The heavenly Tabernacle

 

2 Tim 3:16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Do you perhaps think that the Tabernacle belongs in the Old Testament, and has no bearing on us today? It may come as a surprise to you to learn that there is a real, functioning Tabernacle in heaven right now, at this moment. How do we know that? Because it is written in Revelation, a book dealing with times still in the future for us, and it shows that the heavenly Tabernacle will be in place until the final hours of human history arrive. God will show parts of it to humankind throughout the Tribulation period (the seven-year reign of the antichrist here on earth). Let me show you how God revealed it to John, and how the Old Testament Tabernacle foreshadowed it.

Rev 4:5 ….In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. These lamps burn brightly in God’s throne room, which the Menorah, or golden lampstand with seven candles that was the only source of light inside the Holy Place in the Tabernacle, was an example of.

Rev 4:6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the earthly Tabernacle, the Bronze Laver stood in the outer court where priests washed themselves before entering God’s presence. It serves as an example for us of the cleansing of sin. This basin was even called “the Sea”. But now in heaven, it is no longer necessary to be cleansed by water, therefore the solid foundation which the sea of glass forms before the throne, conveys the perfect purity and peace that already reigns there.

Rev 6:9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. The bronze altar in the outer courtyard was used for animal sacrifices, and the blood of the animals was poured out at the base of this earthly altar, exactly in the place where the martyrs are standing under the heavenly altar now. How appropriate, because their blood has been poured out on earth.

Rev 8:3-4 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. In the earthly Tabernacle, the altar of incense stood before the veil leading to the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest and the sons of Aaron could minister there, interceding for the people. This is exactly what Jesus is doing for us at the heavenly altar of incense, as described above.

Rev 11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. Nobody could see the ark of the covenant behind the veil in the Tabernacle on earth except the High Priest, and only once a year when he made atonement for the sins of the whole nation. But at the time in the future that our verse above describes, God will show the ark to everybody on earth, signifying one last time that Jesus has opened the way through the torn veil for all to approach Him.

Rev 15:5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. Just before the first bowl of God’s final judgement of earth is thrown out, He shows the ark of the covenant. The earthly ark contained the covenant laws made with Israel. The mercy seat on top of the ark in heaven covers these laws one last time, because at the commencement of the bowl judgements, mercy time will finally end, and nobody can then be saved anymore.

It would seem that heaven functions like an open Tabernacle - God lets it connect and interact with this world, and it is meant to shape and influence the whole of our lives. Won’t it make sense then, to equip ourselves with knowledge of what the elements of the earthly Tabernacle represented, how they all point to Jesus, so that we can grow in appreciation, wonder and awe of what He did for us? Unfortunately, we human beings need constant reminders of how great the love of God is for us, and the role that Jesus plays in showing us this love tangibly. This is why knowledge of the Tabernacle is so meaningful – we can appreciate Jesus on an ever-deepening level and so carry His remembrance in our hearts forever!

The heavenly Tabernacle will cease to exist when the old heavens and earth are burnt up. God then creates all things new, also the capital city of the new heaven, the New Jerusalem. And then, something remarkable is seen by John:

Rev 21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. This is the ultimate fulfilment of what the journey through the Tabernacle is showing us – we will not need a progression, a path to holiness, anymore, we will at that time live in the Holy of Holies!

I enter the Holy of Holies