If you read Exodus, you will find in chapters 25 to 37 the word “Tabernacle.” It was like a tent where the presence of God resided. And mind you, no one could just freely enter the Tabernacle and be in God’s presence. If someone did that, the person would automatically die; not because God killed the person, but because of man’s sinfulness. God is a holy God, and because of that, man cannot withstand God’s presence, since mankind is not holy. But there was a specific group of people God appointed to be priests. The first priests to be called into service were Aaron and his sons. When God told Moses that He had called him and Aaron into service as priests, God gave lots of instructions to Moses concerning Aaron and his sons. For example, their consecration is found in Exodus 29. There are also instructions concerning the rituals they needed to do and the clothing they were to wear. So, it was not only ordinary people who would find it hard to enter God’s presence, but also the priests.
Furthermore, since the Tabernacle was a place where God’s presence resided, it was designed so that when one looked at it, it gave the feeling of being in the Garden of Eden. You will see in a couple of chapters of Exodus some detailed architectural instructions from God for how to build the Tabernacle and how it should look. The Garden of Eden was where God’s presence resided because it was once a place where Heaven and Earth were one. That is why the Tabernacle was made in a way that exuded the atmosphere of the Garden of Eden—it would remind a person that he was about to enter God’s presence. The hotspot of God’s presence was the Ark, which was designed to have two Cherubim on top of it, symbolizing that one is about to approach the presence of God.
What Is the Tabernacle of God
What Is the Tabernacle of God
A couple of centuries later, our savior Jesus came, claiming that He was the Son of God and the embodiment of God. And true enough, He is (John 1:14). That means wherever Jesus goes, He brings the presence of God there since He is God. He is like a living Tabernacle. In fact, what “the Word dwelt among us” in John 1:14 means is that He “tabernacled” among us. When Jesus came and died on the cross, He changed the way people could access God’s presence. Instead of one having to be in the Tabernacle, live during Jesus’s time, or go to the Temple built by Solomon, the presence of God is now in the people themselves. That is what happens when one is in Christ. Because of the work done by Jesus on the cross, we get this access to God’s presence through the Holy Spirit, Who is inside us, residing within us, and doing His work to continually mold us into being more and more like Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
What Is the Tabernacle of God
What Is the Tabernacle of God
In this present age, the hotspot of God’s presence is not the Ark anymore, but you yourself. When Jesus tore the veil (the thing inside the temple that separated God’s presence from His people), He tore it for good so that we may have access to God and approach His presence as our Father.
What Is the Tabernacle of God
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