Priest and Tabernacle

Jesus is the High Priest of the greater heavenly sanctuary made without hands that prefigured the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

Jesus is the High Priest who serves in the “True Tabernacle pitched by the Lord and not man” and foreshadowed by the religious structures and rituals of Ancient Israel. The Son of God has become our “priest forever” who ministers for us “at the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens” – (Hebrews 8:1-2).

Because of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, questions about the proper location or maintenance of the Temple or Tabernacle are irrelevant. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “The hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” Holy ground is found wherever Jesus and God’s Spirit are present - (John 4:20-24).

[Photo by Tim Bogdanov on Unsplash]

The fullness of God now dwells in His Son and Jewish and Gentile believers are “circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.” Once restricted to the outer courts of the Temple complex, Gentile followers of Jesus have full access to the presence of God in His inner sanctum through His Son regardless of their present location. The restrictions of the Levitical System no longer apply - (Colossians 2:9-17):

• “Formerly, the Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made with hands, that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one and demolished the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself of the two one new man” – (Ephesians 2:11-15).

Jesus dismantled the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, so erecting it again by rebuilding the old structures would be contrary to what God is doing through His Son “who, upon the last of these days, achieved the purification of sins” – (Hebrews 1:1-4).

We, Christ’s disciples, are purified by him. No longer are we subject to the calendrical cycles, dietary restrictions, repeated animal sacrifices, and designated holy spaces of the Levitical System. Its rituals and regulations were “shadows of the coming good things” that now find their substance in the Son of God.

God never intended to achieve perfection through the Levitical System; otherwise, He would not have promised a new High Priest and a “better sacrifice.” The change of priesthood meant also a “change of law.” The old rules and rites were powerless to perfect us, therefore, Jesus became the “guarantor of a better covenant,” appointed to a better and “non-transferrable priesthood” after he offered himself as the “once for all sacrifice” for sin - (Hebrews 7:11-28, 10:10).

The Son inaugurated the “new and better covenant” that is “legislated on better promises.” The old covenant was “not faultless.” It proved incapable of achieving the “purification of sins” we so desperately need, and the installation of this “better covenant” has rendered the old one “obsolete, and near to vanishing” - (Hebrews 1:1-3, 8:13, Jeremiah 31:31-33).

“NOT MADE WITH HANDS”

The Son is the superior High Priest, the mediator who entered the “greater and more perfect Tabernacle, one not made-with-hands,” where he appears in the presence of God to intercede for us. Jesus is the “Light of the World,” not the old portable tent made from goatskins, or any stone building constructed by human hands in Jerusalem or anywhere else - (John 1:4-9, Luke 1:78-79, 2:32, Acts 26:23, Hebrews 9:11-24).

The mission given to Ancient Israel to be a light to the nations has now fallen to Jesus and his disciples. The Son fulfills that role because he is the true Israel of God, the “light” that enlightens men, and the High Priest “forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Likewise, we are his people and therefore lights in this world as we reflect him - (Matthew 5:14, Philippians 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:5, Revelation 1:20).

Jesus came to the “circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers,” including the promise that the “Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” As Isaiah prophesied, Christ was the “root of Jesse risen to reign over the Gentiles.” He is both the messianic “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth” and the high “priest forever” who mediates before God in the Heavenly Tabernacle for “his brethren” - (Psalm 2:6-9, Psalm 110:1-4, Romans 15:8-9, Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:17-18, Revelation 1:4-6).

Because of Christ’s victory over Sin and Death, the time of shadows has ceased. The Son of God is the ‘telos,’ the “goal” of the Mosaic Legislation, as well as the true and greater Sanctuary and nonrepeatable “sacrifice for sin.” The structures of the Levitical System have reached their intended conclusion, and therefore, the time for their replacement by something vastly superior:

• “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” - (Romans 10:4).

• “For however many are the promises of God, in him is the Yea. Wherefore also through him is the Amen, for the glory of God through us” – (2 Corinthians 1:20).

• “But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry since he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second” - (Hebrews 8:6-7).

The New Testament does not abandon the promises of an ideal Sanctuary “not made with hands” and pure worship as described in the Hebrew Bible, but it interprets them in consideration of the Teachings, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The promises of God are not forsaken or replaced but fulfilled in and by Jesus Christ.

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SEE ALSO:

• Purification of Sins - (Having achieved the purification of sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God where he now intercedes for his people as their High Priest)

• Priest Forever -  (His priesthood is superior since it rests on his endless resurrection life, the promised priest after the order of Melchizedek – Psalm 110:4)

• Change of Law - (The new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek inaugurated by Jesus also means a change in the Law - Hebrews 7:12)

• His Incomparable Covenant - (Jesus inaugurated the superior New Covenant through his Death and Resurrection, rendering the old covenant obsolete – Hebrews 8:6-13)