From Tabernacle to Temple
John Plunkett
Feast of Tabernacles - Day 7
October 30th 2018
As we saw on the first Holy Day, during the Feast of Tabernacles nowadays, the majority of church members stay in hotels, motels, cottages and condominiums – not in tents – or in tree-branch
sukkahs or huts.
Still, all of these – hotels, motels, cottages and condominiums, etc.– still are temporary dwellings and still have the correct biblical symbolism.
Although a hotel room is pleasant, comfortable accommodation for the Feast of Tabernacles and is also a nice change for an occasional vacation, a hotel room is still a small and temporary dwelling.
As the old saying goes: “There’s no place like home.”
As also mentioned on the first Holy Day of this Feast, when the LORD God (YHVH) visited His Old Covenant people – Israel, He too stayed in a temporary dwelling that was much smaller and relatively inferior to His permanent home in heaven.
Initially, He stayed in a tent-tabernacle which was a physical representation of His throne room in heaven.
That tent-tabernacle gives the impression of our great God "camping" during His occasional visits to His Old Covenant people.
But, at one point, He "changed lodgings"! From His tent-tabernacle
–
to His first stone temple – the one that was designed by David and was built by Solomon.
And that’s what I’d like to talk about today. In this sermon, I would like to look at the spiritual symbolism of the transition from God’s
tent-tabernacles to His stone temple(s).
God upgrades from Tabernacle to Temple.
Many years after the completion of the tent-tabernacle – after the Israelites had settled down and there was a short period of relative peace – whenever the LORD/YHWH wished to visit the Israelites, He “upgraded” His earthly accommodation –
from camping in tents – to dwelling temporarily in the equivalent of “high-end” hotels – as we might describe the three stone temples which were built for His earthly visits.
Although the LORD God never complained about having to "camp" in the tent-tabernacles, He did eventually consent to the building of a stone
temple:
II Samuel 7:
8: Now therefore, so shall you {Nathan the prophet} say unto my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “I took you from the sheepcote {a shepherd’s hut, which is yet another kind of temporary dwelling!}, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
9: And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
10: Moreover I will appoint a place {Hebrew: maqowm: home} for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell {shakan} in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
11: And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the LORD is telling you that He will make you a house.
12: And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13: He {David} shall build a house {bayith} for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
The LORD/YHVH dearly loved David and allowed him to be involved in the planning and design – but not the actual building – of a
more permanent – but still temporary – dwelling for the LORD’s visits – a stone temple which was to be another – but larger – replica of the LORD’s heavenly palace.
Although David was greatly involved with the planning of the new temple, he wasn’t allowed to complete the actual building of it.
That honour was passed down to his son, Solomon:
1 Chronicles 28:
3: But God said unto me {David}, “You shall not build a house for my name, because you have been a man of war, and have shed blood.”
4: Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever: for He has chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:
5: And of all my sons, (for the LORD has given me many sons,) He has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
6: And He said unto me, ‘Solomon your son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father’”...
Just as the pattern of the tent-tabernacle was revealed to Moses about five hundred years earlier, so the pattern of the first stone temple was revealed to David; but this time, not in a meeting with the LORD on Mount Sinai; but through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Continuing:
11: Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,
12: And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things:
13: Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD.
Three Stone Temples!
As there evidently had been three tent-tabernacles (as discussed last week on
the first day of the Feast), so there were ultimately to be three stone
temples to be used as temporary dwellings for the non-temporary, Eternal God – for approximately one thousand years – from about
960BC to 70AD.
The first temple – also known as “Solomon’s Temple” – was begun about 960BC, lasted about four hundred
years, and was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies in about 586BC.
Many Bible scholars think that the old tent-tabernacle and, possibly, the Ark of the Covenant were also destroyed at that time; but this is still something of a
controversial mystery.
The second temple – also known as “Zerubbabel’s Temple” was much more modest than Solomon’s.
It was built by the returned exiles from Babylon under their royal leader, Zerubbabel, who was the grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah.
It was completed about 515BC and lasted about five hundred years. It was dismantled
(either totally or just partially) by Herod the Great (who was actually an Edomite – not a Jew!), apparently to build a bigger, more impressive one – not to glorify God, but
to fit in with his newly enhanced and expanded city of Jerusalem and, perhaps, in an attempt to curry favour with the Jews.
The "third" temple – also known as “Herod’s Temple” – and which the Jews, for some reason, refer to as "the second temple" – was begun about 20BC.
It was very lavish, and work continued on it until about 65AD – only five short years before it was burned and totally destroyed by the Romans in 70AD (Matthew 24:2).
Were these huge stone temples really temporary dwellings?
Surely they must have been permanent, mustn’t they?
No! If they were so permanent, where are they today?
Yes, their builders meant them to be permanent. And perhaps they were a
little more permanent than the tent-tabernacles. But they were still
temporary, physical dwellings for the LORD/YHWH – the Eternal God!
Yes, the Israelites and Jews may have thought that the stone temples were indestructible.
But they alternated between misusing the temples and worshipping them in an almost idolatrous way:
Jeremiah 7:
1: The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2: “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
3: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell {Hebrew: shakan} in this place {maqowm: home}.
4: Trust you not in lying words, saying, “The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these”…
This sounds to me something like the “vain repetitions” Jesus warns us against (Matthew 6:7).
5: For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6: If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place {maqowm: home} neither walk after other gods to your hurt...
All of which we might correctly assume that they had been doing...
7: Then will I cause you to dwell {shakan} in this place {maqowm: home} in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8: Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit...
Such as their vain "temple of the LORD" repetitions, as mentioned in verse 4.
9: Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not;
10: And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are delivered to do all these abominations?”
11: Is this house {bayith} which is called by my name {i.e. Solomon’s temple}, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it,’ says the LORD.”
These were very likely some of the factors that led the LORD God to cause Solomon’s magnificent temple to be destroyed.
After its destruction and the Jews’ seventy-year punishment by captivity in Babylon, the LORD brought the Jews back to their homeland and, through the faithful leadership of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Ezra and Nehemiah, He had them rebuild the temple – though a much lower-key one than Solomon’s:
Haggai 2:
1a: In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month…
Hey! That’s today! The seventh and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles! What a great day for us to read this scripture!
1b: … came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,
2: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3: ‘Who is left among you that saw this house {bayith} in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4: Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,” says the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,” says the LORD, and work: for I am with you,” says the LORD of hosts:
5: “According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remains among you: fear you not.”
6: For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7: And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house {bayith} with glory,” says the LORD of hosts.
8: “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,” says the LORD of hosts.
9: “The glory of this latter house {bayith} shall be greater than of the former,” says the LORD of hosts: “and in this place will I give peace,” says the LORD of hosts.
And He did! He allowed the evil Herod the Great to do a major and lavish refurbishment on Zerubbabel’s temple; but He still recognized it as His house.
He came to earth as the human Jesus and, when He walked in the temple precincts, He brought that prophesied greatness, glory and peace to it.
But once again, the Jews' post-exile repentance was short-lived and, by the time of Jesus’ human sojourn, they were once again seriously misusing His house:
John 2:
13: And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14: And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15: And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16: And said unto them that sold doves, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
17: And His disciples remembered that it was written {Psalm 69:9}, “The zeal of your house has eaten me up.”
Jesus drove out the moneychangers twice! That instance, recorded by John, at the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry and this one, recorded by the other three gospel writers, at its very end:
Mark 11:
15: And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16: And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17: And He {Jesus} taught, saying unto them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But you have made it a den of thieves.’” {Isaiah 56:7 Jeremiah 7:11}
Despite the relative permanence of that building, not even one stone of it remains upon another to this day!
Stones and Pillars vs Poles, Boards and Skins
There are obvious differences between the three collapsible,
portable tent-tabernacles and the three relatively permanent stone temples.
Did the tent-tabernacles symbolize something different than the relatively permanent stone temples?
I believe that they did! But first, let us ask what the stone temples symbolized. Did they symbolize God’s home, temple, palace and throne room in heaven?
Yes.
Did they symbolize the Church of God?
Yes… but!
Did they symbolize each member of God’s true church?
Yes… but!
But what? Rather, a better question would be, “Yes but when?” The church and its members at what time? In what time-frame? Are we church members anti-types of these symbols now? Or not until the time of the First Resurrection?
Here is another relevant question: Is each true member of the true church considered by God to be a "pillar" of the temple?
Revelation 3:12:
He who overcomes, I will {note future tense} make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall {future tense} go out no more.
Yes, we will be temple pillars – if we overcome.
Please note the time factor here! It is in the future. And it is dependent on us overcoming.
Another question:
Are church members the stones of God’s temple?
II Peter 2:
4: Coming to Him as to a Living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious…
Jesus is the main Living Stone – the Head Corner-stone:
Verse 6: Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded."
7: Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner...
See also: Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20.
But! Still in II Peter 2::
5: You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Yes, we are – present tense – temple stones. We are fellow-living-stones with the main Living Stone – the Head Corner-stone – our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ.
But again, please note the time factor.
We "are being built up" – present tense!
We are stones of God’s “spiritual house” (temple) – which is under construction.
The spiritual temple is evidently incomplete.
Its completion is yet in the future.
Back to the Tabernacle
Let us go back in time again and ask a few more questions about the old tent-tabernacle.
The first question is this:
Were there any reasons or symbolisms why God wanted three
tent-tabernacles as well as three stone temples?
In his book, “Number in Scripture, E.W. Bullinger says that the number three (3) symbolizes ‘completion’ and ‘divine perfection.’
This concept would be a big study just by itself.
As we have already seen, the stone temples symbolize the members of God’s church collectively, both in the World Tomorrow, in the
Millennium and in the eternal Kingdom of God, in our resurrected, perfected state, and with our new, permanent,
perfect, spirit bodies.
So, if the stone temples symbolize God’s church in the World Tomorrow and the Kingdom of God, then
do the old tent-tabernacles perhaps better symbolize God’s church today in our
temporary, imperfect, physical, human state?
Evidently so!
In some of the New Testament epistles, the tent-tabernacle pictures temporary, fragile, human life.
Just one of these scriptures for now:
II Peter 1:
13: Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent {Greek: skenoma: tabernacle) to stir you up by reminding you,
14: Knowing that shortly I must put off my tent {skenoma: tabernacle} just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.
Here, Peter was writing about himself putting off his own tent-tabernacle, just as Jesus had showed him – referring to the end of his own (Peter's) physical life – to his "first death" – as Jesus had foretold back in John 21:
John 21:
18: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, when you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not."
19a: This spoke He {Jesus}, signifying by what death he {Peter} should glorify God.
The apostle Paul used similar “tabernacle equals human-life” symbolism, which we’ll come to shortly. But first, let us ask some more questions:
What materials was the tent-tabernacle made up of?
God’s list of materials is given in chapters 25 and 35 of the book of Exodus. Repetition, once again, for emphasis of something important?
Another question: Did the component parts of the tent-tabernacle symbolize anything in particular as did the pillars and stones of the stone temples? For example, if the Church of God members are to be pillars and living stones in God’s future, permanent, spiritual temple, are we now – in our present, physical, human tabernacles like individual “tent-pillars” and “tent-stones” of God’s portable tent-tabernacle? If so, what parts of the tent-tabernacle would correspond to the pillars and stones of the stone temples?
I would think that the tent-poles and the uprights of the tabernacle would correspond to the temple pillars. The wall-boards, the ram-skins and badger-skins of the tabernacle would correspond to the temple stones.
What is the symbolism of these items, if any? Without getting into this
right now, this is another topic which might be worthy of further research, meditation and Bible study!
Transition from Tabernacle to Temple
Have you ever wondered what happened to the old tent-tabernacle once Solomon’s stone temple was completed?
There was a fascinating and spiritually-significant transition period between the tent-tabernacle era and the stone-temple era.
When David recaptured the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines and brought it to Jerusalem, rather than bringing the old
tent-tabernacle to Jerusalem too, he had a new tent – the third of the three
tent-tabernacles – built to house it.
It is interesting to note that, for some reason not specifically stated in the Bible, both David and Solomon kept the old
tent-tabernacle away from the site of the new stone temple; and purposely left it in the neighbouring town of Gibeon, which is about seven miles north-west of Jerusalem.
1 Kings 3:4:
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.1 Chronicles 16:39:
And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon,1 Chronicles 21:29:
For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.2 Chronicles 1:3:
So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.2 Chronicles 1:13:
Then Solomon came from his journey to the high place that was at Gibeon to Jerusalem, from before the tabernacle of the congregation, and reigned over Israel.
Then, soon after this mention:
2 Chronicles 2:1:
And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.
As already mentioned, Solomon also – as well as his father David – left the old
tent-tabernacle in Gibeon – until the dedication of the new stone Temple.
When the construction of the temple was complete, the dedication ceremony did not take place right away.
It was deferred for almost a year – until the time of the autumn feasts:
2 Chronicles 5:
1: So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the LORD {i.e. the first stone temple} was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.
2: Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD up {up to the temple location} from the city of David, which is Zion {N.B. evidently not the same place as the temple site!}.
3: Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the Feast, which was in the seventh month…
This was possibly the Feast of Trumpets; but more likely the Feast of Tabernacles.
4: So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the Ark
Now, as we continue, please read carefully:
5: Then they brought up the Ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up.
6: Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
7: And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim:
8: For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
9: And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.
Please picture this scene. The old tent-tabernacle and the magnificent new stone Temple co-existed separately in neighbouring towns for some months. Then finally, at the dedication of the new stone temple, Solomon finally had the old tent-tabernacle brought to – and probably into – the new stone temple.
Please keep this “dedication and transition ceremony” in your mind’s eye as we compare this event with two amazing scriptures from the apostle Paul. (By the way, Paul was a tent-maker by trade. I wonder if this might be significant). I quote Paul’s first of these two amazing scriptures from the Phillips translation:
Ephesians 2:
19: So you are no longer outsiders or aliens, but fellow-citizens with every other Christian––you belong now to the household of God…
In this context, this would be better rendered “house of God.”
20: Firmly beneath you is the foundation, God’s messengers and prophets, the Cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself.
21: In Him each separate piece of building, properly fitting into its neighbour, grows together into a temple consecrated to the Lord.
22: You are all part of this building in which God Himself lives by His Spirit.
Please try to visualize each huge stone of the sparkling new temple being shaped, smoothed, polished (off-site, by the way!), being brought
to the site and “properly fit into” its neighbour stones.
But it was not just the temple stones that fit perfectly.
Also, please visualize the venerable old tent-tabernacle (along with its furnishings) being carried
into the magnificent, new, stone Temple – i.e. “properly fitting into its neighbour.”
The old tent-tabernacle and the new stone temple were "neighbours" of a sort when the new
stone temple stood in Jerusalem and the old Tabernacle stood in the neighbouring town of Gibeon.
The old was brought in – to “properly fit” into its new neighbour.
Yes, it is true that the main functions of the old tent-tabernacle building were taken over by the new one, and that its rooms and some of its furnishings were replaced by new, larger ones.
But the actual tent itself, and some of the original, old furnishings – including the Ark of the Covenant – were brought
into the new temple.
The spiritual aspect of this event is made even clearer by Paul’s second “amazing” scripture:
II Corinthians 5:
1: For we know that if our earthly house, this tent {Greek: skenos: tabernacle; here symbolizing our temporary human bodies} is destroyed, we have a building {Greek: oikodome: implies a building under construction} from God, a house {oikia} not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2: For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven {our new spirit bodies}.
3: If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4: For we who are in this tent {skenos} groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed… {now please note this carefully}… that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
At the end of its useful life, the old tent-tabernacle (along with the Ark and the other old
tabernacle furnishings) were taken up into the new stone temple.
Thus, the old tent-tabernacle was “further clothed” by the new
Temple building.
The old tent-tabernacle was “swallowed up” by the new stone temple.
This transition evidently symbolizes our old “tent-tabernacles” – our temporary mortal bodies being “further clothed” – or
newly clothed – being “swallowed up” by our new, permanent “temples” – our new Spirit bodies – and eternal life!
Amazing? Exciting? Encouraging?
Yes it is!
And it continues even further!
The Father’s Tabernacle
Each year at the beginning of the autumn holy day season, God gives us some symbolic
transitions – first, from the regular non-holy-days to the holy
day season. First, the Feast of Trumpets; then from one Holy Day to another.
As we, today, approach the end of the Feast of Tabernacles and all of its wonderful promises and symbolisms – and
this evening, as we move into the Last Great Day (which some prefer to refer to as
"the Eighth Day") with its even-more-wonderful promises and symbolisms, we often read this scripture, Revelation 21 beginning with verse 3, which serves as yet another
transition – from the symbolisms of the Feast of Tabernacles to those of the Last Great Day:
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle {tent or habitation} of God {the Father} is with men {once men... once human; but then, Spirit beings} and He will dwell {skenoo: as in a tent} with them {just as His Son had done for a thousand years} and they shall be His people, and God Himself {the Father} shall be with them, and be their God.
Remember the original tent-tabernacle builders, Bezaleel and Aholiab? The name “Aholiab” means “Father’s Tent”!
Still in Revelation 21, now, let us jump down to verse 22:
22: And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty {the Father} and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God {the Father} did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Here we see that God the Father and the Lamb of God are the ultimate Temple.
They are also the ultimate brilliant Light (ref: John 1:9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46; Colossians 1:12; James 1:17), which formerly cast shadows of heavenly things (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 8:1-5; 10:1). Two of those shadows were the tent-tabernacles and the stone temples.
Remember the other tent-tabernacle builder, Bezaleel? The name “Bezaleel” means “Shadow of God”!
Like Jesus – the personal Word of God, the written Word of God is also the Alpha and the Omega – from its beginning to its end!
God’s written Word is a true miracle.
It is like a miraculous jig-saw puzzle!
At the fulfillment of the Last Great Day, God the Father promises to relocate –
to move Himself and His dwelling so that He can dwell with His children.
But this time not in a temporary dwelling.
When God the Father comes to us -- -- it will not be to a temporary dwelling.
When He brings His New Heaven, His New Earth and His own Self down to us, it will be to a
permanent home.
God the Father promises that He will then dwell with His children forever!
JHP/jhp