In this chapter we will continue our fellowship on the consummation of all the items in the Bible related to Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church in the book of Revelation. In the previous chapter we ended with the brass altar, the altar of the offerings, and the golden altar, the altar of incense, in Revelation 8. Now we must see the temple of God which is in heaven (11:19) and the heavenly tabernacle (15:5).
The heavens were opened to John and he saw the temple of God which is in heaven. In the temple was the ark of His covenant. We must say that there is a temple in the heavens because John saw it, and in that temple was the ark of testimony. Paul also told us in Hebrews 9 of the heavenly tabernacle (vv. 11, 24). Now we must ask whether or not there was a tabernacle in the heavens and a temple in the heavens at the same time. In the Old Testament these two did not exist at the same time. The tabernacle existed as a precursor to the temple, and the temple stood as a fulfillment of the tabernacle or a replacement. The tabernacle became the temple. Why then does the Bible tell us that in the New Testament there is the heavenly tabernacle and also the temple in heaven?
We must see that when the old covenant was made, it was made by the sprinkled blood of the atonement. This blood was sprinkled on the tabernacle, not on the temple. Hebrews 9 tells us that this was a type (vv. 18-23). The earthly tabernacle was a type of the heavenly, and the earthly tabernacle was sprinkled with the blood of animal sacrifices for the enacting of the old covenant. Then to enact the new covenant we see in Hebrews 9 that the Lord Jesus used His own blood to sprinkle the heavenly tabernacle, which is the real tabernacle in the heavens. In Revelation 11, however, we do not see a tabernacle in the heavens but a temple because in Revelation it is not a matter of the enacting of a covenant but of the execution of God’s government. Actually, therefore, these two do not exist simultaneously. The tabernacle was for the enacting of the covenant but in Revelation 11 we see a further stage—the temple for the execution of God’s government. In Exodus the tabernacle was for the enacting of the old covenant, but it became the temple in 1 Kings 8 because by that time there was a king to execute God’s government. In the New Testament in Hebrews 9 it is the tabernacle for the enacting of the new covenant. Then in Revelation it is the temple for God’s execution of His kingdom.
At this point, we must look at Hebrews 9:24 carefully: “For Christ did not enter into a holy place made by hands, a figures of the true, but into heaven itself.” Here is a strong verse which tells us that heaven itself is the tabernacle. This does not mean that within the heavens there is a tabernacle. The tabernacle is heaven itself. The reflexive pronoun itself is inserted to strengthen the thought that the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself.
Hebrews 9:1 says, “Now then the first covenant also had ordinances of service, and its sanctuary was of this world.” The sanctuary in this verse is the entire tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9). Then Hebrews 9:11 says, “But Christ, having come as a High Priest of the good things that have come into being, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hand, that is, not of this creation.” This creation means the earth, a part of the creation. The earth to us is “this creation,” but another part of the creation is the heavens. All these verses show us that the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself.
The translators of the Chinese version of the Bible translated heaven itself in Hebrews 9:24 into heavenly mansion. They also translated heaven in 1 Peter 3:22 into heavenly mansion. This actually is a Buddhistic translation because the Chinese term for heavenly mansion is a term used by Buddhism for a happy place. The Chinese version of the Bible in these verses has actually brought in a Buddhistic thought with a Buddhistic term. The Greek text of the Bible clearly uses two words in Hebrews 9:24—heaven itself. Again we must see that the heavenly tabernacle is not something within the heavens just as the earthly tabernacle is something on earth, but the heavenly tabernacle is heaven itself. Such a wrong translation based upon a Buddhistic thought is misleading people.