At the Theological College our goal is to prepare preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All the disciplines and departments ultimately work towards that end, also the Old Testament department. The way God reveals Himself and His salvation in the Old Testament is very instructive for us who live in the last age.

In the Old Testament the Lord our God prepared His people for His coming to them in the promised Messiah. This gospel message of the coming of God to be with His people also rings loud and clear in the institution of the tabernacle and temple, shadows of better things to come (Galatians 3:24; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1). I would like to consider especially the Holy of Holies in God's revelation of Himself and so see some of the perspectives that this opens up for a deepened appreciation and understanding of the salvation we may have in Jesus Christ.

God's Desire to be with Israel⤒🔗

At the beginning of God's good creation, there was perfect communion between God and His son and daughter, Adam and Eve (cf. Genesis 5:1-3; Luke 3:38). “God saw all that He had made and it was very good!” (Genesis 1:31). The sin of our first parents destroyed that beautiful fellowship, but immediately God began His work of restoration by putting hostility between Satan and our first parents and by giving His sure promise of salvation (Genesis 3:15).

Now it was ultimately because of this ongoing desire to restore the fellowship once experienced in Paradise that God also wanted to be with His people Israel. He wanted to live in their midst (Exodus 25:8; 29:44-46). Therefore, He called His son Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1) and renewed the covenant with His people at the Sinai. How the people trembled when they heard the very voice of God thunder the Ten Commandments to them! They were in awe of God! And they needed to be! Of mere grace alone, God had delivered them out of Egypt. In Egypt they had served other gods (cf. Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:7), but God had remembered His covenant with Abraham and brought His son out! They had muttered and grumbled and sinned against God as they journeyed to the Sinai, but God had pulled them on to Himself with bands of love. Israel formally agreed to the covenant demands of God. Twice at the foot of the Sinai they promised to do all that the LORD has said (Exodus 24:3, 7). On this basis God could go ahead with the tabernacle plans to come and live with them!

But, at the very time that God was informing Moses how He planned to live in the very midst of Israel (Exodus 25:9; cf. Exodus 25-30), God's people below the mountain had their own ideas of how they wanted God in their midst. They made a golden calf and said “This is your God O Israel who brought you up out of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4, 8; cf. v. 5) God with us – as Israel wanted it! This sin prompted God to declare in His anger that He would no longer go with Israel, but the pleading of Moses on the basis of God's own promises brought a change of heart (Exodus 33).

One could sum up the chain of events this way. In spite of all the sin of Israel – the idolatry in Egypt and the sinful grumbling during the wilderness trek to the Sinai – God persisted in His grace to achieve His saving purpose with them. For He who dwells on high did come down to His people, but His own people received Him not! Although He came in holy glory and covenant truth at the Sinai, yet His people had no true regard for His glory. Indeed they pictured His glory and presence by way of a golden calf! They wanted God with them, but on their own terms. God comes to his people, but actually, there is no room for Him in the camp of Israel! Israel had their own ideas of what they wanted and the presence of sin made the saving presence of holy God extremely difficult.

When we ponder the reality of the rebellion and sin of Israel and the holiness of God, we begin to appreciate the tremendous grace of God in still going through with the tabernacle. We also get a sense of the great importance of the tabernacle. There may not be any place for God on sinful earth, not even among His own people. But God is not stopped by that! He will make a place for Himself!! – a place where He can dwell in glory and holiness in the midst of Israel! That place is the Holy of Holies!! Here is where God established His earthly throne.

The Plan of the Tabernacle←⤒🔗

The floor plan of the tabernacle was very simple. Around the tabernacle itself was a fence and within the fence, before the entrance of the tabernacle was the great bronze altar for the whole burnt offerings, as well as the laver. If a priest walked toward the tabernacle from the east, he would enter the tabernacle compound and so pass the great altar and the laver and come to the entrance of the tabernacle itself. On entering it, he would go into the holy place. On his right would be the table of bread of the presence and on his left the golden lampstand. At the end of the holy place and immediately in front of the Most Holy Place was the golden altar of incense. Behind the curtain which formed the end of the Holy Place, was the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Here, in the innermost part of the tabernacle was where God Himself dwelt in the midst of Israel! Here was the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat (AV) or atonement cover (NIV).

The Holy of Holies←⤒🔗

Let us take a more careful look at the Holy of Holies. First there is the curtain which separates the holy from the most holy. This curtain was hung by means of gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The posts had silver bases (Exodus 26:31-33; 36:35-36). The curtain itself was made of “blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman.” The colours worked into the curtain connote different things. Blue and purple are expensive colours and are associated with royalty and power, while scarlet is often associated in Scripture with blood and ritual cleansing. It is also of interest to observe that blue is a colour associated with God and His heavenly throne (Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26).

A notable feature of all the curtains of the tabernacle, also the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, is the cherubim that was embroidered on the curtains (Exodus 26:1,31; 36:8, 35-38; cf. 2 Chronicles 3:14). Cherubim fill the tabernacle. Here is God's dwelling place! Those on the curtain giving entrance to the Most Holy Place stand guard as it were before the very throne of God. Were not the cherubim the ones who guarded the way to the tree of life in Paradise, lest Adam and Eve re-enter (Genesis 3:24)? Here embroidered on the curtain, they stood guard before the small piece of ground that God had claimed as His special dwelling place with men. This was the place of the presence of God who seeks fellowship, as at paradise. This paradise motif may very well be in view and emphasized in Solomon's temple where extensive use was not only made of cherubim, but also of palm tree, pomegranate and floral motifs (1 Kings 6:18, 29, 35; 2 Chronicles 3:5-17; 4:21; cf. Ezekiel 41:15-26). One needs to remember that God also designed Solomon's temple (1 Chronicles 28:12, 19), a design that would have been consistent with His wishes regarding the tabernacle.

The cherubim between the Holy Place and Holy of Holies, and for that matter the cherubim embroidered on all the curtains that make up the tabernacle, remind us that God is holy, holy, holy. Cherubim are associated with God's appearing and His greatness (cf. Psalm 18:10; Ezekiel 1, 10; Deuteronomy 33:2). But, how can the holy one really live in the midst of His sinful people? This is an important question and the LORD our God provided the answer by, as it were, insulating His people from the full glory of His majesty and holiness. He enclosed and surrounded, as it were, His dwelling place with the service of reconciliation through the meditation of the priests and Levites. God would live in the midst of His people, but only if the tribe of Levi camped next to the tabernacle and so formed a buffer as it were between God and Israel “so that wrath will not fall on the Israelite community” (Numbers 1:53) but God's blessing (cf. Deuteronomy. 10:8; Psalm 118:26). Closest to the entrance, the LORD placed the camp of the priests. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death (Numbers 1:51; 3:38). God is holy and a devouring fire in the presence of sin (cf. Leviticus 10:1-3; Numbers 11:1-3; 16:35; Hebrews 12:28-29)!

The only way to God is the way of blood. Blood had to be shed (cf. Leviticus 17:11). So God instituted the priesthood whose responsibility it was to offer sacrifices (cf. Exodus 28:1; Leviticus 1-7; Numbers 3:2-10; Deuteronomy 33:10). Only by the shedding of blood was reconciliation possible and could God's dwelling with men be a reality. Indeed, so important was the sacrificial blood for the atonement of sins that only for this purpose was entrance to the very presence of God inside the Most Holy Place permitted.

On only one day in the year, the Day of Atonement, could a representative of the people, the high priest, go past the cherubim into God's very presence. But it had to be with the sacrificial blood accompanied with the prayers for peace and reconciliation – prayers that were symbolised with the cloud of incense that filled the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16:12-16; cf. Psalms 141:2).

Once inside the Holy of Holies, the high priest had to sprinkle sacrificial blood on the lid of the ark and in front of it. This lid or cover was made of gold and called “the mercy seat” (AV) or as it can better be translated, “the atonement cover” (NIV). Of one part with this cover two cherubim had to be made out of hammered gold so that these cherubim faced each other, looking downward, with their wings spread upward overshadowing the cover. There, above the cover the LORD would meet Israel through their representative (Exodus 25:20-22). Here the blood of atonement was to be brought close to God (Leviticus 16:14-15; Hebrews 9:23) – God who dwelt or was enthroned between the cherubim (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Kings 19:15; Psalm 80:1; 99:1)! In a sense the atonement cover was the heart of the tabernacle and temple. It is noteworthy that Scripture once even speaks of the temple as the house of the atonement cover (1 Chronicles 28:11).

Here before the LORD reconciliation was to be made by the atoning blood. What a miracle, God with man! Especially considering that no actual restitution had as yet been made. After all the blood of animals cannot atone for the sins of humans (Hebrews 10:4)! But God in His mercy passed over sins, in anticipation of the Christ who was coming (Romans 3:25). In this connection it is important to remember that inside the ark with its atonement cover was the Testimony (Exodus 25:16). This testimony was the two tables of stone containing the Ten Words of the Covenant (Exodus 31:18; 32:15, 16; Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 1 Kings 8:9; Hebrews 9:4). It is the law that makes the ark, the “ark of the covenant” (Numbers 10:33) or “of the Testimony” (Exodus 25:22). The presence of the law in the ark also emphasises that the relationship God had with His people was a legal and binding one as revealed in the covenant: “I am the LORD your God.” The atonement cover also reminds us that the forgiveness granted was a real one, be it in anticipation of Christ's redemptive work. It was mercy consistent with God's justice and righteousness. In the promised redemption, His throne of justice is also the atonement cover.

Now, if forgiveness was real and sin could be atoned for, then God the Holy One could come to dwell with His redeemed people. And so after the priesthood and the tabernacle and its contents had been consecrated there came God (Exodus 40:34)!

God's Coming to His People←⤒🔗

We read in Exodus 40:34 that, “Then the cloud covering the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle!”

It is difficult to grasp the full significance of this passage from Scripture. The Almighty God came down in person. He was fulfilling His promise to be with His people. In the cloud of presence (in which fire was visible at night) God came in a form that was tangible and perceivable by the Israelites. Here was God! Here now was a piece of truly holy ground, guarded symbolically by cherubim, a piece of paradise that spoke of the fellowship between God and His people. God with Israel, a miracle of His grace.

Yes, for God is the sovereign one who had come of grace alone in His electing love (Deuteronomy 7:7-9). He would guide them on to the promised land (Exodus 40:36-38). There in the land of Canaan He would continue to inhabit the tabernacle, although we do not read anymore of the cloud of presence as appearing before all Israel. Yet God was there and quite possibly was always there in the days of Moses in the form of the cloud of glory within the Holy of Holies (cf. Leviticus 16:2; Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89). When Solomon dedicated the temple, God again came in view of all the people in a visible form, in the cloud of presence, to inhabit the temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). What an awesome reality. As Solomon put it:

But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you. How much less the temple I have built!1 Kings 8:27

This greatness of God reminds us that His saving presence could not be taken for granted. God is holy and when the people did not honour His covenant and holiness then God became a consuming fire (Leviticus 10:1-3; Numbers 11:1-3; also cf. Leviticus 22:32). This holy God is also sovereign. Therefore, because of the sin of His people He allowed the ark to be taken at the battle of Aphek when the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines and He saw to it that it came back (1 Samuel 4-6). Because God is sovereign, He therefore also punished the haughty Israel of Jeremiah's time who thought they had a monopoly on God, by promising to leave (Jeremiah 7; 26:4-6)! And He did leave. This departure is described in a vision of Ezekiel as the glory of the LORD going up from the city and moving eastward (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:18-19; 11:23). But, in a subsequent apocalyptic vision, the LORD's glory mercifully returns from the east and occupies the new temple (Ezekiel 43:1-5). It is noteworthy that there is no record of the glory of the Lord coming to occupy the temple that was built after the return from exile. But, in a promise alluding to the coming Messiah, God declared that the glory of this post-exilic temple would be greater than that of Solomon's temple (Haggai 2:9). Indeed, for this temple would see the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ who would bring the promised peace (Haggai 2:9; cf. Matthews 12:6)!

God with Us←⤒🔗

In the fullness of time, God came in Jesus Christ. Again there was really no room in the inn, but the God created room for Himself in a manager in Bethlehem. There was really no room for Him in Israel. He came to His own, but His own people received Him not (John 1:11).

The Word became flesh and tabernacled, [“cramped” as it were] among us. We have seen His glory.John 1:14

Immanuel, God in human form with His people. Why? To fulfil the covenant testimony, the law so that God's desire to be with His people, a desire as old as paradise, could rest on a true juridical foundation. Our Saviour came to do what no other high priest could do. He would go through the heavenly holy of holies to present His own blood which the sacrifices had pointed to. He did what no quantity of animal blood could do. He secured the redemption of His people and made it possible for God to live with His people on the basis of the full atonement having been made for all their sins (Hebrews 7:27; 9:11-10:25)! With His death, the temple curtain ripped from the top to the bottom (Matthews 27:31)! It was no longer necessary!

The full payment of the sins of His people had been made. Now the very presence of God no longer needed to be confined to that small piece of new creation in the holy of holies, but God went forth on the day of Pentecost to claim as His temple and dwelling place the congregation of Jesus Christ. This was His New Creation. On the Day of Pentecost, there were again powerful signs of God's presence – the sound of a mighty wind and what appeared to be tongues of fire (Acts 2:2-3). There was no room, but He created room for Himself by inclining and turning hearts in true repentance to Him (Acts 2:41, 47)! God's coming at Pentecost in the Spirit means that the congregation has now replaced the temple as God's dwelling place and temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; Ephesians 2:22)! In God's people is now the new creation, holy ground – God with us, Immanuel (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17)!

Yes, being church is occupying holy ground, a piece of this creation which God has claimed completely for Himself by His Spirit. A piece of new creation which shows the glory of God (2 Corinthians 3:18). This fact also speaks of better things to come. For, God is lord of all creation and His glory is not to be confined to just where His people happen to be. The whole earth must be filled with His glorious presence (cf. Psalm 72:19). Indeed, the whole earth must be as a tabernacle and as the Holy of Holies and all the nations must be able to worship the Lord in the splendour of His holiness (cf. Psalm 96)!

This is precisely the reality of the new world that is coming! When the apostle John saw the new heaven and earth, he heard a loud voice from the heavenly throne announce the absolute fulfilment of the tabernacle presence of God. The voice said:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God … Behold, I make everything new.Revelations 21:3, 5

Remarkably, the measurements of the city of God are proportionally identical to the Old Testament Holy of Holies – its length, width and height are the same (Revelations 21:16). Then all the earth will be full of the glory of the LORD and the new creation will be a fulfilled reality. And therefore, no more tears, death, mourning or pain. No more struggle against sin. The leaves of the tree of life in the paradise of God will be for the healing of the nations (Revelations 2 1:3-5; 22:1-2).

God with us! We have more than God's covenant people of old. But we too have but a beginning of what awaits us. What has been foreshadowed in the Old Testament Holy of Holies will find its complete fulfilment when renewed creation will be like the Holy of Holies due to the presence of the glory of God which makes the need for the sun superfluous (Revelations 21:23-24). And “we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2; cf. Revelations 11:19)! That's the gospel!

Studying at the Theological College and preparing for ministry is never just an academic exercise. In studying the Scriptures, we also increase in the knowledge of the God of the Scriptures – this God whose promises, faithfulness and holiness fills us with awe. His wrath is real, but so is His mercy. He has come to dwell with His people and to bring us and all creation to the perfect paradisal rest. What a gospel and what a perspective to study in order to be able to preach it to God's people, also on the mission field!