The Location of the Real Tabernacle

Dr. Couch, is the real tabernacle in heaven?

ANSWER: The most used word for tabernacle (or tent) is skeenee. It is used eleven times in the book of Hebrews. There it is called the “true,” the “first” in importance, “the holiest of all,” the “perfect.” In 8:2 we read “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” Verse 1 reads “the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest [now], who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” “At the right hand of the throne” is quoting Psalm 110:1-2. This is where Christ is now!

Is this tabernacle real? When we get to heaven will we have a “real” body? Yes, but it is not of this same physical we now possess. It will be real but it will also be eternal. The heavenly tabernacle is real but it is not of the same material that the wooden tabernacle was made of. The tabernacle in the wilderness was limited. It was patterned after the heavenly. But it was a place where the offerings were made representing Christ. The tabernacle in heaven represents Christ and His offering for sin, though He will be there in glory. The heavenly tabernacle but represents that great work He performed when here on earth. It is where God meets with man that brings about a redemption for believers.

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch (6/12)

Post-Tribulation and the Rapture

Dr. Couch, it seems as if the post-tribers are against the rapture doctrine because they say that Psalm 110:1 teaches that Christ remains in heaven until His enemies are subdued and then He comes back to earth again. What do you say?

ANSWER: They practice what I call "wooden-headed" interpretation. The Psalm 110 passage has to do completely with the issue of His coming to earth to reign. They cannot prove by the passage that He never leaves heaven to gather upwards His church saints in order to get them out of the way for the tribulation. They have a problem, I don't! All of the rapture passages are clear. (Look in the archives in this website. I have an exegesis on almost all of the rapture passages!)

God gathers His own up to Himself. And again, don't mix dispensations. Psalm 110 has to do with His coming millennial kingdom reign. The rapture issue has to do with the church.

The post-tribers have to answer what it means when Paul says "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the resurrected) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). I can read! And I know the difference between up and down. He does not come down to reign. We go up to meet Him in the air. We take the Bible verses where we find them. We OBSERVE, OBSERVE, OBSERVE!

The reason we go up is obvious from 5:9. Paul writes, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." The church does not go through the wrath. And the wrath is the entire seven year period, not just the last half. We know this from Jeremiah 30:6-7. The "Birth Pangs" (v. 6) refer to "that day." And "that day" is "great" in a singular sense (v. 7). The church does not go through part, any part of, the tribulation. We are rescued from all of it! This is further explained in 1 Thessalonians 1:10: "Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come," all of it!

Only premillennialists practice good hermeneutics and sound observation. The other guys get very sloppy! And remember, when you work so hard to deny the obvious, you have a hidden agenda. What is their agenda? Usually, it is that they just don't like the doctrine of the rapture, and, they just don't like dispensationalism, though they really can't tell you why.

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch

The Author of the Faith

Dr. Couch, what does it mean in Hebrews 12:2 when it calls Christ the Author of The Faith? ANSWER:  This is a bad translation. This is why I took about 40 hours of graduate Greek in order to get it straight, as to what the Bible was saying. The NT IS Greek and without understanding the language we are out to lunch in trying to interpret the Word of God.    The Greek word is "archagos." The word is better translated "leader." You can see the word Arch, or "top one, the highest one."    The great grammarians Balz & Schneider have a lot to say about this word. "God exalted [Christ] at His right hand as Leader and Savior" (Acts 5:31). "The predication 'Leader and Savior' is plainly near to Heb. 2:10, 'pioneer of their salvation.'" "Heb. 2:10 has: 'Make the Leader who delivers them perfect through sufferings.'" "Jesus' function as Leader results from the cross and the resurrection from the dead (13:20)." "God effects faith in Jesus as the Leader."    Ger adds: "Jesus is described here with two complementary designations. He is the "archegos," "the champion," "the leader," the pioneering source and heroic author of faith. This is a rare messianic title that is used by the author of Hebrews in 2:10 and 12:2 and only in additional two times in the New Testament in Acts (3:15; 5:31). ... His magnificent accomplishment, now serves as the very embodiment of faith itself."    The writer of Hebrews seems to be pulling this name from Jeremiah 30:21. The NAS there calls the Messiah "the Leader." It is the Hebrew word Ay'Der. It sometimes is translated as Prince, or "Mighty, Splendid One." Jeremiah 30:21 reads: "And their Leader shall be one of them [the Jews in the restoration]."    The word is used of God in Psalm 8:2. "O Lord, our Lord, How GLORIOUS is You Name in all the earth, who has displayed Your splendor above the heavens!"     The Hebrew word Ay'Der is related to other Hebrew words that are translated: "splendor, noble." The word can describe a splendid robe of a king!    Thus, on Hebrews 12:2 we might say: "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Glorious Splendid Leader of THE FAITH, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame [of it], and has [now] sat down at the right hand of the throne of God," waiting for the Lord to subdue His enemies (Psa. 110:1-2).    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)