For myself, I’ve enjoyed being here this week, experiencing God’s presence and mercy, and receiving a lot from the messages and encouragement from brothers and sisters.
I’m very thankful for the brothers and sisters who are working behind the scenes in the conference here today. I have some overheads I’ll be showing, which some brothers kindly got off the internet and printed up for me today. I really appreciate that, and I feel like we’re part of a wonderful opportunity to all work together as brothers and sisters.
I appreciate your prayers and your listening, and hopefully digging in these matters of heavenly vision.
I’ve been sharing on this matter of the tabernacle. Moses received the pattern of the tabernacle while he was up on the mount. We’ve talked about this and the heavenly vision behind this tabernacle, and we looked at it very simply as a way of showing us that there is only one way to God: through Jesus Christ. The tabernacle is a picture of that one way in Christ.
Then last time we looked at this whole matter of the end of this pattern of the tabernacle: that it is a revelation of the truth and glory. What is the truth and glory—the reality in glory? It is that Christ is all and in all.
Once you see this vision, which Moses, of course, only saw from afar—only saw a bit of, as it were—but when you see something of this heavenly vision, it masters us. It begins to master us in such a way that, as you look around the Scriptures and at all the various parts of the Word of God, the parables, and the types, you see Christ is all and in all everywhere.
Now tonight we want to see the tabernacle on the move. Turn with me to Numbers 9.
The tabernacle had a purpose, of course. It was to bear witness to the testimony of God as they walked through the wilderness and came into the promised land, where God would find rest in the temple in Jerusalem at last.
Here is a passage I would like for us to begin by reading: Numbers 9:15.
These are some of the last instructions that Moses received and gave before they actually moved away from Mount Sinai.
Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony;
And in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning.
So it was continually; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterwards the sons of Israel would then set out;
And in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.
At the command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp.
As long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.
Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the Lord’s charge and not set out.
If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the Lord they remained camped; then, according to the command of the Lord, they set out.
If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out.
Or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out.
Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out.
At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the Lord’s charge according to the command of the Lord through Moses.—Numbers 9:15-23
Then, Numbers 10:11:
Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony,
And the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai.
Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.—Numbers 10:11-12
And so began their journey from Mount Sinai through the remaining stations.
Now turn to Acts 7, verse 44. Chapter 7 has so much reference to Old Testament history. It is a message by Stephen, the evangelist.
Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
—Acts 7:44
Then Hebrews 3, beginning with verse 1:
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”—Hebrews 3:1-8
Father, we thank You for the opportunities we have to dig through the Scriptures and find the treasures of Christ. Now tonight, as we finish up this series on the tabernacle, we pray that Your presence would be with us, Your Holy Spirit teaching us and leading us into the reality of the very things we speak about.
Lord, we depend upon the Holy Spirit to be the Teacher, to be the Leader, to give us freedom, to strengthen our bodies, to revive us, to keep our hearts alert and ready to hear Thy voice.
Lord, we want to commit this whole time now, with thanksgiving, into Your hands. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The tabernacle was an earthly structure with a heavenly correspondence. That is to say, it was here on earth and passing along through the wilderness, but all the time it had a greater value than its own value just in terms of material, because it was testifying to something unseen and something that was above.
One reason it could testify to God’s nature—that being righteousness, holiness, and love—was because Moses was so faithful to construct the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern that was shown him on the mount.
This teaches us the lesson that when we do the will of God as our Lord instructs us, whatever we do here on earth has a heavenly correspondence that gives those things a greater value than their own intrinsic value.
So this tabernacle moved through the wilderness, as we see: the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness.
When they actually broke down the tabernacle to travel, the ark led the way. The ark was the key. Just behind the leading soldiers, the ark led, as it were spiritually, the procession as they went from place to place through the wilderness.
It is interesting. You know, because I went to seminary in my younger days, I still have in a tomb—a crypt—some old liberal books which I love to pull out once in a while and see their spin on the tabernacle and the ark.
According to them, Moses did not receive anything from God. This whole tabernacle business was secondhand Egyptian architecture—everything borrowed from Egypt, nothing original.
The ark, as it is called in the Bible, they said was actually one of those divan chairs that the Pharaohs used to sit in when they were carried around from place to place. This was Moses’ seat, from which we later get in the New Testament the seat of Moses in the synagogue. Moses was a big shot, and they used to carry him through the wilderness. This is what the ark was.
Other liberals disagree completely because of an archaeological discovery. Maybe some of you have seen it in an archaeological book: they always show this picture of the ark, pictured by some fourth-century Canaanite stone that had wheels on the bottom.
They said, in fact, the ark was a chariot of the god Yah that went ahead. It was the god of war, and he had a chariot, and they pushed it out ahead to get the children of Israel out there. You know, this kind of thing.
Liberals lose the reality of the tabernacle to the place where only Steven Spielberg can recover it.
But when the real tabernacle was carried from place to place—and believe me, we will just look a little bit at the structure again tonight—it was not an easy thing to carry.
Those four groups of Levites had to carry all that stuff. I am telling you, it was a lot to carry. But as they carried it through, with all these vessels and furnishings covered up in beautiful coverings of different kinds and carried on their shoulders, it struck fear in the hearts of the enemies around.
There was some kind of testimony. Of course, there was the cloud and the fire, but the reality was the ark.
As it moved along, it was such odd furniture for the desert. I mean, one would hardly want to build things of gold in the desert, but so are the strange ways of God.
When the ark was carried along from place to place on the shoulders of the Levites, it struck fear and terror. You remember Balaam and Balak standing up on the mountain wanting to curse them down there, but they could not.
When the people of Jericho saw the children of Israel—two million of them—coming through the Jordan River with the ark out in front, oh, their hearts melted. If their hearts melted then, what happened when the ark started circling around them for seven days? They had one week of gloom and doom. They saw this ark, nobody saying anything, trumpets blowing, the ark going around in front of the people for seven days.
The ark itself was just an earthly piece of furniture that had a heavenly correspondence to it. So it caused great fear among the enemies, and it caused great hope among the children of Israel.
It was the presence of God that made all the difference.
This presence eventually came to be called the Shekinah. After the tabernacle arrived in the promised land, this cloud and fire left. But there was still something about this presence—now intangible, no cloud, no fire.
When you got near, there was something in the invisible that was palpable. They said, “This is the Shekinah.” It was the presence of God that made all the difference.
When we look at Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33, we remember that he was at the bottom of the mountain, praying and interceding for the children of Israel who had worshiped a bull and called it God, and had committed all kinds of fornication.
In Exodus 33, we find this prayer of Moses. I just want to point out a few verses.
Moses said, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people?
Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”
—Exodus 33:15-17
Moses knew that the issue was the presence of God. “If Your presence goes not with us, do not send us up.” What a prayer.
Now, brothers and sisters, I have a feeling that if they took a vote, the children of Israel would have voted for the angel. The Lord was angry, and He said, “I will send an angel ahead of you, and you can go into the promised land and get your land, but I am not going with you.”
This is what Moses is responding to: “If Your presence goes not with us, do not send us up.”
But if we had a vote, you see, the Lord would have sent an angel. Of course, for people without vision, an angel looks like a human. We are so much more likely to follow a human than a presence.
Especially if this human is the captain of the host of the Lord’s army. When they got into the promised land, this Man stood before Joshua, who turned out to be the captain of the Lord’s host. The angelic beings fought with Israel as they conquered the promised land, but He looked like a man at first. I think the children of Israel would have voted for a man.
But Moses knew. He said, “Do you know the only thing that makes us unique? Your presence. Without Your presence, we are just another nickel-and-dime tribe, wandering Bedouins. We are nothing more. It is Your presence that makes all the difference. It is Your presence that gives us the reputation. It is Your presence that makes people afraid.”
I want to make a simple point tonight. It is my main point, and I want to make it now:
The presence of the Lord and His testimony is everything.
That is the lesson we learn as the tabernacle goes through the wilderness. The presence and testimony of the Lord is everything.
You know, brothers and sisters, I am spoiled so rotten by being able to come to times even like this and, by God’s mercy, sense His presence.
We are so blessed, and we do not realize it until we take a trip down memory lane. Sometimes somebody says, “Would you go to a wedding over at such-and-such a place, a Christian place?” Or you go to a funeral somewhere where the people do not even expect the presence of God, and He is not there.
You know what I am saying? They do not even expect the presence. I do not know if they could even recognize the presence if it were there.
But once you have tasted the mercy in His presence, the grace in His presence, you know what? We are spoiled. I think we are just taking such high dosages now that we do not even realize it.
But His presence is everything. Just let Him take His presence away from you, and you feel devastated. Suddenly you come short of the grace of God and go through a lot of trouble.
It is when His presence is upon us that we can walk on earth just like the tabernacle, with a heavenly correspondence. There is something more to our lives.
You do not have to have a cloud or a fire up there just burning away for people to say, “There is something there. I do not know why this person makes me uncomfortable. Here we are cursing at the cooler, and then they come along. I do not know what that is.”
Thank God for that.
Down through Israel’s history, no matter how large the house is—whether it is a little tabernacle or Solomon’s temple—the whole thing is geared around that little box hidden away in the back.
Since the enemy knows it, his strategy is to steal the box. That is his game: the ark, the ark of the testimony. He is not going to steal a priest or two, or just a lamp from the lampstand. He knows where the issue lies. He knows where the uniqueness is. He knows what makes all the difference: that presence right there. He will do anything to steal that away.
There is only one thing that can save us, whether we are marching along in triumph or whether we are brought low in the wilderness: if we have this single prayer, “Lord, if Your presence goes not with us, do not send us up,” then the Lord may have mercy upon us.
Moses decided to take the presence. That is the long road. That was the thirty-eight-year road. That is the road of dealing, discipline, and problems.
This is what made them have to sit in a place for a long period of time, because the cloud and fire just stayed there. If they had gone and followed the man—the angel—they would have gotten in within eleven days. Of course, they would have perished in a couple of years, or just been somehow blended into the other tribes. They would have become Canaanites or something like that. Without the presence of God, there was nothing to hold them together.
But they went the Lord’s way. Moses wanted the Lord’s way, and it was the way of discipline. But is this not incredible? His presence is upon us even in discipline.
Even while He was disciplining the children of Israel and they were walking through the wilderness, as they walked by Moab, Balaam and Balak looked over, and Balaam could not see anything wrong in them. All he could see was God’s presence.
This is what makes all the difference.
“Yes, if Thy presence go not with us, take us not up.” That is the lesson.
Based on that, and with this picture of the tabernacle moving through the wilderness, there are four lessons—or pictures—that we can see from the tabernacle which can teach us some lessons regarding the house of God. By that, I mean, of course, the church.
We can learn some lessons about the church from this tabernacle because it represents us.
When Jesus came and tabernacled among us, in John 1:14, we then find in John 14:1 that He said, “I am going to prepare a place for you in My Father’s house.”
Then in Matthew 16, He said, “I will build My church.” Having died, risen again, and gone up to heaven in glory, He poured out the Holy Spirit, and the church began to be built.
This is the tabernacle down here on earth with its heavenly correspondence. Now this church is the people of God, the house of God.
How do we live? How do we live?
The answer is that the pattern shows us we live by the heavenly life. We live down here on earth as the house of God, but by the heavenly life. We live down here on earth, but by the divine presence. We live down here on earth, but we are people of the Way because we are hearing different instructions than the rest of the world.
We are in a heavenly correspondence that has us walk in a new, living, unique way. This is some of the picture that we can see as we look at the tabernacle.
We have some overheads now. Be patient with me, because you will see I drew some of these. I did. All of you artistic people, I know, are going to take umbrage with me, but please forgive me.
There are many pictures in the tabernacle that speak of us as believers.
In this sort of cutaway of the tabernacle itself, what I want you to see is that along the sides there are wood boards made of acacia wood and covered with gold. That is you and me—forty-eight of them, all stacked around it—and that makes the actual tabernacle itself. This is the building itself.
Here is an individual board. This individual board has two little feet at the bottom, and it is put into two silver foundation feet on the ground.
Here we see that our foundation, made of silver, is redemption. Who is in the house of God? He who is saved. He who is redeemed. Silver speaks of redemption.
Not only do we have one base of redemption, but the foundation of our very board is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus—the foundation of Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation of the church except this silver foundation, all of silver and Jesus.
Then here is the board. There are forty-eight of these boards. They are fifteen feet high and three feet wide. They are covered with gold, and they weigh about—give me an estimate—fifteen feet high, three feet wide, a heavy acacia board covered with gold—three hundred pounds?
Jerry’s got it right on the nose. I have no idea.
Here they are all compacted together. This is the Holy of Holies right in here, and the Holy Place is up here. Here are the forty-eight boards all standing up nice and straight because they are standing in their redemption in Christ Jesus.
But I want you to notice that these heavy boards—it is you and me, shown in this tabernacle—are held together.
There are actually five golden rods. One, two, three, four—and you see that little knob right there? That is the fifth one. It goes inside, right through it like that.
The explanation I have heard that I like the best—though it may not be the right one—is that this whole thing is held together by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers; and the unity of the Holy Spirit inwardly goes right through and really holds it all together.
When this is put together like this and then covered over—because do not forget, your life is hidden with Christ in God—if you are covered over by the coverings of Christ, this is very strong.
Here is the silver foundation. Here are the gold boards: ninety-six silver foundations, forty-eight boards, five golden coupling bars. There is just a little picture of us, the house of God. There you are right there. That is you. That is me.
This is a bird’s-eye view. Looking down, you can see the bronze altar, the bronze laver, the table of showbread, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the Holy of Holies, and the cherubim.
Each one of these pieces of furniture not only speaks of Christ—we looked at that last night or yesterday morning—but it also speaks of the church.
The bronze altar, in the Old Testament, was for sacrifices and offerings. The priests had to take care of these things.
The New Testament fulfillment is that the bronze altar was Christ, our sacrifice, and Christ, the perfect offering. But it also represents New Testament ministry—that is to say, the ministry of the house of God in bringing men to see the sacrifice, showing them Christ lifted up for them, and helping men offer their lives to Christ.
Again, evangelism. It speaks of remembering the priority of Christ’s death in everything we do in our life as the house of God, and of Jesus as the door.
Then there is the bronze laver. In the Old Testament, they washed their hands and feet before they entered the inner court or served at the bronze altar.
In New Testament ministry, it speaks of baptism as a way of entry after coming to the bronze altar. It speaks of being cleansed by the Word of God and clothed with Christ our righteousness. As far as ministry is concerned, it speaks of grounding young Christians, discipling them to Christ, and strengthening them in the Word of God so that they can dwell in the house of God.
Then there is the table of the presence, the showbread. Of course, it represents Christ, our food and our life. It shows the ordering of members of the body of Christ in fullness.
In terms of New Testament ministry, it speaks of shepherding, overseeing, teaching, edifying people, teaching, counseling, and even discipline. This table speaks of us always being before the presence of the Lord and being in order in the house of God.
The lampstand represents Christ as the light of the world, Christ as our light and revelation. But New Testament ministry involves those things that concern revelation: prophecy, prophetic ministry, even a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge.
Is it not wonderful when we need to know something and we can go to the lampstand, and the Lord can speak to us? It is wonderful that this ministry is involved in the house of God.
The golden altar of incense speaks of Christ as the fragrance, Christ as the true worshiper, and Christ the High Priest. In terms of ourselves, it speaks of our worship, our opportunity for intercession, and our way into the Holy of Holies as we come there worshiping and praying.
Then there is the mercy seat. There was no seat, but there were cherubim over the middle.
Its fulfillment is that Christ rents the veil and sits enthroned over the covenant of mercy. In New Testament ministry, we are talking about communing with the Lord in His presence—the light of His presence, the healing of His presence, the ministry of His presence.
But remember: because the veil has been rent, His presence comes out from the mercy seat and goes through the whole place. That is why, if we are at the lampstand, with the table of showbread, or even out at the bronze altar, we can sense the presence of the living God. The way has been opened, and we can come into His presence.
Now, of course, the issue is this: how do we build the church? Ah, I have it—seven pieces of furniture. Is that how the church is built? We need to find somebody with a bronze-altar ministry, find some evangelists, then find some worshipers. “Yeah, we need a worship team.” Then we will have the altar of incense.
Is this the way we are going to build the church? No—not according to the pattern, not according to the picture, and not according to the way of God.
Is the church patterned after Christ? Maybe that is what it is.
We have a problem now. This earthly tabernacle had a heavenly correspondence. What is the reality there in heaven that the tabernacle speaks of? Is the reality Christ, or is the reality the church?
Of course, I know you know the answer already: they are inextricably one. In the truth of the reality of the tabernacle, it is Christ and the church, and they are one.
Should the church pattern itself after Christ? In other words, let us all wear WWJD things, and in every situation say, “Now, what would Jesus do?” Let us pattern ourselves like Jesus. Keep turning the other cheek.
Should we pattern the church after Jesus? No.
Here is the one point that we need to see, or else all of this detail is no good: Jesus is not the pattern for the church. He is the church. He is the Person of the church.
Our brother shared this Scripture with us, but we need to look at this Scripture a hundred times a week: 1 Corinthians 12.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
—1 Corinthians 12:12
When I went to school, I heard that the church was the body of Christ. I would think that would be the proper way to end that verse if Paul were a good theological student. That makes sense: “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is the body of Christ,” or “the church.”
But after explaining how the members work in the body of Christ, Paul says, “So also is Christ.”
I do not know if you understand what I am saying, but what he is saying is that the church is not the body of Christ in the deepest sense. It functions that way, but in its essence, the church is Christ, and His members function in this way and that.
That means that we cannot pattern the church after Christ, because Christ is the church. It is Christ’s life. It is His presence that makes all the difference.
That is why it is absolutely essential for somebody to see this heavenly vision of who Christ is—this universal Man our brother shared about this morning—or else what we do is get hold of the details and go awry with them.
Is it not interesting in the book of Acts? Before the book of Acts, unfortunately, Jesus made a terrible mistake: He never gave the disciples a blueprint of how to build the church.
Do you not think He should have done that? He gave Moses the tabernacle. Now He should have said, “Okay, disciples, I want you to build the church along the line of the synagogue. Set up elders this way and that, put a seat in the middle, do the scroll.” Or, “I want this to be a town meeting.”
This is what the liberals say the church is. They say that the church was basically invented along the line of the synagogue, and others say that when they went into the Gentile world, they invented it along the line of the town meeting, which was called ekklesia in Greek.
There is everything original about the church, because it is the only organism on this earth that is a person and made up of many people.
Unless somebody sees this vision, they cannot build the church. The disciples did not get any pattern—except, actually, they did get a blueprint:
“When I go away, the Holy Spirit will come, and He is going to lead you, teach you things about Me. When His power comes upon you, just preach the gospel and tell them what happened to Me, and I will build the church.”
Some blueprint, huh?
It seems to be exactly what the apostles did, with no obvious blueprint or visible pattern that they were trying to structure. People got saved, came together, and found themselves one, sharing all things in common.
Even though they did not have a blueprint in front of them, when we look at Acts 2:42, I see the tabernacle.
These people gathered together, freshly saved and just baptized, gathering together at Solomon’s portico and in various homes. Listen to what they did. Nobody actually said, “This is the way it has got to be.”
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
—Acts 2:42
They spent time at the lampstand. They were eating at the table of showbread. They were breaking bread, and they were at the altar of incense.
Notice also this vibrant church in verse 47:
They were praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
—Acts 2:47
The outer court was busy. People were getting saved, hearing the gospel, getting baptized, joining this thing, and gathering together in the Holy Place—worshiping, receiving illuminated teaching, being ordered at the showbread, and breaking bread.
They were living by the heavenly life.
The first point is that the church is organic because the church is Christ. Christ was not the pattern.
Of course, “Christians” was perhaps a derogatory term used to talk about these people of the Way. It means little Christs. But here is the wonderful thing: it is not that little Christs are cookie-cutter patterns of the big Christ. It is that Christ is the living life inside these little Christs.
There is no pattern there; there is reproduction there. It is a living-organism thing.
Here is where I guess maybe I get in trouble. Follow me.
Every good Bible-believing person believes there is only one way to salvation: through Jesus. They agree with that tabernacle picture, right? Only one way. Everybody who knows their Bible knows that there is only one end: Christ is all and in all.
But if you dare say there is only one pattern for the church shown in the tabernacle, they say, “Oh, wait, wait, wait a minute.”
But there is only one pattern for the church.
You can see by looking around that there is a little disagreement there, because every possible human pattern of joining people together—corporation models and everything—is being used.
There are government patterns being used in the church. We have the Episcopalian pattern, where you have a bishop at the top. We have Presbyterian government, where elders are leaders. Then you have congregational government, where the congregation is actually in charge, or you have the pastor system, where the pastor is in charge.
We have all these human government things, but they are not really touching the government of Christ, which is that Christ is the church and He is the Head.
This is why the more orthodox Christian groups say, “That is why we are the only real church. We are based on the pattern of the tabernacle.”
They have literally done that. Anybody here who has taken a trip to Europe and gone to the various old churches—the wonderful cathedrals throughout Europe—has seen that they are all based on outer court, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies, where the host is. The churches are structured literally like the tabernacle, and the vestments also follow the pattern.
This is the way they say the church is: a humongous building with three sections in it. Only the best guys go in the front, and you have to wear special colors and vestments, and carry a staff—a shepherd’s thing. Now we look like the church.
It is not too living.
They took it literally, but is that what Jesus meant—that Christians should take this model and build buildings like it?
Of course, those who are much more scriptural devise New Testament patterns. This is a very popular thing. A lot of people who know the Bible say, “We have to have the church on the New Testament pattern.” By that they mean: check out all the details in the New Testament, put it all together, and then you have church.
In other words, we get the church by connecting the dots. We build a wineskin, and now we have the wine.
But the details—the New Testament pattern, as it is called—without the wine and the presence of Christ, are dead.
I get around a little bit. I have actually seen fellowships of twenty people, and within the twenty people they have an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, elders, deacons, and deaconesses. Everybody—even a little child—has some job. It is the New Testament pattern.
Somebody came through there and prophesied, gave everybody a name and a job, and now they have the New Testament church. But the reality just is not there.
You cannot do that from the outside in. There has to be some life and some vision of what the church really is. Then that reality of His life produces various members and various functions.
There is only one way. There is only one pattern for the New Testament church. What is it?
It is the life of Christ.
Look in Ephesians 4. Paul is sharing on this matter of the church in its fullness.
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.—Ephesians 4:13-15
We are to grow up into Him. Here is the point. To me, it is very clear in verse 13: the church, if there is a measure—a way of saying, “Is this the church?”—here is the measure. The measure of the church is Christ Himself.
Everything in the church needs to be the life of Christ.
We talked about the nature of God, which is the nature of Jesus: righteousness, holiness, and love. Everything we do in the church needs to be righteous, holy, and loving—not just loving, but righteous, holy, loving.
We are measured by Christ. Our ministry in the church needs to be measured by Christ.
When I see a ministry that is so out of character with Christ’s own personality, I have a difficult time with it. You know what I am saying? When somebody is saying things and doing things that are so ungodly, and they are saying they are being used by Christ, I have a serious problem with that.
All ministry needs to be measured by the very Person of Christ Himself. You remember one time Paul said, “You did not learn Christ in that way.”
By the life of Christ within us, we begin to measure the aspects of the church. This is the measure of the church: Christ Himself—in terms of our life, in terms of truth. Christ is the measure.
The church is organic. That is the first point we see from the tabernacle. It is not dead boards; it is living people, held together by the unity of the Spirit. They are held together because it is Christ’s very life. That gold on top of our wood is because of Christ, and we have been clothed with Christ.
The church is Christ. The church is us.
Sometimes the New Testament uses the phrase “the Christ,” which seems to refer to more than just Jesus Himself; it also refers to His body—Christ in fullness.
Until we all attain to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
—Ephesians 4:13
Lesson number one: the tabernacle is Christ; therefore, the church is Christ.
The most important aspect of that is this: “Lord, if Your presence is not among us, we do not want to go on.”
I do not care what kind of structure. Things are so confused today that you can sense the presence of God in some places where there is obviously something unscriptural there. Then you go somewhere else where everything is according to a scriptural pattern, but it is dead.
The presence of God is everything.
Lesson number two that I think we see in the tabernacle: turn to 1 Chronicles 22.
As David is preparing for the temple that his son is going to build, he is exhorting Solomon. The principle is the same as with the tabernacle.
The second lesson we learn from looking at the tabernacle is the absolute necessity of the ark of the testimony for the life of the tabernacle.
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.
—1 Chronicles 22:19
Then look in 1 Chronicles 28:2:
Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people. I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.”
—1 Chronicles 28:2
Here is the point: the tabernacle is for the ark.
The tabernacle is an enclosure in which you place the ark. The purpose of the tabernacle is the keeping of the ark. Of course, the purpose of the ark is the keeping of the covenant. It is one within another—we are doing the dolls again.
What is the reason for the tabernacle, all these furnishings and everything? Of course, they manifest different aspects of God, but the main reason for the tabernacle is for the sake of the ark, for the testimony.
This is the second lesson we learn as we look at this whole matter: it is Jesus’ life. That is what the church is about. The church is for the life of Christ to be manifest.
Each piece of furniture in the tabernacle has its value in proportion as it is related to the ark, to the Holy of Holies.
The bronze altar has its value if, from the bronze altar, a person ends up in the dwelling of God at the mercy seat. The blood is taken from the bronze altar, but its importance is when it is put on the mercy seat.
The laver takes on its value when we are able to go into that Holy of Holies and hear the commands of God. The Word of God as the laver helps us to hear the commands of God in the Holy of Holies.
The table of showbread is connected to the pot of manna in the Holy of Holies. Its value is that it is related to the pot of manna in the testimony.
Prayer at the altar of incense has its value as it is related to Aaron’s rod—the resurrected authority. Prayer at the altar of incense has value because of what is in the Holy of Holies.
The lampstand has value as it is related to the eternal purpose, again as you see it in the Holy of Holies, in the ark of the testimony.
In the body of Christ, everybody has a different ministry, a different burden, and a different part to play. If we were in the tribe of Levi, you would be in a particular family. Maybe your family took care of the furniture, the poles, or the curtains and veils. Those are the three main things you carried from place to place.
Everybody has responsibility. Sometimes your ministry, responsibility, or burden is around one of these pieces of furniture.
Some people have a burden for evangelism. What is that? The bronze altar.
Some people have a burden to get together with young Christians and disciple them. This is the laver.
Some people have a burden for prophecy. They are always in front of the lampstand. They love the lampstand. They love prophecy and all this kind of stuff.
Some people like ordering people around. They are at the table of showbread, shuffling the bread around.
Some people are into worship. They are always at the altar of incense—in worship and prayer.
But if it is not related to the Holy of Holies, to the ark inside, it gets out of proportion.
You can go to an assembly and they have a huge altar of incense, and all they do is worship. But they have no outer court. They are not going under any revelation at the lampstand. It is worship all the time. You have a huge altar of incense, though it is really a very small thing.
Or you go somewhere else and they have a huge bronze altar—ninety feet long. They do not even have a Holy of Holies. All they do is carve up people and preach the gospel.
When we are left to our own devices, it can all get unbalanced. All of these things are legitimate, but they have value as they relate to the Holy of Holies, to the ark of the testimony.
When they are related to the testimony, everything there has value. The utensils have great value when they are connected. Evangelism has great value when it is connected to the eternal purpose.
But we are all biased. If we are the leaders—the movers and shakers—we can end up distorting a group so that they are always standing in front of the mercy seat. They just want to commune, commune, commune. Meanwhile, there is no outer court. It is not real. It is not living.
The whole thing is connected to the ark.
Of course, the enemy knows that. It is interesting that in the Old Testament, there are three examples of the ark missing from the house of God.
Here is our question: how can you have the house of God without the ark? Why does that not bother some people?
You remember the first story in 1 Samuel 4, when the soldiers got the two sons of Eli, took the ark right out of the Holy of Holies, and sent it out into battle with a great war cry. Of course, they lost it.
This is a picture. Workers commandeer God’s presence for their own purposes, and the presence is lost, because the equation is this: the work is greater than the presence.
Jesus preached the gospel in a village, but the next day the disciples could not find Him because He had gone to the next village. The disciples said, “Wait a minute. We were just passing out the tracts for tomorrow night’s meeting over there in Chorazin, and now You are over in Bethsaida.”
He says, “Listen, I follow the presence. I am not building My work.”
But workers, once that work gets rolling, you know, that work really gets rolling. Sometimes we have to bring out the ark, get up the offerings, or whatever it is. But no, no, no.
Here is the interesting thing about the ark: the only thing you ever really find in the Bible about the ark is that God speaks to you out of the ark. You do not command the ark; the ark commands you. Glory commands you; you do not command the glory.
It takes a mighty brash person to command the glory to do something for their sake—for the sake of the work, for the sake of this, for the sake of that. Just pull the ark right out of the Holy of Holies.
No. The work is not greater than the presence.
The second example is in 2 Chronicles 1. Solomon became king and was getting ready to build the temple. David had prepared everything, but Solomon was still lacking something: a hearing heart.
Here we have the second time the ark is absent from the house of God. Nobody seemed to care.
Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.
—2 Chronicles 1:3
The tabernacle was in Gibeon. You get it?
However, David had brought up the ark from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
—2 Chronicles 1:4
Wait a minute. The tabernacle is in Gibeon; the ark is in Jerusalem. Something is wrong with this picture.
Solomon went before the Lord to the bronze altar at the tent of meeting in Gibeon and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. He went down to Gibeon because the tent of meeting was known as the place where the big bronze altar was, and he wanted to offer big offerings.
When we go over to 1 Kings 3 and look at the same story, we see what happens.
Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.—1 Kings 3:3-4
Is that not interesting? What is that little “except” there for?
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream. God asked him what he wanted, and he asked for wisdom and a hearing heart.
Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings.
—1 Kings 3:15
He woke up and said, “Wait a minute. It is where the presence is that I need to make the offerings.” He went up to Jerusalem, to the tent where the ark was, and made his offerings there.
Here is an interesting point: tradition replaces the presence with another piece of furniture.
Once the presence is gone, we have to have some reason for this tabernacle, so we make it the bronze-altar tabernacle. But that was not the purpose of the tabernacle. The purpose of the tabernacle was for the ark.
Tradition says, “You know what is really important to us? The bronze altar.” Never mind the presence. We have a better idea.
The third time, of course, we know that when the Babylonians captured and destroyed the temple, Nebuchadnezzar, as far as we know, took off with the ark, and it was never seen again.
However, when the remnant came back and built that little humble temple, an attitude was added. Herod finally built this big, colossal, huge building with gold all over it and everything.
Finally, it got to the place where the size of the house obsoleted the presence. The externals became more important than the presence.
The huge temple was so beautiful that people would just look at it and gasp: “What a beautiful place. Look at the singers, the offerings, and the way everything is done here. This is a beautiful, beautiful place.”
Everybody was awed by the external beauty, but the presence was not even there. In Herod’s temple, there was no ark. There was no ark.
What is the purpose of the temple without the ark?
This is a lesson to be learned for us. If Your presence goes not with us, do not lead us up.
If we are in a situation and Your presence is not upon us, I do not care how big the thing is or what kind of work we are doing. Let us stop until we are back in His presence, or else we do not want to go forward.
Lesson number three that we learn in this matter of the tabernacle: I would like to draw on Acts 7:47-49, where it talks about Solomon building the temple and, upon completion, praying a very wonderful and wise prayer.
But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?” says the Lord,
“Or what place is there for My repose?
Was it not My hand which made all these things?”—Acts 7:47-50
Here is a lesson we need to learn from the heavenly life as we live it in the tabernacle: God is bigger than the tabernacle and the house of God.
When we are in the house of God and sense His presence, why do we sense His presence? It is because of His mercy. Because of His mercy, we sense His presence. He is being merciful. He is being gracious to us.
It is not because we are good. It is not because we are perfect. It is because we have asked for His presence and are living in His presence. It is a matter of His mercy that His presence comes out from the Holy of Holies and pervades our tabernacle as we go.
But we need to be careful that we do not make this mistake: that this is all God is doing. God says, “I made everything. Now where can somebody build something that completely involves Me?”
The presence was a heavenly correspondence. His presence was there in the tabernacle, but He was doing so much more.
When we get tabernacle-conscious, we sometimes think this is all God is doing. There is a lot, lot, lot more that the Lord is doing.
If we really sense His presence and live in His presence, there is a sense of largeness that He places upon us that will not allow us to remain so small and parochial. There is something enlarging about His presence that does not allow us to be that way. There is a fullness He wants us to attain.
Lord knows everywhere that, by His mercy, He says that the presence of God needs to be enlarged. We need to be enlarged in our character, enlarged in the presence of God, enlarged in our ministry, enlarged in our work.
When Paul talks about this matter of fullness in Ephesians 4, he says first we need to be enlarged by our unity together. There is a largeness in our unity together, bound together and maintaining the unity of the Spirit. There needs to be a largeness in our work.
To me, it is a tragic thing when people say, “Oh, we just want to worship God and stay in the Holy Place. We do not want any ministry.” Or people say, “All we want is ministry. Do not give us this Holy Place stuff.”
People come up with these ideas because of their own personal feelings. Let us put it this way: the largeness of God’s presence allows mystics and workers to dwell together.
Some people love to preach the gospel. But if you like to be a mystic standing in the Holy of Holies, what should we do—lop off the outer court?
If we lop off the outer court, here is our dilemma: the vital life of the heavenly tabernacle is directly connected to the first and last pieces of furniture.
If we do not have an outer-court ministry at the bronze altar, preaching the gospel and ministering beyond ourselves, we lose the vitality of the house of God. But if we do not have the Holy of Holies at the end of what we are doing, soon our work becomes human work.
We all have our temperament. Once you dwell in the house of God, you say like David, “I just want to dwell here all the days of my life.” But when you go into the Holy of Holies, the commanding God over the cherubim says, “Go out.”
If we come in there and say, “Oh, I just live in the Holy of Holies,” and we are never hearing the commanding of God to go out, I do not think we really live in there. We found a little side corner.
But if we have the outer court and the Holy of Holies, there is a vital ministry that goes right through the whole tabernacle.
When you are being faithful in going outward, it gives vitality to the tabernacle itself. But if you are just out there working, working, working, working, and you are never going in past the bronze altar into the Holy Place, satisfying the Lord, that work out in the outer court becomes, after a while, just human energy with no point, purpose, or pleasure to God.
The presence of God should enlarge us, not narrow us. God is doing great things. There are great things going on in the outer court, even beyond a fence.
We need to learn this lesson. Solomon was very wise when he prayed this prayer: “Oh, we built You the most colossal temple that has ever been built, and yet You are too big to dwell in here.”
Lord, it is Your presence that makes all the difference to us.
The last lesson, lesson number four: look again at Acts 7:44.
Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
—Acts 7:44
Then Acts 7:38:
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness.
—Acts 7:38
“The church in the wilderness” is what it really says, referring to the children of Israel.
The last point is this: we are the church in the wilderness.
What do I mean by that? Let us ask this question. We said the tabernacle was based on the pattern Moses saw on the mountain. What is the church today? Is it the reality, or is it a shadow of the reality?
I do not think you can say it is a shadow, because the life of Christ is in the church, and that is reality. Whenever two or three gather together, the reality is there. So we cannot say it is the shadow.
But we cannot say it is the reality, because the unity of the faith has not been reached, nor has the fullness of reality been reached. We cannot call it the reality. Whenever somebody calls the church the reality, they have made a fatal mistake.
What does the Word of God call the church in this present day? The lampstand.
Why in Revelation 2 and 3 does Jesus come and inspect the seven churches in Asia Minor and call them lampstands? It says the churches are the lampstands in His hands; the angels are the workers, or however you want to say it.
Of course, we know these seven churches were seven historical churches. If I could put it this way, they were all seven tabernacles actually on the earth, pitched at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. They were actual physical groups of people meeting together on this earth.
But when Jesus came out of the Holy of Holies to inspect the church, He was looking for the spiritual reality—that is to say, the testimony.
What is the church today? It should be the spiritual reality of the Lord Jesus Christ: the lampstand bearing testimony to Jesus.
It is not the reality as if we can say, “Here it is. This is it right here.” But this is a testimony with a heavenly correspondence.
We have a Head who is in heaven. We are trying to listen to His voice. We are following Him. We want to be all that He is, and we want to be His fullness, even as He is filling us.
This is our testimony: everything is Christ. He is all. He is in all. Our testimony is that He died for our sins and rose again. We talk about it. We try to live in His fullness, and especially we pray, “Oh Lord, take not Thy presence from us.”
This is what makes us unique: His presence.
The church is a spiritual reality.
In the church, the issue is this: is the ark of the testimony in its place?
Even though some things may be out of order, there may be some problem at some furniture, some bread may have fallen off the table, or this or that has happened—here is the question: is the testimony, the ark of the testimony, in the Holy of Holies? Is His presence among us?
When we say that the church is the tabernacle in the wilderness, this is what we are really saying: His presence is with us. But do not forget, it is a disciplining presence.
Even as in Revelation 2 and 3, when we talk about His presence, especially we love to sing songs about His presence. Have you noticed in the last ten years there are a lot of presence songs coming out?
But we are all talking about the ooey-gooey, nice presence.
When the charismatic movement really hit in the late 1960s, they were known as people who had sloppy agape—the whole great emotional, “Oh, His presence is so sweet, so nice.”
But His presence in this present hour, as the tabernacle in the wilderness, is a disciplining presence. Think of how He went with His children through that wilderness. He disciplined them. He chastened them. He worked on the leadership. He severely disciplined the leadership. But His presence remained with them.
The church in Revelation 2 and 3 experienced His presence, but it was not the ooey-gooey presence of some of our worship. It is wonderful to sense the smile of His presence, but the fact is that we are the tabernacle in the wilderness, and His presence comes to us in discipline.
He wants to know: Is the cross at the entrance of the church? Does everything that comes into the church have to go through the bronze altar? He is checking that out.
Is the life in the house of God a sanctified life? Are people’s hands washed? Is the ministry clean there in the house of God? He is checking out the laver.
The bread of the presence: are you putting fresh bread out every week, or are you giving people stale bread? Is the bread in order? Is there order here? “I am looking.”
“I am at the lampstand. I am trimming the wicks.”
He is willing to do all of this if we will pray, “Oh Lord, take not Your presence from us. Discipline us that we may live.”
Otherwise, what is our testimony in the nation? Would it not be terrible to be an assembly of people that nobody would sense as anything different from the world?
It is only His presence that would make the difference.
In the wilderness, when you look at the tabernacle going through the wilderness, we know the old man was laid low and died in the wilderness. The old man will not make it into the promise, into the inheritance. So there is dealing on the outside too.
We know that the world hates the testimony, and as we go through the wilderness there will be persecution and difficult times. But His presence will go with us.
We know that the new generation—that is to say, the new man—will be trained in righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives as we go through the wilderness.
I love the New American Standard rendering of Numbers 14:33, which says that the next generation that goes into the promised land will have learned how to be shepherds in the wilderness.
Now that is training for the inheritance. It is easy to be a shepherd in the land of Goshen, where everything is green and everything is there. But to be a shepherd in the wilderness, you really have to take care of things.
This is the portion of the younger generation.
We go back to the very first section we read, just to finish up, and I want to say this: the Lord wants His testimony to be exactly the reality of the heavens. When He comes, He will put the top stone on it, and there will be a reality forever—His tabernacle here among men.
Because of that, He is working in such a way that He will discipline us, and He will discipline us like He disciplined the children of Israel.
Can you imagine being one of the carriers? At five o’clock in the evening, the cloud stops, and now you have to erect this tabernacle. All these big boards go up, all these things go through. They back up with the equipment because they do not want to see the ark. They back up with the ark, take the covering off without looking, and put it up.
They get everything up, and at six o’clock in the morning, up goes the cloud. There it goes. Down we go, back down. Here we go.
Some fellowships learn a lot just by moving chairs up and down, folding and bringing them out year after year.
But more than that, the Lord will break us right down to the foundation if He needs to. He is the Potter, and we are the clay. If the clay goes bad, He will just throw it down there and start all over again. He is going to have His way.
He may take us right down to the silver foundation, then build us up again, bring us down, build us up, bring us down, build us up. But He will be faithful.
I cannot imagine any other prayer that Joshua and Caleb could have given other than, “Lord, if Your presence is going not with us, do not send us up.”
As many times as they had the breakdown, or had to wait, or whatever the discipline was, they learned at the command of the Lord what to do. The tabernacle finally made it into the promised land.
This is God’s mercy to us as well.
These are the pictures we see from the tabernacle life. We are living on earth, but we are walking by a heavenly life. The key is His presence and His testimony in our midst.
If we do not have these things, we are nothing. It does not matter how big our groups are. It does not matter what our buildings look like. If His presence is not there, we have nothing.
Maybe you get together with two other families. There are eight of you, and you are reading the Bible, praying, coming before the Lord, and worshiping Him. You are just eight people, but His presence is there. Then there is a correspondence with heaven as you are under His headship.
In this day, in the tabernacle in the wilderness, we go through a lot of discipline. We will know the cross and the discipline of the Holy Spirit, but His presence will be with us.
We thank the merciful Lord for these pictures He shows us of the way of the church in His life.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank You that even the boards in the tabernacle speak of heavenly things. We thank You, Lord, that You have built Yourself a house on earth, even the church. You desire to be all that You are.
Lord, we just thank You so much for Your presence. Oh Lord, without You, we are nothing.
Lord, we look beyond names and titles and sizes, and pray, “Lord, if Your presence goes not with us, then do not send us up.”
Lord, we are not interested in getting involved in works that take all of our energy but where Your presence is not there. Lord, we are not interested in coming to worship services that are just dead routine and where Your presence is not there.
Lord, we are not interested in going before the altar of incense and carelessly throwing incense on that altar. No, Lord, we do not want to defile Your presence.
Lord, we pray that Your presence would remain with us. Oh Lord, help us. We know it is Your mercy that brings Your presence to us. Even this mercy would bring us to repentance.
Oh Lord, take not Thy Holy Spirit from us.
Lord, in these last days, may it be that we could be a lampstand and bear testimony to the spiritual reality of who Jesus really is. May there be that invisible sense of Your Shekinah when we gather together, pray, worship, study, live, and witness.
Oh, send Your presence throughout our tabernacle. Give us that fullness of testimony. Every aspect, every person, whatever their responsibility, Lord, let there be some sense of its final purpose and intent right there in the Holy of Holies.
Lord, we thank You that You are instructing us in these days. Even as we have been together in these days, we feel there is some correspondence with heaven, if we will listen.
Lord, You ended up saying to the Hebrew people, “Partakers of a heavenly calling, do not harden your hearts, but listen.”
Oh Lord, help us. Dig our ears so that we may hear what You would say to us in these last days.
We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.