The New Testament reveals that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God (Rev. 21:3) and also the wife of the redeeming Christ (v. 9). In this message we will consider these two aspects of the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:3 says, “I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them.” In both the Old and New Testaments, God likens His chosen people to a dwelling place for Himself (Exo. 29:45-46; Num. 5:3; Ezek. 43:7, 9; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). God’s dwelling place is for His rest in expression. In the New Jerusalem God will have the utmost rest in expression for eternity.
The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God is typified by the tabernacle in the Old Testament (Exo. 25:9; 26:6, 30). Whereas the ark typifies the individual Christ, the tabernacle typifies both the individual Christ, the Head, and the corporate Christ, the Body. The New Testament reveals clearly that the individual Christ is the Head, but this Christ must have a Body, which is the church (Eph. 1:22-23). In Exodus we have not only the ark-Christ but also the tabernacle-Christ, not only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ.
Exodus 25:8 and 9 say, “They shall make for Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I am showing you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture; even so shall you do.” This sanctuary was the tabernacle, which signifies God’s dwelling place. This dwelling place was not only for living but also for enjoyment. God’s dwelling place is the place for Him to be the enjoyment of His people, the place where God’s people may participate in the full enjoyment of God Himself.
The tabernacle of God has the incarnated Christ as its reality. In Exodus we have the type, and in John 1:14 we have the fulfillment. The very God who was the Word (John 1:1) became flesh to tabernacle among us. Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is God’s tabernacle. This tabernacle is God’s dwelling place for His expression. It is also for us to enter into God so that we may enjoy Him.
The Old Testament tabernacle was a type, a prefigure, of the real tabernacle, which was Christ in the flesh. In the Old Testament God was in the tabernacle, for the tabernacle brought God to the children of Israel. In the time of the New Testament, Christ in the flesh was the tabernacle that brought God to man so that man might enjoy Him. Through incarnation God became a man, mingled Himself with man, and became His own dwelling place. In Christ, the real tabernacle, God was embodied for our enjoyment.
John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Here we see that Christ, the incarnated Word, is a tabernacle. This tabernacle signifies the Word becoming flesh as God’s expression. The significance of the word expression here is the same as that of the gold in the Old Testament tabernacle. The tabernacle was built with boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold, which signifies God expressed. When Christ was on earth, there was with Him a certain kind of shining, and that shining was the expression of God typified by the gold of the tabernacle.
As the tabernacle, Christ shared in humanity. For the Word to become flesh means that the Word took on human nature. Humanity is typified by the acacia wood of the tabernacle (Exo. 26:15, 26). The gold and the acacia wood signify respectively the divine nature and the human nature of Christ.
Furthermore, as the tabernacle, Christ is God’s embodiment. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). The fullness of the Godhead-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-is embodied in the tabernacle, and this embodiment is God’s dwelling among men.
The fullness of the Godhead has been embodied in the tabernacle so that man may enter into God and enjoy Him. Originally, God was mysterious, invisible, and untouchable. But God has been embodied in a tabernacle that can be entered. This means that God is enterable; we can enter into Him and enjoy Him.
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