by Christ anywhere but in Heaven, in the very presence of God the Father. He does not mediate in the church here, but for it in Heaven. He is away from his church upon the earth. He has gone in beyond the veil, out of sight of the people. His work is there, in the sanctuary not made with hands. He carried not thither the blood of animals, but his own blood. He there makes intercession in the very presence of God.
In Heb. 9 : 8 it is declared that while the first tabernacle was standing "the way into the holiest of all was not made manifest." The "holiest of all" can be no other than the sanctuary in Heaven. The holiest of all in the earthly tabernacle was where the high priest only was permitted to go, and when he made the atonement. This earthly "holiest of all" was made manifest, but its antitype was not made to appear until Jesus, the greater high priest, ascended and entered into the greater sanctuary in Heaven. The entering into the earthly tabernacle by the high priest to make an atonement for the people, was the shadow of a greater mediator entering a greater and holier place. The Holy Ghost signified by the type that the way into that "holiest of all" would be made manifest. Is not this "way" now understood? Is it not made plain by the Holy Spirit through the word? Christ did not return with his church to offer gifts, but promised to bestow them after he had gone to his Father. He kept his promise; the gifts were dispensed, and are in possession of the true church of to-day.
But would it not be thought strange if one should now say the Christian church is the antitype of the tabernacle in the wilderness? that the tabernacle of the New Covenant is the body of believers in Christ? This would be saying that the pattern of the tabernacle given to Moses, and the tabernacle made by him, were both patterns, or copies, of earthly things instead of heavenly. If the tabernacle with all that pertained to it was a type of anything literal or spiritual here, where is there any representation of things in Heaven? for surely the earthly sanctuary cannot typify both earthly and heavenly things. How can the church now be the sanctuary, any more than the church then could be? Does not the church now hold the same relation to its High Priest, and the place where he is, that the church then did to its high priest and the place where he was when he made the atonement for the people? They were outside the tabernacle. They could not look where he went, even beyond the first veil. They beheld not the cloud of glory that filled the consecrated place, the inner sanctuary. They could not from the court of the tabernacle discern nor conceive the brightness of the shekinah, the symbol of the presence of God, which the high priest alone beheld. Where but in the antitypical court of the tabernacle is the church under the New Covenant? Is she not looking toward the place whither her High Priest has gone, and in expectancy waiting for him to appear? What meaneth this looking for the Lord, if the church is the sanctuary, and he is here in it? Can the church and the sanctuary be one and the same? Let us not mistake the plain teachings of the Holy Ghost, and be led to advocate what is not confirmed by the word of God.