Page 218 - Through New Eyes

216 THROUGH NEW EYES
Israelite society. When the Tabernacle complex is torn apart, in
1 Samuel, it symbolizes the rending of Israelite society.

The Tabernacle as Human Person
Finally, the Tabernacle symbolized the righteous man, the
heavenly man, the man made in God’s own heavenly image
(John 1:14; 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19).24 We ought not to think of
this as a visual symbol, so that the Most Holy Place is the head
and the altar the feet. Rather, the Tabernacle symbolized the
person in a more holistic fashion. The Most Holy Place symbol-
ized the innermost parts of the man, both head and heart. The
Holy Place had to do with the senses, while the courtyard had to
do with the outer man, the skin.
Jesus said that “the lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore
your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light; but if your
eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew
6:22-23a). There is a kind of inverted metaphor here. Lamps
shine forth light, but eyes take light in. The rest of Jesus’ state-
ment is forcefully symbolic also: If our eye is good, the light fills
our body with light. This can immediately be related to the lamp-
stand in the Tabernacle, which filled the house with light. The
righteous man lets the light of God’s glory fill his body, his life.
But what is true of the eye is also true of the other organs,
also. If the lamp of the body is the eye, then the incense of the
body is the nose. If our nose is unstopped, our body will be filled
with incense. Similarly, the food of the body is the mouth. If our
taste is good, our body will be filled with God’s heavenly manna
and showbread. Let us also recall that the high priest always
wore bells when he entered the Holy Place (Exodus 28:34-35).
The bell of the body is the ear. If our ear is clear, our body will be
filled with God’s glorious voice.
All these things relate to God’s glory-cloud. The cloud made
a wonderful sound, replicated in the bells. It was a cloud,
replicated by the sweet cloud of incense. It shone with light,
copied by the lamp. And it rained manna, copied by the table of
bread. As Kline has shown, the cloud signified the Spirit of
God.zs So then, the righteous man is filled with God’s cloud, His
presence, His Spirit. The Holy Place symbolizes the sensory
avenues by which God’s life comes to His righteous man. The