A prophetic glimpse into the Tabernacle of Moses
Since “God is love” (1John 4:8) and the creator of the universe, it stands to reason that
all expressions of love originate in Him. One of the more familiar Greek words for love is agape, pronounced a-gah-pay. I see agape as the foundation of all love; yet I don’t believe we are to stop there. I believe agape was intended to take us some place further and if we “stop-ay at agape” (a little play on words) we will be missing the fullness of the relational qualities God has designed.
In order to understand more fully this thing called love, the Holy Spirit showed me the progression of love prophetically through the Tabernacle of Moses. Moses’ tabernacle is in essence is one large rectangle with a smaller rectangle within it. The smaller rectangle is separated into two parts thus creating three unique sections that are all contained within one building. Heavy veils that act like our modern day doorway separate these sections. The first section or chamber is called the outer court; the second, the inner court or holy place; and the third, the holy of holies or most holy place.
Ancient Greek has three primary words for love: agape, phileo, and eros. Just as the tabernacle has three different chambers enclosed in one building, the meaning of these
three Greek expressions of love are contained in one and only one Hebrew word, Ahab (St. #157). The Hebrew word Ahab covers the concept as broadly as our English word love does.
Door #1 – The Outer Court – Agape – sacrificial love.
The outer court is where you can see agape love functioning. As you enter the outer court, the first thing that you see is the brazen altar where a lamb or other animal was slain to take away sin. Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn.1:29) As we visualize this scene, we grasp a fuller understanding of what this type of love is all about. Agape meets the needs of another regardless of the cost. God saw our need for a Savior and willingly gave His one and only Son as a sacrifice in order to restore the fellowship between God and man. Agape is the foundation of all love and when we receive His gift of sacrificial love we enter into the family of God. Yet this is only the first area in the Tabernacle. There is another door to the next chamber; I call it the door of friendship. Agape does not require the personal friendship of phileo, but it sure desires it. If we “stop-ay at agape” we will never experience this next chamber.
Door #2 – The Inner Court - Phileo - friendship love
Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants… I call you friend.” (John 15:15 NCV) Friendship love, phileo, speaks of feelings and emotions. It describes a heart-to-heart connection, a knitting of souls. A friend is someone with whom you share your joy and sorrow, your sin and shame, and your doubts and insecurities. You trust this person with what is on your heart so you are able to reveal the real you to them. Naturally, you won’t share all that with just anybody; you are only going to share that with your close, personal friends. I call these special people in my life, “inner court friends.” Just like in the Tabernacle of Moses, all are welcome in the outer court but only a special group have access to the inner court, the Levites.
The Lord desires to engage at that level of relationship with us too. Jesus says; “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him…” (Rev. 3:20) We won’t be close to the Lord if we keep the door to our heart closed. Notice, there is only one letter difference between close and closed, a “D.” In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter “D” is dalet and is a picture of a door! Beloved, Jesus is inviting us past the outer court and into the holy place saying, “let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice.” (Song 2:14) Perfect love has cast out fear. This friendship is a safe place to talk to Him, to share with Him, to let Him see the real you. He won’t reject you. He will hold you and do what no human relationship can…He will heal you.
Let’s pause a moment. I am sensing the Holy Spirit ministering His phileo love right now…thank You Lord…
We have seen how the outer court reveals the sacrificial love of God and how the inner court reveals the friendship love of God. We can remain outer court or inner court friends with Jesus our entire life and that would be wonderful, however, there is still one more door in the tabernacle. I believe God wants us to experience the full progression of His love. This third door gives us access to the Holy of Holies where only one goes in to be alone with the presence of the Lord. In the Tabernacle of Moses, that one person was the High Priest. It is here as we are alone with God that we can encounter oneness with the LORD.
Door #3 – The Holy of Holies – Eros – longing love
The Greek word for love “eros” means: longing, desire, passionate love. You won’t find the Greek word, eros in the Bible, but you’ll find its meaning in the Hebrew word “ahab.” All the qualities of love that we have spoken of so far are found in this one Hebrew word. God is love, and He is the one and only true God of love.
During ancient Hebrew times the best man or “friend of the bridegroom” waited outside the door of the wedding chamber listening to hear the voice of the bridegroom rejoicing. This signified that the marriage had been consummated; husband and wife were now one flesh. “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.” (Is. 62:5b) This is a sound of rejoicing that is released in heaven from the Bridegroom. In John 3:29, John the Baptist describes himself as the friend of the Bridegroom who is standing at a door, listening for the sound of the Lord’s voice.
Could this third chamber be a type of the third heaven that Paul went to by the Spirit and received the revelation of the great mystery concerning the church? “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Eph. 5:31) Using the natural to define the supernatural, Paul said the great mystery that he was speaking of was Christ and the church (vs. 32). When we speak of being the bride of Christ, we’re not speaking of a person but rather a position, a type of relational standing. A couple gets married because they want to spend the rest of their lives together. They want nothing but death to separate them. They want this person to be the first one they see in the morning and the last one they see at night. Their faces glow as they look at each other. Their love is so strong that they can’t seem to get close enough no matter how tightly they squeeze. They rest in each other’s embrace. Beloved, the Lord desires this relationship and the oneness of the covenant. This closeness won’t be experienced in the outer court with His Agape love, or in the inner court through His Phileo love. The oneness of God’s love will only be experienced in the third chamber, the Holy of Holies as we abide alone with Him.
This is the longing love of God’s heart and the whole plan of creation from the beginning. God just wants to dwell (tabernacle) with us because He is infatuated with us. Set free from the bondage of sin and death in the outer court, healed in the inner court we learn to trust love again so we can run full speed ahead into the next chamber and embrace our destiny, Jesus Christ. That is the fullness of love. Amen.
“As the hart (deer) pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” (Ps. 42:1-2 AMP)
The Hebrew word Ahab (Strong’s. #157):
“To love”
It encompasses all these different expressions of love:
- human love for another, includes family, and sexual
- human appetite for objects such as food, drink, sleep, wisdom
- human love for or to God
- the act of being a friend
- God’s love toward man, Israel, righteousness
- lovely, lovable
- friends, lovers
- to like
