The Tabernacle not only teaches us about reconciliation but it also teaches us about sanctification. When the priests first came to serve in the Tabernacle they had to be washed completely but as they ministered day by day they only had to have their hands and their feet washed.
The first church of which I was a member believed in sanctification as something that was a separate work to that of salvation. The second church that I joined believed that sanctification was a once and for all work that corresponded to salvation. Which was right? They both were right. However, there is error when we teach one and ignore the other.
First, there is positional sanctification. We are sanctified when we are saved. This is a once and for all event. Second, there is practical sanctification which is ongoing. We are sanctified once and for all and we are being sanctified daily through the Word and the Spirit. Just as the priests needed washing from the dust and dirt of their daily lives so do we.
The danger of looking at sanctification as only a once and for all event is that we do not see that the contamination of the world has affected us and made us unclean. The danger of looking at sanctification as a different event we think we have to do something to earn it. Like salvation it is a work of grace.
Thank you Lord for giving us a model to follow. Thank you for the Tabernacle.
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