Christ the True Tabernacle.

SOME GLORIES OF CHRIST FROM THE HEBREWS. 
I. TWICE is the anti-type of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews.  Once in chapter 8. 2 as "The true Tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man;" and once in chapter 9. 11, where Christ is said to have come "through a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands; that is to say, not of this creation."
There can be only one explanation of this.  The True Tabernacle is the Body in which Jesus glorified God on the earth, and in which He bore our sins and died, in which also He rose and ascended.  This is made clear from several Scriptures.  John 1. 14 tells us, "The Lord was made flesh and tabernacled among us (eskēnōsen) . . . full of grace and truth."  In Hebrews 10. 20, the veil is mentioned, and the explanation is added: "that is to say, His flesh." He Himself spoke more than once of His body as "this temple." and in Colossians 2. 9 we read that in Him "dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" or as Lightfoot puts it, "in bodily wise."
Let us consider the adjectives that are used as to the Tabernacle first.
1. It was—
The True Tabernacle. 
The other was only a typical one, a parable (9. 7) for those dim-seeing days.  In His Body, we see the actual, the real dwelling of God among men; the real as distinct from the type, the fact instead of the figure, the substance replacing the shadow, the abiding as against the temporary.
2. It was God-Pitched— 
It was God who brought the first-begotten into the world (Heb. 1. 6).  It was God the Holy Spirit who came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest that overshadowed her (Luke 1. 35).  It was the Father who sanctified Hirn and sent Him to earth.  It was "not man" who did so, for all of man is defiled.
3. It was— 
A Greater Tabernacle.
Not in size, of course, but in majesty and dignity.  It was from conception "that holy thing' (Luke 1. 35).  As one has said, "The human nature of Christ doth more excel the old tabernacle than the sun doth the meanest star.”
4. It was— 
More Perfect.
The old one served its purpose, but it could not effect that which it typified.  It was perfect as a type, for what man could have pitched a tent in a desert and crowded it with glorious similes and emblems of better things as this was; but it failed to do more than typify the better things; the true Tabernacle was therefore "more perfect;" it was perfect to effect the whole will of God, that is our sanctification. For by the offering of that Body "once for all, we have been sanctified” (chap. 10. 10).
5. It was— 
"Not Made with Hands,"
for God did not actually, but only typically, dwell in "temples made with hands" (Acts 17. 24).  Things seen have a carnal value (that is for ceremonial cleansing only), but the unseen things are eternal.  Hence the folly of the modern sacerdotalism—dwelling in things seen" (Col. 2. 18, R.V.), "vanity puffed up by the fleshly mind."
6. It was— 
Not of This Creation.
He was to be Head of a new Creation, and therefore, He was as to His Body, not of the order or manner of created things here below—"for although it was so as unto its substance, yet in its constitution and production, it was an effect of the Divine power above the whole order of this creation or things created" (Owen).
Now let us look at the appropriateness and wisdom of this figure of our blessed Lord as—
Coming by a Tabernacle; 
that is, being manifested in a human body.
A tent is that which can be taken down and folded up for a season without any damage to it, to be pitched again in a different place. How apt a figure of that sacred Body, which was taken down and for a season laid in the grave, only to be raised again and set up in Heaven.  In that body, He is now our Great Priest—
"A Minister of the Sanctuary"
of the holy things or of the holy places—that is, of things in Heaven, "the height of His sanctuary” (Psa. 102. 19), in all holy matters acting toward God for us.  But specially let us notice the beauty of the Tabernacle as a type of the Body in which the Great Antitype glorified God and became the Author of Eternal Salvation to us.
1. It was the means by which—
God Dwelt Among His People. 
"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exod. 25. 8), was the original command, with an insistence that it must be in all things after the pattern shown in the Mount.  Therein was seen the Shekinah glory, that visible presence that typified the fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in Christ bodily.
2. Each of its details typified— 
The Office and Work of Christ,
which He took and effected by means of His Body.
The writer of the Hebrews enumerates a number of these in chapter 9. 2-5, but is unable to speak in detail of them.  But in each we see a type of what He has become to us by His manifestation in flesh.  The first the apostle names is the Lampstand, which recalls our Lord's words: “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."  The Table of Shewbread in which we are reminded that He is the Bread of His people, "the bread that I will give is My flesh” (1 John 6. 51). The Ark wherein were the tables of the covenant, reminding us of the law in His heart, who in the days of His flesh walked in all the commandments, fulfilling all righteousness.  The typical tabernacle thus in each of its parts reveals more of the glories of the True Tabernacle, in which the Holy One of God glorified God and sanctified us.
3. It was— 
The Centre of Worship
for the elect people.  And just as in those days, the Name of Jehovah was there, so in Him the Antitype, we draw near to God and worship in the beauty of holiness, we gather to His Name.
The Tabernacle was thus a constant representation and anticipation in type of the Incarnation of the Son of God.
II. —The More Perfect One.
One can imagine a group of Hebrews, who have been led to faith in Christ by the preaching of the Great Apostle, poring over this marvellous epistle.
They had been won to the Lord Jesus by the unanswerable testimony to His resurrection, whereby He had been beyond all doubt declared to be the Son of God with power.
But now they are in a dilemma.  How does this Outstanding Fact fit in with their Divinely Appointed Priesthood, their Solemn Covenant, and their Holy Worship and oft repeated Sacrifices?
With what eagerness and heart exercise they would read and ponder over the pages of this letter that now reaches them and purports to reconcile these apparent contradictions!
How does the writer proceed?  There is only one way in which a Hebrew could possibly be reached and convinced, and that is by an appeal to his "Sacred Scriptures."  His assurance was:
"We know that God spake by Moses."  Nothing could ever shake his confidence in the testimony of the prophets.  Anything to have weight with him must be in line with the Oracles of God, of which His people had been the Divinely appointed custodians.
These new preachers had without doubt appealed to these Scriptures, had quoted freely from them, and had convinced them that Messiah (the Christ foretold throughout these holy writings) must suffer and be raised again the third day; but there remained much to be explained: The Temple, The Aaronic Priesthood, The Law and Ordinances. What of them?  Here then, was the answer—this Epistle to the Hebrews.
Let us see how it deals with these problems.
I. The Greater and More Perfect Priest.
The writer begins by an appeal to their own Scriptures as always.  It is "far more evident" (7. 15) that there is a priest to come who is not of the Aaronic order; for long before the days of Aaron, a king-priest, Melchisedec, meets and blesses Abraham, to whom even Abraham gave a tenth, and if Abraham, then Levi and Aaron, for Abraham was a representative person, and they were "yet in his loins" when he did so.  There can be no doubt that this priest was the greater of the two, for "without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the greater" (Heb. 7. 7).
Then again, the great Messianic Psalm (110) of which no Hebrew questioned that it spoke of the Christ to come, in which Messiah is described sitting as Lord at the right hand of Jehovah and ruling out of Zion, that great prophetic word ascribes a priesthood to Messiah that is of this most perfect kind.  A King Priest (such as Zechariah also foretells, Zechariah 6. 13), not of Levi, but after the style (not "order," for there is no succession) of Melchisedec.
Thus, from their own Scriptures, the writer convinces them that there is a more perfect priest, an Eternal and Unchanging One, living and carrying on His ministry in the power of an endless life.
There is no gainsaying it.  Why have we not seen it before?  We have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens.
II. The More Excellent Ministry of a Better Covenant Based on Better Promises.
What of our Glorious Covenant?  Was it not given with great majesty from the Mount of God?  Did not Sinai tremble and burn with fire? Was not the sound of the trumpet long and awe-inspiring?  Shall not the covenant confirmed in blood stand for ever?  What of it?
Again, the writer turns the attention of these Hebrew believers to their Holy Oracles. "See," he says, "there is in these Scriptures a New Covenant spoken of.  And if 'new,' then the other must be 'old,' not in date, but in decrepitude.  It has aged and grown effete and worn-out.  It is ready to vanish away from old age (8. 13).
Yes, that is true. Jeremiah 31. 33 beyond doubt speaks of a New Covenant, setting out its very terms.  And why?  If the first had been sufficient, then what reason is there for a second?  True, why had we never seen that?
"And," proceeds the writer, "the old covenant failed, not because it was not good, but the fathers broke it."  He found fault with them, not it (8. 8), for it was His work, which is always perfect for its purpose.  They continued not in it, and so brought its curses on their heads.
The promises were conditioned on obedience, and disobedience rendered them unavailing.  But see the promised New Covenant.  It is not conditioned.  There is no, "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not" in it.  Search and see if you can find an "if."  No, there is none. It is "I will,"  "I will" throughout.  The Living God says it, "I will,"  "I will."
These are the better promises which the Mediator of the New Covenant ministers. Because unconditioned, they are "sure to all the seed."
III. The More Perfect Tabernacle.
Of this I wrote in my last paper.  That set up in the wilderness was but typical, but Messiah has come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, a sinless body in which He tabernacled amongst us, and in which He fulfilled all that the temporary structure was meant to pre-figure in a parable.
Yes, their own Scriptures foretold this, too.  "A body hast Thou prepared Me" (Psa. 40. 6; Heb. 10. 5).  In it "I come to do Thy will," and thus "He takes away the first" and establishes the second.  The shadow passes with its dim and uncertain outline, and the substance is there.  "The true tabernacle which God pitched and not man" (8. 2).
IV. The Perfect Offering that Perfects for ever.
Once more the writer turns his readers to their own holy writings.  Is it not written there (Psa. 40. 6), "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire?"  Had they not observed that?  Did the same Scripture not speak of One who said: "Lo, I come, in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, to do Thy will?"
Had not their prophets called attention to the insufficiency of animal sacrifices?  They might make ceremonially clean but could not really reach to the conscience.  Did not Isaiah (1. 11) remind you that the offering of rams and fat beasts could not satisfy the claims of a Holy God?
Indeed, does not common-sense teach the same?  It is not possible that animal blood could put sins away (Heb. 10. 4).  Yes, there was no gainsaying it.  Their own Scriptures forewarned them of it.
But now the sinless Son of God had come, and by His one offering, had so dealt with the sin question that they were "sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all," and better still, "By that one offering, were perfected for ever."
So the Imperfect passed and gave place to the Perfect. 
The Once for all Offering that Perfects for Ever.
III.—SOME GLORIES OF CHRIST AS REVEALED IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
IN a day when Sacerdotalism and the Mass are again being urged in our land, it is well to review the glorious Revelation on the Finished Work of Christ, which is the perfect answer to such pretentions, and the only true safeguard against the deception that is subtle and dangerous because of its strong appeal to the sentimental and soulish mind.
The work of Christ is brought before us in the 9th and 10th chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews in two ways: first, objectively; and then subjectively.  First establishing—
The True Character of that Offering.
and then showing how it affects the true believer who enters into it.
First then, one must understand the terms used.  The word "Blood," when having reference to Christ, always means the life laid down. The Blood is the Life, but it is the shedding of blood that obtains remission (v. 22); in other words, it behoved Christ to die, "for except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth fruit" John 12. 24).  There must of necessity be the death of the victim, for it is the blood (the shed life) that maketh atonement for the soul.
A Sacerdotalist with whom I had some correspondence, contended that the sacrifice for sin was not made when the animal died, but the death was only to obtain the blood with which the sacrifice was now being made in Heaven, in which in the Mass, the worshippers take part.  Such a parody on the truth is, of course, easily rebutted from the Word of God.
To begin with—
No Blood was Carried into Heaven by Christ.
His hands were outstretched in blessing as He ascended, and it can hardly be contended that He has shed blood since He came there.
The misquotation of Hebrews 9. 12 as "with His own Blood," is responsible for much misunderstanding in this matter.  What the passage says is that Christ entered in once for all into the Holy Place (the presence of God) "by His own Blood;" that is, "in virtue of His finished work, for before He entered, He had obtained eternal redemption for us.
2. The blood carried into (prosferei, not "offered," as in the A.V., 9. 7), the Holiest, was—
Not Taken There to Sacrifice.
The animal had already been sacrificed at the burnt altar as a sin-offering, and the blood poured out there, and the body burnt outside the camp.  The blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat was not for sacrifice, but as evidence of a completed work and offering, in virtue of which or by which the High Priest alone could enter there.
His carrying in the evidence of the completed sacrifice was typical of Christ our Propitiation (1 John 2. 2), entering into the presence of God, bearing in His body the evidence of His finished atonement.
3. That the blood carried in was not the sacrifice is further witnessed by the fact recorded in 9. 10, that we have been sanctified— 
Through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ
once for all.  And the same is confirmed by the many references to the fact that it was by His death, not any work subsequent to Resurrection, that He redeemed us.  We have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son (Rom. 5. 10).
How then, is this Sacrificial Death Stated Objectively in our Epistle?
1. He "OFFERED HIMSELF" (7. 27).  He had said in the days of His flesh, "No man taketh My life from Me. I lay it down of Myself."  And further, that (a) It was by express command and authority of the Father, and (b) It drew out the Father's love.  "Therefore doth My Father Love Me because I lay down My life" John 10. 17, 18).  He was both Priest and Offering.  If His work as Priest had had to be consummated on earth ("if He were on earth" (8.4), must be so understood), He would not have been a Priest, but having, as Priest, made His offering on earth, He entered in virtue of it into the Sanctuary (8.2, same words as "the holy places" of 9. 12 and 24), and there took up the glorious work of intercession, based on the sacrifice, by which He saves to the uttermost all who come to God by Him'' (7. 25).
2. It was "THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT."  
Of this, John Owen says, "That He offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit in His Divine Person, is that which gives assurance of the accomplishing of the effect assigned unto it.  It was "an immediate act of the Divine as well as of the human nature."  "It was offered by and with the concurrent actings of the Divine nature or Eternal Spirit.
3. It was “WITHOUT SPOT.” 
For, like the Passover Lamb, He was without spot or blemish, holy, harmless, and undefiled.  He was altogether, within and without, in character and walk, without sin.
4. It was “TO GOD.” 
For the glory of God was ever the first purpose set before Him.  By His death, He was to "glorify God," and in perfect devotion and obedience, He did the will of God.
5. He "PUT AWAY SIN" 
by the sacrifice of Himself.  He did away with it absolutely as a condemning force, as insisting before God on our punishment, as a barrier between us and God.  As the veil in the temple was rent, so in the death of Christ, the Holy Ghost signified that the way into the Holiest was now thrown open, and as a ruling power in the life of the believer, sin was broken and annulled.
6. It was "ONCE FOR EVER." 
The specially emphasised word (efapax) appears in ch. 7, v. 27, when He "once for all offered Himself;" in 9. 12, where He is said to have entered "once for all;" and in 10. 10, where the offering of His body was "once for all."  In. 10. 12, the same truth is emphasised, "the One Sacrifice for sins was for ever," in token of which completion He
sat down.
When we turn to— 
The Subjective Side of the Truth,
we learn—
1. That the conscience of the believer is purged from dead works (9. 14) by that precious Blood.  He is free, since as to the conscience he has been perfected (10. 1, 2) to worship the living God, a purged worshipper.
2. He, by His Blood, obtained eternal redemption (v. 12).  A. permanent release by ransom.
3. And so we receive an eternal inheritance (9. 15), under the New Covenant which He mediated with His own Blood.
4. In the will of God, we have been sanctified (10. 10), by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Not only, as in Romans, "justified by His Blood," but "sanctified," constituted a separate and holy people.  "Purified unto Himself a peculiar people" (Titus 2. 14).
5. More wonderful still, by the one offering, we have been "perfected for ever" (10. 14).
(a) As to our Righteousness—for we are clothed upon with "a righteousness from God, apart from law, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ" (Rom. 3. 21-22).
(b) As to our Acceptance, for He hath made us "accepted in the Beloved."  No longer occupied with ourselves, our merits, or our works, we have been "taken into favour" in Him who made purification of sin.
(c) As to our Approach, for we draw near and enter the Divine Presence, "by the Blood of Jesus" (10. 19).
Let us then draw near in honesty and sincerity (a true heart) in absolute confidence in the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the finished work (10. 15), (full assurance) having availed ourselves of the sprinkled Blood (our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience), and having diligently applied the water of the Word to the cleansing of our walk (our bodies washed with pure water).  
GEORGE GOODMAN., Tunbridge Wells.
“The Witness” 1930