The Tabernacle the School of God for His Children
The story of Lazarus and his two sisters at table with the Lord is a new development in John's gospel. In John's water scenes, the Lord worked with individuals, because we must be saved as individuals. But here is a man who is not alone but has company. With Lazarus the family of God becomes prominent. That is because God is a father, and when we are saved we are brought into His family. Just as a father enjoys the company of his children in his house, so God longs to have His children around Himself in His house. It is there He educates them in the things of Christ. This is a key to the tabernacle chapters of John's gospel.
The Tabernacle
The tabernacle was central between Egypt, where Satan ruled, and the temple in the land, where God ruled. The entire span of things is Israel's desert journey, which John retraces in his gospel. Perhaps this is because his gospel presents Christ as rejected from the beginning. And so John takes us through the desert with the solace of God's presence, until the wilderness ceases and we enter into the rest of the land.
a. God's school in the desert: With the natural man there can be no entering into the precious things which the tabernacle portrays. He is blind to the glory of Christ like the man of John 9. If he gazed at the tabernacle what would he see? Why badgers' skins Ex. 26:14. This, the outer thing, speaks of Christ's unattractiveness to man without God "there is no beauty in Him that we should desire Him" Isa. 53:2. But let that man pass the brazen altar, i.e. have to do with God about his sins through the work of the cross, and he ceases to be impotent and blind. He moves about amid heavenly things, taking God at His Word that "every place that the sole of your foot shall tread on, that have I given to you" Josh. 1:3. Then his eyes behold, not badger skins, but the fine twined linen and pure gold known only to God's priests in the inside. That is why the signs of healing the impotent man and giving the blind man his sight were both done on the Sabbath. It was a foreshadowing of the time when God would break His link with the old creation, of which the Sabbath was the sign, so He could go on with the new creation. There must be a new creation, the foundation of which was to be the cross. Then with man set aside, led as a redeemed people through the Red Sea to a place unknown to man but known to God, we are taught by His Spirit in the desert.
b. The shortcomings of the tabernacle: There are many, but only two will be cited to demonstrate the point.
.. The work of the people only shut man out of God's presence: Moses blessed those who finished the work of their hands Ex. 39:43. Christ lifted up His hands and blessed His people after His finished work Luke 24:50. The end of Moses' finished work was erecting a veil to shut out of God's presence those whom he had blessed. The end of Christ's finished work was God tearing the veil of the Temple in two so those whom Christ blessed could enter God's presence with Him as their High Priest. John 1:17 tells us that "the law was given by Moses grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." So Moses was the first to light the lamps, but from then on it was the office of Aaron to maintain the light.
.. The ceaseless, unfinished work of the priests and the absence of praise: Sometimes what is missing from a man's house can be revealing. So too with God's house. There were no seats in the tabernacle for the priests, because their work was never finished. Christ's work by way of contrast was finished and He sat down on high. Why is it too that although Lev. 1 gives us a detailed account of the burnt offering it does not mention the priests praying`` or singing? Could it be that the Song of the Lord could only be heard in the land that picture of settled rest? Are we looking at a provisional order of things, looking forward to the finished work of Christ. Yes we are.
The Furniture of the Tabernacle
We have noted various shortcomings in the tabernacle shortcomings which are connected with man his work being imperfect. We strike a better note when we examine the furniture in the tabernacle. Here God's thoughts are made known to us, and His heart revealed. The distinctive truth about the furniture is that it looks forward to Christ and His finished work, and redemptive glories.
It is now time to consider the furniture in the tabernacle as a guide to following it through John's gospel. There were two broad classes of furniture the vessels of approach, both made of copper, and the golden vessels of display. After we have sketched both classes we will remark on the use to which one of them was put, since this is central to the understanding of them all.
a. The vessels of approach: These were the altar of burnt offering and the laver. They were located in the court, apart from the tent which covered the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
.. The Altar of Burnt Offering: This is John 12. This chapter informs us that the death of Christ is imminent and its bearing on men. It is not yet the Passover but six days before it. So the Lord says "the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified" 12:23 and again "I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to Me" 12:32. The subject of the chapter is the brazen altar, but not yet the sacrifice on the altar. That is the subject of John 19, 20. The cross divides men into two classes those who accept Christ's atoning work at the cross, and those who reject it. There was no altar in Egypt. So we see one class of men in Judas who objected to Mary anointing the Lord's feet with expensive perfume, and the chief priests who will plot Christ's betrayal. The Lord's sheep compose the other class. John 12:2 gives us a picture of those who have heard the Shepherd's voice "where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them" Matt. 18:20. So we have Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and the Lord who has come to them. Notice the setting of His coming to them also. They prepared a supper for Him and Lazarus sat at table with the Lord. This is a foreshadowing of the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Table.
It helps us to see the brazen altar in John 12 if we understand that Jesus is the Ark of the Covenant. In the tabernacle the Ark supported God's throne the mercy seat. Both were located in the Holy of Holies, separated from the brazen altar by the greatest distance of all the Holy vessels. This means that God and the sinner were far apart. Who could bridge the distance? Only Jesus. Because we are sinners and cannot go to God He must come to us. Jesus the Ark of the Covenant comes to Bethany. It is in this chapter He announces His death.
.. The Laver (Bath): This is the feet washing of John 13. It is the next piece of furniture after the brazen altar. Once our sins are put away by the death of Christ we are ready to approach God. The laver (bath) was to wash away defilement we pick up as we travel through this world.
b. The golden vessels of display: These are the golden lamp-stand, the golden altar of incense all in the Holy Place and the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.
.. The Golden Lampstand: This was the light of the tabernacle a light separate and distinct from the light provided by nature in the world outside. The Holy Spirit is the light of the House of God a light that is not seen outside i.e. by the world, and which the world cannot receive John 14:17. The light shines opposite the lampstand Num. 8:2 i.e. to show God's priests the beauty of the lampstand as well as to provide light for the Holy Place. The lampstand is Christ; the light of the lampstand is the Holy Spirit.
In these three chapters John 14, 15, 16, the Holy Spirit is taken up in many ways we cannot discuss in this brief outline, but He is not uniformly the subject, although woven throughout. Why? Because in the Holy Place there were other vessels as well the table and the golden altar but the light falling on them all came from the same source the lampstand. So in one way or another the Holy Spirit pervades these three chapters.
.. The Table of Showbread: There may be an allusion to this in John 15 although we do not say definitely that this is so. Three things suggest the connection. First the Lord's discourse was to the twelve. There were twelve loaves on the table representing the whole nation of Israel before God. The twelve apostles have a special place of prominence in the future of this nation Luke 22:30. The figure of course takes in all believers the baked loaves the way God views us passed through judgment in Christ, with frankincense on us i.e. fragrant to God because associated with Christ. Secondly the table contained not only bread but the golden bowls and cups for the drink offering Num. 4:7. The strong wine they held was to be poured unto Jehovah for a drink offering Num. 28:7. So in John the subject is fruit bearing. But it is the fruit of the True Vine Christ Israel the old vine having failed. The fruit of this vine is for the Father, who is the vinedresser. Finally, the table upheld everything on it. So in John 15 the Lord is the True Vine we His branches depend on Him. Thus abiding in Him we produce much fruit.
.. The Golden Altar of Incense: This was located outside the veil. Now that the veil is rent there is no distance between us and the Father, either in intercession or worship. So in John 17 we have both the Holy of Holies the Lord's sublime prayer to the Father and the golden altar of incense i.e. His intercession as High Priest for His own. This is because in John 17 the Lord is viewed as on the other side of death. With a rent veil and no barrier between the Holy of Holies and the golden altar, Chapter 17 includes both subjects.
.. The Ark of the Covenant: As already noted under the golden altar of incense this is Christ Himself, praying to His Father in the most Holy Place John 17.
In Deut. 31:26 Moses commanded the Levites, whose task it was to carry the Ark, to "take this book of the law and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you." But Moses had put the tables of the law inside the Ark when he reared up the tabernacle a testimony that only Christ could keep the law. Man stood condemned under Moses' ministry, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Here we find Him praying for a feeble people as they pass through the desert of this world.