07. God's Dwelling-Places

THE STUDY OF THE TYPES BY ADA R. HABERSHON

CHAPTER 7 GOD’s Dwelling Places A VERY interesting study is that of comparing GOD’s dwelling places throughout the Bible. The first is the Tabernacle, of which He said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." This was the first time that GOD had dwelt amongst men. He came down to visit Adam in Eden, when He walked in the garden in the cool of the day. Enoch and Noah walked with GOD, and He called Abraham His friend; but He had never before come down to dwell. In Genesis 9:27, where it is prophesied, "He shall dwell in the tents of Shem," there may be an allusion to the Tabernacle. For more than five hundred years it was His dwelling place on earth. He went "from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another," until He gave directions for Solomon to build Him a house, and the Temple became His sanctuary, a "palace, . . . not for man, but for the Lord God" (1 Chronicles 29:1).

These two, the Tabernacle and the Temple, were successively His dwelling place in Old Testament times. But after many years had elapsed the Lord JESUS CHRIST came; and in Him, on earth as now in Heaven, "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

We read that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us." He was Emmanuel, "God with us", the Antitype of the Tabernacle and also of the Temple; for He was "greater than the temple" (Matthew 12:6), and compares Himself to it more than once.

"Destroy this temple," He said, "and in three days I will raise it up; . . . but He spake of the temple of His body." For thirty-three years He walked this earth, and when He ascended, GOD came to dwell in another temple.

He now dwells in the Church, not merely in the bodies of individual believers, which are the temples of the HOLY GHOST, but in "the Church, which is His body." As we read in Ephesians 2:20-22, "Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

It has been pointed out that in this passage we have the Church as the antitype both of the Temple and the Tabernacle. In verse 22 there is a building already completed in which GOD now dwells - a building set up like the Tabernacle on desert sands. In verse 21 a Temple is spoken of which is still growing, and which will only be completed when He presents to Himself "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." The Tabernacle seems to be the type of CHRIST and His Church now; the Temple, of CHRIST and His Church in resurrection glory, as we read in Peter, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." It is not yet finished. As Solomon’s Temple "was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither" - or "at the quarry," - so each stone in the Temple must be quarried, cut, and shaped below.

Solomon himself adopted the plan which he recommends in Proverbs 24:1-34, "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house." GOD is doing this now. The field is the world, and the stones are one by one being made ready here.

We are told of the vessels of the Temple that "in the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground"; and so must it be with "the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory." All the moulding and the cutting must be done here; and the building will not be completed till every stone is finished, and "He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it!" The corner stone in Ephesians 2:1-22 is the foundation stone, and speaks of His first coming; but the head stone of the corner, inPsalms 118, and the headstone spoken of inZechariah 4, point to His second coming.

There is mention of a future dwelling Place in Ezekiel 37:26, Ezekiel 37:27, and other similar passages, where GOD promises that His sanctuary shall be in the midst of Israel. In Revelation 15:1-8, John sees "the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven"; and in chapter 21 he hears a voice saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them."

We cannot tell how far these refer to the glorified Church; but we know that when He comes and the dead in CHRIST are raised, and we which are alive and remain are "caught up... to meet the Lord in the air," we shall never again be separated from Him; for "so shall we ever be with the Lord."

John tells us in the same chapter of Revelation that in the New Jerusalem he "saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it"; and we know that the Lord JESUS CHRIST’s prayer will then have been fulfilled, "that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us."

It may be therefore that this future temple is CHRIST and His Church. When Adam fell, the Lord said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us"; and so he was driven away from the tree of life. But CHRIST’s prayer in John is "that they also may be one in us"; and in Revelation man is welcomed back to the tree of life, and CHRIST’s prayer is answered. In studying these dwelling places - the Tabernacle, the Temple, our Lord Himself, and the Church - we may trace many thoughts through each one, comparing them and contrasting them with one another.

First, there is the pattern for each. Moses is told to make the Tabernacle, and all its vessels, after the pattern which was shown him in the Mount (Exodus 25:9, Exodus 25:40). When David gave to Solomon the plan for every part of the Temple, he said, "All this . . . the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."

We know that the Lord JESUS CHRIST is the express image of GOD’s person, and every member of the Church is to be conformed to the image of His Son, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." In GOD’s dwelling place there is no place for man’s designs or inventions. The pattern for all is CHRIST Himself.

There is preparation in each case. The Tabernacle must have been in GOD’s mind when He told the people to ask of the Egyptians jewels of gold and jewels of silver; and when He put it into the hearts of their late oppressors to grant them all that they asked. He had told Abraham that they should "come out with great substance"; and thus when in Exodus 25:1-40, He told them to bring an offering, they were well provided. So when GOD asks us to give Him something, He always gives it to us first. He makes preparation, and then allows us to say we will "prepare Him an habitation." When the materials had been given, He called out Bezaleel, whom He had filled "with the Spirit of GOD, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works," and put in his heart that he might teach others, and that the work might be done according to GOD’s pattern.

David made great preparation for the Temple; for he said, "The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries; I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death" (1 Chronicles 22:5).

Six times over in 1 Chronicles 29:1-30 this preparation is mentioned; for when David had prepared, the people also made preparation, and they could say, as their fathers in the wilderness might have done, "All this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy Name, cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own." This is the Bible meaning of consecration, filling our hand from GOD’s hand, and then offering it to Him again (1 Chronicles 29:5, 1 Chronicles 29:14, margin). Solomon also, as we have seen, made careful preparation before he began to build the house. When the Lord JESUS came and tabernacled amongst men, He said, "A body hast Thou prepared Me." His going forth was "prepared as the morning"; and Simeon could say, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people."

Now GOD dwells in "a people prepared for the Lord" - on earth in humiliation, as in the Tabernacle; by-and-by in the glory, as in the Temple, when He will "make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory."

There is preparation also for GOD’s future dwelling place. In Isaiah 2:2, we read, "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it"; and in Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:3, John sees "the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband"; and at the same time he hears "a great voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men."

Above the Tabernacle rested the Shekinah cloud that indicated GOD’s presence. When Moses set up the Tabernacle, we read that "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle; and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle." When all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished, and everything was brought in and put in its place, and the Temple dedicated to GOD, "It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." The bright cloud overshadowed the Lord JESUS on the mount of Transfiguration; and as in the wilderness GOD spake to Israel out of the cloud, so He spake to the disciples: "And, behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him." The cloud was seen again when the Lord JESUS ascended; for while the disciples were gathered around Him on the mount of Olives, "He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." We read in 1 Corinthians 10:1 - 1 Corinthians 10:2 that all the children of Israel "were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea"; and this seems to indicate that the cloud was a type of the HOLY SPIRIT, for "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body."

Lastly, in John’s vision of the things which shall be hereafter, we read that "the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and no man was able to enter into the temple" (Revelation 15:8).

Gold, which is taken to typify the divine, is found in each. The boards of the Tabernacle were overlaid with gold, also the golden altar, the table of shewbread, and the ark, while the mercy-seat and the candlestick were of pure gold. The latter alone must have been worth between £5,000 and £6,000; and the gold in the Temple more than £500,000,000 - 108,000 talents (1 Chronicles 22:14; 1 Chronicles 29:4, 1 Chronicles 29:7).

None of the wood, which is taken to represent the humanity, could be seen in either the Tabernacle or in the Temple; and in the latter "there was no stone seen." All was overlaid with pure gold. Of our Lord Himself we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He was the God-man; and the gold, the divine, though often hidden from view, was throughout His whole life seen in the miracles He wrought and the words He spake. On the mount of Transfiguration its full glory was seen; and even when "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross," the centurion and they that were with Him said, "Truly this was the Son of God." As GOD’s dwelling place now, the Church too needs the gold; and every member of that Church must be born again, and be a partaker of the divine nature. When in Revelation 3:1-22, CHRIST grieves over the lukewarmness of the Laodiceans, He says, "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed; . . . and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see": and we read in 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 that at the Judgment-seat of CHRIST, when the works of believers will be tested, the gold, silver, and precious stones, will abide the fire.* In Solomon’s temple "the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without"; and the priests’ feet stood upon it, instead of as in the Tabernacle, on the sand of the desert: while in the New Jerusalem, in which the Lord GOD Himself and the Lamb are the temple, we read that the street of the city was pure gold.

* It may be that the gold, white raiment, and eyesalve. represent GOD Himself - Father, Son, and HOLY GHOST: for we read inJob 22:25(marg.) "The Almighty shall be thy gold"; inRomans 13:14, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ"; and in1 John 2:20, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." It was GOD Himself that the Church at Laodicea wanted; and He was willing to come and dwell with any who heard His voice and would open the door to Him. The exterior of these dwelling places may well be compared and contrasted. The Tabernacle was covered with the badger skins, and the beauties within were hidden. There could have been nothing attractive in its appearance; and it was very different from the glory of the temple of Solomon, which was "garnished... with precious stones for beauty." Our Lord when He was on earth was like the Tabernacle, so that the prophet could say, "When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men . . . we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not" - so is it with the Church now. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord"; and in her pilgrim character the Church too is despised and rejected of men. The little company at Ephesus was not thought to be of much importance. As the Apostle wrote his letter to them, and compared them to the Temple and the Tabernacle, probably he was thinking of that other temple at Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the world, of which we read in Acts 19:1-41, Demetrius feared "that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." That temple has long since been destroyed, and we can see its remains in the British Museum; but the believers at Ephesus formed part of a temple which, like Solomon’s, will be "exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries." When in resurrection-glory CHRIST comes with His Church, to be admired in all them that believe, the beauty of that Temple will be seen by the whole universe.

Many other thoughts may be traced through GOD’s dwelling places in the various dispensations.

~ end of chapter 7 ~