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Tabernacle of Moses
 Why study the Tabernacle of Moses? It is not just a nice description of the large portable tent the Israelites lugged around. The Tabernacle was a place of worship. The ‘entering’ into the presence of the LORD. In days to come, we will journey through, pause and take a look around, look at each piece of furniture in what it was also referred to as, The Tent of Meeting, beginning with the outer court.
We will first face sacrifice, the altar of
burnt offering, in this sacrifice we find acceptance
and the invitation to go further (into the courtyard), the water basin, for washing, then once inside - the incense
altar, we see the table with the lamp on it, then the table
with the bread, and behind the veil, the Ark…. God.
It says, (Ex. 39, then 40) that Moses did all that God commanded of him, THEN… God’s glory came and filled the Tabernacle, so full, that Moses could not go in. That is how the book of Exodus ends. BUT, Leviticus begins where it leaves off… the opening verse says…. ‘God spoke to Moses from the Tabernacle’.
To hear God’s voice, we have to enter His courtyard, be encountered and embrace sacrifice, walk past and through the washing, smell and be the fragrance of worship , see His light burning and partake of His bread that is ever present, then - and only then do we truly enter His presence (the veil now torn, thank You Jesus! ) there, He speaks to us… after the process…. of ‘entering’.
May we see HIM, in this journey through, The Tabernacle of Moses.
Many books have been written concerning the Tabernacle of Moses (The Tabernacle of the Congregation), and numerous teaching tapes are also available. There are many different ways to address this important subject and all of them are most informative and help us to better understand God's plan. This book, however, is being written to bring forth an understanding that is so desperately needed in the hearts of the people of God. I believe that you are going to find this book to be unique, exciting, but most of all ENLIGHTENING.
As we address the Tabernacle from a heavenly viewpoint and the perspective of the finished work, it will truly unveil to us the fullness of the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. But, it is also a revelation concerning the church, which is Jesus the head and us as the body of Christ. It reveals to us the totality of who and what we are and the full expression of the Finished Work in the earth today.
According to the pattern of the Old Testament Tabernacle, everything proceeded from the outside in. But now there is a new and living way.
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkledfrom an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)" Heb. 10:16-23
We immediately move into the Holy of Holies. Jesus followed the pattern of the Old so that we would not have to. Ritualistically, He didn't go through the pattern as set for man under the old covenant. Following the cross, He didn't go to the brazen laver, the candlestick, nor the table of shewbread, nor past the altar of incense. Rather He went right straight to the Holiest of All in the heavens to consecrate for us a new and living way. And as we will see as we progress, He has taken us in the same way and now wants to bring us out. An understanding of all that He has done will cause us to view our progression of the Tabernacle from the inside out, rather than the outside in. God is working on us from the inside out!
Jesus declared 'it is finished'! And it is! What more can be said? We are a new creation, the old man is dead, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places! We overcome by the blood of the Lamb (the Cross), the word of our Testimony (it is finished), and we love not our lives (self-life) unto the death.
The just shall live by faith, and it takes FAITH to really believe all that He has done. If we are viewing the Tabernacle strictly from Old Testament mentality, then our walk with Him will be that of works and Law. To view it from New Testament realities, our walk with Him will be that of grace, love, and relationship.
Just remember the Old Testament is the new concealed, and the New Testament is the old revealed. Our prayer is for the Holy Spirit to enlighten your understanding concerning the fullness of all that He accomplished.
As we begin to behold His work and our works we can see right away if we are viewing the Holiest of All through the aspect of the law, or through the understanding of grace.
God is building a city, a holy habitation according to the pattern that is His Son. And He brought us in to bring us out. We now see that the Ark is not just the place of the sprinkling of blood for us where the judgment of God was appeased, but now it has become a place where he has lifted us and seated us. We are on the throne of God seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ Jesus. As we progress from the Holy of Holies, the Altar takes on a whole new meaning to us. No longer are we worshipping and praying to go in, but now worship and prayer flows out of our relationship with Him. The Table of Shewbread is no longer just a place to try to get enough word to feel good before God and the devil, rather we realize that we are born of the Word and we are ONE BREAD with Him! The candlestick now not only brings revelation to the word, but out of our relationship, we realize that we are one with the candlestick and the light is not only in us, but we too have become the light. The brazen laver is not a place of continual washing, but out of relationship we understand that the blood offer continual cleansing and therefore we are clean. The cross is no longer a place of sacrifice of just where He died for us, rather now out of our relationship with Him we realize that He died AS us!
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