The Temple: From Tabernacle to Jerusalem

A House for God

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Jesus was presented at the temple in Jerusalem. That temple had a long history. It began with a tent in the desert.

God wants to be near. God told Moses, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). A sanctuary is a holy place.

The tabernacle. The first sanctuary was a tent called the tabernacle. Israel carried it through the desert and set it up wherever they camped.

God's glory came. When it was finished, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). God really was living among His people.

Cloud and fire. “For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night” (Exodus 40:38).

A copy of heaven. God told Moses to make everything “according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Hebrews 8:5). The tabernacle was a copy of heavenly things.

Solomon's temple. Hundreds of years later, King Solomon built a temple of stone in Jerusalem. God had promised David that his son would “build a house for My name” (2 Samuel 7:13).

Glory again. When the temple was finished, “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:11).

Destroyed and rebuilt. Israel turned away from God, and the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's temple. Years later, God brought His people home, and they built the temple again.

Herod's temple. King Herod made the second temple much bigger and more beautiful. This was the temple where Simeon and Anna worshiped and where baby Jesus was presented.

Sacrifices every day. Priests offered sacrifices there every day. But “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sacrifices pointed ahead to Jesus.

The Lord came to His temple. Malachi wrote, “And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple” (Malachi 3:1). Many Christians see these words beginning to come true when baby Jesus was carried into the temple.

Loving God's house. “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!” (Psalm 84:1). God's people loved to worship Him there. David prayed that he might “dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life” (Psalm 27:4).

What we learn. From the very beginning, God wanted to live with His people. The tabernacle and the temple showed that He is holy and that He is near.

The temple in Luke 2 stood at the end of a long story that began at Mount Sinai. Each stage teaches something about God's holiness and His desire to live among His people.

Mishkan (say: MISH-kahn). The Hebrew word for tabernacle means dwelling place. Exodus 29:45 states God's goal: “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.”

The layout. The tabernacle had a courtyard with the bronze altar, the Holy Place with the lampstand, table and incense altar, and the Most Holy Place with the ark. A thick veil hung in front of the Most Holy Place.

Limited access. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, once a year and with blood (Hebrews 9:7). God was near, yet sin kept people at a distance.

Copy and shadow (Hebrews 8:5). The tabernacle was built from a heavenly pattern. Its parts were real, but they pointed beyond themselves to the work of Christ.

Solomon's temple. Solomon built it in about 960 BC on Mount Moriah, where Abraham had offered Isaac (2 Chronicles 3:1). At its dedication fire fell from heaven, and “the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (2 Chronicles 7:1).

Exile and return. Babylon destroyed the temple in 586 BC. The exiles who came home rebuilt a smaller temple, finished in 516 BC (Ezra 6:15). Older people who remembered Solomon's temple wept when they saw the new foundation (Ezra 3:12).

Herod's expansion. Beginning around 20 BC, Herod the Great rebuilt and enlarged the second temple. The work went on for decades, which is why people told Jesus it had taken forty-six years (John 2:20).

Courts and sanctuary. The temple had wide open courts around the sanctuary. The Greek word naos (say: nah-OSS) means the sanctuary building itself. Simeon and Anna met Jesus in the courts, where ordinary worshipers gathered.

Malachi 3:1. “The Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple.” Many Christians see the presentation of Jesus as the first time the Lord Himself entered His temple in the flesh.

Psalm 27:4. David longed “To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.” Simeon and Anna saw that beauty in a child.

Hebrews 10:4. The daily offerings could never remove sin. They kept reminding Israel that a better sacrifice was needed.

Application. God's holiness is real, and His nearness is real. True worship holds deep respect for God and glad, confident trust in coming to Him through Jesus.

Jesus, the True Temple

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The temple was a wonderful gift, but it was never God's final plan. God's final plan was Jesus.

God with us. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14). The Word is Jesus. God the Son came to live among people in a human body.

A tent of flesh. The word dwelt in John 1:14 means set up His tent. God once lived among Israel in the tabernacle. Now God the Son lived among us as a man.

Greater than the temple. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). “But He was speaking of the temple of His body” (John 2:21).

The veil torn. When Jesus died, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). God tore it from the top. The way to God was open.

A new and living way. Now we can “enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:19-20).

Our High Priest. “Christ came as High Priest… with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all” (Hebrews 9:11-12).

The temple destroyed. Jesus warned that the stones of Herod's temple would be thrown down. In AD 70 the Romans destroyed it, just as He said.

You are God's temple. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Bought at a price. “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Built together. All believers together grow “into a holy temple in the Lord” and become “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Forever with God. Near the end of the Bible, a loud voice says, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3).

Come near. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Because of Jesus, you never have to stay far away from God.

What we learn. God's plan was always to live with His people. Through Jesus we can come near to God, and His Spirit lives in everyone who trusts Him.

What to do. Your body is God's temple. This week, honor God with what you say, what you watch and what you do.

Every part of the temple story points to Jesus. In Him, God's presence, the true sacrifice and open access to God come together.

John 1:14. The word dwelt here means to pitch a tent. The Son of God lived among us the way God's glory once lived in the tabernacle, and “we beheld His glory.”

John 2:19-21. Jesus called His body “this temple” and predicted that He would rise in three days. The word here is naos, the sanctuary itself. Jesus is the place where God and people meet.

Matthew 27:51. The veil was torn “from top to bottom,” so the act came from God, not from people. Christ's death opened the way into God's presence.

Hebrews 9:11-12, 24. Christ entered heaven itself, “now to appear in the presence of God for us.” The earthly temple was a copy, and His work is the real thing.

Hebrews 10:19-22. Believers have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.” The response is to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

AD 70. Jesus foretold that not one stone would be left on another (Luke 21:6). Roman armies under Titus destroyed the temple in AD 70, and the sacrifices ended. Christ's offering “once for all” still stands (Hebrews 10:10).

1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19-20. Paul uses the word naos for believers. The Holy Spirit lives in the church together and in each Christian. That calls for holy living, because we were “bought at a price.”

Ephesians 2:19-22. Jews and Gentiles are built together into one holy temple. In Christ the old walls between the temple courts no longer divide God's people.

1 Peter 2:5. Peter calls believers living stones, built up into a spiritual house. Each Christian is part of what God is building.

Revelation 21:3. In the new creation, “the tabernacle of God is with men.” John saw no temple in the holy city, because the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple (Revelation 21:22).

From garden to city. Eden, the tabernacle, the temple, Christ, the church and the new creation all show one goal: God living with His people forever.

Application. You do not need a building to come to God. Through Jesus you can pray anywhere, and the Spirit within you makes your whole life a place of worship.

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