Putting it all together – The Tabernacle: God’s pattern of how He wants to Dwell among us, Meet with us and Speak with us
How to live out our holy priesthood before God
To enter God’s tabernacle as priests we have to first go through the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Bronze Laver.
The Altar:
1. Have we been consecrated as priests?
Have we repented of (turned away from) our sins (lawlessness/transgressing of the law) and been baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins? Have we received the Holy Spirit? Do we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins?
Acts 2:38-39 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as יהוה our God will call.”
Acts 16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
2. Are we presenting ourselves daily as a living sacrifice?
Are we dead to our sins? Have we died with Christ? Have we died to ourselves? Are we bound on the altar? Have we cut off the flesh?
The Laver:
1. Have we been consecrated as priests?
Have we been baptised for the remission of our sins?
2. Are we keeping ourselves clean through the washing of the Word?
Are we putting what we’ve learned from the Torah into action in our lives? This will take us out of our Gentile ways as we become His people.
Acts 15:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
Are we observing God’s feasts and Sabbaths, have we stopped worshiping Him with pagan worship customs, are we calling on His name, have we stopped eating unclean things, do we wear tzitzit, have we purified our thought life, are we presenting the three annual offerings, do we look after widows, orphans and strangers, and the poor? etc, etc.
Being consecrated, washed and a living sacrifice are the pre-requisites to allow us into the tabernacle. Once we are cleansed and set apart (holy) unto God, we can begin our priestly duties…
Ex 40:22-28 ties it all together
He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; and he set the bread in order upon it before יהוה, as יהוה had commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; and he lit the lamps before יהוה, as יהוה had commanded Moses. He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; and he burned sweet incense on it, as יהוה had commanded Moses. He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle.
The screen means you can’t enter into the tabernacle to complete your priestly functions if you’re not consecrated and washed.
The table of Showbread
How much are we feeding on the bread (Yeshua/Torah)?
Matt 26:26
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
Just as the priests ate the showbread in the tabernacle, we symbolically eat it when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and practically eat it when we feed on the Word by reading and studying the Torah (with the illumination of the seven Spirits of God) and put it into practice.
Gal 5:22-25 The end result of keeping Gods commands (obeying the Spirit of God) is His fruit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (the Torah).
The Lampstand
How many of the lamps of the seven Spirits of God are burning when we seek illumination of Christ through His Torah?
Do all the branches on our lampstand burn or only the chosen few?
How brightly are our lamps burning?
Does your lamp have any oil in it?
Will the Bridegroom recognize you?
The Table of Incense
How much incense are we burning?
How’s our prayer life?
Are we attending prayer meetings?
The lamps won’t burn unless we’re burning incense. Prayer and the Holy Spirit are inextricably connected.
Ex 30:7-9
“Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before יהוה throughout your generations.
Are we calling on the name of יהוה?
Are we burning strange incense – worshipping Him in pagan ways?
The High Priest
Yeshua our High Priest is in the midst of our lampstands (assemblies Rev 1:13). He goes into the real Holy of Holies in heaven. He’s our Advocate before the Father, He presents our petitions to the Father and makes intercession for us before the Father.
Matt 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Rom 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Heb 7:24-25 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Does Christ have the preeminence in our lampstand?
What are our lamps shining on? Is Christ our focus?
Are we willing to following God’s pattern?
All the ingredients required for God to dwell among us, meet with us and speak with us are laid out in the pattern of the tabernacle. It’s the place where Christ walks among us, the Holy Spirit empowers us and lights our way, we become more Christlike and our prayers rise as sweet incense to our Father as we call on His name. It brings us right into the presence and power of God.
Revivals are only born through deep acts of repentance and prayer – commonly called holiness movements. How we set apart to God are we? How closely does our holiness (set apartness) resemble holiness from a Torah (Christ’s) perspective? Revivals come when we set ourselves apart, get clean, pray and worship. This is the normal functioning of the priesthood of believers.
Unfortunately the church, through its uncleanness (not washing in the laver), its Nicolaitan structures (neutered lampstand), its snuffing out of the Holy Spirit (the seven lamps of God), its pagan worship practices (strange incense), its rejection of the Torah (Christ the showbread) and its lack of calling on God’s name (sweet incense), stands out by the altar holding ‘seeker services’ for salvation and wondering where the presence and power of God went. It’s where it’s always been, in the Tabernacle of Meeting, sadly they’re refusing to enter.
Jer 6:16 Thus says יהוה: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ ”
This is wickedness, this is what we (the assembly) need to turn from if we want our nation healed.
2 Chron 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin (lawlessness/Torahlessness) and heal their land.
Take the steps to activate your priesthood – you don’t need anyone’s permission
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Jer 16:19-21 O יהוה, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things.” Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods? “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is יהוה.”
Set yourself apart (be holy) and move into the place where God wants to meet and speak with you.
Ps 4:3 But know that יהוה has set apart for Himself him who is godly; יהוה will hear when I call to Him.
Die to your flesh, wash yourself, get clean, enter the tabernacle, feed on the Torah, walk in the Spirit, offer sweet prayers of incense, call on His name, find a lampstand where you can all light your lamps and let the light of the Holy Spirit shine through you. God will meet with you and speak with you like never before!
Matt 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Isa 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of יהוה is risen upon you.