THE MICROCOSM OF THE TABERNACLE

John 1:14

And the word … dwelt among us

What does the Tabernacle teach us? Let me now take you on a journey to the feet of Jewish sages who have pondered the question for hundreds of Years.

Many have suggested that as he built the Tabernacle, Bezalel saw it as a microcosm of the creation of the universe. Here is how it works. King David describes the first day of creation when God created the Heavens and the Earth using the following words, "stretching out the heavens like a tent" (Ps. 104:2). So we find that a curtain (similar to that of a tent) was stretched out above the Tabernacle. The colors of the material used also corresponded to the colors of sky and earth. On the second day of creation, God made the firmament as a separation between the waters above and the waters below. Similarly, in the Tabernacle there was a curtain separating one part from another. Just like on the third day of creation God gathered the waters into one area, in the Tabernacle there was also a designated place to gather water in a basin. Corresponding to the luminaries created on the fourth day, we find the menorah with its lights in the Tabernacle. On the fifth day of creation, God created the birds. Similarly, there were birds brought as offerings on the altar of the Tabernacle. And corresponding to the creation of man on the sixth day, the service in the Tabernacle was led by the High Priest. The Torah describes how the work was completed on the seventh day of creation and how that day was blessed and sanctified by God. The idea of the Tabernacle was to make a place for Hashem to live on earth. It represents therefore the restoration of all things to the day when the voice of ADONAI could be heard in the Garden of Eden.

Some have also viewed the Tabernacle as a microcosm of the human body with the Ark as the heart of a person and the cherubs with their wings over the Ark as the lungs that spread out around the heart. They saw the table with the showbread as a person's stomach and the menorah with its oil lamps as a person's mind. The frankincense reminded them of the sense of smell and the water basin of the fluids in the human body. Finally, the curtains were to them a person's skin and the beams represented the ribs. Jewish sages taught that every person is a microcosm of the entire universe just like the Tabernacle.

Jjust like it is the light of the world and of the body, the goal of the making of the Tabernacle was for the light of the Shekinah to come dwell within it, and thus within Israel (Exod. 25:22). ;. As farfetched as these musings may seem, we can’t help but realize that our Jewish sages were on the right track in their understanding of the Tabernacle. After all, did not Paul say that to their advantage, the Jewish people had been entrusted the oracles of God (Romans 3:1-2)? As the spirit of God came to fill the earthly Tabernacle, so it filled the earthly ‘tabernacle’ of the human body of the person of Yeshua who is the representation of the presence of God among us, in God’s created universe (Heb. 1:3; John 1:4; 8:12).

As we study these things, may we look forward to the time when Messiah will once again walk the earth among us.

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

THE PROTOCOL OF HOLINESS

Luke 2:49

I must be about my Father's business?

The U.S. has become the icon of Western civilization, and as a teacher in the U.S., I notice that its people have become very casual. I was raised in France, and in my school days, I would have never dreamed of calling my teachers or any other adult around me in any other way than by their title such as Mr. or Mrs. I would have certainly gotten slapped if I'd call my parents or any relative in any other way than ‘Papa’, ‘Maman’, or 'Tonton', 'Tata' (Uncle or auntie).

I am of the belief that our style of rapport in human relationship reveals the way we are with God. We serve God the way we serve humankind made in the image of God. You cannot say that you have a good relationship with God while you have trouble living and working with others, or that your behavior is so obnoxious that others have a hard time getting along with you. You cannot tell me that you hear the Voice of God when you have difficulty hearing those around you whom God has placed to advise you. You cannot tell me that you have respect for God and His will when you are not reverent of His Word and of the people around you whom He has called ‘kedoshim’, or ‘saints’.

Because of a society that has rejected the ideas of protocol and respect of individuals placed in position of authority, it seems we also want to have a very casual and familiar relationship with Hashem, and even with the Master but is that right? During the time of His manifestation on earth (2 Timothy 1:9-10), the Master compared Himself to the Temple. An understanding therefore of Temple and Tabernacle protocol as described in the Book of Exodus helps us understand what kind of relationship we are to have with Him.

God is not content to merely peer down at us from above. He desires to engage in a relationship with us, but because of His status of holiness and ours of non-holiness, there are protocols to be respected and accommodations to be organized for the relationship to work, The Tabernacle/Temple system became this protocol and accommodation, and the Master compared Himself to it (John 2:21). That should tell us that our relationship with the Master is anything but casual. Look at what happened when people of a much greater spiritual caliber than you and I like the prophet Daniel, and John, the disciple, encountered the Master (Daniel 7:13-28; Revelations 1:10-17).

 After Yeshua’s death and resurrection, the disciples basically became a Temple sect, hanging out there all the time (Acts 2:46; 3:1-3; 5:42). They were in what the Master coined as the ‘House of Prayer’ (Matthew 21:13), doing His ‘Father’s business’ (Luke 2:49). Their base of operation was Solomon’s porch (Acts 3:11; 5:12).

While creation is described in one chapter in the Book of Genesis, the description of and measurement of the Tabernacle takes a large chunk of the book of Exodus. May we learn from the study of the Temple; there is a blessing in it (Ezekiel 43:10).

JUDAH AND LEVI TOGETHER

Hebrews 7:17

"You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

In the Book of Hebrews Yeshua is spoken of as ushering a new priesthood; it even seems speaks of a change of Torah. It says, For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the Torah as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe … altar (Hebrews 7:12-13). This poses a problem because the Aaronic priesthood stems from an eternal covenant (Exodus 29:9), the Torah is established through an eternal covenant (Exodus 24:8), and God Himself doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6); how then could the levitical priesthood and the Torah be terminated?.  Here is more: For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (Hebrews 7:18). What?! The Torah?! Weak and useless?! Context, context, context.

The writer of Hebrews uttered these words, the Messianic Jews of Israel had just witnessed the assassination of James, Yeshua’s brother who was also their leader, by a wicked Rome-appointed High-Priest. As Yeshua had forewarned them (John 16:2), the disciples were now being evicted from the synagogues where they had continued worshiping. The congregations were at a loss so the author of Hebrews tries to comfort the Israeli believers telling them to now look up to the Temple and priesthood which are upward. He tells them: ‘Don’t worry; for the Torah appoints men in their weakness (weak because they had to make yearly offerings for their own atonement) as high priests, but the word of the oath (Psalms 110:4) … appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever (Hebrews 7:28). Yeshua is not an Aaronic priest (not a Levite; He was from the tribe of Judah), and as such not fit to serve in the Temple which is  below (Hebrews 8:4) but He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedec who serves in the Temple which is above. The text then explains to us that the Aaronic priesthood being efficacious solely for the ritual purifying of the flesh, the priesthood of Yeshua serves to clean the conscience (Hebrews 9:8-14). The Levitical service is not therefore to be replaced by another; it is simply completed. The Aaronic priesthood was weak in that it could not save (Salvation was never the goal of the Torah), Yeshua, the priest according to the order of Melchizedec, holds his priesthood permanently (He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices for Himself every year as levitical priests do), because he continues forever consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:24-25). Now the equation is solved.

The problem is that whereas people do read the Word, they read it with the glasses of a theology already established for them, so they read into the Text instead of letting the Text instruct them.

Jeremiah the prophet tells us of the Messianic age when a third Temple with the two priesthoods serving together (Jeremiah 33:22). May that time come Adonai, even in our days! In the mean time, may we like our brethren from the Book of Hebrews find comfort in lifting our eyes upwards, towards He who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).