p. 6 | THE TABERNACLE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 30.

THE TABERNACLE.

OUR Sunday-school lesson this week (see page 14) is broadly comprehensive and intensely spiritual. There should be read in connection with it Ex. 25:1 to 31:11. It involves the study of the continual worship of God and the eternal plan of salvation. These it is impossible to gather in one week's lesson. Let us get from the wonderful field a lesson of true worship, applicable to the soul in all ages.

1. The word "tabernacle" means "dwelling-place." "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Ex. 25:8. It was in obedience to this that the tabernacle and all its belongings were brought into existence. It was an earthly object-lesson of Christ Jesus, who was "God manifest in the flesh." 1 Tim. 3:16. "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt [tabernacle] among us (and we beheld His glory as of the only-begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth." John 1:14. "And they shall call His name Immanuel, which is, being interpreted, God-with-us." Matt. 1:23.

But Christ is not complete without His church. He is the Head, the church is the body, His representative in the earth as long as He dwells in her, "the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. 1:23; 2:20-22; 5:25-32. "Even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." But this is on the condition that they are separate from the world.

But as the church is made up of like units in character, so each individual member becomes a tabernacle of God. "Know ye not that your body is a temple [sanctuary] of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own." 1 Cor. 6:19. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live; but Christ liveth in me." Gal. 2:20. How practically important, then, is the study of the tabernacle and its service.

2. God's worship must have a standard. That standard can be nothing less than His own character. This was represented in the ancient tabernacle (even as in the one on high, Rev. 11:19) by the holy law of God, the Ten Commandments, within the ark in the most holy place, and over which dwelt the constant token of God's presence, the glorious shekinah. All the worship centered there. All the ministry was focused upon that one spot. That law pointed out sin. 1 John 3:4. All the service for the removal of sins had respect to the unchangeable law of God.

Of course there was no life in the mere materials of the tabernacle. There was no power in the mere words of the law engraved on stones. But it meant to every true spiritual worshiper of God that that law must be written in the heart as living, molding, vital principles of action. Such was its relation to Jesus Christ. "Thy law is within My heart," "I have kept My Father's commandments," are His own words. So God writes His law, always by their consent, in the hearts of His children. Heb. 8:10. The redeemed will be those who "know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Isa. 51:6, 7.

3. In this service there is ever mercy from God to the sinner. Mercy is one of the great things of God's law. It was because God's character is what it is, because in Christ's heart was the law, that God gave His Son, that the Son "gave Himself." John 3:16; Titus 2:14. So the judgment and justice condemn the repentant sinner, mercy, as in the type, glorieth over judgment. And God's everlasting mercy will not fail; "He delighteth in mercy." We will lose it only when we consider it of no worth. It can not cover known sin. It is of the law itself.

4. In brief, all the furniture of the tabernacle had reference to the true temple of God. The candlestick was the light-bearer. So God says to His people, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." But that the light might burn and shine, it must be kept trimmed and fed with the holy oil. Fed from the Hidden Source, the child of God must shine for all. The table of presence-bread well represents the Word of God, upon which the child of God must feed continually. The altar of incense represents the grace of Christ in consecration, the Spirit of God making effectual prayers and service. The altar of burnt-offering represents a whole-hearted service; the laver, a pure life; the court, separation from the world.

5. The anointing of the priests (and all God's children are priests, 1 Peter 2:9) represents consecration to His service.

In Jesus Christ is all this fulness. In Him all our needs may be met, all our defects supplied. Let God, dear reader, make of you His tabernacle.