TABERNACLE OF GOD

Although not a divine title as such, the expression ‘tabernacle of God’ provokes immediate thoughts of the fulness of the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Equally, it should bring forth worship from our hearts in response to the unfathomable grace of God in desiring to have a dwelling place for Himself amongst the sons of men, Exod. 25. 8. Some of the richest typical teaching in Scripture is to be found in the preparation and function of the tabernacle, a fact that is not surprising when we are expressly told in the Hebrew epistle that ‘Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us’, Heb. 9. 24. To study the tabernacle is to be occupied with things in heaven where God dwells.

The tabernacle is also a figure of the Lord Jesus Himself, for Paul writes to the Colossians, ‘In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’, Col. 2. 9. John tells us that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us’, John 1.14, and Paul again writes, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself’, 2 Cor. 5. 19. The fellowship with God that Adam forfeited by his disobedience will not only be restored but, ultimately, exceeded when the whole wondrous plan of redemption is complete. This will be the full outcome of the mighty work accomplished by the Lord Jesus at Calvary where He was forsaken that we might be accepted, made sin so that we might be made righteous, and died so that we might live.

The setting of today’s verses is what we generally refer to as ‘the eternal state’. Time and the physical universe as we know it have ceased to be, and God is pleased to dwell with His redeemed on the basis of the finished work of His beloved Son. The whole great plan of redemption, conceived in the heart of God before time began, now finds its fulfilment once time has ended. God has revealed Himself in Christ at the centre-point of time, and Christ will be the pre-eminent One throughout God’s eternal rest. Something of the wonder of all that grace has wrought is encapsulated in the words, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men’.