The Tabernacle of Moses and your Body Part 1

When on Mt Sinai, Moses was given two tablets of stone that contained the 10 words that God had spoken in the hearing of all the people. These ten words are later referred to as the 10 commandments. God calls these 10 commandments, the words of the testimony, or the covenant. covenant and testimony, mean the same thing.

Exodus 32:15-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.

Exodus 32:15-16 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back.

These 10 words are what is now referred to as the old covenant, or the old testament. God had already spoken to Moses and commanded him to build an ark in order to keep this testimony. This is why the ark would be called, the Ark of the Testimony, or Ark of the Covenant.

Exodus 25:10,16 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
10 They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 16 You shall put into the ark the covenant that I shall give you.

Exodus 25:10,16 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.

But God did not end there. God then commanded him to build a tabernacle in order to house the ark of the covenant. This tabernacle was to be called the Tabernacle of Testimony.

ACTS 7:44 New American Standard Bible
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

So the whole purpose that the ark and the tabernacle were created was to house the word of God that he spoke when he came down on the mountain. The Hebrew word which was translated as tabernacle literally means “a dwelling place” or a “residence.” God needed a dwelling place for his word.

Now all this was a type and shadow of God’s living temple Jesus Christ. And we as Christians have also become God’s new dwelling place. In order to fully understand who we are and how we function as Christians, we need to look at how the shadow worked and learn a few things.

Our Bodies-A Living Temple

1 Corinthians 6:19 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;

Let us look at the body and how it relates to the temple.

The Outer Court
The structure of the Tabernacle and temple was threefold. It had an outward wall or fence and inside that fence was called the outer court. This was the part of the temple that everyone could access. All other Israelites could come to that court with their sacrifices and be satisfied that they had come to the temple of God. There was a four horned altar where sacrifices would be made. God ordained that two lambs would be burned, every day. One in the morning and one in the evening. This was known as the continual burnt offering. It was also known as the evening and morning sacrifice. This one is made reference to in the book of Daniel.

This corresponds to your outer body. Because your outer body is in physical contact with the world.

Inside this outer court, there was a tent which had two sections divided by a veil. This tent was called the inner court. These two sections were called the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. This is the veil that was torn apart when Jesus was crucified.

In the same way, you have the outer man who physically interacts with everyone everyday, but inside your body there is an inner man. This inner man is composed of two sections, your spirit and your soul.

2 Corinthians 4:6 King James Bible
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

The Holy Place
The Holy Place which was also called the sanctuary is where the priests would minister everyday. They would take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it in the Holy Place. The Holy Place was only lit by a Menorah which had seven candlesticks. There was a table which had twelve loaves of bread. This bread was supposed to be continually in the presence of God. It was called the shewbread or bread of the presence. This is what David ate when he was hungry. There was also incense which was supposed to continually be burnt inside the holy place, morning and evening.

This section corresponds to your soul and the priestly work that we conduct there. The bible says we have been made priests.

Revelation 1:6
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Most Holy Place
The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was where the presence of the Lord would come down to minister. While the whole temple was considered the dwelling place of God, the ark of the covenant was were his presence was enthroned. In fact the ark was sometimes referred to as God’s throne.

This corresponds to your own spirit, which is inside your body. Your spirit is the most holy part of your being because your spirit is the one that is directly born of God.

John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Hebrews 12:9
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

So while our bodies are a dwelling place for God and get filled with the presence of God. It is in our Spirits that God is enthroned. In our innermost being. In our most Holy Parts. In the inner Man.

The teaching continues here:

The Tabernacle of Moses and Your Body Part2