TYPOLOGY PART TWO
THE PERSON AND WORK
OF JESUS CHRIST
TABERNACLES
Takes from the book "The Feasts of the Lord" by Robert
Thompson, pages 147-152
" .....Christ is our convocation of Tabernacles. He is our
feast of consummation and rejoicing. Christ is the tabernacle of
the Father. The Father dwells in Christ in His fullness. Christ
is eternally in God, and God is eternally in Christ. Christ is
the temple, the dwelling place of God. He who has seen Christ has
seen the Father, because the Father dwells in the fullness in
Christ.
During the celebration of Tabernacles, the Temple area in
Jerusalem was filled with LIGHT from the torches of the
worshippers. Christ is the LIGHT of the world.
Also during Tabernacles WATER from the pool of Siloam was
poured out upon the altar of burnt offering by the anointed
priest, while the twelfth chapter of Isaiah was chanted. Christ
is the WATER of LIFE.
The LAW was read during the feast of Tabernacles. Christ is
the LAW of God, the holiness of God brought to absolute
perfection and beauty.
All of the HARVEST and processing of the foods grown by the
Jews had been completed by the time of Tabernacles. In Christ we
can see what we will be like when the Spirit of God has completed
His workings in us. All of the glorious joy and blessing of the
convocation of Tabernacles is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tabernacles was a time of the most outstanding REJOICING and
THANKFULNESS for the GOODNESS of God during the past year. Christ
is our PRAISE and THANKSGIVING before God; and as we adore the
Father, the Lord Jesus adds His own praise and thanksgiving
to ours, so that the whole chorus ascends to God as a holy
perfume. Christ sings PRAISE in the midst of the church.
The arrival of Tabernacles meant that the long summer
drought was over and the fall (former, early) rains were at hand.
The falls rains soften the clods of dirt baked hard by the long
summer, preparing the ground for the plowing and planting of the
next harvest. Christ is our hope of a new planting, a new life, a
glorious life beyond our dreams in the ages to come.
God made man in His image on the sixth day, and on the
seventh day He rested. He rested because His work was finished,
and it was very good. In Christ, God's work is finished.
And it is very good! Christ is the REST of God; and, as we abide
in Him, we enter that rest. The creation of God is begun and
finished in Christ.....We have to LABOR to enter into that rest,
as Hebrews 4 informs us.....We have to labor because of the
opposition of our own flesh, of Satan and his accomplices, and
because of the spirit of the age in which we live. These three
forces do everything in their power to keep us out of the rest of
God; to keep us in uproar in body, soul, and spirit; to keep us
in a desert wilderness where we cannot enjoy the good things
which God has promised us. There are enemies in the land of
promise!...We have to cross over Jordan, under our heavenly
Joshua, the Lord Jesus, and drive them out!....And if we will
follow the Holy Spirit, God will enable us to drive out every
trace of the enemy. It is impossible to tabernacle in peace with
God while there is a 'Canaanite' in the land. Sooner or later
trouble comes, and our rest is destroyed.....Sin is often
attractive, fun, and easy to fall into. But sin brings commotion,
unrest, grief, and despair....But God's ways are ways of peace,
rest, and joy.....
Entering into the rest of God, into the abiding in Christ,
is not a passive affair. It is an everyday get-up-and-at-'em
operation.....The Kingdom of God is entered into by the forceful
ways of those who mean business....
The most COMPETE fulfillment of the convocation of
Tabernacles will occur in the New heaven and earth....(Rev.21 and
22).....' and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the TABERNACLE of God is with men, and He will DWELL WITH THEM,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be WITH THEM,
and be their God' (Rev.21:3).
Christ is the SANCTUARY of God, and we are to be part of
that sanctuary: 'If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and WE will come UNTO him, and make OUR
ABODE WITH him' (John 14:23).
Christ is the chief cornerstone of the Temple of God and the
bride of Christ is....'And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
corner stone; IN WHOM all the building fitly framed together
grows unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom you also are
builded together for a HABITATION of God through the Spirit'
(Eph.2:20-22).
Perhaps the greatest expression in the Bible of the
TABERNACLING of God in Christ can be found in the Gospel of John.
Several times we find such expressions as: '.....believe the
works; that you may know, and believe, that the Father IS IN ME,
AND I IN HIM' (John 10:37,38). '....the words that I speak unto
you I speak not of myself: but the Father that DWELLS
IN me, He does the works' (John 14:20).
We also find in John that through Christ we also will become
part of the TABERNACLE of God: 'Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
that they ALL may be ONE; as you Father, art in me, and I in you,
that THEY also may be ONE IN US....' (John 17: 20,21).
We see then that the Lord Jesus Christ is the FULLEST
EXPRESSION of the feast of Tabernacles.....Salvation is not a
thing; He is a Person!....Jesus Christ is healing, eternal life,
peace, joy, revelation, wisdom, righteousness, power, knowledge,
atonement, redemption - ALL THAT PEOPLE NEED AND HOPE and can
imagine. Jesus Christ Himself is ALL these realities and
BLESSINGS to us.
The following passage was chanted by the Jews during the
feast of convocation. Can you see why the Holy Spirit would
inspire them to do so?
'Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be
afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my STRENGTH and my SONG; He also
is become MY SALVATION' (Isa.12: 2).
...............................
Written and compiled October 2000
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed and distributed, as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation
errors) without his consent.
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