"Before the Throne of God" by Glad
New Testament References to the Tabernacle:
- Mark 2:23-26, "And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees were saying to Him, 'Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?' And He said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?'"
- Tabernacle of Testimony - portrayed as a historical tent of worship
- How were the Pharisees so confident that the disciples were doing that which was "not lawful on the Sabbath" if the Sabbath law(s) were mentioned alongside an imaginary tent of testimony (i.e. the tabernacle) in the Pentateuch?
- Why would Jesus, the Son of God, recognize a pretend legal system which gave instruction on an imaginary tent of testimony?
- According to Jesus, King David entered a real place called the "house of God". What physical house of God (recognized by God Himself) was there before the temple, other than the tent of testimony?
- How could a known ancestral high priest serve in an imaginary house of God?
- How could bread be consecrated bread outside of being prepared for service in a real Tent of Testimony or Temple?
- Why would God ordain a mere tent of testimony, rather than a more enduring structure, if the nation of Israel never migrated?
- Acts 7:44-50, "'[Stephen speaking before the Jewish Council] 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. And
having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua
upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers,
until the time of David. David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
"HEAVEN IS MY THRONE,
AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET;
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?" says the Lord,
"OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE?
WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?"'" - Tabernacle of Testimony - portrayed as a historical tent of worship
- Stephen was on trial before the Jewish Council. Why would he offer the defense that real Jewish forefathers had worshiped God at an imaginary tabernacle of testimony? How would fiction justify him?
- How could an imaginary tent of testimony endure until the time of the real King Solomon?
- Why follow up a story about a merely imaginary house of God by stating that God "does not dwell in houses made by human hands"?
- Why would God ordain a mere tent of testimony, rather than a more enduring structure, if the nation of Israel never migrated?
- How could Stephen defend himself before the Jewish Council with an imaginative tale of Jewish forefathers wandering in the wilderness and dispossessing the nations of Canaan? Would the Jewish Council really consider this an irrefutable argument?
- Hebrews 8:1-5, "Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, 'SEE,' He says, 'THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.'"
- Tabernacle of Testimony - portrayed as a historical tent of worship
- Why would the author of Hebrews write that the "true tabernacle" was pitched by the Lord and not man? If the tabernacle of testimony was immaterial, how can you contrast it with an immaterial true tabernacle?
- How could earthly high priests serve a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" if they were serving in an immaterial tabernacle of testimony?
- How could a real ancestor Moses erect an immaterial tabernacle?
- Why would God provide a pattern for the crafting of an immaterial tabernacle?
- Why would God strictly command Moses about the crafting of that which was not meant to be crafted?
- Why would God ordain a mere tent of testimony, rather than a more enduring structure, if the nation of Israel never migrated?
- Hebrews 9:1-12, "Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having
a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all
sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and
Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
. . . the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance . . .
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood . . ." - Tabernacle of Testimony - portrayed as a historical tent of worship
- If the "first covenant" ordained an immaterial tabernacle, how could that tabernacle be an "earthly sanctuary"?
- Why say that "we cannot now speak in detail" of the character of the earthly tabernacle if it was merely imaginative?
- How could a merely imaginary tabernacle be holy?
- How could the high priests offer sacrificial blood in an imaginary taberacle?
- Why write that Christ entered a "more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands" if the earthly tabernacle was also immaterial?
- Why write that the ark, manna, "Aaron's rod which budded", and the stone tablets were kept in the tabernacle if the story of Israel wandering in the wilderness was imaginary?
- Why would God ordain a mere tent of testimony, rather than a more enduring structure, if the nation of Israel never migrated?
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