"And the Word became Flesh and made His Tabernacle among us"John:1:14a
The Tabernacle of God was that place among the People of Israel where they met or communed with God.
“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. Ex:25:8-9
The Tabernacle was divided into the an outer court, where the Alter of Sacrifice was located, here the priest would offered the sacrifices which the people brought. There was also the Bronze Laver where the Priest would wash their hands. There was the Sanctuary wherein was the Alter of Incense, the Showbread Table and the ever burning Mannorah.
Then there was the "back part" of the Tabernacle; the Holy of Holies. It was here in the Holy of Holies that presence of God resided and manifested above the very Ark of the Covenant which held the pieces of the Ten Commandments , the very Word or Law of the Covenant.
Where God Was Met
In this earthly construct ,which accompanied the people of Israel as they were on their pilgrimage thru the Wilderness, that God met with them. This Tabernacles served as the point of contact and the very center of Israel's national Covenant relationship with God, the very Creator of all things. Where Israel went, so went the Tabernacle. When they camped the Tabernacle would be erected, when they moved it would be collapsed and taken, it was always with them. Num:1:50,53. Num:2:2, Num:9:15-23,Num:10:1
This Tabernacle was the place where God resided among the people, the Holy of Holies was the focus of all that took place there, it was in the "back part" of the Tabernacle. The word used to describe the Holy of Holies location in the Tabernacle is "Debir" which is literally means the "hinterside" or "back ground."
But a related word to "Debir" is "Dabar". "Dabar" carries with it more than just a locational aspect, "Dabar" speaks of a sense of history, or frame work of thought as the Holy Word of God , and this word we find tells of of the substances and reality of a thing or the true essence of an event.
"Dabar" can also be translated as the Word of God , but not just the Word which is spoken or written but the actual true essence and origin and substance of all the Word of God, that is , how it is perfectly expressed and all that the Word of God reveals to humanity about the Creator of all things.
With "Dabar's" relation to "Debir" , which tells us where the Holy of Holies was located in the "back" of the Tabernacle , that place where the Ark of God was , which housed the Word of God , the Ten Commandments , and where the Lord dwelt and met his people, we can understand that we are being give understanding where we find the true expression of the Word of God and it's perfect clearest revelation to humanity.
The Word
When John the Apostle wrote his account of the life and Words of Jesus Christ , John begins with the "Debir" or the true "background" and essence of all things and their origins and the very Word of God, the "Dabar" that perfect revelation and expression of God.
John would have wrote his Gospel with his understanding informed by what we see at the earthly Tabernacle which accompanied Israel in the pilgrimage to the Promised Land, but John, however, looked beyond that Tabernacle to the true "Debir" , that is "background" of all things and the perfect expression of the Holy Word (Dabar) of God.
John begins his account in Eternity with God himself and the True Word of God and that place where in humanity can truly find the perfect and clearest revelation about God.
John begins his account in Eternity with God himself and the True Word of God and that place where in humanity can truly find the perfect and clearest revelation about God.
The Word (Dabar), we are told by John , is more than just something that God speaks or communicates, but is God himself. That this Word, as God, has "person-hood", for lack of a better word and is equal to God; for we are told this Word (Dabar) is God. The Greek which John used to write his Gospel translates this word Dabar as Logos, which can mean spokesman or to convey revelation or disclosed of truth or identity.
This very Word of God, we are told by John , is the Creator of all things, again stressing the equality with God as fully God.
"He (the Word) was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind" Jhn:1:3-4
The Word Incarnate
John ,with the Tabernacle in mind, tells us, that this Word, who is God in every way, and who is the Creator of all things, and who is the clearest and purist perfect expression of the very self of God, and who is the true "background" , or, as the word "Dabar" indicates in it relationship with the word "Debir" , is the place or the way in which we encounter or meet with God as the Children of Israel met God in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle.
It is this Word who enters into the history thru the people of Israel and takes on our very humanity by becoming one of us and joining us with himself thru the Incarnation.
" The Word became flesh and made his Tabernacle among us." (14a)
John in his account identifies this incarnate Word as Jesus of Nazareth and it is thru Jesus , who we come to see is the true "background" of all things and is the Tabernacle where we meet the very Creator God of all things. This means that everything that the earthly Tabernacle was meant to be Jesus is.
When John writes his Gospel account and tells us of the Word (Dabar) made flesh. John is telling us that all that the Word of God, (which at that point in the History of Salvation was the Old Testament) , was ever meant to direct us to and to convey to humanity is now fully and perfectly found in the divine person of Jesus.
The Old Testament had as it's object the very person of Jesus and was written word (Dabar) to create a "background" and a prehistory of the incarnation, that is the Old Testament is the incarnation anticipated, and thru that pre-history of the Old Testament God created a cultural context with in Israel thru which and by which to introduce humanities Savior.
That is, in Jesus find all that we need to know about the very God who brought all things into being. In the humanity of Jesus we meet God in the Tabernacle of his flesh as Israel met God in the earthly Tabernacle.
All that God , the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit , has to share about himself we find perfectly and clearly revealed in Jesus. The Apostles wrote about their experiences in meeting God in the person of Jesus and God's invitation to include each and all of us into the relationship of unconditional divine love. This makes the New Testament , the incarnation realized and experienced.
When we come to Jesus we meet God, not just a Palestinian Jewish Rabbi who lived two thousand years ago , but the very Creator God himself has and is reveling the the Father , the First person of the Trinity to us in the very self of Jesus.
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Matt:11:27
This tell us that Jesus is the living Holy of Holies, the perfect expression of the Law, often called the "Decalouge", or "Debarim" meaning the Ten words. "Debarim" which is related to both "Dabar" and "Debir" both are in view in Johns mind; to speak to us about the Word and it's true "history" or "origin" or "background" and which resided within the Ark covered by the Mercy Seat where the Presences God dwells and communions with us. John is telling us that the "background" of the event of Jesus' incarnation lies in his divine person as God the Son the Second person of the Holy Trinity and Jesus as the Son has entered our humanity. Jesus is the true pre-history of our Salvation and the means by which it is accomplished.
The Tabernacle With Us
When we come to Jesus we meet God, not just a Palestinian Jewish Rabbi who lived two thousand years ago , but the very Creator God himself has and is reveling the the Father , the First person of the Trinity to us in the very self of Jesus.
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Matt:11:27
This tell us that Jesus is the living Holy of Holies, the perfect expression of the Law, often called the "Decalouge", or "Debarim" meaning the Ten words. "Debarim" which is related to both "Dabar" and "Debir" both are in view in Johns mind; to speak to us about the Word and it's true "history" or "origin" or "background" and which resided within the Ark covered by the Mercy Seat where the Presences God dwells and communions with us. John is telling us that the "background" of the event of Jesus' incarnation lies in his divine person as God the Son the Second person of the Holy Trinity and Jesus as the Son has entered our humanity. Jesus is the true pre-history of our Salvation and the means by which it is accomplished.
In the Tabernacle of his humanity Jesus is where we each and all encounter our God. God has himself entered time and our earthly lives so that we might know him, that is to have an relationship with God, here and now and on into eternity.
"this is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" Jhn:17:3
Jesus is the Holy Trinities living invitation for us to know the great God and see his glory.
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. Jesus Prays for His Disciples
This tell us that eternal life is much more than a state of ,or duration of existence but is expressed as a way of life that issues forth out of close abiding relationship with God thru Jesus Christ.
John in his Epistle writes to us of the present assurance of the accomplished salvation and certainty of eternal life that is our even now , not just someday, but here in now.
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." 1Jhn:5:13
The Prophets of Israel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit , looked down thru the ages with a Godly anticipation toward what Christians experience in Christ , yet these Prophets often saw only in part, and wrote the word which God had revealed to them, that Word which they wrote has come forth out of eternity from God, the Holy Trinity, in the person of Jesus thru the incarnation.
…"obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking
to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was
indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to
follow." 1Ptr:1:9-11
In Jesus God himself has accomplished our salvation dieing and rising for us all , each and all.
"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And
he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2Crth:5:14-15
As stated before hand the earthly Tabernacle was with Israel in their wondering pilgrimage thru the wilderness on the journey to the Promised Land, it never left them but went where they went. This drawing upon the image of the Tabernacle which John employes is to speak reassurance to any and all who but look unto Jesus, that Jesus is with us thru all our wondering in the Wilderness of this life in our pilgrimage to the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God, as certainly as that earthly Tabernacle was among the Children of Israel.
Even in the moments when Israel went after foreign gods , that earthly Tabernacle, was still with them, though unavailed of, yet it remained there among the Children of Israel. never departing.
This brings the assurance and eternal long-suffering of our God , who out of his eternal love for humanity has vowed in his word never to depart from us nor to abandon us even as will stumble and fall.
Even in the moments when Israel went after foreign gods , that earthly Tabernacle, was still with them, though unavailed of, yet it remained there among the Children of Israel. never departing.
This brings the assurance and eternal long-suffering of our God , who out of his eternal love for humanity has vowed in his word never to depart from us nor to abandon us even as will stumble and fall.
"God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Heb:13:5b
Looking ahead into Eternity John the Apostle records the Words of the Holy Spirit regarding the ever abiding presence of God with humanity when he dealers these words.
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Rev:21:3
In and thru Jesus we encounter the great God thru the Tabernacle of Jesus' humanity the one who came from the very Holy of Holies of eternity that we might ,each and all who will meet their God in the Person of Jesus Christ..Amen
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
The
Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike.
2101 Old National Pike.
Washington,
Pennsylvania. www.gcfountainoflife.org
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