That's what I read and believe from Scripture.
Before God created anything a covenant was made among the three Persons of the Trinity. All three Persons would be intimately and personally involved in the redemption of an elect people according to the will of God.
It was the Father's Plan.
The Son implemented that Plan.
The Holy Spirit of Promise applies that Plan to God's elect people.
In the Pentateuch God instructs and commands Moses to build an earthly Tabernacle fashioned after the heavenly Tabernacle. The earthly Tabernacle was the central place of worship for the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings and until the construction of Solomon's Temple. It was a portable sanctuary where God's presence was believed to dwell among His people, and a detailed system of rituals and offerings was performed there, largely by the Levitical priests. These rituals served various purposes, including atonement for sin, expressing gratitude, and maintaining the covenant relationship with God. To understand both the earthly Tabernacle and the heavenly Tabernacle it is important to make a distinction between the eternal and the temporal.
Based on the theological framework presented in the New Testament, particularly in the Book of Hebrews, the earthly tabernacle and its rituals are seen as a "copy and shadow" of the realities in the heavenly tabernacle. Therefore, we can deduce what takes place in the heavenly tabernacle by understanding how it fulfills and surpasses the earthly model. The central activity in the heavenly tabernacle is the ongoing high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. Here’s a breakdown of what that entails:
1. The Presentation of a Perfect, One-Time Sacrifice
Unlike the earthly priests who had to offer animal sacrifices repeatedly, Jesus entered the heavenly tabernacle to present his own blood as a single, perfect, and eternally effective sacrifice for sins.
- Earthly Ritual: The High Priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement with the blood of bulls and goats.
- Heavenly Deduction: Christ, as the great High Priest, entered heaven itself, the true Most Holy Place, not with animal blood but with his own. This act was not a re-sacrifice but the presentation of his completed sacrifice on the cross. This single offering secured an eternal redemption, making any further sacrifices for sin obsolete.
2. Constant Intercession and Mediation
Jesus serves as a constant mediator and intercessor for believers before God the Father.
- Earthly Ritual: The priest burned incense on the altar, symbolizing the prayers of the people ascending to God.
- Heavenly Deduction: In the heavenly tabernacle, Jesus perpetually "lives to make intercession" for believers. He represents humanity before the Father, advocating on our behalf based on the merit of his own sacrifice. He bridges the gap between God and humanity, fulfilling the symbolic role of the incense in a real and personal way.
3. Securing Direct Access to God's Presence
Christ's work in the heavenly tabernacle tore the veil, granting all covenant believers direct access to the "throne of grace."
- Earthly Ritual: A thick veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, and only the High Priest could enter, and only once a year, under strict conditions.
- Heavenly Deduction: Christ's entry into the heavenly sanctuary removed the barrier between God and humanity. Covenant Believers are no longer kept at a distance but are invited to approach God's presence with confidence and boldness to find mercy and grace. The era of restricted access is over.
4. The Inauguration of a New Covenant
Jesus's ministry in the heavenly tabernacle is the basis of a "new and better covenant" between God and humanity.
- Earthly Ritual: The rituals of the earthly tabernacle were central to the Old Covenant, established with Israel at Mount Sinai.
- Heavenly Deduction: Christ acts as the mediator of a New Covenant, which is superior because it is based on better promises and a perfect sacrifice. This covenant is written on human hearts, not stone tablets, and offers true forgiveness and a purified conscience, rather than just ceremonial cleansing.
Summary of Deductions: Earthly vs. Heavenly Tabernacle
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Feature
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Earthly Tabernacle (The "Shadow")
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Heavenly Tabernacle (The "Reality")
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Location
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A physical, temporary tent on Earth.
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The very presence of God in heaven.
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High Priest
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Mortal, sinful Levitical priests.
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Jesus Christ, the eternal, sinless Son of God.
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Sacrifice
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Blood of animals, offered repeatedly.
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The blood of Christ, offered once for all time.
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Activity
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Daily and yearly rituals of atonement.
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The ongoing presentation of a finished sacrifice.
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Outcome
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Temporary, external (ceremonial) cleansing.
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Eternal redemption and a truly purified conscience.
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Access to God
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Restricted to the High Priest, once per year.
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Direct and open access for all believers.
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Covenant
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Administered the Old Covenant.
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Inaugurated and administers the New Covenant.
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And there is more to account.
From Scripture and the time we live in we have the advantage of hindsight.
The three Hebrew Covenants (Abrahamic, Mosaic, and New) there is no command or requirement of faith on the part of God's Elect. And these elect people are chosen from the foundation of the world. This occurred in God Himself, in His Mind, and agreed to by the Son and the Spirit.
As it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."
And what is revealed is recorded in Scripture. Some things have been revealed and some things are still hidden or kept secret. Daniel was commanded to "shut up the words, and rseal the book, even to sthe time of the end" (Daniel 12:4), and there are prophecies still left to be fulfilled, such as things John wrote about in Revelation. A systematic approach is as follows:
Secret things will in time be revealed:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13:35.
A Kingdom was prepared:
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Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: Matthew 25:34.
The giving of God's Word required the ordained death of God's prophets:
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That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; Luke 11:50.
The foundation of this Plan was revealed in the love of the Father and the Son:
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Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24.
A people were chosen in the Name of the Son:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ephesians 1:4.
Works were prepared before the creation of all things:
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:2–3.
A sacrifice was prepared before the creation of all things:
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:26.
The redemption of these elect people required a sacrifice without sin:
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1 Peter 1:18–20.
A "book of life" was prepared containing the names of those elect souls who would be redeemed by this sinless sacrifice:
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13: 8.
There were also names of those not included in the "book of life":
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Revelation 17: 8.
This "book of life" is not a real "book" as we know books today, but is a metaphor of the Son who will give life to the elect people God ordained to life in the Son. It is for these elect people for whom the Son was sacrificed and died for.
1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
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As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
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And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
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I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
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And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:1–5.
The Father ordained this work for the Son to accomplish, and with the advent of the Holy Spirit of Promise this work is applied to those for whom the Son died. The New Covenant was instituted by the Son and began when the Holy Spirit arrived from heaven to apply this redeeming work accomplished by the Son. On the day of the Spirit's arrival three thousand Jews were born-again. In the days that followed thousands more were born-again daily "such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47) as Christ began fulfilling His Promise to build His Church, a Church patterned after the "Great Congregation" in the desert at the time of the earthly Tabernacle.
The destruction of Israel and the Jewish Temple was not a judgment from God upon the Jewish/Hebrew people. From the moment of Christ's resurrection from the grave/dead God's atonement of this people was accomplished and Israel's sins were forgiven and according to Jeremiah's prophecy, "[God] remembered their sin no more."
For I will forgive their iniquity,
And I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:34.
Israel's sins were judged on the cross of Christ on Calvary and accomplished by His resurrection.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1.
Faith was never required in any of the three Hebrew covenants. However, obedience was required in the Mosaic Covenant. But obedience was not the foundation of anyone's salvation and redemption. What took place in the heavenly Tabernacle is what ordained the Hebrew people to eternal life.