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Matthew 6:10
… on earth as it is in heaven. When Moses met Adonai on the mountain he received the following instructions, And let them (the Children of Israel) make me (Adonai) a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain (Exodus 25:8-9, 40). Moses was the first Biblically recorded prophet to have seen God’s throne room and God required that the Children of Israel build His earthly Sanctuary exactly as Moses saw it on the Mount. If we want to understand Heaven and our relationship with the Almighty, all we have to do is ponder on the picture of Israel’s encampment around the Tabernacle and on the Tabernacle Itself. In essence, the Children of Israel were building Heaven on earth. The dimensions and instructions to build this Tabernacle were very specifics (Exodus 35). This teaches us that God didn’t leave it up to us to decide how to worship and love Him. Of course we are free moral agents, but even as Yeshua said, our love for Him, as well as our unification to Him are measured by our obedience (John 15:10). Spirituality outside of Torah always leads to idolatry and paganism. Torah teaches us the definition and structure of worshipping God; it creates a structure and shape for spirituality to fill. In their attempt to bring divinity into their midst without the parameters of Torah, the Children of Israel built an idol, and rather than bring God close to them, they repulsed Him. Here is something to think about now: how often do we see the same dynamic at work among believers who earnestly desire after God, but pursue Him outside of the good laws of His revealed word? We would like to think that God doesn’t care how we love Him as long as we love Him, but these instructions on how to do so are a testament to the opposite. My wife and I run a small school and youth programs from our house. I have certain behavior rules concerning attitude, language, and general comportment that kids have to uphold while they are within the parameters of my property. I expect them to obey me if they want to benefit of what I have to offer them. They cannot argue with my rules telling me that their parents or their neighbor allows them to do certain things that I don’t. I tell them it is, ‘My house, my rule!’ I guess God is like any father on earth. He establishes the rules and parameters of His Kingdom and anyone living in it has to live by them or incur His displeasure. May we today learn to love the Father as He intended us to do it. Certain things may still be difficult to understand, but the Father in His indulgent love has sent Yeshua to help answer much of our questions. Yeshua in turn has allowed His apostles to give us many specifics on how to live a Torah lifestyle. May we spend our lives living by them and in so doing, build Heaven on earth.
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Ephesians 5:18
… Be filled with the Spirit, Moses comes down the mountain for the second time. He carries with him a renewed copy of the terms of the covenant between man and God. The Horeb wedding is on again, the Tabernacle therefore needs to be built to house the Tables of the Covenant and for God to indwell His people. Moses is not the one to build the tabernacle, instead the Father directs him to two skilled workers whom as the Text says, are ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Exodus 35:30-35). In contemporary charismatic circles, the infilling of the Spirit is mainly a pneumatic or emotional experience. As a result many Bible teachers today claim to be ‘led by the Spirit’ in their studying, spiritual walk and teaching, while at the same time they refuse to learn from the work of previous spirit-filled expositors such as the Jewish sages from which our Messianic faith derives. They therefore read the Scriptures ignorantly and feed themselves with erroneous doctrinal conclusions. Through millennia they have redefined the understanding of the infilling of the Spirit, the indwelling of God within man, baptism and redemption which are all Jewish Old Testament concepts well expounded on in the Hebrew Scriptures. They refuse to study from the knowledge of others, but then feed themselves errors from their own head. They are in essence the epitome of the ‘blind leading the blind’, and not only do they lead themselves into a pit but they bring others along with them. What we are seeing in the appointment of the two Israelite workmen is that the infilling of the Spirit has more to do with divine inspiration in the understanding and application of a learned skill than with the clairvoyant-type mystic who is led by vague pneumatic feelings and tingling sensations. The Spirit-filled biblical person is a person of study, ability, and understanding. This person is knowledgeable in the complex intricacy of their skill, understands it and is inspired (animated) by the Spirit of the Almighty in the accomplishment thereof. One can possess divine musical inspiration but if he doesn’t learn music or how to play an instrument, he will only produce dissonant noises uncomfortable to the ears. Such are the teachings of those who solely rely on inspiration without the aid of education. What we need today is more than the empty hot air of charismatic teachings. What we need today is the true solid doctrine based on the pragmatic and practical wisdom of the fathers of our faith. Maybe that’s what it means that in the end of time Elijah will come … to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared (Luke 1:17). May God give us true teachers who are not full of themselves and their own errors, but teachers filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship (Exodus 35:31), teachers who have studied the Word of God and who acknowledge that they stand on the shoulders of others wiser than they are. John 14:6
“No one comes to the Father except through me”. From New-Age type meditations to quantum physics, many books have been written on how to approach God. Why don’t people just read the Bible? In the Tabernacle, later to be the Temple, we are taught all the details concerning the protocol to observe when desiring an audience with the Almighty. Here is how it goes: Our sinful nature prohibits us from approaching God. We only do it by proxy through the mediation of the blood of a kosher animal, so first we must bring an offering to the altar. The offering was not designed to atone for sin; it only served as an acknowledgement and a confession of sin (Hebrews 10:4; 9:13). It was the same before He was manifested about 2,000 years ago, as it is now: only the work of Messiah done at the foundation of the world cleans the conscience from sin (Hebrews 4:3; 9:14; 1 Peter 1:20). From Genesis to today, the formula never changed; we approach the Father through the sole mediating agency of the Son (John 14:6; Hebrews 4:14-16; Psalms 2:12). After we have brought the animal and offered it, only the priest can go further into the precinct of the Tabernacle/Temple. To do so, he has to go through the laver and wash his hands and feet. He probably washed at home that morning, but these are ritual washings against ritual contamination for priests only. We remember how Yeshua did the same to His disciples on the day He died. The disciples had already washed their bodies as well as their hands before eating as was done in Jewish customs; all they needed now was to wash their feet which Messiah did for them that night. In essence, Yeshua was treating His disciples as priests, which fulfilled Messianic prophecies (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9). Yeshua Himself is the laver wherewith we are clean to approach the Father (John 15:3). Finally, the continual incense burning in front of the Ark showed the prayers offered unto God. When Zechariah came to the Temple, the angel who said, “Your petition has been heard”, appeared to him as he was offering the incense (Luke 1:13). Our prayers are brought before God and He answers each one of them; He will vindicate His people (Revelations 5:8; 8:3-4). May we then, having laid our sin on the altar, trust in the righteousness of our High-Priest in Heaven Yeshua HaMashiach, and through Him have the confidence to draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). John 2:21
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. As we study the different elements of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25) we learn so much about the role of Yeshua in our lives. The Tabernacle was nothing less than a portable Temple, a temporary dwelling place for the Shekinah until such a time when King David would plan the first Jerusalem temple to be built by his son, Solomon. Reminding us of the words spoken by Isaiah the prophet, Yeshua Himself called the Temple ‘a House of Prayer’ (Isaiah 56:7; Matthew 21:13). By definition God is thrice Holy meaning He is set-apart and cannot be approached by a human which is by definition sinful and common. God wants to live among us but as the Holy King that He is, there is a protocol to be respected. There is death penalty for breaking it (Leviticus 10:1-2). The Tabernacle and its protocol was the means by which God was to be approached. This is reflected in the way we have learned to approach the Almighty God through the Agency of Yeshua. The Tabernacle therefore was kept holy in order to house the Shekinah, just as Yeshua kept Himself holy and without sin so He could house the Spirit of God in Him (Hebrews 4:15). As Yeshua debated Temple use (or misuse) with Judean leaders, He compared it with His own body or His own self (John 2:13-21). Learning therefore about Tabernacle/Temple protocol is learning about our own relationship with God through Messiah and as we do so, we realize in this that there is nothing casual about our relationship with God. We may call Him ‘Father’ but the term is not used in the casual manner that certain fathers play their role today. It is used with a sense of awe and respect. The relationship is not as one between peers. The role of Messiah is to clean (sanctify) us with His Words so that through His agency we can approach the Holy Father (John 15:3). We are cleaned not only by listening and reading His Words but also as we set ourselves apart to obey God in the manner which Messiah shows us. May we therefore learn to serve an obey; to let our lives be transformed by Yeshua that He may testify of us to the Father as those who have cleaned themselves, washed their robes and set themselves apart from the impurities of the world to be presented unto Him (Revelations 7:14). Hebrews 1:3
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature When Moses was on the Mount, either in reality or in a vision he saw God’s eternal dwelling place. Moses was able to observe every detail of it and then was asked to replicate it on earth for God to be able to dwell among His people: Israel. God asked Moses, Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I ‘show’ you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it (Exodus 25:8-9). This can be a daunting task. How indeed can the corruptible recreate the incorruptible? How can the grander and majesty of the heavenly throne be replicated with mere earthly elements? How could the purity and majesty of God’s dwelling place be represented for mankind to see? A play on the words of the Hebrew text of Exodus 25:9 gives us a clue. The word ‘show’ in Hebrew of the verse is ‘mareh’, but it can also be interpreted as ‘mirror’. Moses was not asked to replicate the very thing, but a mere model for people to see. It is like using a mirror when trying to see something in a concealed location. Also, from a distance a mirror can capture the fullness of a large area. Yes, even though God fills everything (Jeremiah 23:24), through a ‘mirror’ we can catch a glimpse of His greatness. In these ancient days of the Exodus from Egypt God asked His servant Moses to have the people build a replica of His throne room as it appeared to Moses on the Mount. This would be the place from where His light would shine to speak with Moses. Moses who enjoyed direct contact with the Almighty, speaking face to face with God (Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:10) became for the people of Israel the very representation of the Heavenly Presence in the camp. Today we do not have Moses, a Tabernacle or an Ark, but we have the earthly image of the Father in the Son Yeshua, for He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3); in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:14-15). Yeshua commissioned us with the words, Jesus said to them again, " As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" (John 20:21). This means that in the daily walk (halacha) of our life, we are to exemplify the mission of our Master. His mission was to show us the father, our mission is to show the Son to the world. It represents indeed a tall order and it is doubtful that we are up to the task, but we can and should still try to do our best trusting that He will do the rest. It is important; the world needs it! We cannot live for ourselves; we have been sent on a mission. |
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