John Fesko - Christ and the Desert Tabernacle: Discover the Connections Between Christ and the Old Testament Tabernacle

John V. Fesko

EP Books
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John V. Fesko 2012

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ePub and Kindle editions first published 2012.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available

ePub eISBN 978 085234 8710

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to the tireless service of elders
Wallace B. King and Carleton Bud Winslow

Acknowledgements

I want to express my thanks to David Woollin for his interest in pursuing the idea of publishing this book. I am also very thankful for the staff at EP for their diligent effort in reading early drafts of the manuscript, offering helpful suggestions, and seeing this book to press.

I am also thankful to my wife, for her constant support, love and encouragement. As the old song goes, Youve got a smile so bright, you couldve been a candle! I am grateful to our faithful covenant Lord that he has given her and our boys, Val and Rob, to me.

In many ways this book is about the ultimate church-building programme. Though it begins with the blueprints for the tabernacle, these portions of Scripture are ultimately about Christ, the cornerstone, and the final dwelling place made out of living stones, the church. As I have reflected upon these texts, my mind has been drawn back repeatedly to my time in the pastorate at Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church (Woodstock, Georgia), where this book originated as part of a sermon series on Exodus. I have been reminded not merely of the Sundays when I delivered the messages but of my own small efforts to build, care for and protect the small section of Gods final dwelling place that Geneva represents. I did not work alone. The love, care, labours, prayers and ceaseless shepherding of my two ruling elders, Wallace B. King and Carleton Bud Winslow, were indispensible. These two men gave up countless hours on behalf of the saints at Geneva. They continue to labour in this way to the present. Bud and Wally, thank you for your tireless service to Christs church. It is to you, dear brothers, that I dedicate this book. May our faithful triune Lord continue to bless your labours as you build the final dwelling place of our triune Lord.

J. V. Fesko
Escondido, California
September 2012

I can remember sitting at the breakfast table, bleary-eyed, at six oclock in the morning reading my Bible for family devotions. My parents had decided that we would read through the Bible in a year. Like most people in the church I found the opening chapters of the Old Testament to be interesting the narratives had many fascinating and exciting accounts of the lives of the saints. Some of the narratives that come to mind are the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22) and the Red Sea crossing (Exod. 14). But soon after the Israelites emerged from the Red Sea and received the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20), to my young and perhaps sleepy mind, the narrative came to a screeching halt when we began reading about the tabernacle. I can remember reading about the various pieces of furniture, the curtains, the priests clothing, and thinking that there were too many details, and frankly, they were boring. To a childs mind, how can Pharaohs army drowning in the Red Sea compare to a table with bread, or a washbasin? In one sense, my lack of interest of the Bible was understandable I was a young child who did not know better. On the other hand, as a pastor I also know of people with whom I have discussed passages about the tabernacle who have told me that they find them uninteresting and often skip over them during their devotional reading.

In the pages that follow, I hope to be able to show readers, young and old alike, that far from being boring or uninteresting, the Old Testament tabernacle, and later the temple in Solomons day, is a shadowy picture of Christ and the church. True, people are perhaps easily able to draw the connections between Jesus and the sacrificial animals, as Jesus is identified as the one and only true sacrifice who takes away our sins (e.g., Heb. 8-10; 1 John 2:2); but beyond these obvious connections, the Old Testament tabernacle is literally an entire world of references, allusions and foreshadows of Christ and the church. One need not go very far to uncover the connections between Jesus and the Old Testament tabernacle the New Testament reveals them to us. If you read about the Old Testament tabernacle in the light of the New Testament, you will never think the descriptions of the tabernacle and its furnishings are boring. Instead, you will be filled with hope and assurance, knowing that Jesus Christ, the true tabernacle, has come to redeem his people, living stones, and unite us to him, the one true foundation, so that we would become the eternal temple of the living God.