God commanded Moses to build "the tabernacle of the congregation, " that is, as the Amplified Bible reads, "the tent of meeting" (Exodus 29:10). The LORD declared, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory" (Exodus 29:43). The tabernacle was where God granted His presence, where He was worshiped, where He accepted their sacrifices, where He instructed them regarding His will and where He heard their prayers. The tabernacle was ordinary looking on the outside, covered with badgers’ skins and seemed to be no different from any other tent, but on the inside, there was exquisite beauty. The Lord was the glory of that tent; it was where He revealed Himself to His people.
The tabernacle typified the Lord Jesus Christ. "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 1:14). "Dwelt among us," means tabernacled among us. Physically and visibly, the Son of Man seemed no different from any other man, but His flesh veiled His divine majesty. John had gotten a firsthand glimpse of Christ’s glory when the Savior "was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2). This is the true Tabernacle of God, and when the Lord meets with you, and you with Him, that meeting-place will be the blessed Savior. There is no other basis upon which God will meet with sinners except the Lord Jesus and His completed work of redemption. Christ was that perfect Sacrifice for sin and by His death He appeased divine justice for His chosen people. His resurrection verified that the Father was well pleased with His Person and work. In Christ, God draws near to us and we approach Him. He is the "one Mediator between God and men" (1 Timothy 2:5).
Today Christ’s people see Him by faith, but someday we will see Him as He is in His infinite glory. Now He dwells with us by His Spirit, but there is coming a time when He will dwell with us personally, God in human flesh. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Revelation 21:3). ________________________________________________________________________
The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form gods out of wood and stone; while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their own carnal mind! In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. A god whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity; and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nothing but contempt!
Take the doctrines of grace isolated from the Person of Christ; they are scattered limbs. There is no beauty in them alone. But view the truth of the Gospel in connection with the Person and work of the Son of God, what a heavenly light, what a divine glory is cast upon every truth connected with His sacred Person, atoning blood, finished work, and dying love! This is the way to receive the Gospel; not as a thing of shreds and patches, a mere collection or scheme of certain doctrines floating up and down God
’s Word, as waifs and strays from a stranded ship; but as ONE HARMONIOUS GOSPEL, full of grace, mercy, and truth, impregnated with divine blessedness, and all connected with, all springing out of the Person of the God-Man. --J. C. Philpot
"The LORD will give grace and glory" (Psalm 84:11). God never gives one without the other. Grace given in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Timothy 1:9), was the promise of glory. The realization of glory will be the sure evidence of grace. Grace is glory initiated and glory is grace consummated. Grace is glory in the bud and glory is grace in full bloom.
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