The Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony

 Temple Baptist Church - 8-8-2021

Revelation 15:5-8

 

A.  Now John is given a vision of the “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony.”  This is the only mention of these three words, temple tabernacle testimony, found together in the Bible.  Because it is a First Mention and Full Mention, I believe that it is a “one of a kind.”

 

1.  Temple – a sanctuary; a sacred place.  The “temple” in heaven is a sacred sanctuary.  A holy place created for a thrice holy God.

 

2.  Tabernacle – a habitation or place of dwelling.  A “tabernacle” is a place of dwelling.  The “temple of the tabernacle” is the place where God resides.

 

3.  Testimony – a record or witness.  The “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony” is a record or witness of the holiness of God compared to the sinfulness of man or this world.

 

B.  Thus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony was probably found in heaven before the creation.

 

C.  The Tabernacle in the Wilderness was built after the heavenly pattern which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.    

 

Exodus 25:9, 40  According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it … (40)  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

 

1.  In the beginning, Voice of God walked with man.  Adam walked with God and then Enoch and Noah walked with God.  The phrase “walked with God” is found only 3x in your Bible with all 3 mentioned in chapters 5 and 6 of Genesis.

 

Genesis_5:22  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

Genesis_5:24  And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis_6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

 

2.  In the age of the Patriarchs, God manifested Himself to men through Theophanies, Christophanies, and Anthropomorphisms.

 

3.  Under the Law, God inhabited the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and Israel encamped around about Him.  God dwelt with men based upon an atonement made each your by sacrificing and applying blood to the Mercy Seat.

 

Exodus 40:34  Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

 

Numbers 17:4  And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.

 

4.  In our day, God dwells within man.  The Holy Ghost of God lives within the temple of our body.

 

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?

 

Colossians 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

 

5.  In heaven, man dwells with God.  God is enthroned with the Lamb by His side and the Ark of the Covenant has the blood of Christ applied.  We will dwell in His presence.

 

Revelation 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

 

6.  In eternity, there will be no temple because God and man will dwell together.

 

Revelation 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

 

D.  In chapter 11, we saw the temple of God opened and the ark of his testament was seen there.

 

Revelation 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

 

The ark of his testament is found in the “holy of holies” where God resides.  Within that ark is found the testimony of God or the law: the faithfulness of God’s judgments.

 

E.   Verse 6-7.  The seven angels having the seven plagues of God’s wrath come forth.  God’s faithful judgments upon the lawless upon earth.  The clothing of these angels is somewhat like the priestly garments of the Old Testament Levitical Priesthood worn when doing their service withing the Tabernacle.

 

F.  Unto these seven angels are given by the four beasts the seven golden vials full of the wrath of the eternal God.  God’s patience is gone because sin is now to be judged upon earth.

 

“vial” verses a “bowl”

 

The modern translations of the bible use the word “bowl” or “bowls” instead of “vial” or “vials.”  There is a difference between the two and your King James Bible has the correct translation.  I am adding this little study because I always want God’s people to know that, in the King James Bible, they have the right translation.

 

1.  Let us look at the word “bowl” or “bowls” first.  These two words are used 41x in your King James Bible with all 41x found in the Old Testament.

 

First Mention of “bowl” in the King James Bible is a basin used for holding blood - Exodus 25:29  And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.

 

The word “bowl” or “bowls” is never mentioned in your King James Bible with the word “pour” in any form.  A bowl was simply a container used for holding something, not pouring something.

 

2.  The word or words “vial” or “vials.”  These two words are found 13x in your King James Bible with 1x being found in the Old Testament and 12x in the New Testament with all 12x being found in the Book of Revelation.

 

First Mention of “vial” - 1 Samuel 10:1  Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?

 

A “vial” was a container used for pouring.  In 9 of the 13x, both “vial” and “pour” are used in the same verse.  A “vial” is a container used for pouring, not just made for containing something.  Webster’s 1828 Dictionary gives the proper meaning of the word.

 

webstersdictionary1828.com › Dictionary › vial

 

VI'AL, noun [Latin phiala.] A phial; a small bottle of thin glass, used particularly by apothecaries and druggists. Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it on his head. 1 Samuel 10:1. Vials of God's wrath, in Scripture, are the execution of his wrath upon the wicked for their sins. Revelation 16:2.

 

Pouring from a vial is a directed pour!  Your King James Bible is right, and the modern translations are incorrect.

 

G.  Verse 8.  The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power.  This vision is the same as was seen in Isaiah, chapter 6.

 

Isaiah 6:1-4  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.  (2)  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.  (3)  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.  (4)  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

 

Smoke is also used for the judgment of God upon sinners.

 

First Mention - Genesis 19:28  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

 

Last Mention - Revelation 19:2-3  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.  (3)  And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

 

H.  “And no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.”  No man can then make intercession of the lost of this world as God’s judgment and wrath cannot be circumvented.  What God wills, He will perform.