S.R.  Ephesians 3:14-21

  1. From Tabernacle to Temple
    1. The tabernacle throughout history has pictured for us God’s desire to live with us.
  2. The Temple
    1. After leaving Sinai as a new nation with a new covenant and a new tabernacle the people marched into the land God had promised.
    2. The tabernacle (tent) survived even though the “glory” of the Lord departed at least temporarily, (cf. the case of Ichabod 1 Samuel 4:19-22).
    3. David, during the period of the United Kingdom, decided to build a house for(cf. 2 Samuel 7)
    4. Solomon completes construction of the temple (2 Chronicles 5-7) and dedicates it.
    5. The Glory of the Lord fills the temple as God’s glory had earlier (Leviticus 9) filled the tabernacle. (2 Chronicles 5:13-14; 2 Chronicles 6; 2 Chronicles 7:19-22)
  3. From Glory to Ruin
    1. The Lord’s warnings are(2 Chronicles 7:19-22)
    2. God withdraws His presence.
      1. The destruction of the(2 Kings 25:8-9)
      2. God reluctantly moves(Ezekiel 10:3-4; 18-19;  11:22-23)
      3. The Jewish people had seemingly lost everything:
        1. The throne (descendant of David) was either killed or a captive.
        2. The land had been taken from them.
        3. The temple was pillaged and burned.
    3. Hope of a New Covenant:
      1. During the very announcements of judgment a future and a hope were extended to a remnant whom had a heart for(Jeremiah 29:10-11)
      2. Ezekiel 37:24-28 “24 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.”
      3. The new covenant would succeed for these reasons:
        1. It was based upon the faithfulness of God to His(Hebrews 8:6)
        2. It was not based upon the faithfulness of Jews to the Mosaic covenant.
        3. It would succeed based upon a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14, 23).
        4. It would succeed because sins would be “remembered no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
      4. The new holy city to be built would be “holy to the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:38-40)
  4. From Ruin To Rebuilding by a Remnant: A Step of Faith
    1. (Ezra 1-6; Haggai, Zechariah) narrate the events in the temple built under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
      1. This structure was small and seemingly insignificant (Haggai 2:3; Zechariah 4:9)
      2. God has in mind a latter glory (Haggai 2:7, 9).
        1. 7 'I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts… 9 ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and in this place I will give peace,' declares the LORD of hosts."  (NASB)
    2. This temple was completed in about 515 BC (Ezra 6:13-22)
      1. At the dedication of both the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple the descent of the cloud of the glory of the Lord is recorded.
      2. In this case it is noticeably missing.
      3. They built a house, but there is no indication that God ever moved in.
      4. Judaism was an empty house waiting for their God to move in (Mal. 3:1)
        1. “"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.
        2. Hosea 3:4-5 “For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod…Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.”
    3. Without that presence of the Lord it wouldn’t make any difference how magnificent the temple might be.
  5. The Temple of Herod: Empty Grander
    1. The greatest material magnificence the temple in Jerusalem ever enjoyed was the remodeling at the direction of an Edomite/Jewish ruler, Herod the Great.
      1. Construction was from about 19 BC – 63 AD (cf. John 2:20). [46 years]
      2. That splendid temple was completely destroyed just seven years later (70).
        1. Jesus was not impressed – not one(Luke 21:5-6)
        2. God’s people had abandoned Him and their temple (house) would be left desolate (Matthew 23:38).  “Abominations which caused desolation.”
    2. Jesus would serve in the true sanctuary, not made with hands (Hebrews9:24).
    3. He was not welcome in the one built by Herod and ruled by thieves and murderers, (John 11:47-53).
  6. The Word Tabernacles With Us
    1. The time, the fullness of time had come, for God to leave behind temples made with hands and provide real and lasting forgiveness of sins.
      1. The time had come for God to truly dwell among men. (John 1:1,14)
      2. John 1:1, 14 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” “made his dwelling”   (NIV)
    2. Dwell (John 1:14; Revelation 7:16; 21:3)
      1. The most common occurs about 40 times and relates to dwelling in a house.
      2. The word used here is rare.
        1. Outside of the(cf. 7:15; 21:3) it is used once (John 1:14)
        2. It carries the special connotation of dwelling in a tent
        3. skenoo, from G4636; to tent or encamp, i.e. (fig.) to occupy or (spec.) to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old, a symbol of protection and communion):--dwell.
    3. The Lord had come to his temple (Malachi 3:1).
    4. Jesus was not merely a replacement for the temple built by
      1. He was the fulfillment and continuation of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple.
      2. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise through Haggai (2:9) to make the latter glory of Zerubbabel’s temple even greater than that of Solomon.
      3. Jesus coming displayed once again, the glory of God, in the bodily presence of His son (John 1:14) “We beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.”
    5. Jesus came to show us the way home to the presence of the Father.
      1. We need not simply desire for God to come and dwell among us. (John 14:6)
      2. We need to ascend in order to dwell with God.
      3. God’s permanent dwelling is not this sin – cursed(Genesis 3:17)
      4. Christ came not to bring heaven to earth, but to open the door to the heavenly temple, the true dwelling of God.
        1. Earthly tabernacle is merely a shadow or model of the true one in heaven.
      5. In Christ, a sacrifice had now been offered that could provide access to the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 9:11, 12, 23-28).
      6. Now we can “come boldly to the throne of grace”  (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-22)
  7. God’s Present Tabernacle/Temple: The Church
    1. The Temple of His Body:  The
      1. At this point we can see more clearly the story of the tabernacle on two levels
        1. The earthly and heavenly, the model and the reality.
      2. On the one hand we follow the resurrected Jesus to heaven (Hebrews 1:3; 4:14-15)
        1. He “who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.”  (Hebrews 8:2)
      3. On the other hand John tells us that when Jesus spoke of the temple (John 2:22); he was speaking of His body.
        1. The body of Christ that continues on earth is the church.
        2. Ephesians 1:22-23 “22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
        3. 1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
      4. The earthly counterpart is no longer a material temple, made with hands, but a spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:5) “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
      5. This temple is much more like the true heavenly sanctuary.
        1. It is more glorious than its Old Test. predecessor (Hab. 2:9) “latter glory”
        2. Ephesians 2:19-22 “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
        3. God was taking up residence in His temple, the church, through the Spirit
        4. God in us (1 Corinthians 3:16) “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
        5. We are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16) “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
      6. The glory of the Lord and His Christ is to be seen in the lives of His(Ephesians 3:16-21)  [Reading] 
    2. Sacrifice was necessary for our dwelling with God and God’s dwelling within us.
      1. The altar stood in front of the temple.
      2. No one could enter without an appropriate sacrifice for sin.
        1. The sacrifice of Christ stands before the church and no entrance is possible without that sacrifice.
        2. All who entered the holy place had to wash, purification from sins, before entering (cf. Hebrews10:22). “bodies washed with pure water”
          1. The washing of purification in the Old. Test. pointed to the “washing of water with the word.”
      3. The fact that only priests could enter illuminates that all Christians are members of a holy priesthood in the house of God. (1 Peter 2:5)
    3. God’s presence in this earthly sanctuary carries with it a stern warning.
      1. As with all previous tabernacles, if His people turn from Him, He can and will withdraw His presence.
      2. John 14:23 “Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
      3. The light of God’s presence [Seven Golden lamp stand] (Revelation 1:13) had and will be removed from any congregation or individual who no longer lives in the light of God’s presence.
        1. One of the most notable objects depicted in the triumphal arch of Titus in Rome, after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 was the seven branched lamp stand of the Herod temple in Jerusalem.
        2. That monument would have been a visible reminder to Christians of the first century of the conditional nature of God’s dwelling among them.
  8. The city and the temple will merge into one as depicted in Revelation 21-22
    1. It is not only true that the tabernacle typology points to the church, in a real way the tabernacle is a model of heaven.
      1. The church, in the language of Hebrews is a better model and closer to the spiritual reality.
      2. It is based upon a better priest in a better tabernacle offering a better sacrifice.
      3. But the church is still only an earthly counterpart to the true sanctuary.
      4. The church is not the “end of the story” of salvation.
      5. It is not the final place of God’s dwelling with man.
    2. This helps explain the longing we have in this present(Romans 8:23)
      1. The desire to leave this “earthly tent’ behind.
        1. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4) “1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
      2. Our access to the throne of God and entrance into His presence is based upon the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
        1. Yet our entrance into His presence is still by faith, and not by sight.
        2. Our communication is by prayer and not yet, face to face.
      3. We are still strangers in a foreign land.
        1. Our citizenship is in another(Phil. 3:20) ‘heaven” we are waiting
        2. Another city, (Hebrews 11:10) “looking for the city whose builder and maker”
        3. The new Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22) “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.”
    3. When this sin cursed world is destroyed and a voice from the throne declares:
      1. (Revelation 21:3-4) “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
      2. This heavenly Jerusalem is the city where they need no temple because God is its temple (Revelation 21:22)
      3. Yet it is also the city in which those washed by the blood of the lamb are:
        1. (Revelation 7:15-17) "15 For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16 They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
      4. It is the city where “there shall no longer be any curse”, but instead the tree of life growing by the river of the water of life (Revelation 22:1-4).
    4. “It is the city of God; it is the tabernacle of God; and it is our home.” (P. Roberts)
    5. There is a longing in our soul to enjoy the joy and happiness that once was known in Eden.
      1. Paradise lost in the Garden due to sin and separation will be fully restored in heaven, at home with the God who made us and desires for us to live with Him.
      2. Just as Israel looked forward to a time when they could be nearer God’s presence than they could be in the tabernacle, we look forward to a time when we can be nearer God’s presence that we can be in the church.
      3. Just as they looked forward to the kingdom of the Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-12) we look forward to the heavenly completion and perfect fulfillment of that kingdom (2 Peter 1:10 -11).
      4. Heaven will be the end of the progression.
        1. The great goal that everything else was leading up to.
        2. Heaven will be the saints of all ages in the actual, real presence of God.
  9. Conclusion:
    1. Would you like for Jesus to move in and live with you?
      1. Faith is absolutely essential for Christ to dwell in(Ephesians 3:17)
      2. Faith can only be produced by hearing the word of(Romans 10:17)
    2. Did Jesus once live in you?  Did you send him away from your temple?
    3. The Father’s desire for you and me:  A prayer:
      1. (Ephesians 3:16-19) “16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
      2. 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
      3. 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
      4. 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  (NIV)
    4. Just as Levitical priests had to be(Leviticus 8) prior to beginning to serve in God’s house,  so also we must be washed in baptism as commanded by Christ (Acts 22:16); (Ephesians 5:25-26)  “25 ... Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”
    5. Will you come into His presence and serve to His glory?