In this episode of In Light of the Cross, we keep tracing how the cross and resurrection illuminate the Old Testament by focusing on Exodus’s tabernacle (and later the temple) as God’s “tent/house” among his people, showing his longstanding desire to dwell with them despite sin.

We walk through how the sacrificial system and priesthood addressed the problem of God’s holiness alongside human sin, and how the temple’s structure—especially the Most Holy Place as a perfect cube and the ark as God’s throne-footstool—symbolized God’s presence without an idol.

We connect this story arc back to Genesis and forward to Jesus, noting John 1:14’s idea that Christ “tabernacled” among us and Jesus identifying his body as the true temple.

We then look to Revelation 21 where the New Jerusalem is described as a cube, signaling God’s final dwelling with his people, and we conclude that even without the fall, God would still have come—incarnation wasn’t a backup plan.

We close with a Herschel illustration about pardon leading to communion, personal reflection, and the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Introduction

00:38 Big Question and Pause

01:50 Why the Tabernacle Matters

02:48 Tabernacle And Temple Meaning

04:15 Sacrifice And Holy Spaces

06:26 From Eden To Temple

08:35 Jesus As True Temple

11:16 New Jerusalem Hope

14:17 Would Jesus Still Come

15:28 Herschel Pardon Illustration

16:58 Personal Application Prayer

18:04 Closing Lords Prayer

Welcome back to In Light of the Cross where we are considering

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how the cross changes everything

This Lenin season that we have been

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tracing the way that we see, God at

work in the Old Testament and how.

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Viewing what Jesus has done in

the cross and resurrection sheds.

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So much light on that.

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And, and then also vice versa.

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Everything that we're reading in the

Old Testament is just pointing to

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this truth that God, God's work in the

world doesn't just begin with Jesus

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of Nazareth, but really precedes that.

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So we're excited to continue that

thread this morning, as we continue

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in the story of Moses and looking at

the tabernacle and then the temple.

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Um, but I wanna begin with a question.

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For you all to reflect on.

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it was my first semester in seminary.

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My professor proposed this question

to the class, and it's apropos here.

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So reflect on it a little bit, and then

in our reflection time, after we pause

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here, we will, um, come back to it.

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So the question is this, if humans

hadn't sinned in Genesis chapter three.

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Would Jesus still have come?

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So, reflect on that for a moment and

let's begin with this time of pausing,

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centering ourselves, inviting the

spirit into this time as we, uh, set

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our focus on what God has done and

is continuing to do in the world.

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Pause now.

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Daniel Jepsen: So we are continuing to

look at how to understand all things in

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light of the cross, and we've talked about

sin and now we're talking about salvation,

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especially in the Old Testament.

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We hopefully, we're gonna be talking about

how to understand God in light of the

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cross ourselves, our relationships, our

purpose, our suffering, and our future.

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But to do that, we're trying to

lay this solid biblical foundation.

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So we've been going through Genesis

and now Exodus, we talked about Moses,

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we talked about the law that Moses

gave or that God gave through Moses.

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And today we're gonna be talking

about the other main theme in

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Exodus, and that is the tabernacle,

which then becomes the temple.

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So there's chapter after

chapter describing.

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This tabernacle that guy was, telling

Moses to set up chapter after chapter.

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It dominates really the last 10 to

15 chapters of the Book of Exodus.

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Now what's going on here?

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What is the purpose of this?

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Well, let's get some definitions.

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First of all, a tabernacle

just simply meant the tent, and

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then the temple was the house.

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They were functionally equivalent,

although the temple was obviously

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larger and grander and it wasn't

moved about like the tent.

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The tent was movable because it

was instituted when the people were

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traveling through the wilderness.

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Now, here's the main idea.

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embodied in this.

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the Tabernacle is not just any tent.

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It is God's tent where he encamps

among the tents of his people.

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So the people in the Book of Exodus

are living in tents and God says,

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I'm gonna put my tent right there in

the middle of you later on when the

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people are living in houses after

they've been settled in the land.

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Uh, David asked God for permission

to build a house, and God says, yes,

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but your son will build it Solomon

That becomes Solomon's temple.

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But again, it's patterned and structured

in every way after the tabernacle.

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But here, of course, it's a house.

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It is God's house again amongst

the houses of God's people.

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So the point, the main

point should be very clear.

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God's desire has always

been to be with his people.

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God's desire has always

been to be with his people.

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I will be their God he says, and they'll

be my people and I will dwell among them.

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That's what the Tabernacle

and the Temple represent.

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They represent the presence of God

and how Israel can be saved from God's

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wrath and holiness in the midst of that.

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So he gives them the sacrificial system,

which was brought to the temple and, and

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the priesthood, it all that is combined

with this idea that God desires to dwell

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with his people in spite of their sin

problem, and in spite of the fact he's

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a holy God that cannot look upon sin.

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So that's the problem that the

temple and especially the sacrificial

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system, is designed to solve.

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How can God live among the people

even though he is holy and repelled

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by sin and we're still sinful.

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So that's how that works out.

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And every part of the temple then

has this beautiful symbolism.

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And if you recall, there is this outer

courtyard where sacrifices are brought.

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And so you have that idea of substitution

that an animal is killed and it's blood

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brought to the altar, and it's after that.

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Then that anybody would be able

to be clean before God in a way.

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And then you have the temple itself,

it's, uh, formed into two rooms.

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The tabernac or the temple,

there is the outer room, which is

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sometimes called the tend meeting.

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Usually it's called the holy

place, and then you have the

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inner room, the most holy place.

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Interestingly, the inner room was smaller.

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But it also formed a perfect cube,

both in the tabernacle and the temple.

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It was larger in the temple because

the building was larger, but the

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dimensions of the holy place versus

the most holy place were the same.

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And in both places, the holy place was

its cube where the arc of the covenant

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dwelt, the arc of the covenant was

regarded as the footstool of God's throne.

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So there was no physical throne.

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It was just the footstool

there to represent that.

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This is where God would dwell.

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If you went to other temples in the

Mediterranean world or even the, world

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of, say India or Iraq, you would find

temples where they would have some

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sort of lifeless statue of their God.

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But God said, no, I, I'm not like that.

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I don't have a body.

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I feel heaven and earth.

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You can't contain me, but I'll let

this symbol of my foot still be

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there to remind you of my presence.

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So that is the basic understanding

and that's why God took so seriously,

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this idea of this temple worship

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Nathan Beasley: Can I zoom

us out a little bit here?

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah, go for it.

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Nathan Beasley: So let's, this is so cool.

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Thank you for explaining that.

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Um.

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Seeing how this fits in broader

salvation history is really neat.

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because you see that God's desire

to dwell with his people doesn't

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just begin here in the tabernacle.

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Daniel Jepsen: Right.

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Nathan Beasley: But actually goes all

the way back to Genesis chapter two.

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Mm-hmm.

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Daniel Jepsen: Uh,

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Nathan Beasley: before there is sin.

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God is walking without an eve

in the coolness of the night.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

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Nathan Beasley: And it isn't until

they sin that is ruptured and they

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get cast out of the garden where they

have perfect fellowship with God.

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And so you see the, the narrative arc of

all of scripture pointing to, this idea

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that God will dwell with his people.

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And we see that continue and continue

to unfold throughout the narrative.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah, you sure do.

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And in fact, you even said in chapter

one because chapter one describes the

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creation of the world in analogous

terms to how the temple was created.

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And there's a lot of

things that are in there.

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Um, maybe I can link it along article

or something I wrote, probably take an

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hour to explain all the links there.

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But the author of the Penacook

Moses, formulated both those

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things to be linked together.

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There's so many hyperlinks between Genesis

one and then the construction of the

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tabernacle and later the temple, so it

goes all the way back to Genesis one.

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Nathan Beasley: Yeah.

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Wow.

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That kind of stuff gets me jazzed.

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Yeah,

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Daniel Jepsen: me too.

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Nathan Beasley: I love seeing because

you see the way, like we've been

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talking about this thread of what God

is doing continues to be pulled through

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as all of history is unfolding and

this mystery of how God is at work.

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restoring people back to

fellowship with him is working.

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And so, what's really neat and standing

out to me about this is that the,

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sacrificial system, the substitution

of the animals is all there.

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Just like the law was there.

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And just like, the broader law is

there to protect this relationship

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so that humans can come and be

with this perfect and holy god.

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Daniel Jepsen: Right.

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Nathan Beasley: So let's

move forward a little bit.

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Daniel Jepsen: Okay.

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Nathan Beasley: Um, because this is

all in light of the cross, and so

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let's bring it to Jesus of Nazareth

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Daniel Jepsen: and it

gets even better here.

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Nathan Beasley: Okay, so go ahead.

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We're we're talking about, how

in John chapter one, John says

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something very interesting.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah, go ahead

and read that if you would.

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Nathan Beasley: Yeah.

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So John and his prologue to his gospels

talking about how Jesus is the word

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or the Lagos, That is a hyperlink.

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Back to Genesis chapter one.

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when God spoke, or God used his words

in all of creation, came into existence.

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So Jesus is with God and is God

all the way from the beginning.

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But in verse 14, as he's talking about

Jesus, he says this word, Jesus, the the

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word, became flesh and made his dwelling.

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Among us, we have seen His glory.

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The glory of the one and only son who came

from the father full of grace and truth.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

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And that's one of those verses where

the meaning can be lost in translation.

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So there is a Greek word for tabernacle

and when it says Christ dwelled

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among us, he's actually taken that

Greek word and making it into a verb.

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So.

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This is very deliberate way of

saying Christ tabernacle among

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us, or Christ templed among us.

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Nathan Beasley: Hmm.

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Daniel Jepsen: So he's choosing that

because he wants us to understand

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that Jesus now is the way that

God and humans can be together.

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The other tabernacle or temple

pointed towards us, Jesus himself,

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is the fulfillment of that.

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Nathan Beasley: So Jesus is the way that

people and God, Are able to live together.

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Daniel Jepsen: Exactly.

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Nathan Beasley: Jesus',

God's definitive action of.

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Coming to be with the people.

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Daniel Jepsen: Exactly, yeah.

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Nathan Beasley: The, the theological

language of incarnation, he puts

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on his flesh and moves into the

neighborhood as Eugene Peterson says.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah, that's

a good way to put that.

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And then later on, of course, when

the Jews, this is the Gospel of

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John, later on, I forget the chapter.

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When some of the Jewish crowd asked

Jesus to perform a sign to show that

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he's Messiah, he says, tear down this

temple in three days, I'll raise it up.

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Nathan Beasley: Mm.

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Daniel Jepsen: And they think he's

pointing to the physical temple, which

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strikes him as both odd and irreverent.

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But of course he's talking about his

body as John, uh, points out there.

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So again, that idea that Jesus is

the way that God's desire to be with

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his people is gonna be fulfilled.

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That was fulfilled partially.

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And imperfectly in the tabernacle

or temple, and now it's gonna

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be fulfilled perfectly in Jesus.

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Nathan Beasley: Yeah.

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So let's zoom out and move

forward one more time.

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We've got this connection between

Genesis one and two, and then in the

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Exodus story of the Tabernacle and

later on in the story of the, Temple

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and David and Solomon, and then Jesus.

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And then if we fast forward all

the way to the last chapters of

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Revelation, we see that the new Heaven.

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And New Earth are coming together.

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And what's so interesting about

this is that John gives us

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dimensions of the new Jerusalem.

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do you have this here?

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

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So this is in Revelation chapter

21, and it starts this way.

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We, we can't leave out this

part, John says in Revelation 21.

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Then I saw a new heaven and a new

Earth for the first heaven and

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the first earth that passed away,

and there was no longer any sea.

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And I saw the holy city, the new

Jerusalem coming down out of heaven

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from God prepared as a bride,

beautifully dressed for her husband.

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And I heard a loud voice from

the throne saying, look, God's

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dwelling place is now among the

people, and he will dwell with them.

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They will be his people and God himself

will be with them and be their God.

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He will wipe every tear from their

eyes and there'll be no more death

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or mourning or crying or pain for the

old order of things has passed away.

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So again, you see that at last, God's

dwelling place is here among his people.

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there is a new heaven and a new earth.

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And God comes in the form

of Jesus to dwell with us.

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And then you have the description of this

new Jerusalem and it says, in verse 16

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of Revelation 21, the city was laid out

like a square as long as it was high.

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He measured the city with a rod

and found it to be 12,000 stadia.

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that's about.

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1400 miles, in length and as

wide and high as it was along.

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Nathan Beasley: So here you have

to my knowledge, the only other

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depiction of a cube in scripture.

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And this is amazing how this new city

where heaven comes to earth and God makes

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his dwelling among his people depicted.

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As the temple.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

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Nathan Beasley: Which then, like

you said, goes all the way back

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to Genesis one, all of creation.

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in verse five of Revelation 21.

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It says, he who was seated on the

throne said, I am making everything new.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah.

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Nathan Beasley: I am

making everything new.

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Daniel Jepsen: Amen to that.

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Nathan Beasley: So you see the

final consummation of time.

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Being one, not where we go away to a

disembodied heaven, but where heaven

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actually comes down to earth and God's

dwelling with his people is made complete.

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Daniel Jepsen: Just like God designed

it in Genesis chapter one and two.

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Nathan Beasley: Yeah.

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So back to that question at the

beginning of the podcast, if Adam

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and Eve hadn't sinned, would God

still have come in Jesus Christ?

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My answer to that is a wholehearted yes.

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I, I questioned it.

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I didn't know.

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I didn't know when she first asked it.

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I had to think through this

theologically, but I've come to

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realize that God's intention.

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From the first, literally the first

page of scripture to the last page

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has been to dwell with his people.

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And the Bible is this story of how in

the midst of human sin and brokenness he

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is making that happen in Jesus Christ.

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Daniel Jepsen: Yeah, exactly.

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Nathan Beasley: And it has come, but

it is coming and it will be complete.

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And when it is complete, it will be

good and there will be no more pain

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or tears or any kind of brokenness.

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Yep.

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Amen.

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Daniel Jepsen: Amen.

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Yeah, I agree.

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He would have come, the form

would've been different.

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I'm sure we probably won't

understand what that would be like.

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But that's always been his goal.

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Nathan Beasley: Yeah.

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the incarnation was not God's backup plan.

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Daniel Jepsen: No.

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God's desire is always to be with us.

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Um.

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There's an illustration to close with here

before we just contemplate our response.

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It's a story about William Herschel,

who became one of the great

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scientists of the 18th century.

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but his life started off

rather rough as a teenage boy.

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He joined his father and his two

brothers signing up for the army.

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But at some point, in the heat

of the battle, he got afraid

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or because there was a mix up.

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The stories are a little

confused here, but he, uh,

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deserted the army and he left it.

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And of course that was a

penalty punishable by death.

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After that, he began developing

these gifts as an astronomer and he

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created this new kind of telescope.

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And through this he was able to

discover, a new planet, Uranus

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and many other discoveries.

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And this caught the attention of the king.

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So he sent a letter to William Herschel.

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And you can imagine William

Herschel getting this letter

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from the king in the summons.

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so he's brought to the King's presence.

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And imagine there's a part of him that

is waiting for this sentence of death to

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be placed upon him, but instead, the king

hands him a full pardon and says, now you

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can come to the palace and we can talk.

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And that's the idea.

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Forgiveness of sins is

not the ultimate goal.

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It is the proximate goal, the goal

before the end goal, the goal that's

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necessary for that final goal for God

and man's communion to be restored again.

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Uh, that's what's involved

in seeing the temple.

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Nathan Beasley: I love that.

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So let's move into a time of application.

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Daniel Jepsen: I think maybe the

best way to think about this today

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is just to contemplate God's great

desire to be with you, not humanity

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in the abstract, but you yourself.

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In all your weaknesses, in all

your faults, he knows 'em all and

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he has still placed his eternal

love upon you and desires for

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that relationship to be restored.

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So the question is simply, is there

anything in my part holding that back?

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And if there is, God, show me that.

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Show me that, and help

me to bring that to you.

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maybe this is a good.

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Time to pause and to think and

pray through that question,

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and let's end with the Lord's Prayer.

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Our Father in heaven.

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Hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be

done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us today our daily bread

and forgive us our debts as we

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also have forgiven our debtors.

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And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

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Amen.

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Nathan Beasley: Amen.