Day: October 31, 2021

THE GOD OF THE TABERNACLE

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of the tabernacle.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each lived in a tent (Gen. 12:8; 13:18; 18:1; 26:17, 25; 33:18; 35:21; Heb. 11:9). It is significant that the Bible does not say that Joseph lived in a tent. This shows that Joseph was a part of the life of Jacob. While Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were living in tents, they were eagerly waiting for the eternal tabernacle of God, the city of New Jerusalem (Heb. 11:10; Rev. 21:2-3). The tent in which they lived was a type of the New Jerusalem as the coming reality, the eternal tent. They were living in a type, eagerly waiting for the reality, the New Jerusalem.

The Triune God Embodied in the Son 
Being Incarnated to Be His Tabernacle on the Earth

The Triune God embodied in the Son was incarnated to be His tabernacle on the earth. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14). That man was a tabernacle. He was God becoming a man, a God-man. By His incarnation He mingled God with man. This person as the mingling of God with man is God’s tabernacle. By incarnation God eventually became our dwelling, making us His dwelling, a mutual abode of God and man.

The tabernacle of God was first the individual God-man Jesus (Matt. 1:21-23). The individual God-man Jesus as the tabernacle of God consummates in the corporate New Jerusalem. This corporate New Jerusalem will be the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the millennium (Lev. 23:34, 39-43; Rev. 2:7b). The Feast of Tabernacles was the last feast of the year for the Israelites. In the millennium Christ will be the reality of that feast as the full enjoyment of the processed and consummated Triune God in eternity (Rev. 22:14, 19). Christ in eternity will be such a full enjoyment for us to enjoy God as our eternal portion.

In eternity future the New Jerusalem will be the enlargement of Christ, the eternal mingling of God with man, and the mutual abode of God and man. Revelation 21 says that the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God for God to dwell in and that God will be the temple for His elect to dwell in. Therefore, the upcoming New Jerusalem will be a mutual abode for the redeeming God and for His redeemed to express the processed Triune God mingled with the regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man. This is the ultimate consummation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph.

Resulting in One People

These three persons resulted in one people—Israel (Exo.—Mal.). In the Triune God’s preparation for the carrying out of His eternal economy, there was first one man, then three persons, and finally a collective people.

To Bring Forth Christ, the God-man

This preparation was for bringing forth Christ the God-man, the complete God mingled with the perfect man (Matt. 1). The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament are not books of waste. They are books that reveal the preparation to bring forth Christ the God-man. Matthew 1 speaks of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (v. 1). Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers (v. 2). Eventually, Jesus who is called Christ was born of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph (v. 16). The God-man was brought forth for the accomplishment of God’s New Testament economy. The incarnation was the start of the New Testament, the first step of God’s actual move on the earth.

For the Producing of the Body of Christ

The bringing forth of Christ was for the producing of the Body of Christ (Eph. 1—4).

As the Organism of the Processed 
and Consummated Triune God

This Body of Christ is the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God (3:17-19).

Consummating in the New Jerusalem

The Body of Christ as the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-23). This consummation, the New Jerusalem, is the eternal enlargement (cf. John 3:30) of Christ the God-man. Then this enlargement is the eternal mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man and also the mutual dwelling of God and man. The redeemed will be the tabernacle for the dwelling of God (Rev. 21:3), and the redeeming God will be the temple for the dwelling of the redeemed (v. 22) to express the processed and consummated Triune God in His nature and glory (vv. 18b, 21b, 10-11, 23) in the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man for eternity (vv. 12-21a).