There is a saying that the body is our temple. This means different things to different people. New Testament writings tell us that our body is a holy temple. 1 Corinthians 6:19 asks, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?” Romans 12:1, “Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy to God, well-pleasing, which is your reasonable service.” Ephesians tells us that we are built up into a temple of the Lord with Jesus as our cornerstone. But did you know that the temple of your body is fulfilling God’s holy plan dating back to the building of the first Tabernacle by the Israelites?
The construction of the Tabernacle is the subject of Exodus 25:1-27:19. The LORD gives the details to Moses, and said in 25:8, “They are to make me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them.” The Hebrew word for ‘live among’ them is betokim, which can be translated “in them.” The Tabernacle was meant to be the spiritual center of the nation of Israel. It was built from the voluntary contributions of the Israelite people as their hearts moved them. After all, God does not live in a building of wood and stone, but in the human hearts of those who seek Him. The Tabernacle was considered a symbolic representation of the universe, and was a kind of repair (tikkun) of something that had been lost or broken before–That being the harmony between God and men after the sin of Adam and Eve.
Before that, God had an intimate presence, making Adam and Eve with His own hands, and walking with them in the Garden. But that paradise was lost with the first sin, and now through the construction of the Tabernacle, and the sacrificial system, God could be close once again, “dwelling among them (Exodus 25:8).” The building of the Tabernacle was a return to Eden mending the separation between God and man, and having a habitation among His creation. But there is more! The only repair is in the subordination to God’s will. The Tabernacle was built with complete obedience to the will of God, and the people were voluntarily making a place for God to live among them. What a beautiful picture of how people can create a space for God—and He how fills it!
The Tabernacle foreshadows Jesus’ first advent when He came to atone for sin, and looking forward to His second advent. The Temple built many years later, looks to Jesus’ second coming—a more permanent structure as the New Jerusalem. The Tabernacle was built by Moses the prophet. The Temple was built by Solomon, the king— which Jesus will fulfill at His return as the “King of Glory” (Psalm 24:7-10). We look forward to that day that Revelation 21:3 heralds, “…See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God with them, will be their God.” Our body, our living sanctuary, therefore, is holy unto God. How does that inform our daily lives?
