May 19

The True Tabernacle.—Hebrews 8:2.

THE ancient tabernacle was appointed by God, and all things connected with it were made according to the pattern God gave unto Moses in the holy mount. It was not only intended as an erection for the celebration of worship and sacrifice; but it was, like every other part of that dispensation, typical of the person and work of Christ. The apostle, in his discourse on the ancient institutions, in this epistle, shews that all those things were shadows of good things to come. As such, Christ is the substance of those observances; and "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." The resemblance between the tabernacle and Jesus will be evident, if we consider that the tabernacle was a divine erection. God planned it. It was formed by his express command and authority. Jesus was God's gift to the world. He sent him forth. He, by the mysterious operations of the Holy Ghost, prepared him a body. And thus he was truly and essentially the Son of God. In his divinity, he was with God coequal; but in his humanity he was subordinate, and was in a tabernacle prepared and created of God. The tabernacle was the residence of deity. There was the cloud of his presence, the symbol of his glory.

So in Jesus God essentially dwells. In him was all the fulness of the godhead bodily. The eternal Logos was made flesh, and dwelt, literally tabernacled amongst us; and we beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14.) Never did God give so striking a manifestation of his power and godhead, as in the person of Christ. Phillip said, "Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus replied, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." The tabernacle was the place of communion between God and man. So is Jesus Christ. God has never held communion with sinful man, through any other medium. He speaks to us through his Son. He is reconciled to us through his Son. We are accepted in his Son. And no sinner can come to God, or enjoy God, but through the one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.