The book of the Revelation was not written to cover the whole of the times of the end. It does not describe a

resurrection of all the ungodly that have ever lived, neither does it speak of a General Judgment of the Last Day. It

speaks consistently of the progress and the blessed achievement of the Overcomer, all else being subsidiary. If we

wish to read the character of the very end of the ages, we must leave Peter and John and listen to Paul, where he

speaks of a day when there will have come universal submission and when God shall be "all in all" (1 Cor.

15:24-28). This "end" is never in sight in the book of the Revelation and to attempt to force it into the closing

chapters is to render ourselves incapable of appreciating either the goal of God, or the steps taken to reach it.

Nowhere in the whole book of the Revelation can one say "Here" the Son of God can present this kingdom to the

Father, that God may be all in all. Such a consummation however "devoutly to be wished" is not in sight. We are

still under the limitation implied by the words "Beginning at Jerusalem".

We must now consider the import of the word "tabernacle". The Greek word skene, translated tabernacle occurs

twenty times in the New Testament. In nineteen of these occurrences it is translated tabernacle and once habitation.

The word occurs as follows:

In Matthew, Mark and Luke it is used of "the three tabernacles" so desired by Peter on the Mount of

Transfiguration.

In the Acts it is used three times, once of the tabernacle of Molech, once of the tabernacle of witness and once of

the tabernacle of David.

The "tabernacle" in Hebrews is either:

(1) The tabernacle pitched by Moses at the commandment of God.

(2) The True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.

(3) The tents in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were willing as pilgrims to dwell, because they looked for the

heavenly Jerusalem, which was also the true tabernacle of God.

The three other occurrences of skene are Revelation 13:6; 15:5 and 21:3. We must not assume however that

even though the scale is weighted in favour of a reference to the tabernacle in both type and reality, that this is

universally accepted. Some have interpreted skenos in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 as of a theatre, and even James, with all

his Hebrew leanings, when quoting from the prophet Amos about the "tabernacle of David" has been made to refer

rather to "the Davidic scene" thereby repeating in the future the 30 years of his reign, and this passage in Revelation

21 has not escaped, but has been made to read "The scene or area of Divine Activity" instead of "the tabernacle of

The Greek word skene translated "tabernacle" has come into our own tongue in the form scene and is associated

both in Greek and in English with the theatre. The Greek theatre was in the open air, and the "tent" soon became, by

an easy figure of speech the word used to designate the "stage".

While this is so, there is no warrant for anyone to intrude this change of meaning into the New Testament. The

Greek language was in formation long before its adoption as the vehicle for New Testament truth and consequently

its words often contained Pagan references.

It seems an extraordinary idea that James of all men should be made to speak of the "stage" or "scene" of David

when it is well known that he was quoting from Amos 9:11 in Acts 15, and more strange still that this Pagan idea

should be thrust into John 1:14 or into Revelation 21:3.

Let us give an example of the foolishness of seeking in Greek roots a basis for doctrine. The word "interpret"

comes a number of times in the New Testament and the Greek word for it is hermeneuo. Now this word is derived

from the Pagan idea that the god Hermes or Mercury, which is the Latin equivalent, was the god of interpretation,

but shall we then adopt such an idea because it is part of Greek Etymology?

However, only a few of our readers will have come under the influence of a teaching which necessitates the kind

of treatment of language we have mentioned; and so we pass on to other features of the subject we are considering;

namely the place of the "wife", the "bride" and the "body", in the outworking of the purposes of grace.