Tabernacles

The title of this week's sabbath reading portion is CHOL HA-MO'ED SUKKOT, which refers to the sabbath that occurs within the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. So we are in the middle of that feast right now. Each of the readings assigned to this sabbath can give us a look into the importance of this feast to each of us. The topic of tabernacles is too large to completely discuss here, but there is a previous blog post on the right side of this page under "Featured Post". You can click on the post title "Culmination" to read that earlier post. We think of the tabernacle as a tent or building established for the worship and offerings brought to the LORD, and the atonement for the people, and it is that. However, that building is patterned after the heavenly things (Heb. 8:4-5). It is meant to be a representation of something greater. In one of the readings from this tabernacles sabbath, Moses has an experience with God that is different from his previous experiences. Up to this point, Moses has heard the voice of God from the middle of a burning bush. He has received and followed detailed instructions from God regarding the confrontations with Pharaoh, the night of the Passover, and the deliverance of the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. Moses and the people have seen the LORD descend upon Mt. Sinai on the third day, in thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, fire and smoke, and the sound of a loud trumpet, which caused a great quake on the mountain: "And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up" (Ex. 19:15-20). God then spoke His Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17). The people were terrified and stood far away, "...but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was." (Ex. 20:21). We even learn that from a cloud at the door of the tabernacle, God "spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Ex. 33:9-11). These are remarkable experiences for a man to have with God, but Moses knew there was more. Moses was told by God that He knew Moses by name, and that Moses had found grace in God's sight (Ex. 33:12), but Moses knew there was more. Because of the grace that Moses had in God's sight, God also promised Moses: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (v. 13-14), but Moses knew there was more. Moses acknowledged that if the presence of God went with the people and himself, "... we shall be separate (pala - separated, make wonderfully, set apart, marvelous, put a difference, marked out, be distinguished, illustrious), Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth", and the LORD answered, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." (v. 16-17). Grace was mentioned five times in this conversation between Moses and God. However, Moses knew of, and was seeking, something more! What could be more than speaking with God face to face like a friend? What is more than the presence of God causing His people to be distinguished and marvelous in the earth? What more could a man receive from God than the gift of His grace? What Moses was seeking from God in this sabbath's reading, which is specifically appointed during the Feast of Tabernacles, must be important to our understanding of that feast. We find out then what more Moses wanted from the LORD as he asked: "Please, show me Your glory (kabod/kabad - glory, abundance, honor, dignity, reverence, weighty, to endure adversity)." (v. 18). In order to fulfill this request of Moses, the LORD created a tabernacle for him. It was not the tabernacle that was made by the craftsmen from among the children of Israel. This was a tabernacle, instead, which was carved out of a rock, with a covering of God's own hand. The LORD spoke this to Moses: "I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you...You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me and live...Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the Rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." (Ex. 33:18-23). Jesus was asked a similar question by one of His disciples, Philip, who requested: "Lord, show us the Father." Jesus answered that Philip should already know, "...He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (Jn. 14:8-9). This conversation took place after Jesus had told His disciples that in His Father's house (oikia/oikos - tent (as a tabernacle), dwelling, temple), were many mansions (mone/meno - dwelling, indwelling/not to perish, continue to be, to last, endure, survive, live, to be held or kept continually), and that Jesus was going to prepare a place (topos - space marked off, rock) for "you". (see Jn. 14:1-4). Jesus expected them to know exactly what He was talking about (v. 4), as He used words to bring to their minds the tabernacle, and the encounter that Moses had with God that we read above. As we look again at the tabernacle that the LORD provided for Moses in order for him to experience God's glory, we see that it was within the opening of a rock (sur - rock, God, beauty, Mighty One, the refuge and protection of Israel, a stone knife used for circumcision, to shut up, enclose, secure, cutting). A cleft (neqara/naqar- hole, fissure, pierced, bore, pierced with pain) was made in the rock to hide and shelter Moses. The body of our Rock of Salvation was also pierced with pain.
He is our living tabernacle, if we abide in Him, and we are the tabernacle of His Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16, 1 Cor. 6:19). God covered (sakak which is the root word of sukkah or tabernacle) Moses with His hand (kap/kapap- palm, hollow of the hand, clouds, to be bent, be bowed (as in a rainbow for example), arched, to curve, to bend over). While the earthly tabernacle, and more so the heavenly tabernacle, are glorious, the individual and personal tabernacle created for Moses in this encounter is even more precious and significant to me. It as a tabernacle created of clefted Rock and Hand by the gracious words spoken by God over Moses that day: "I will be gracious (hanan/hana - pity, favorable, be inclined towards, to make acceptable, intreat for mercy, compassionate/pitch a tent, bend down, abide and rest in tents) to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion (raham - mercy, compassion, love, pity, to behold with tenderest affection) on whom I will have compassion." (Ex. 33:19). This tabernacle, prepared by God for Moses, protected Moses and provided a safe place for Moses to experience the glory of God. We read in several places in scripture of how the glory of God filled the tabernacle or temple. On one occasion, which is found in another reading from this special sabbath, the priests could not stand to minister in the new temple as God filled it with His glory (1 Kings 8:10-11). However, this kind of personal tabernacle, which God provides for each of us in Christ, the Rock, also has a special meaning in these last days before Christ's expected and awaited return. There will be those who will seek another kind of tabernacle, one that is without the glory, graciousness and compassion of God. They will have determined to live apart from God. They will have no desire to ask of God, as Moses did, "Please show me Your glory". In the terrible days at the return of Jesus, there will be judgment against evil strongholds, and those who serve them, who perecute and make war against the people of God. Scripture says that men of all statures, from the lowest to the highest, will run to the rocks for safety. They will cry out "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Rev. 6:15-17). Isaiah prophesied: "Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty. The proud looks of man shall be humbled...The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the LORD, and the glory of His majesty...sever yourselves from such a man." (Isa. 2:8-22). They had rejected the tabernacle that God created out of His graciousness and compassion, until it was too late, and instead, they had joined themselves to the evil and the person who will seek to desolate the tabernacle of God with abomination (Dan. 9:27, 11:31, 12:10-11, Mt. 24:14-16). They will place their trust in substitute and worthless "tabernacles" in the rocks, not built for them from the graciousness and compassion of God, and not covered by God's own hand. The Feast of Tabernacles is the clefted Rock of Christ and Hand of God extended to each individual to join Him in the refuge that He has provided with His Words of graciousness and compassion, which are embodied in His Son, Jesus. We have this powerful and loving example of the tabernacle of God from a simple question asked by Moses: "Please show me Your glory." If you would like to know more about the tabernacle that God has prepared for you, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, Jesus has prepared a place for Me in Your tabernacle, where I can endure forever with Him. The tabernacle that has been prepared for me is created out of Your graciousness and compassion for me. It is the place where Your hand covers me, and I can share in Your glory. I pray that as I remember and rehearse Your Feast of Tabernacles this week with rejoicing, I pray that many others would also be gathered into the place of Your dwelling. I ask these things in the name of the clefted Rock Who is higher than I, Jesus. AMEN."