Greetings!
Do you experientially believe Christ lives in you?
"From the beginning, God had a plan for how He would restore His glory. The plan goes like this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory”
(Colossians 1:27).
T
he whole bible is pointing toward the theme: Christ in you.
“I have become its [the church’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25–28).
Paul’s commission is “to present the word of God in its fullness.” Until then, the message was not fully presented. It had been kept hidden. The shadows could be seen, but not the substance. It was a mystery. There was an element that had been kept hidden until the time came for it to be revealed. There was a missing piece, which, once disclosed, would cause everything else to fall into place.
But now, says Paul, that which had been hidden is revealed. It is brought out into the open and made plain. The fullness of the message can now be seen. And what is that message? What is the fullness of the Word of God? It can all be summed up in one phrase: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Paul makes the same point in his letter to the Romans, but adds a key crucial to our understanding of the gospel.
“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen”
(Romans 16:25–27).
Paul refers to “my gospel and the proclamation of [about] Jesus Christ.” This announcement about Jesus Christ had been “hidden for long ages past.” Now, Paul says, this hidden mystery is “revealed and made known.” We already know (from Colossians) that the mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Where was the mystery hidden?
It was hidden in the prophetic writings— the Old Testament. How is the mystery being revealed? From the prophetic writings
by the command of the eternal God
. The whole Old Testament is moving toward the reality:
Christ in you
.
The message of the Old Testament had always been “Christ in you,” but Only since the Spirit of Christ has come to indwell believers has the message been made plain and brought out into the open.
The Triune Dwelling Place
God painted a picture of the mystery— of His eternal plan for restoring His glory to His people— when He gave Moses instructions to build the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a portable worship center that the Israelites moved with them from encampment to encampment as they journeyed through the desert.
Tabernacle
means “dwelling place.” The verb form of the word for tabernacle means “to dwell.”
“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell [tabernacle] among them. Make this tabernacle [dwelling place] and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. . . . See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain”
(Exodus 25:8–9, 40).
God says that in the tabernacle, He would dwell
among
His people. The word
among
is from a root that literally means “to sever.” by implication, the word means to be the center, to be inside. Do you see what He is saying? The tabernacle would be His dwelling place “inside” His people.
The tribes were to place their tents around the tabernacle so that God’s dwelling place was “inside” their encampment.
He made it clear that He was giving Moses instructions that would paint a time-bound picture of an eternal reality. He was creating a visual of the eternal reality: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
“They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’”
(Hebrews 8:5).
“Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell [tabernacle] among them”
(E
xodus
25:8).
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [tabernacle] among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”
(J
ohn
1:14)
.
“So that Christ may dwell [tabernacle] in your hearts through faith”
(Ephesians 3:17).
Triune Structure
The tabernacle was a triune dwelling place. The tabernacle was made up of the Holy of Holies, the Holy place (sanctuary), and the Outer Courtyard. The Holy of Holies may serve as a picture of our spirit, where God takes up residence. The Holy place, the sanctuary, may act as a picture of our soul. The sanctuary contains, as I view it, the lampstand (mind), the bread of the presence (will), and altar of incense (emotions). The outer courtyard is a picture of our bodies.
The tabernacle is a two-layered picture.
As I move from the outside toward the inside, I see a picture of
what Christ did for me
. As I move from the inside to the outside, I see a picture of
who Christ is in me
.
Many books and very fine studies have been written detailing the symbolism of the tabernacle as it pictures what Christ did for you. Fewer emphasize the second layer: who Christ is in you.
Notice the language
similarities between the account of Elohim in creation, crowned by His creation of mankind, and Moses building the tabernacle. This may hint at the symbolic ties between the two. The account of Moses’ work on the tabernacle is an echo of Elohim’s work in the creation of humans. The tabernacle was a picture of God’s purposed design for mankind.
- Creation: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array” (Genesis 2:1).
- Tabernacle: “So all the work on the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed” (Exodus 39:32).
- Creation: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
- Tabernacle: “Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded” (Exodus 39:43).
- Creation: “God had finished the work he had been doing” (Genesis 2:2).
- Tabernacle: “And so Moses finished the work” (Exodus 40:33).
- Creation: “And God blessed the seventh day” (Genesis 2:3).
- Tabernacle: “So Moses blessed them” (Exodus 39:43)
The picture that is emerging is clear to me. Triune God has designed Himself a tabernacle— dwelling place. It is a triune dwelling place represented by the Tabernacle in the wilderness for which God gave detailed and explicit instructions because it was a copy of something eternal. God designed humans as triune beings to be His dwelling place on earth. The Scripture is harmonious and of a whole cloth. It fits perfectly together.
QUESTION
Deliberately offer each part of yourself to the indwelling Jesus, asking Him to flood you with Himself. Offer your body, your mind, your will, and your emotions one by one. Altar yourself.
Jennifer Kennedy Dean
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Jennifer Kennedy Dean 2019
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