FROM THE TABERNACLE TO THE TEMPLE 2
(week 22/10)
OLUBI JOHNSON
In our article last week, we saw that Christians are to grow from a ‘reed’ to a ‘rock’ individually; and from a ‘tabernacle’ to a ‘temple’ corporately.
In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle was built with ‘reeds’: wooden planks, animal skins and cloth; the Temple was built with ‘rocks’: hewed stones. Furthermore, the Tabernacle had no foundation whereas the Temple did.
As New Testament Christians, these truths are prophetic, symbolic foreshadows (2 Peter 1:19-21; Col. 2:16-17; Heb 10:1) of our spiritual growth individually and collectively from spiritual childhood into perfection and spiritual maturity.
As ‘reeds’, we are spiritual children that are unstable and easily bent or tossed to and fro:
Ephesians 4:14 ESV: so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15-16 NIV Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (16) From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
As ‘rocks’, we have revelation knowledge (Eph. 1.17-23) of the hope of our calling into the perfection and fullness of Christ; of the riches of glory of our inheritance as saints: the wisdom and instruction to be able to operate in our inheritance of the anointing without measure that was on the Lord Jesus; of the exceeding greatness of the resurrection power that was exerted by God through the Lord Jesus when He was raised from the dead far above Satan and all his wicked spirits: how to release the authority and power in the name of Jesus to destroy all the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8).
Matthew 16:17-18 ESV: And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We grow from a ‘reed’ to a ‘rock’ by praying as a daily habit for:
(1) Humility (Phil.2:8) (2) the 7 spirits of God (Is.11:2) including the spirit of wisdom and revelation; (3) the life of God through promises in the Word (2 Peter 1:4); (4) Praying with all kinds of prayer in the Spirit including travail— (Eph. 6:18, Col. 4:12 and Gal. 4:19); (5) Washing of feet (Jn. 13:14, 34) at least 4 times daily (Dt. 6:7, Mk.13:35, 2 Sam. 6:13); (6) Balanced bible reading and study (2 Tim. 2:15, 3:15-16); (7) Frequent (once every hour Mt. 24:42) asking the Lord for mercy (1 Cor. 7:25) to triumph in all things (2 Cor. 2:14) and praying in tongues to commune with God (1 Cor. 14:18).
This growing into a ‘rock’ is prophetically typified by the hewing and shaping of the rocks that were used to build the Temple of Solomon.
1 Kings 6:7 MKJV: and when it was being built; the house was built of stone made ready beforehand. And there was not heard in the house a hammer or an axe, or any iron tool, while it was being built.
Observe that the stones were firstly hewn out from a quarry or mountain and then after they were hewn out they were now properly shaped to size to be used in the building of the temple.
The first hewing out speaks of our receiving revelation knowledge through the Word of God from spiritual fathers and mothers typified by Abraham and Sarah:
Isaiah 51:1-2 NIV: Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; (2) look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.
The shaping speaks of the refining of the revelation from our spiritual fathers and mothers through our own personal prayers and study of the Word.
When this has been accomplished, we can then be taken to corporate temple site to be made part of a local or regional temple in which there will be perfect unity (Jn. 17:23) of the revelation knowledge of the perfection and fullness of Christ (Eph.4:13). So, there will be no noise of ‘hammer’ or ‘axe’ symbolizing the noise or Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) of division.
Furthermore, the foundation of the Temple is built with ‘great’ stones of 8 or 10 cubits.
1 Kings 7:10 AMP: The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones of eight and ten cubits.
These ‘great’ stones speak of Christians who are doing great supernatural works of healing the sick, cleansing lepers and raising the dead (Mt.10:8) by the anointing without measure. The rock of ‘8’ cubits speaks of those with a borrowed anointing who have begun to experience the a ‘new beginning’ (8 is the divine number for new beginnings since it comes after 7 which is the number of completion Gen. 2:2) of the anointing without measure; while the rock of ’10’ cubits speaks of those who have experienced the perfection and fullness of Christ (3 is the divine number for perfection (Lk.13:32)) and 10 the number of perfection and fullness or completeness (7 is God’s number for completion Gen. 2:2) and 10=3+7).
These Christians by virtue of the anointing without measure that is operating upon them, have apostolic and prophetic anointings that form the foundation of the church: the temple of God with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, (20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (21) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. (22) And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
So, to be a part of this glorious temple that will manifest the glory of God individually (Lk.6:40, 1 Jn.2:5, Jn. 14:12) and so collectively in this generation, you need to grow from being a ‘reed in a tabernacle’ to becoming a ‘rock in a temple’!
