THE HEBREW TABERNACLE

PART ONE

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO MAN

1. THROUGH CREATION.
2. THROUGH ALL KINDS OF SYMBOLS.
3. THROUGH THE LIVES OF GODLY PEOPLE.

GOD SPEAKS TO MAN

THE REVELATION OF GOD

Beyond the Revelation that is embedded within Creation; that persons both responds to as a declaration of God’s Glory, there are both in the Old and New Covenants, six consistent ways in which God communicates:

(i) Through the appearance of Himself in some way or other, that can be 
described in the Old Covenant as a Theophany and in the New Testament the 
Incarnation. In short, in some form God enters our limited space time environment 
as a material presence.

(ii) God has revealed his message through dreams and visions. Some of these 
dreams and visions needed translation whilst others were self contained in terms of 
meaning.

(iii) God has communicated by a mediator in various forms such as a Prophet 
or an Angel, who has received the Word of the Lord and then communicates to a 
wider group.

(iv) Through the inspired Text of scripture that is given to persons by the Holy 
Spirit, received and accepted by the community of God’s people as God’s Word 
and then collected, stored and retrieved for use in hearing God’s voice concerning 
the full council of God’s will for persons.

(v) God embeds truth, that as a concept is to be sociologically and spiritually 
enforced in a repetitive manner, through the use of sacramental liturgies.

(vi) God embeds His truth in symbols whereby the signified and the signifier 
have a metaphysical unity.

THE CONCEPT OF SACRED PLACES

God often met people in places that He called Holy. The key point to remember is that the Presence of God is the central theme of God meeting man. In response to the presence of God men bowed the knee and worshipped.

The revelation of God will cause man to submit in humble worship or fear and rebellion.

The role of sacred space was central to the Hebrews
understanding of God. It was not like an Eastern religion where one meets a spirit in some place of the mind or meditation but rather in a real geographical space.

EXAMPLES

Adam And Eve In The Garden
Genesis 3
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the 4cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

HAGAR In The Desert
Genesis 16:13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-5the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Abraham The Oaks Of Mamre
Genesis 18 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 bSo he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,

Jacob Bethel
Genesis 28 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel;

Moses The Burning Bush

Exodus 3:5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

Joshua Crossing the Jordan

4 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: 2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ”

David In the Wilderness Whilst Caring For The Sheep

Dvid's case is interesting in that God spoke to David through the Prophet Nathan rather than meeting him like He did with the earlier examples.

The Prophet Isaiah In The Temple

Isaiah 6 In the year that aKing Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am 1undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

The Hebrew Tabernacle Was the "Sacred Space" not for an individual but for the whole community of God's people.

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