In the same way, God had instructions for the Tabernacle, we are to build our lives according to God’s commands because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
This message guides us to take the concept of the Tabernacle and apply it to our lives.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV
You and I are given free will to choose, but we choose who is Lord in our daily choices.
The Tabernacle is a picture of how we are to approach God in our journey with Him.
The Tabernacle consisted of 3 sections:
- Outer court
- Holy place
- Holy of holies
Outer court
- Brazen alter – always stood open to accept the guilt of any person who wished to come near to God. There the guilty sinner would offer another life, an innocent one, in his stead.
- Brazen laver – was the last object to be encountered before entering the tabernacle. Before entering God’s presence, one must be cleansed. The Levitical priests had to continually wash to ready themselves for the presence of Holy God, but Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Law
that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word
Ephesians 5:26 NKJV
We are released of all judgment by the spotless lamb – Jesus. We are washed of all sin by the Word.
The court was lit by natural sunlight. You are still under the influence of natural light. So even though you are saved, you are constantly being exposed to natural elements. If you remain in the outer court, fleshly opinions and earthly circumstances will hinder your pursuit of God.
A picture of a mind that is not transformed and is still carnal.
Holy Place
The Holy Place consists of:
- Golden 7-branched candlestick – which was to be kept burning continually, giving light to the Holy Place.
- Table of shewbread – This bread was baked fresh every week, and only the priests were allowed to eat of it as it was holy as well.
- Alter of incense – Special incense was to be burned each morning and evening as an offering to the Lord.
How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
Psalm 133:1-3 MSG
It’s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron’s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.
I saw the Seven Angels who are always in readiness before God handed seven trumpets. Then another Angel, carrying a gold censer, came and stood at the Altar. He was given a great quantity of incense so that he could offer up the prayers of all the holy people of God on the Golden Altar before the Throne. Smoke billowed up from the incense-laced prayers of the holy ones, rose before God from the hand of the Angel.
Revelation 8:3-4 MSG
The Holy Place emphasised God’s holiness and His inaccessibility due to the sins of the people. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the temple, that barrier between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, was supernaturally torn in two. The torn curtain symbolised that the way to God was now open to all through the death of Christ. The blood of an animal was no longer needed.
Holy of holies
The Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. It had:
- A pot of manna
- 10 commandments
- Aaron’s rod
The Tabernacle would have been nothing without the presence of God. Likewise, we are only able to live holy lives because of the Holy Spirit living in us.
The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling. Moses couldn’t enter the Tent of Meeting because the Cloud was upon it, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
Exodus 40:34-35 MSG
You and I are the Tabernacle. We are the temple of God. Because Jesus dwelt among us and paid the price for our sin at the cross, we are free in Him. We no longer have to stand back but can enter into the presence of the glory of God.
At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces.
Matthew 27:51 MSG
Christ’s body was “torn” on the cross, just as the veil was torn in the temple, and now we have access to God through Jesus. We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.
