Hebrews 8:5. ‘Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’”
Exodus 39:32. Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did.
1 John 3:2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him….
God is absolutely precise in all He does and in all that is worthy to represent Him. Near enough is never good enough with God. All who love the Lord Jesus have been given the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit to live forever within each one, that He may enable us to live our life in accordance with God’s standard. God’s pattern for each one of us is Jesus. 1 John 3:2 assures us that ‘we will be like Him’.
On Mount Sinai Moses was given by God an exact design of a tabernacle in which His presence would reside in the central place among His people. This tabernacle was, in its design and in all its organization and operation, full of expressions of God’s nature, plans and purposes. Moses, in absolute faithfulness, oversaw that the tabernacle was constructed and that it operated in accordance with God’s intentions.
Although the best of materials were used and the finest workmanship was employed in the making of every part, over long centuries much of what it was constructed became subject to decay and deterioration. The tent itself had to be reconstructed more than once. 2 Samuel 6:17.
Centuries later, King David was given by God the exact design for a temple that would be His permanent dwelling place among His people. It was revealed to David that the temple would be constructed upon the site of Ornan’s threshing floor on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the City of David. David gave his son Solomon this precise design and an abundance of materials that he had prepared, as described in 1 Chronicles 22.
Just as with the tabernacle, God was precise in what must be done in the building of the temple in which He would dwell among His chosen people. Over the centuries which followed the temple also required significant repairs and maintenance. See 2 Kings 22:3-7.
Following the historical turning points of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the birth of the church at Pentecost, God has been gathering together materials that He may build a temple to be His eternal dwelling place in the heavens. At the dawn of eternity the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God, will be displayed as the centrepiece of the new heavens and new earth forever and ever.
All those from the Old Testament era who looked forward to the Saviour and all those saved by grace since then will one day be built together in seamless unity to be this Holy City, which mystically will also be ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb’. She will not be subject to decay or deterioration. As God’s masterpiece she will be perfect in every way and thus she will be displayed eternally in the perfection of her beauty.
As we yield ourselves wholly to be worked on by the Holy Spirit, so He will transform us into perfected living stones to be built together as this perfect building in the heavens, in accordance with God’s pattern..
The process through which ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb’ comes to be such a perfection of glory and magnificence is a significant topic in my books. (See ‘Publications’). This will also be a topic of a future Post. May the Spirit of Truth open our eyes to see more and more of ‘the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’.
God sees in each one of His own the perfection of beauty that He purposed for us before time was. Our role is to be led continually by the Spirit of God, in the same obedience as Moses displayed, that we may be transformed in accordance with God’s pattern – Jesus.
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