Called to Obedience
|
Key Verse: “Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.” Selected Scriptures: |
AMONG THE FEATURES of the Law given to Israel were instructions for building a tabernacle, or tent of meeting, for God and men. The instructions were explicit, and these were carried out carefully. Finally, all was in readiness for assembly, and duties were assigned to the Levites. The 40th chapter of Exodus tells of instructions given by God to Moses for setting up the Tabernacle; “Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he.”—Exod. 40:16
The Tabernacle was important to Israel. It was a type, or a physical model picturing matters concerning God’s plan. The Apostle Paul refers to the fulfillment of this picture as “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” (Heb. 8:2) Later Paul says that the priests serving in this tabernacle, “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.”—vs. 5
The important work the Tabernacle typified was that which Jesus performed when he came to the earth to be the world’s Redeemer. Jesus invited his obedient followers throughout the Gospel Age to share with him in his sacrificing, and later in his reign. The obedience required by this church class is expressed by John the Revelator: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”—Rev. 2:10
All the furniture items and structural compartments involved in the Tabernacle, as well as all the rituals performed by the priests, confirm as types other teachings of the Bible. Israel was asked to perform these obediently, and with care, so that the heavenly picture could be seen clearly. And this they did.
As God manifested his presence by the Shekinah glory—a brilliant light above the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy—so also he will manifest his presence with mankind during Christ’s glorious kingdom. We read: “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.”—Rev. 21:3
In Leviticus 26, God tells Israel that if they keep his sabbaths, reverence his sanctuary, walk in his statutes and keep his commandments that he will bless them with rain in due season and the land will yield its increase. (vss. 2-4) The blessings cited for obedience are listed in Leviticus 26:1-13. However, if they were not obedient, they would suffer punishments which are listed from verses 14 to 46. God promised Israel that they would not be abandoned, but that he would bless them again for their fathers’ sakes. Their current restoration to their land is a fulfillment of this promise. As the Prophet Amos wrote, “I will bring again the captivity … of Israel … and plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”—Amos 9:14,15
This pictures how the resurrected world of mankind will receive an opportunity to be obedient during God’s kingdom, and to be blessed forevermore with life, health, prosperity and happiness.