Scripture Reading: John 9; 6:33; 7:38-39; 8:12
The Gospel of John is outstanding among the four Gospels. The other three Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — are called the synoptic Gospels, and they record different aspects of the Lord’s humanity. He is presented as the King in Matthew, as a Slave in Mark, and as the Savior in Luke. The King, the Slave, and the Savior are all related to the humanity of Christ. In the Gospel of John, however, the emphasis is on the divinity of the Lord Jesus. In this Gospel He is revealed as the Son of God (1:49; 20:31).
Because the Gospel of John reveals Christ in His divinity, this Gospel speaks of things that are mysterious. Divine things are mysterious. The mysterious, divine things recorded in the Gospel of John are the reality of the universe.
In a previous chapter we pointed out that the universe may be regarded as a huge shell. What is the content of this shell, the content of the universe? Throughout the centuries philosophers, scientists, and teachers have not been able to say what the reality of the universe is. As we have pointed out, if we get into the depths of the truth revealed in the Bible, we will see that the reality of the universe is the tabernacle and the offerings.
Just as the universe has a content, so we human beings also have a content, a reality. If the universe did not have a reality, then the entire universe would be only an empty shell. For there to be no reality in the universe would mean that the universe would not have any content. Likewise, if we had only a physical body but did not have an inner being, we also would be an empty shell. Our inner being is our reality.
The Bible reveals that we are vessels. In Romans 9:21-23 Paul says, “Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? And what if God...might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory?”
As vessels created by God, we can be compared to bottles designed to contain a particular beverage. But suppose a certain bottle is empty. An empty bottle does not have any content, and without content, the bottle does not have any meaning. In order for a bottle to have meaning and fulfill its purpose, it needs to be filled with the beverage it was designed to contain.
The principle is the same with us as vessels. We were designed by God to contain a heavenly beverage. Jesus referred to this beverage in John 7:37-38 when, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, He stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Here we see that the human vessel may not only be filled with living water, filled with the heavenly beverage, but may also overflow with this living water. First we are filled with living water, and then living water flows out from our inner being.
In his Gospel the apostle John emphasizes truth, reality. We see this in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality...Grace and reality came through Jesus Christ” (vv. 14, 17). In these verses reality, or truth, does not refer to doctrine. John is not saying in 1:14 that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of doctrine. In this verse reality, truth, refers to the divine reality.
When I was writing the notes on the Epistles of John, I was very exercised over the word truth in John’s writings. Truth is a crucial word in both the Gospel of John and in his Epistles. As a result of much study, we have come to see that in the writings of John truth refers not to doctrine but to reality.
In order to have content, the universe must have a reality. In a similar way, as human beings, vessels created by God, we also need content, reality. This reality is the divine person, the Triune God. The Triune God is the reality of the universe. Apart from the Triune God, the universe is an empty shell. In the same principle, apart from the Triune God, we also are empty shells. If the universe were merely a shell, there would be nothing but emptiness and vanity. Realizing this, King Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). Solomon also said that everything under the sun is vanity. It is true that if the Triune God were not the content of the universe and of our being, everything would be empty, vanity.
The tabernacle in the Old Testament contained the Ark, the incense altar, the lampstand, and the table. In the court of the tabernacle there were the altar of burnt offering and the laver. In addition, there were all the different utensils. Apart from Christ, the tabernacle with its furniture and utensils would have been empty. The same is true of us. God is our reality. Without Him, we are merely empty vessels, empty beings.
God is not simple and, as vessels made to contain Him, we are not simple either. According to the entire revelation of the Scriptures, God is triune. Furthermore, we are tripartite; that is, we have a spirit, a soul, and a body. As tripartite beings, we need the Triune God to be our content, our reality.
The Triune God is the reality of the universe and also the reality of the tabernacle with its furniture and utensils. Many teachers of the Bible have pointed out that the tabernacle with its furniture and utensils is a shadow, or picture, of invisible things. As such a picture, the tabernacle points to the divine mysteries.
In the books of Exodus and Leviticus there are many types of Christ. Dr. Scofield once said that we can see Christ on every page of the book of Leviticus. The tabernacle and its furniture, the offerings, and all the priestly garments are pictures of Christ. For example, every aspect of the clothing worn by the high priest — the ephod, the inner robe, and the turban — is a type of Christ. Because Christ is divine and mysterious, God in His wisdom used the types in the Old Testament as pictures of Christ.
All these chapters are concerned with the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings in the writings of John. Throughout years of study and experience I have come to realize that the tabernacle and the offerings, which are pictures of Christ in the Old Testament, are fulfilled in the New Testament. This fulfillment is clearly recorded in the writings of John. We can see more of the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings in the writings of John than in the other New Testament books.
John’s writings are of three categories: his Gospel, his Epistles, and his Revelation. In these writings we see signs that point to the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings. For this reason, in these messages we are giving special attention to the signs in the Gospel of John.
We have seen that in chapter 1 of John’s Gospel we have the signs of the tabernacle and the Lamb of God. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. In the book of Revelation the apostle John also speaks concerning the tabernacle. For example, Revelation 7:15 says, “They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits upon the throne will tabernacle over them.” Christ is the tabernacle of God, and the New Jerusalem as the ultimate enlargement of Christ will be God’s eternal tabernacle, where all God’s redeemed ones will dwell with Him forever. God will overshadow them with Himself as embodied in Christ. As the embodiment of God, Christ will be their tabernacle.
In Revelation 21:2 and 3 we see that the New Jerusalem will be the eternal tabernacle: “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them.” Here we see that, as God’s habitation, the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God with men for eternity. The tabernacle made by Moses was a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). First, that type was fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men, and it will be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem. From these verses we see the fulfillment of the tabernacle in the writings of John.
In John’s writings we also have the fulfillment of the offerings. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” In the Gospel of John, the Lamb of God is the aggregate, the totality, of all the offerings. Hence, in John’s Gospel we have the Lamb as the fulfillment of the Old Testament offerings.
The book of Revelation also has much to say concerning Christ as the Lamb. Everyone who reads Revelation should pay attention to this extraordinary expression. In Revelation 5:6 we see “a Lamb standing as having just been slain”; in 6:1 “the Lamb opened one of the seven seals”; in 7:17 we are told that “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life”; in 12:11 it is said that “they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb”; in 13:8 we read of “the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world”; in 14:1 we have “the Lamb standing on Mount Zion”; and in 22:1 we are shown the river of water of life “proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Again and again, the book of Revelation speaks concerning the Lamb. For eternity the Lamb will be sitting on the throne of God in the New Jerusalem. Therefore, in the writings of John we see the Lamb as the fulfillment of all the offerings.
Other aspects of the Old Testament tabernacle are also fulfilled in John’s writings. Consider the lampstand. The first mention of the lampstand is in the book of Exodus, where we are told that the lampstand was in the tabernacle (25:31). In chapters 8 and 9 of the Gospel of John we are told that Christ is the light of the world. In 8:12 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” In 9:5 the Lord went on to say, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” In these chapters we have Christ as the reality of the lampstand. As the lampstand, the Lord Jesus is the light of life to enlighten this dark world. Furthermore, in chapter 1 of Revelation we have “seven golden lampstands” (vv. 12, 20). This is another indication that in the writings of John we have the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings.
Let us now say a further word concerning reality. In John 1:1-3 we see that in the beginning was the Word and that all things came into being through Him. Through the Word, who is the very God, the entire universe was created. In verse 4 John goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” According to verse 14, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality. In the footnote on truth in 1 John 1:6 in the Recovery Version and in Messages 9 through 11 of the Life-study of 1 John, we point out that in John’s writings truth, or reality, first refers to the Triune God. This means that God is the reality, that Christ is the reality, and that the Spirit is the reality. Furthermore, the word that God speaks is reality.
How can we say that God Himself is reality? We can say this because John 1 reveals that God became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of reality. John 1:17 also says that grace and reality came through the incarnated God. As God incarnate, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the way and the reality and the life” (14:6). Before He died, the Lord spoke concerning the Spirit of reality (v. 17; 15:26; 16:13). In his first Epistle John clearly says that the Spirit is the truth, the reality (5:6). Moreover, in John 17:17 the Lord Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” Therefore, from all these verses we see that reality is God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Word.
God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Word convey the reality of the universe. The Triune God is Himself this reality, and the Triune God is revealed in the Word and conveyed by the Word. This means that the Word is also the reality, the reality that is actually the Triune God Himself. In His incarnation the Triune God was the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings. Therefore, as the embodiment of the Triune God, Christ is the real tabernacle, and He is the real offerings.
