Before I begin, I’d like
you to grab your Bible
and read all of the last
chapter
(chapter 40)
of the book
of Exodus.
There is a
rather sur-
prising end-
ing to the final chapter of
this book.
The book ends with
a cliffhanger. The good
news is that all the work
of building the Biblical
tabernacle was completed
successfully because the
glory of God had come
to occupy the holy of
holies. The bad news
is that not even Moses,
let alone anyone else,
could approach near
the tabernacle after the
cloud descended upon it.
Moses, who had basked
in God’s glory on Mount
Sinai, could not approach
God in the tabernacle.
What changed?
The problem illustrates
the ancient theological
paradox between the
personal aspect of God
and the aspect of the
supreme creator God.
God is remote and inac-
cessible. God is abso-
lutely holy and separate,
and yet at the same time,
He is ever close and
personal. The tabernacle
illustrated this paradox.
On one hand, God had
moved into the midst of
the camp of Israel, but on
the other hand, no one
could enter his presence.
The paradox between
God being near and at
the same time being
completely holy, distinct,
and unapproachable
is also obvious in our
human attempts to form
an understanding to
explain the divine nature
of Messiah Jesus. Some
explanations seem to be
more theologically con-
sistent than others, but
any attempt at explaining
how the infinite God can
occupy a finite human
being involves an inver-
sion of logic. The bottom
line is for a finite creation
to understand it’s infinite
Creator is itself a para-
dox.
The mystery of the
tabernacle is no less baf-
fling than the mystery of
God taking up ‘residence’
within the body of Mes-
siah Jesus. We believe
Jesus was fully a human
being and the possessor
of a human body — just
like yours and mine. We
also, at the same time,
believe that Jesus was
fully God, divine and
eternal. These two state-
ments are in themselves
contradictory — but the
‘occupation’ of the physi-
cal tabernacle by the infi-
nite God provides a pre-
view of what God would
do in Messiah Jesus.
Now, you are probably
saying, “Wait a minute!
Maybe in the taber-
nacle God could not be
approached, but in Mes-
siah Jesus he certainly
was and is!” To that I
would say — you are get-
ting ahead of me.
For now, let’s ponder
the paradox. How are
these two things possible
at the same time? Deep
inside every human being
is a desire to come near
to their Creator. Ponder
this. Think of who God
is. Think about who we
are by comparison.
In the next article I will
deal with the paradox of
the tabernacle and how
it teaches us the way we
are to approach near to
God. The way God was
approached in the days of
the tabernacle and how
God is approached now
hasn’t really changed all
that much, as we will see.
But that is for next week.
Like this teaching? ✓ Give to Church of the Messiah