The first chapter
of
John’s gospel
elaborates on
the
incarnation
of
Jesus Christ
more than any other passage in the Bible. John wanted his readers to know that Jesus was the absolute revelation of
God in human form:
“And the
Word became flesh and
dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory,
the
glory as of the only
begotten of the
Father, full of
grace and truth”
(John 1:14, NKJV).
“
The Word”
is the Logos,
Jesus Christ Himself
He became “flesh,”
meaning the
divine Son of God became
human,
like us (Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7).
God revealed Himself
to the people
of the world through
His Son, Jesus.
Christ showed us God’s glory. “
We have seen his
glory, the glory
of the
Father’s one and only Son,”
states the New Living Translation. The author of Hebrews
further illuminates:
“The Son radiates
God’s own glory and
expresses
the very character of God”
(Hebrews 1:3, NLT).
The statement that “we beheld His glory” links Jesus to the Old Testament wilderness tabernacle. At this earthly tent of meeting, Yahweh’s divine presence and glory dwelled and visibly manifested among the people of Israel. They saw His glory in the fire, pillar of smoke, and cloud (Exodus 40:34). In the New Testament, God’s glorious presence was made visible in the living Word, who was clothed in flesh and “tabernacled” among us in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 actually uses a form of the Greek word for “tabernacle” to describe Jesus’ taking on human flesh.
Jesus revealed His glory for the first time publicly at the wedding in Cana, and, as a result, “his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11, NLT). Mathew and Luke recorded the scene of Christ’s transfiguration when Peter, James, and John beheld a glimpse of His unveiled glory (Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:32). Peter testified firsthand to the transfiguration: “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy’” (2 Peter 1:16–17, NLT).
When John said, “We beheld His glory,” he was giving eyewitness testimony to the incarnation—that God Himself had come to earth embodied in the Son: “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1, NLT).
Not only John, but all the disciples had seen Jesus and beheld His glory with their own eyes. These apostles could all testify that the Father had sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14). Other teachers were likely spreading false ideas about Jesus and contradicting the truth of the incarnation. But the teachings of John and the other disciples were trustworthy because these men had firsthand experience hearing, seeing, and touching Jesus (John 19:35).
The miracles of Jesus revealed God’s glory (John 11:4, 40). The word for “glory” in John 1:14 means “a state of high honor.” Those who witnessed Christ’s miracles—those who beheld His glory—saw and understood that God was worthy of the highest honor and praise (John 4:53; 9:38; 20:29). The suffering and death of Jesus also revealed God’s glory (John 17:1, 5; Romans 8:18). Everything Jesus did brought praise and honor to God so that all who beheld His glory and believed in Him received His gift of salvation (John 12:16; 13:31–32; 20:30–31; Philippians 2:9–11; Ephesians 1:12).
Paul taught that Satan blinds
the eyes of unbelievers so they
cannot
behold God’s glory or
understand
the
message of salvation
in
Jesus Christ.
They
“are unable to see
the
glorious light
of the
Good News.
They don’t understand this message
about the
glory of Christ,
who is the
exact likeness of God”
(2 Corinthians 4:4, NLT)
. But praise God,
who
through Jesus Christ our Lord
lets
His light shine in our hearts
so we can “
know the glory of God
that is seen in
the
face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Corinthians 4:6, NLT).
In the first chapter of John,
the apostle introduces his readers to
Jesus,
the
Son of God.
John writes that
Jesus is the
pre-existent and co-eternal
Word of God
who became flesh
(John 1:1 and 14), the creator of the universe (verses 3 and 10), the life and true light of men (verses 4, 5, and 9), the only begotten Son of God “full of grace and truth” (verse 14), superior to Moses (verse 17), and the only one who has seen the Father (verse 18). As the Gospel of John unfolds, readers are repeatedly prompted to “come and see” who Jesus is and engage with Him.
In John 1:36, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God. When two of his own disciples hear this, they immediately begin to follow Jesus (verse 37). One of the disciples was Andrew, Simon’s Peter’s brother (John 1:40). The other, unnamed disciple could be John the apostle (“the disciple whom Jesus loved,” see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Jesus turns to both of John’s disciples and asks a simple yet profound question: “What are you seeking?” (John 1:38). The you here is directed at the two men, but it has universal application, as does the same word in John 3:3 and John 3:5.
That is, Jesus’ question extends beyond Andrew and the unnamed disciple.
Jesus wants to know whether we seek after Him
for superficial reasons,
such as fame or curiosity, or if we earnestly
desire to have our sins forgiven and become
genuine disciples.
This question challenges
everyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ.
What are we really seeking?
Jesus knows
our thoughts
(John 2:24–25), yet He still wants us to articulate what is on our minds. John’s two disciples cannot answer the question, so they reply with a question of their own, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” (John 1:38). The word staying means “abiding,” which is how the ASV renders it. In a gentle manner, Jesus says to them, “Come . . . and you will see” (verse 38). It is not an accident that the word come precedes see. We must first come to Jesus before we can fully understand who He is. And the longer we abide (or remain) with Him, the more He reveals Himself to us (verse 41). The disciples come, “and they spent that day with him” (verse 39). They did not delay, and neither should we. Tomorrow is promised to no one (James 4:14). So, if we wish to see Jesus, we must do so today.
“The next day,” Jesus finds Philip and says to him, “Follow me” (John 1:43). Philip then finds Nathanael and says to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (verse 45). Did Philip come to this conclusion on his own? No, it was revealed to him from heaven (Matthew 16:17). Nathanael skeptically asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46, ESV). Philip knows that the best remedy for preconceived opinions and doubt is for people to “come and see” the Messiah for themselves (see also John 4:29–30), and that’s what he invites Nathanael to do. Nathanael comes to Jesus and is rid of false presumptions (John 1:48–51).
In John 11:34, Jesus asks where His friend Lazarus is buried. “Come and see, Lord,” they respond. Before Jesus arrives at the tomb, He weeps (verse 35). He wept because He sympathized with those who were suffering (verse 33; Lamentations 3:33; Hebrews 4:15). He wept because He is grieved over sin and death. He wept because He is distressed about His coming crucifixion (Luke 12:50; 22:44). He wept because He dreaded the unimaginable wrath that would be poured upon Him for the sins of everyone (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). And He wept because He knew that raising Lazarus to life would prompt the religious leaders to finally put Him to death (John 11:45, 53). Burdened as He was, Jesus still went to Lazarus’ tomb and called him out of the grave (verse 43), and “the dead man came out” (verse 44). As Jesus had told Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25, ESV). He has the same message for everyone today.
Do we believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God? Do we believe that He is the Messiah, the Christ? Do we believe that He is the resurrection and the life? If so, then let us “come and see” the risen Savior that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
The apostle John opens his Gospel with a systematic, 18-verse introduction to the Lord Jesus Christ. A key aspect of Christ’s nature that John highlights is that He is the bearer of light. Jesus brings the revelation of God’s life and light into a dark world (verses 4–5). In John 1:6–9, the apostle explains that John the Baptistwas merely a witness to the light, but Jesus is the true light: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John [the Baptist].
He came as a
witness to testify concerning
that light,
so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light;
he came only as a witness
to the light.
The true light that
gives light to
everyone was coming
into the world.”
John the Baptist’s message was illuminating, but he was not the true light. Jesus is the true light, the real thing, the genuine article—God in the flesh. He alone reveals God’s glory in the world because He is God incarnate who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14; see also 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 1:1–2; 4:2).
By stating that Jesus is the true light coming into the world, John directly connects Him to Israel’s Messiah as the prophets foretold: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned”
(Isaiah 9:2; see also Isaiah 49:6; 60:1–2; Malachi 4:2).
Jesus
is “the radiance
of
God’s glory and the exact
representation of
his being”
(Hebrews 1:3).
He beams forth
the
light, truth,
and life
of God to the world and
into the
hearts of men and women.
Jesus Himself declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12; see also John 9:5). At Christ’s transfiguration, Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of the true light as Jesus’ “face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). In the book of Revelation, John describes Jesus’ face “like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16). He is the “bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).
Jesus is the true light of God for those who partake of His salvation. When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He makes God’s “light shine in our hearts” so we can “know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Those who trust in Jesus and “believe in the light” become “children of light” (John 12:35–36, 46). As children of the light, we are called to bring His “salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Several elements are necessary to sustain human life: light, air, water, and food are among the most critical. Jesus is the true lightmeans He is our essential source of life. Without light, it is impossible to sustain life of any kind on earth. If the sun ceases to shine, everything will die. Not only is Jesus our light, but He is also the spiritual air we breathe. By His Holy Spirit, He breathes on us the “breath of life” (John 3:8; 20:22). Jesus is also the “living water” who, by His Holy Spirit, becomes in us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:10–14; 7:37–39).
Jesus declared Himself to be “the
true
bread from heaven”
(John 6:32). He is the genuine “bread of life” (John 6:35). He is our life-giving, life-sustaining source. He fully meets all our needs and perfectly satisfies our souls. In John 15:1–17, Jesus revealed that He is “the true vine,” and His Father owns the garden. Christ’s followers are described as fruit-bearing branches. They are the true believers who “abide in the vine.” Jesus is everything we need for life because He is God, “the fountain of life” (Psalm 36:9).
Jesus is the true light is John’s unequivocal way of stating that Jesus Christ is the ultimate, one and only, genuine self-disclosure of God to man. The Word of God became flesh and blood, and Jesus Christ is “the light of the world.” In Him, there is “no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). His light is our “light and our salvation” (Psalm 27:1). Jesus Christ is the true light of God sent into the world to pierce through the darkness.
Through His life,
ministry,
and message, Jesus brought the
light and life
of God to bear on everyone
He encountered.
That light
continues to shine on earth
through His Church
(Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15).
When Jesus is called the
Lamb of God
in John 1:29 and John 1:36, it is referring to Him as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin. In order to understand who Christ was and what He did, we must begin with the Old Testament, which contains prophecies concerning the coming of Christ as a “guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10). In fact, the whole sacrificial system established by God in the Old Testament set the stage for the coming of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect sacrifice God would provide as atonement for the sins of His people (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 10).
The sacrifice of lambs played a very important role in the Jewish religious life and sacrificial system. When John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), the Jews who heard him might have immediately thought of any one of several important sacrifices. With the time of the Passover feast being very near, the first thought might be the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. The Passover feast was one of the main Jewish holidays and a celebration in remembrance of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. In fact, the slaying of the Passover lamb and the applying of the blood to doorposts of the houses (Exodus 12:11-13) is a beautiful picture of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Those for whom He died are covered by His blood, protecting us from the angel of (spiritual) death.
Another important sacrifice involving lambs was the daily sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the temple for the sins of the people (Exodus 29:38-42). These daily sacrifices, like all others, were simply to point people towards the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In fact, the time of Jesus’ death on the cross corresponds to the time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple. The Jews at that time would have also been familiar with the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, who foretold the coming of One who would be brought “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Jeremiah 11:19; Isaiah 53:7) and whose sufferings and sacrifice would provide redemption for Israel. Of course, that person was none other than Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God.”
While the idea of a sacrificial system might seem strange to us today, the concept of payment or restitution is still one we can easily understand. We know that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and that our sin separates us from God. We also know the Bible teaches we are all sinners and none of us is righteous before God (Romans 3:23). Because of our sin, we are separated from God, and we stand guilty before Him. Therefore, the only hope we can have is if He provides a way for us to be reconciled to Himself, and that is what He did in sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. Christ died to make atonement for sin and to pay the penalty of the sins of all who believe in Him.
It is through His death on the cross as God’s perfect sacrifice for sin and His resurrection three days later that we can now have eternal life if we believe in Him. The fact that God Himself has provided the offering that atones for our sin is part of the glorious good news of the gospel that is so clearly declared in 1 Peter 1:18-21: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
Moses requested of God,
“Now show me your glory”
(Exodus 33:18).
In His response,
God equates His glory
with
all my goodness”
verse 19). “But,” God said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (verse 20). So, God hid Moses in “a cleft in the rock” to protect him from the fulness of God’s glory as it passed by (verses 21–23). No mortal can view God’s excelling splendor without being utterly overwhelmed. The glory of God puts the pride of man to shame: “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day”
(Isaiah 2:10–11, NKJV).
Often, in the Old Testament, the manifestation of God’s glory was accompanied by supernatural fire, thick clouds, and a great quaking of the earth. We see these phenomena when God gave the law to Moses: “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19:18; see also Deuteronomy 5:24–25; 1 Kings 8:10–11; and Isaiah 6:1–4). The prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God was full of fire and lightning and tumultuous sounds, after which he saw “what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance
of the likeness
of the
glory of the Lord”
Ezekiel 1:26–28).
In the New Testament,
the glory of God is revealed in
His Son, Jesus Christ:
The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory,
the glory
of
the one and only Son,
who came from the Father,
full of
grace and truth”
(John 1:14).
Jesus came as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of [God’s] people Israel” (Luke 2:32). The miracles that Jesus did were “signs through which he revealed his glory” (John 2:11). In Christ, the glory of God is meekly veiled, approachable, and knowable. He promises to return some day “on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Isaiah 43:7 says that God saved Israel for His glory—in the redeemed will be seen the distillation of God’s grace and power and faithfulness. The natural world also exhibits God’s glory, revealed to all men, no matter their race, heritage, or location. As Psalm 19:1–4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Psalm 73:24 calls heaven itself “glory.” Sometimes Christians speak of death as being “received unto glory,” a phrase borrowed from this psalm. When the Christian dies, he or she will be taken into God’s presence and surrounded by God’s glory and majesty. In that place, His glory will be seen clearly: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
In the future New Jerusalem,
the
glory of God will be manifest:
“The city does not need the sun or the moon
to shine on it,
for the
glory of God gives it light,
and the
Lamb is its lamp”
(Revelation 21:23).
God will not
give
His glory to another
(Isaiah 42:8; cf. Exodus 34:14). Yet this is the very thing that people try to steal. Scripture indicts all idolaters: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles” (Romans 1:22–23). Only God is eternal, and His perfect and eternal attributes of holiness, majesty, goodness, love, etc., are not to be exchanged for the imperfections and corruption of anything in this world.
The phrase King of glory is found in a series of verses in
Psalm 24:
“Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads,
you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the
King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty--
he is the King of glory”
(Psalm 24:7–10).
The Hebrew word translated
“glory” in Psalm 24
is kabod,
which means “weight,”
but it is used figuratively, as
in “his argument carries weight”
or “the content of that book is weighty.”
Kabad carries a connotation of
solemnity and power.
Calling God the “King of Glory”
means He is the most awesome, most powerful king and should be taken seriously.
Using a type of personification known as apostrophe, the
psalmist speaks to the “gates” and the “ancient doors,”
calling them to attention and commanding them
to “be lifted up”
or raised to admit the
King of glory.
However lofty these ancient doors are, they must be
loftier still to admit such
an august
presence as
the Lord Himself.
There is a connection to be made between the
King of glory in Psalm 24
and the
Shekinah glory in
Exodus 33.
When God gave Moses instructions for
building the
Ark of the Covenant,
He said, “I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover [mercy seat]” (Leviticus 16:2). The mercy seat was to be seen as God’s glorious “throne” on earth (see 2 Samuel 6:2; Psalm 80:1; 99:1). And it was from the mercy seat that God spoke to Moses: “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites” (Exodus 25:22).
Psalm 24 pictures the coming of the King of glory in a time of celebration. Given the Hebrew association of the cloud of glory with the Ark of the Covenant, it is quite possible that Psalm 24 was written to commemorate the entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem during David’s time (2 Samuel 6:12–17) or into the temple during Solomon’s time (2 Chronicles 5:7).
The
King of glory
came
through the gates
of
Jerusalem
and through the doors of
the temple
with a great procession as
the
Ark of the Covenant
was brought to its
permanent home on
Mt. Zion
Jesus is called “the Lord of glory” in 1 Corinthians 2:8. His entrance into Jerusalem amid the shouts of a jubilant crowd (Matthew 21) could be seen as another fulfillment of Psalm 24. Jesus is the One with “clean hands and a pure heart” who can “ascend the mountain of the Lord” (Psalm 24:3–4). Jesus “will receive blessing from the Lord” (verse 5). Jesus is the “King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (verse 8).
The tabernacle of Moses was the temporary place of worship
that the Israelites built according to
God’s specifications
while wandering
the desert
and used until King Solomon built a temple.
The word tabernacle is a translation of the Hebrew mishkan,
which means
dwelling-place.”
The
Feast of Tabernacles
commemorates
this time
of wandering before the
Israelites
entered the land of Canaan.
The overall shape of the tabernacle of Moses followed traditional structures of the time. It consisted of an outer court, approximately seventy-five feet wide by one hundred and fifty feet long, with a fifteen-foot by forty-five-foot structure in the back (Exodus 27:9–19). The court walls consisted of linen curtains attached by bronze hooks to a series of pillars. The pillars were supported on the bottom by bronze sockets and possibly held in place with rope that attached to bronze rings. The gate, always facing east, was about thirty feet of blue, purple, and scarlet woven into a curtain of linen.
The altar of burnt offering
and the bronze later that the
priests purified themselves
in sat in the courtyard.
The actual tabernacle of Moses
sat in the
back of the courtyard
(Exodus 26).
The sides and back were made of gold-covered acacia boards, about twenty-eight inches wide and fifteen feet high. Each board had two tenons, projections, which fit into silver sockets. Gold rings held five bars that ran the length of the boards, holding them tight. The east side was comprised of five pillars covered with a screen similar to that for the courtyard.
The tent was divided into two rooms: the Holy Place, where the table of showbread, the golden lampstand, and the altar of incense sat; and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The rooms were separated by a veil, similar to the entry screen, embroidered with cherubim and hung from four gold-covered acacia posts by gold clasps.
The exact shape of the tabernacle of Moses is unclear. It may have been a room with a slant-sided cover, somewhat like a rain fly. We do know it was covered in layers: fine linen, a fabric made of goat’s hair, a covering of rams’ skins, and a final layer of an undetermined, waterproof hide. The linen covered the entire tent, the panels connected by latching loops into gold clasps. The curtain of goat’s hair was connected with bronze clasps and hung over the sides and back of the structure.
Although the tabernacle was heavy and had many parts, it was surprisingly portable. Priests carried the Ark and the altars on their shoulders, but the rest fit in ox-drawn carts.
The purpose of the tabernacle of Moses
was to provide a place where the people could properly worship God. Priests sacrificed animals on the altar in the outer court. The bread of the presence, the continually burning lampstand, and the offering of incense were all in the Holy Place. And once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies as part of the ceremony of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). At no other time was anyone to enter the Holy of Holies, as the presence of God dwelt with the Ark of the Covenant. When Jesus was crucified, the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple ripped from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). Just as He fulfilled for all time the sacrificial requirements, He ushered us into the presence of God.
The Hebrew word translated “tabernacle” is ohel, which means “a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance): a covering, (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.” There are three main references to the tabernacle (or tent) of David: Isaiah 16:5, Amos 9:11, and Acts 15:16, in which the apostle James repeats the passage from Amos. The reference in Isaiah 16:5 refers to the tabernacle of David prophetically, pointing to One from the line of David who will someday sit on the throne and rule over all. This is referring to Jesus.
That leaves two other references to the tabernacle of David. In Acts 15:16, while speaking to the Jews, James uses Amos 9:11 to give credence to the recent conversion of the Gentiles in the early church. Many Jews were objecting to this because there was uncertainty as to how the Gentiles were to now keep the Law of Moses. The essential argument from Peter’s earlier experience with Cornelius, a Gentile, was that God was also calling Gentiles to Himself. The apostles were not to put on the Gentiles a burden that no one could ever keep (i.e. the Law of Moses).
From James’ words alone, it is clear that God’s promise through the prophet Amos—that He would “build again the tabernacle of David”—was related to what He was just then beginning to do, namely, visiting the Gentiles to take out from among them a people for His Name. After rehearsing what Simon Peter had just told the Jerusalem Christians—that God had chosen Peter as the instrument whereby He, for the first time, opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles—James plainly declared that God’s visitation of the Gentiles agreed with the words of the prophets (in general) and Amos (in particular). The “tabernacle” referred to in Acts 15:16, then, is the house of God open to all, both Jew and Gentile, who seek Him in order to worship in truth.
Amos 9:11 says, “In that day will I raise up again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen.” There seems to be reference here to a restoration of the Jewish nation to spiritual life in the end times. There might also exist, during that end time, or into the 1,000-year reign of Christ, a tabernacle like the one during David’s day. During David’s time the tabernacle (or tent) housed the Ark of the Covenant and was a precursor to the temple that Solomon would build. The temple was a rectangular house of worship made with elaborate design. Its presence and functionality, with priests, was a sign of God’s favor and presence. When Israel fell away from following the commandments of the Old Covenant, the temple was desecrated and needed to eventually be rebuilt, as described in the book of Ezra.
The writer to the Hebrews talks about the arrangement of the tabernacle of the Old Testament. The tabernacle was the portable sanctuary used by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt to the building of the temple in Jerusalem (see Exodus 25–27). Within the tabernacle was the ark of the covenant which included the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:3-5 NKJV).
The ark of the covenant, the chest containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was the most sacred object of the tabernacle and later in the temple in Jerusalem, where it was placed in an inner area called the Holy of Holies. Also within the ark were the golden pot of manna, such as was provided by God in the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:4) and Aaron’s almond rod (Numbers 17:1-13). On top of the ark was a lid called the mercy seat on which rested the cloud or visible symbol of the divine presence. Here God was supposed to be seated, and from this place He was supposed to dispense mercy to man when the blood of the atonement was sprinkled there.
In a manner of speaking, the mercy seat concealed the people of God from the ever-condemning judgment of the Law. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of animals sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of God’s people. This blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. The point conveyed by this imagery is that it is only through the offering of blood that the condemnation of the Law could be taken away and violations of God’s laws covered.
The Greek word for “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5 is hilasterion, which means “that which makes expiation” or “propitiation.” It carries the idea of the removal of sin. In Ezekiel 43:13-15, the brazen altar of sacrifice is also called hilasterion (the propitiatory or mercy seat) in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) because of its association with the shedding of blood for sin.
What is the significance of this? In the New Testament, Christ Himself is designated as our “propitiation.” Paul explains this in his letter to the Romans: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25 NKJV). What Paul is teaching here is that Jesus is the covering for sin, as shown by these Old Testament prophetic images. By means of His death, and our response to Christ through our faith in Him, all our sins are covered. Also, whenever believers sin, we may turn to Christ who continues to be the propitiation or covering for our sins (1 John 2:1, 4:10).
This ties together the Old and New Testament concepts
regarding
the covering of sin
as exemplified by the
mercy-seat of God.
God made a covenant (a conditional covenant) with the
children of Israel through His servant Moses.
He promised good to them and their children for generations if they obeyed Him and His laws; but He always warned of despair, punishment, and dispersion if they were to disobey. As a sign of His covenant He had the Israelites make a box according to His own design, in which to place the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. This box, or chest,
was called an “ark” and was made of acacia wood
overlaid with gold.
The Ark
was to be housed
in the inner sanctum of the tabernacle
in the desert
and eventually in the
Temple when it was built in Jerusalem.
This chest is known as
the
Ark of the Covenant.
The real significance of the
Ark of the Covenant
was what took place involving the lid of the box, known as
the "Mercy Seat."
The term ‘mercy seat’ comes from a Hebrew word meaning
“to cover, placate, appease, cleanse,
cancel or make atonement for.”
It was here that the high priest, only once a year (Leviticus 16), entered the Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept and atoned for his sins and the sins of the Israelites. The priest sprinkled blood of a sacrificed animal onto the Mercy Seat to appease the wrath and anger of God for past sins committed. This was the only place in the world where this atonement could take place.
The Mercy Seat on the Ark
was a symbolic foreshadowing of the
ultimate sacrifice for all sin—the blood of Christ shed
on the cross for the remission of sins.
The Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee and one familiar with the Old Testament, knew this concept quite well when he wrote about Christ being our covering for sin in Romans 3:24-25: "…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." Just as there was only one place for atonement of sins in the Old Testament—the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant—so there is also only one place for atonement in the New Testament and current times—the cross of Jesus Christ. As Christians,
we no longer look to the
Ark but to the Lord Jesus Himself
as the propitiation and atonement
for our sins.