Camping with God by Stephen Olford

 

"God came down to camp with his people.  The Israelites disovered that it is in the very nature of deity to reveal himself and that the method of self-disclosure was to "tabernacle" with men.  In a sense, this is the essential message of the bible.  When we read the first 5 books of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy) we trace the story of God's visits to men, culminating in God's camping with men in a tabernacle so desigend and constructed as to manifest the purpose, power and shekinah of the divine presence.  The New Testament opens in a similar manner for the first 5 books are likewise concerned with the subject of camping with God.  We read that 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word (became) flesh and (tabernacled) among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.' (John 1 verses 1 and 14).  As we move on from the 4 gospels to the Acts of the Apostles we see that same grace and glory communicated to the early disciples until the outside world 'took knowledge of them, that hey had been with Jesus.'

The Tabernacle expressed 2 facts in the religious life of the children of Israel.  Firstly it represented the presence of God among his people.  In the second it typified the divinely means which sinful man could approach God, who was otherwise unapproachable because of his unseapkable holiness and ineffable majesty.

What is the supreme message of the Tabernacle - Christ!  Remember when the 2 disciples were on the Emmaus Road and Jesus came alongside them.  He 'began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.' (Luke 24 verse 27).  Later those 2 disciples said "did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures.'

Imagine this building constructed in the wilderness as an object lesson to the Israelites for 500 years!  The Israelites were now a redeemed people having crossed the Red Sea.  When God came to Adam in the Garden of Eden he wanted to talk with him.  Similarly with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but now the tabernacle was proof of redemption - God had purchased his people with the blood of a lamb.  They had sheltered under that blood as it was sprinkled on their doorposts on that night the finally left Egypt.  It was God's power that brought them through the Red Sea.  The people were now in fellowship with God.

When we accept Christ as Lord and Saviour we are bought with the price of his blood.  We are set apart for worship and witness.  Remaining in Egypt the Israelites could never worship or witness because they were still slaves and sinners.  Continually God's word to Pharaoh was "let my people go that they may serve me."  There has to be a leaving behind of Egypt, a letting go in our lives of all that is in the past.

The Tabernacle was constructed in the wilderness - Egypt was behind them and Canann before them.  The Tabernacle was always pitched on sand - a reminder that they were on a journey and had not reached their final destination.  We are travellers in this world, our final destination is heaven.  Are we so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use?

I am always amazed at the significance of numbers in the bible, for instance ...

3 - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost - abundant testimony - Matthew 18 verse 16 - 3 witnesses are required to verify if something is true.  In the Tabernacle there were 3 colours blue, purple and scarlet, 3 metals gold, silver and brass, 3 liquids blood, water and oil, 3 sacrifices bullocks, sheep/goats and fowls

4 - what is universal or world-wide - think of the 4 corners of the earth.  In the Tabernacle there is 4square brazen altar, 4 horns of the altar, 4 pillars, 4 spices

5 - human responsibility - think of our 5 fingers (denoting human responsibility in work) and toes (denoting human responsibilty in walk), 5 senses (denoting human responsibility in receptiveness), also signifies grace of God 

6 - denotes height of human attainment, ever short of perfection

7 - divine perfection - think of 7 days of creation.  In the Tabernacle there were 7 golden candlesticks, 7 items to furnish the Tabernacle (ark, mercy seat, showbread, golden candlestick, brazen altar, brazen laver and golden altar of incense)

12 - speaks of administration - think of the 12 months of the year, 12 tribes of Israel (God's adminstration in government on bhalf of his earthly people), 12 loaves on the showbread table, 12 stones on the breastplace of the high priest (setting forth our Lord's administration in love and representation of his people in the presence of God)

40 - full measure of man's responsibilty Godward and manward.  40 years marked the length of the wilderness journey for the Israelites - the full measure of probation and testing.

Just as numbers have so much significance with the Tabernacle so do the metals, colours, fabrics, wood, oil, spices and stones.

Gold - deity of the Lord Jesus 

Silver - redemption - we are bought with a price!

Brass - death of Christ

Blue - heavenly colour, typifies Christ as spiritual one or heavenly Man

Purple - typifies Christ as sovereign one

Scarlet - typifies Christ as sacrificial one

Linen - speaks of righteousness

Goats hair - speaks of serviceablness

Rams skins - speaks of devotedness in the priestly office

Badgers skins - speaks of holiness

Wood - shittim or acacia - speaks of incorruptibilty of human nature of our Lord

Oil - typifies God's Holy Spirit

Spices - typify the fragrance of Christ before God

Stones - onyx and precious stones typify the preciousness of believers.

Each one of these is a sermon in itself - they all point forwards to the New Testament and our greatest example - Christ himself.

50 chapters in the Old and New Testament are devoted to the construction, ritual and priesthood of the tabernacle and the meaning of them all!

13 in Exodus

18 in Leviticus

13 in Numbers

2 in Deuteronomy 

4 in Hebrews

Only 2 chapters in the whole bible are taken up with the story of creation in the book of Genesis!

The entire person of the Christian represents 3 compartments of the Tabernacle:

the body = outer court, outer and visible part of our personality

the soul =  answers to the holy place and is therefore that aspect of our personality which worships and enjoys fellowship with other believers, eating at the table, walking in the light and interceding in prayer

the spirit = inner holy of holies, the deepest hidden life

Christianity is unique in that it is the only religion which claims that God has taken the initiative in revealing himself to man.  All other religions describe man's search after God.  But having revealed himself to man by leaving his throne and humbling himself unto death - even the death of the cross - God has effected a plan of salvation for man to approach him by faith.

There are 7 steps to salvation as depicted in the Tabernacle:

The gate of the outer court = the way of introduction Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14

The brazen altar = the way of reconciliation 2 Corinthians 5 verses 19 and 21

The laver = the way of separation John 13 verse 10

The golden candlestick = the way of illumination John 8 verse 12

The table of showbread = the way of satisfaction John 6 verse 35

The altar of incense = the way of intercession Hebrews 13 verse 15

The ark of the covenant = the way of communion 1 John 1 verse 3

I have always found the story of the golden calf fascinating in Exodus but never really understood its significance. When the Israelites left Egypt they left behind a system of worshipping gods which the Egyptians believed in. Now God was calling them into a new way of worship and witness. The Tabernacle would be the visible presence of God among his people. God not only wanted to dwell among them but he wanted to meet with them at the Tabernacle. This was the way God revealed himself to them.  

Can you see the relevance for us today? We need a personal relationship and revelation with God before we can really worship. God's word the Bible is God's revelation to us. By reading his word we get to know God. I don't read the Bible to "show off" my knowledge of God but rather to   hear what God is saying directly to me in relation to my life for today. Time and time again I have proved this to be so true - have you?

The root meaning of the word "tabernacle" carries the thought of holiness.  There are 31 references in Exodus alone to the word holy.  As one of my fellow bible journallers said look for the repetition in scripture!

Everything was screened from public gaze by an curtained enclosure and protected from someone coming in unexpectantly. The court was called the "holy place", the first section was "the holy place" and the second section "the most holy place".

In 1 Peter 1 verses 15 and 16 we are instructed to be "holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy."

The shittim wood was of the acacia tree which grew sparsely in the desert regions through which the children of Israel were travelling.

In Isaiah 53 verse 2 we read referring to Christ as the "root out of a dry ground" and as the "tender plant".  An outwardly unattractive tree - "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." The shittim word is incoruptible and so typifies the holy body of the Lord Jesus which saw no corruption even when cut off in death.

The other basic material in the structure of the Tabernacle was gold.  The gold speaks of Christ's deity and the wood his humanity.  The gold was of a refined quality and therefore the most precious metal known to man.

The Redeemer must be both God and man, in order to mediate between God and men.  "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2 verse 5)  The whole Tabernacle speaks of the Person of Christ.

There are 3 chapters in Exodus which deal with the precise instructions for the erection of the Tabernacle - chapters 25, 26 and 27.  Then there are 3 chapters which show the instructions were carried out to the very letter - chapters 36, 37 and 38.  The first 3 are chapters of command, the second are 3 chapters of obedience.

Every piece of this amazing structure had its own place.  Like a jigsaw puzzle each part exactly fitted its counterpart until the whole erection was complete.  Detailed instructions were given as to the erecting, dismantling and transporting of the tabernacle.  The first piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant was completed first.  The ark esentially represented the person and presence of God and God must be first.  

What a lesson for us all to learn - God must come first in our lives!