Chapter 11
The tabernacle held a central position in the life of the children of Israel, especially during the forty years of sojourning in the wilderness. The tabernacle was also the physical center because the twelve tribes were situated around it when they camped; they were all facing it (Num. 2:2). The tabernacle was the place where God and man met and were reconciled. It was the place of the forgiveness of sins and consecration, and the place of God’s speaking. Therefore, the importance of the tabernacle was very present in the minds and in the history of the Jews.
John the evangelist was a Jew and he knew the history and customs of the Jews. He was very careful in his choice of words in writing his gospel. When John referred to the incarnation of the Son of God he wrote, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (1:14). The word “dwell” is easy to understand in English, but it does not convey clearly what John wrote. The word he used was “tabernacled,” indicating that the God-man Jesus was the very tabernacle of God among men, the place where God and man could meet.
John wrote his gospel after Christ’s death and resurrection. When he used the word tabernacled, his intention was to show clearly to the people of Israel that the One they rejected and crucified was God Himself in the flesh. Through His incarnation Christ became the tabernacle of God on earth. From the time of His incarnation Christ became the meeting place of God and man, the place where the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation were operating and the place where God was speaking.
God revealed the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses as the place of worship for the people. In a certain sense, the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt in the Old Testament. Centuries later, king David determined to build a temple for God; however, God did not allow him to do this because the king was a man of war and had shed much blood (1 Chron. 28:3). Then David made the plans of all he had in his mind concerning the house of God, prepared the material and the place for the building, and delivered everything to his son Solomon (vv. 11-21; 2 Chron. 3:1). At the end of the solemn dedication of the temple, the glory of God filled it so that the priests were not able to enter (2 Chron. 7:2). This shows that, in a certain sense, God began to dwell in the temple.
One day God became incarnated in Christ. He lived about thirty years in a hidden way, at the end of which He began His ministry of approximately three and a half years. One day, after He cast out the vendors from the temple, Jesus said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. The Jews answered, “This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body” (John 2:19-21).
After Christ came, the physical temple was no longer needed. Through His death on the cross, the temple of Christ’s body would be destroyed, but through resurrection, on the third day He would raise up this temple again, this time to be a glorious, indestructible body. Christ seemed to be saying to the Jews that they should realize that the reality of the tabernacle and the temple had come and was with them. Christ tabernacled among them and His body was the temple; hence, both the tabernacle and the temple were shadows of Christ.
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