The tabernacle in the wilderness, also called the tabernacle of Moses, demonstrates the trichotomy of man in a remarkable manner. (Paul said each of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit [Jn. 2:19-22(1), 1 Cor. 6:19(2)]). It also presages the difficulty of comprehending the distinction between the soul and spirit. When one looks upon the tabernacle layout from a distance, say, a hill top; one sees but two elements: 1. The courtyard, and 2. The tabernacle proper (which is a tent structure). Not perceived by the onlooker are the two compartments of the tent. Thus, there are actually three parts although only two are clearly discerned. So it is so much of the time with the study of biblical anthropology; one sees but two when in reality there are three elements of man. The Bible, itself, acknowledges the difficulty of discerning the difference between the soul and spirit in its comments on the sharpness of the Word of God. It is so sharp, it says of itself, that it can EVEN find the dividing line between the soul and spirit(3). A feat not easily accomplished.
The tabernacle of Moses was constructed to be the earthly dwelling place of Yahweh — just so, man. The courtyard with its enclosing curtain is where the sacrifices take place and all the physical work of worship is enacted; in this sense the courtyard represents the human body.
Entering the tent structure, one enters into the holy place where the mental work of worship is conducted. Here the interior is illuminated by the seven pronged lamp stand. Its light reflects off the gold furnishings and reveals the elaborate tapestries of curtains, veils and coverings. The priests go about their services of the table of shewbread and altar of incense. This compartment represents the soul which is the seat of the intellect, will and emotion. It is here that man’s intellect, will and emotion are engaged in worship.
Deeper, yet, into the tabernacle is the holy of holies, separated from the holy place by the hollowed veil. This most inner chamber of the tabernacle contains but one item, the ark of the covenant. Over the ark and forming its lid is the mercy seat. Upon the mercy seat are two cherubim facing one another. Dwelling between the cherubim is God Almighty. Thus the holy of holies is the seat of God in the earth. Here the high priest entered but once each year to offer the blood of the sacrifice which atoned for the sins of the people. It was here that man communed with God, face to face. Luther and Nee, as we are about to see describe the holy of holies as being without any light; I am not so certain of that, for Yahweh dwelled between the cherubim(4), and God is LIGHT(5). However, Ezekiel chapter 10 describes the glory of God departing the holy of holies and the house of worship altogether. The prophet describes this departing glory of God as a luminescent cloud(6). The rabbinical name for the cloud was shekinah(7). With God dwelling in the holy of holies, Israel had access to Him and walked in the Light of Truth. When Yahweh left His earthly throne in the holy of holies, access was lost and Israel walked in darkness. This represents the spirit of man which is the seat of the Holy Spirit in one’s person. With God enthroned in man’s spirit, man walks in the light of Truth; when the Holy Spirit is absent from the spirit of man, man walks in darkness.
Moreover, concerning the three elements of the tabernacle and viewing them as a progression from the outside world toward the throne of God we may trace the journey of our worship from an earthly, fleshly existence toward and into the inner sanctum of the spirit.
First, all worship begins in the flesh. Thus we arrive at the outer court of the tabernacle. Here is the noise of the priest calling to one another and the crying of the dying animals. There is much physical labor and exuberant exchanges here. At worship, the New Testament Christian enters into what is called the preliminaries that are full of physical exercises which involves the body: standing, kneeling, the raising and clapping of the hands, the using of the voice in prayer and singing. Here the worshipper communicates to God through the five physical senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and speech.
Second, from the preliminaries of the outer court the worshipper moves into the holy place of worship. Here the soul of the worshipper is engaged through the intellect, will and emotions by the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. The soul assimilates information through the five soulish senses of imagination, conscience, memory, reason and affections.
Third, moving deeper still into worship, the New Testament believer approaches the inner sanctum of his being and is carried by the Spirit of God through the veil and into the holy of holies. Here, at the altar of the Lord’s Table he prepares to partake of the body and blood of Christ. At this point the worshipper is beyond the soulish aspect of the holy place and has moved into the spiritual realm, where things unseen to the physical and mental senses are detected only by faith. He sees and tastes bread but his faith tells him the flesh of Christ is present, he see and tastes wine but his faith says that the blood of Christ is present. Here, in the spirit, in the holy of holies of worship, the graces of Heaven are made available to the worshipper through the five sense faculties of the spirit; these faculties are faith, hope, reverence, prayer and worship.
Lastly, there are three veils, or curtains, in the tabernacle marking the entranceway into each individual part. The first curtain was the entrance to the courtyard from the outside world. The Rabbis called this curtain, “The Way.” The second curtain was the entrance into the holy place and was called by the Rabbis, “The Truth.” The third and final curtain of the tabernacle was the entrance into the holy of holies and was called by the Rabbis, “The Life.” How fitting that the “Way” to God begins with the body—the courtyard: here there is death (altar of sacrifice, i.e. repentance) and washing (laver of water, i.e. baptism). The “Truth” of God involves the soul⏤the holy place; for here the intellect, will and emotions are fashioned into His image. The “Life” of God embraces the spirit of man⏤the holy of holies; for here he is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Viewing the trichotomy of man through the periscope of the tabernacle we understand more clearly Jesus’ declaration, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”(8). Also, we grasp the thoroughness of the biblical program of redemption.
Others, including Martin Luther, John Bickford Heard, George Boardman, James Stalker, Watchman Nee, and Witness Nee, have used the tabernacle to illustrate the tripartite man.
Martin Luther writes: “Scripture divides man into three parts, as says St Paul (1 Thess. v. 23)... And every one of these three, together with the entire man, is also divided in another way into two portions, which are there called Spirit and Flesh. Which division is not natural, but attributive; i.e. nature has three portions spirit, soul, and body... In the tabernacle fashioned by Moses there were three separate compartments. The first was called the holy of holies: here was God's dwelling place, and in it there was no light. The second was called the holy place; here stood a candle-stick with seven arms and seven lamps. The third was called the outer court; this lay under the open sky and in the full light of the sun. In this tabernacle we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of holies, where God dwells in the darkness of faith, where no light is; for he believes that which he neither sees nor feels nor comprehends. His soul is the holy place, with its seven lamps, that is, all manner of reason, discrimination, knowledge, and understanding of visible and bodily things. His body is the forecourt, open to all, so that men may see his works and manner of life.”
Watchman Nee writes in The Spiritual Man, chapter One: The Holy Temple and Man,
“Do you not know,” writes the Apostle Paul, “that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3.16) He has received revelation in likening man to the temple. As God formerly dwelt in the temple, so the Holy Spirit indwells man today. By comparing him to the temple we can see how the tripartite elements of man are distinctly manifested.
“We know the temple is divided into three parts. The first is the outer court which is seen by all and visited by all. All external worship is offered here. Going further in is the Holy Place, into which only the priests can enter and where they present oil, incense and bread to God. They are quite near to God—yet not the nearest, for they are still outside the veil and therefore unable to stand before His very presence. God dwells deepest within, in the Holy of Holies, where darkness is overshadowed by brilliant light and into which no man can enter. Though the high priest does enter in once annually, it nonetheless indicates that before the veil is rent there can be no man in the Holy of Holies.
“Man is God’s temple also, and he too has three parts. The body is like the outer court, occupying an external position with its life visible to all. Here man ought to obey every commandment of God. Here God’s Son serves as a substitute and dies for mankind. Inside is man’s soul which constitutes the inner life of man and which embraces man’s emotion, volition and mind. Such is the Holy Place of a regenerated person, for his love, will and thought are fully enlightened that he may serve God even as the priest of old did. Innermost, behind the veil, lies the Holy of Holies into which no human light has ever penetrated and no naked eye has ever pierced. It is “the secret place of the Most High,” the dwelling place of God. It cannot be reached by man unless God is willing to rend the veil. It is man’s spirit. This spirit lies beyond man’s self-consciousness and above his sensibility. Here man unites and communes with God.
“No light is provided for the Holy of Holies because God dwells there. There is light in the Holy Place supplied by the lampstand of seven branches. The outer court stands under the broad daylight. All these serve as images and shadows to a regenerated person. His spirit is like the Holy of Holies indwelt by God, where everything is carried on by faith, beyond the sight, sense or understanding of the believing one. The soul resembles the Holy Place for it is amply enlightened with many rational thoughts and precepts, much knowledge and understanding concerning the things in the ideational and material world. The body is comparable to the outer court, clearly visible to all. The body’s actions may be seen by everyone.
“The order which God presents to us is unmistakable: “your spirit and soul and body” (1 Thess. 5.23). It is not “soul and spirit and body,” nor is it “body and soul and spirit.” The spirit is the pre-eminent part, hence it is mentioned first; the body is the lowest and therefore is last mentioned; the soul stands between, so is mentioned between. Having now seen God’s order, we can appreciate the wisdom of the Bible in likening man to a temple. We can recognize the perfect harmony which exists between the temple and man in respect to both order and value.
“Temple service moves according to the revelation in the Holy of Holies. All activities in the Holy Place and in the outer court are regulated by the presence of God in the Holiest Place. This is the most sacred spot, the place upon which the four corners of the temple converge and rest. It may seem to us that nothing is done in the Holiest because it is pitch dark. All activities are in the Holy Place; even those activities of the outer court are controlled by the priests of the Holy Place. Yet all the activities of the Holy Place actually are directed by the revelation in the utter quietness and peace of the Holy of Holies.
“It is not difficult to perceive the spiritual application. The soul, the organ of our personality, is composed of mind, volition and emotion. It appears as though the soul is master of all actions, for the body follows its direction. Before the fall of man, however, the soul, in spite of its many activities, was governed by the spirit. And this is the order God still wants: first the spirit, then the soul, and lastly the body.
Apostolically Speaking
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
(Mar David Ignatius)
Read other essays from the Bishop on Biblical Anthropology:
Pre-fallen State of Man (Biblical Anthropology)
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/01/pre-fallen-state-of-man-biblical.html
Does the Soul Exist Separate From The Body?
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2018/10/soul-and-spirit-is-there-difference.html
Economy of Man: Body, Soul and Spirit
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-economy-of-man-body-soul-and-spirit.html
Sorting Out The Confusion: Difference between the Soul and Spirit
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/04/sorting-out-confusion-biblical.html
Read other essays from the Bishop on Biblical Anthropology:
Pre-fallen State of Man (Biblical Anthropology)
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/01/pre-fallen-state-of-man-biblical.html
Does the Soul Exist Separate From The Body?
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2018/10/soul-and-spirit-is-there-difference.html
Economy of Man: Body, Soul and Spirit
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-economy-of-man-body-soul-and-spirit.html
Sorting Out The Confusion: Difference between the Soul and Spirit
https://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/04/sorting-out-confusion-biblical.html
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End Notes
1. John 2:19-22 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
3. Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, ...
4. Exodus 25:22; 1 Samuel 4:4; Isaiah 37:16.
5. 1 John 1:5; Psalm 139;12; Daniel 2;22; 1 Timothy 6;16; James 1:17
6. Ezekiel 10:4 Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.
7. Shekinah: In the Targumim. The majestic presence or manifestation of God which has descended to "dwell" among men. Like Memra (= "word"; "logos") and "Yeḳara" (i.e., "Kabod" = "glory"), the term was used by the Rabbis in place of "God" where the anthropomorphic expressions of the Bible were no longer regarded as proper. The word itself is taken from such passages as speak of God dwelling either in the Tabernacle or among the people of Israel (see Ex. 25: 8, 29:45-46; Num. 5;3, 35:34; I Kings 6:13; Ezek. 43:9; Zech. 2:14.
8. John 14:6.
9. Watchman Nee: or Ni Tuosheng; (November 4, 1903 – May 30, 1972), was a Chinese church leader (Modalistic Trinitarian) and Christian teacher who worked in China during the 20th century. In 1922, he initiated church meetings in Fuzhou that may be considered the beginning of the local churches. He established churches throughout China and held many conferences to train Bible students and church workers. Following the Communist Revolution, Nee was persecuted and imprisoned for his faith and spent the last twenty years of his life in prison. He was honored by Hon. Christopher H. Smith (R–NJ) in the US Congress on July 30, 2009.
During his thirty years of ministry, Nee published many books expounding the Bible. Among this works germane to our work on Biblical Anthropology are: The Spiritual Man (1928), Concerning Our Missions (1939), The Song of Songs (1945), The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit (1950), The Normal Christian Life (正常的基督徒生活) (1957), Sit, Walk, Stand (坐行站) (1957), What Shall this Man Do? (1961) and Love Not the World (1968).
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