THE TRUE TABERNACLE AND ITS GLORY OF GRACE AND PEACE – Charles Spurgeon
THE TRUE TABERNACLE AND ITS GLORY OF GRACE AND PEACE
John 1:14 – “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.”
John 1:17 – “For the Law was given through Moses, but Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.”
God’s Fellowship with Men in the Past
There was a time when God freely communed with men. The voice of the Lord God was heard walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. With unfallen Adam, the great God dwelt in sweet and intimate fellowship—but sin came and not only destroyed the Garden, but destroyed the communion of God with His creature, man. A great gulf opened between man, as evil, and God as infinitely pure—and had it not been for the amazing goodness of the Most High, we would have, all of us, been forever banished from His Presence and from the Glory of His power! The Lord God, in infinite love, resolved that He, Himself, would bridge the distance and would again dwell with man. And, in token of this, He made Himself manifest to His chosen nation, Israel, when they were in the wilderness. He was pleased to dwell in type and symbol among His people in the very center and heart of their camp!
The Tabernacle in Israel
Do you see yonder tent with its curtains of goats’ hair in the center of the canvas city? You cannot see within it, but it is all glorious within with precious wood, pure gold and tapestry of many colors. Within its most sacred shrine shines forth a bright light between the wings of cherubim, which light was the symbol of the Presence of the Lord! But if you cannot see within, yet you can see above the sacred tent, a cloud which arises from the top of the Holy of Holies and then expands like a vast tree so as to cover all the host and protect the chosen of God from the intense heat of the sun, so apt to make the traveler faint when passing over the burning sand! If you will wait till the sun is down, that same cloud will become luminous and light up the whole camp! Thus it was both shade and light—and by its means was enjoyed that safety which was afterwards set forth in the promise, “The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.” Over all, the Glory was a defense and a comfort.
The Lord dealt not so with any nation, save only His people Israel, of whom He said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” The day of the type is over. We see no more a nation secluded from all others and made to be as “the Church in the wilderness.” God does not now confine His abode to one people, for, “The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” There is now no spot on earth where God dwells in preference to another. Did not our Lord say, at the well of Sychar, “Woman, believe Me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But… the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth”? Wherever true hearts seek the Lord, He is found of them. He is as much present on the lone mountain’s side as in the aisles of yonder abbey, or in the galleries of this tabernacle.
The True Tabernacle: Christ Jesus
“However, the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the Prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will you build Me? says the Lord: or what is the place of My rest?” Yet there is a true House of God, a real Temple of the Infinite, a living abode of the Godhead. The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of “the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man.” There is a place where God does still meet with man and hold fellowship with Him. That place is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, “in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” The Manhood of Christ is become to us the anti-type of that tent in the center of the camp! God is in Christ Jesus! Christ Jesus is God! And in His blessed Person, God dwells in the midst of us as in a tent—for such is the force of the original in our text. “The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled, or tented, among us.” That is to say, in Christ Jesus the Lord dwelt among men, as God of old dwelt in His sanctuary in the midst of the tribes of Israel.
The Glory of Christ
This is very delightful and hopeful for us—the Lord God does dwell among us through the Incarnation of His Son. But the Substance far excels the shadow, for in the wilderness, the Lord only dwelt in the abode of man, but now His approach to us is closer, for He dwells in the flesh of man. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Note that word, “flesh.” It does not say, “The Word was made man”—it means that, but the use of the word, “flesh,” brings the Lord Jesus still closer to us and shows that He took on Him the very nature and substance of manhood! He did not merely assume the name and notion and appearance of manhood, but the reality—the weakness, the suffering, the mortality of our manhood He actually took into union with Himself! He was no phantom, or apparition, but He had a human body and a human soul. “The Word was made flesh.”
When the Lord became bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, His Incarnation in a human body brought Him far nearer to man than when He only abode within curtains and occupied a tent in the midst of Israel. Moreover, it is to be noted that God does, in the Person of Jesus, not merely dwell among men, but He has joined Himself unto men—the Word not only dwelt in flesh, but, “was made flesh.” It is impossible to use words which are exactly accurate to describe the wonderful Incarnation of the Son of God in human flesh, but these words are used to show that our Lord is as truly and as really Man as He is God. Not only does God dwell in the body of man, but our Lord Jesus is God and Man in one Person. He is not ashamed to speak of men as His brethren. “Forasmuch then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also, Himself, likewise took part of the same.” So that the Lord Jesus is one with us! This approach to us is exceedingly close. God was never one with the tabernacle, but in Christ Jesus He is one with us. This union has in it a sweetness of sympathy, a tenderness of relationship and a condescension of fellowship greatly to be admired.
The Music of the Name Emmanuel
Now we listen to the music of that blessed name, Emmanuel, “God With Us.” In the Person of the Only-Begotten, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we see God reconciling the world unto Himself. Let us rejoice and be glad that we have in Jesus more than Israel had in the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High! The ancient Believer gazed upon the sacred tent, he thought of the holy place of sacrifice and the Holy of Holies, the inner shrine of the Lord’s indwelling—but we have infinitely more—we have God in our nature, and in Him, “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
The Glory of Grace and Truth
In and around the tent where the Lord dwelt in the center of the camp, there was a manifestation of the Presence of God. This was the Glory of that house, but how scanty was the revelation! A bright light, which I have already mentioned, the Shekinah, is said to have shone over the Mercy Seat—but only the High Priest could see it and he only saw it once in the year when he entered, with blood, within the veil. Outside, above the Holy Place, there was the manifest Glory of the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. This sufficed to bear witness that God was there, but still, cloud and fire are but physical appearances and cannot convey a true appearance of God, who is a spirit! God cannot be perceived by the senses—the fiery, cloudy pillar could appeal only to the eyes.
Spiritual Glory in Christ Jesus
The excellence of the indwelling of God in Christ is this—that there is in Him a Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, the moral and spiritual Glory of Godhead! This is to be seen, but not with the eyes—this is to be perceived, but not by the carnal senses. This is seen, heard, and known by spiritual men whose mental perceptions are keener than those of sight and hearing! In the Person of the Lord, there is a Glory which is seen by our faith, which is discerned of our renewed spirits and is made to operate upon our hearts. The Glory of God in the sanctuary was seen only by the priest of the house of Aaron. The Glory of God in the face of Christ is seen by all Believers who are all priests unto God! That Glory the priest beheld but once in the year—but we steadily behold that Glory at all times and are transformed by the sight.
The Glory of Grace and Truth
The Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is not a thing of outward appearance to be seen with the eyes, like the pillar of cloud and fire, but there is an abiding, steady luster of holy, gracious, truthful Character about our Lord Jesus Christ which is best seen by those who, by reason of sanctification, are made fit to discern it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Yes, they do see Him in Christ Jesus! “No man has seen God at any time; the Only-Begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Many of us besides the Apostles can say, “We beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.”
The Fullness of Grace and Truth in Christ
We have not seen Jesus raise the dead; we have not seen Him cast out devils; we have not seen Him hush the winds and calm the waves; but we do see, with our mind’s eyes, His spotless holiness, His boundless love, His superlative truth, His wondrous heavenliness—in a word, we have seen, and do see His fullness of Grace and Truth—and we rejoice in the fact that the tabernacling of God among men in Christ Jesus is attended with a more real Glory than the mere brilliance of light and the glow of flame! The condescension of Christ’s love is to us more glorious than the pillar of cloud. And the zeal of our Lord’s self-sacrifice is more excellent than the pillar of fire. As we think of the Divine mysteries which meet in the Person of our Lord, we do not envy Israel the gracious manifestations vouchsafed her when “a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the Glory of the Lord covered the tabernacle,” for we have all this and more in our Incarnate God who is with us always, even to the end of the world!
Let Us Behold This Tabernacling of God
As the Holy Spirit shall help me, I shall, at this time, say, first of all, Let us behold this tabernacling of God. And, secondly, Let us avail ourselves of this tabernacling of God in all the ways for which it was intended.
Beholding Grace and Truth
In Jesus Christ all the attributes of God are to be seen—veiled, but yet truly there. You have only to read the Gospels and to look with willing eyes—and you shall behold in Christ all that can possibly be seen of God. It is veiled in human flesh, as it must be, for the Glory of God is not to be seen by us absolutely. It is toned down for these dim eyes of ours, but the Godhead is there, the perfect Godhead in union with the perfect Manhood of Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be Glory forever and ever! Two Divine things are more clearly seen in Jesus than anything else. Upon these I would speak at this time, considering the two, together, and then each one separately—“Full of Grace and Truth.”
The Fullness of Grace and Truth
Observe the two glorious qualities, joined inseparably—Grace and Truth—and observe that they are spoken of in the concrete. The Apostle says that the Only-Begotten is “full of Grace and Truth.” He did not come to tell us about Grace, but actually to bring us Grace. He is not full of the news of Grace and Truth, but of Grace and Truth, themselves. Others had been messengers of gracious tidings, but He came to bring Grace. Others teach us truth, but Jesus is the Truth of God. He is that Grace and Truth whereof others spoke! Jesus is not merely a teacher, an exhorter, a worker of Grace and Truth, but these heavenly things are in Him. He is full of them! I want you to note this. It raises such a difference between Christ and others—you go to others to hear of Grace and Truth, but you must go to Christ to see them! There may be—there is Divine Grace in other men, but not as it is in Christ—they have it as water flowing through a pipe, but He has it as water in its fountain and source! He has Grace to communicate to the sons of men, Grace without measure, Grace essential and abiding. There is the Truth of God in others where God has worked it, by His Spirit, but it is not in them as it is in Christ. In Him dwell the depth, the substance, the essence of the fact! Grace and Truth come to us by Him and yet they always abide in Him! I say again, our Lord did not merely come to teach Grace and Truth, or to impress them upon us, but He came to exhibit in His own Person, life and work, all the Grace and Truth which we need. He has brought us Grace in rivers and the Truth of God in streams—of these He has an infinite fullness—of that fullness all His saints receive!