THE SANCTUARY | 1. Not just a Tent

I have always been intrigued by the symbolism in the Bible, how they coherently paint deep messages about the God that its pages reveal to me. Everyone loves puzzles and God has woven puzzle-solving adventures into His message through symbology, types and antitypes, parables, analogies, and many more. He likes to be just mysterious enough so as to make us work for discovering His secrets, but not too hidden that it becomes too frustrating.

Consider the words of king David, how he said, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple." Psalms 27:4. He saw something in the temple of God which made it hard for him to leave. I want to find out what it is.

In another song (Psalms 63:1-3), king David wrote:

O God, thou art my God; 

early will I seek thee: 

my soul thirsteth for thee, 

my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, 

where no water is;   

To see thy power and thy glory, 

so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, 

my lips shall praise thee. 

He was expressing his desire to see the power and glory of God which was shown to him in the sanctuary. He saw three things:

• The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
• The glory of God is His character (Exodus 33:18-23; 34:5-8).
• The lovingkindness of God.

The Tabernacle was the centerpiece of the Israelite culture. It was what allowed God to dwell amongst a race of sinful human beings. More so, it was His storybook of love to all who study what goes on within its walls.

As God descended on Mt Sinai for the first time to meet the Israelites, Moses said that a "fiery law" went forth from His hands, "he loved the people". This was the beginning of His work in the to portray the Gospel of Christ through the culture that He built with the Israelites. Some Bible scholars have said the ancient Jewish culture revolving around the Temple and its services if the gospel itself.

When making plans for the temple, God instructed the Moses to ask for a freewill offering from the people. They were to give from the heart some of the most precious things they possess like gold, silver, precious cloths and linens, expensive perfumes and oils to be used as building materials for God's sanctuary so he could dwell among them (Exodus 25:1-8).

But the earthly sanctuary of the Exodus was just a shadow of the of the true tabernacle which God built (Hebrews 8:1-5). Everything revolving around the earthly sanctuary points to things happening in the ministration of Jesus, our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Heaven gave the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16) as the freewill offering as part of the plan to preach to the universe the power, glory, and lovingkindness of God.

Before building the universe that now is, God had to count the cost (Luke 14:28-30). In a universe governed by freedom and love, God took the risk of giving intelligent beings like the angels and mankind the independent will to choose and act for themselves for love cannot work otherwise. It cannot be forced or embedded into robotic organisms who have no freewill. There was no other way. 

When the rebellion of Satan started, the mystery of iniquity began to corrupt God's perfect universe, according to the story of the Sanctuary, God already had a contingency plan to remedy this problem. It was the means by which he was to save His universe and ensure that all live happily ever after.

David saw that the tabernacle was no mere tent, for it showed the way of salvation (Psalms 77:13). I would like to explore more of it like he did, to study and enquire daily within its walls about the precious life-changing truths it reveals.