The Lord has been nudging me to study the word pattern. My first thought was when my mom would get a pattern from the fabric store and lay it out on a piece of cloth in order to make a garment. This was the extent of my understanding of the word pattern. Henceforth, the need to do some study of the word.

What I have learned is rich and I am in awe of our God. On Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses and said, “Direct them to build a holy sanctuary in My honor so that I can dwell among them. Instruct the people to follow the pattern I am about to show you for the congregation tent and its furnishings.” (Exodus 25:8-9)

The word pattern in Greek is typos and in Hebrew it is tabnit which means model, form, likeness, or structure revealed through vision. Moses was not given a blueprint, he was given a pattern to follow. Hebrews 8:5 says, “God admonished Moses as he set up the tent for the Lord’s sanctuary: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.” Hebrews also says, this tabernacle Moses would build was only a type and shadow of the reality in heaven.

Moses saw the pattern, but it was both a present and prophetic reality. Meaning Moses began it, but in Christ it would be fulfilled. Watch this, Moses built a tabernacle, a mobile sanctuary for Israel in the wilderness. Then Solomon, who also was given the pattern by David (1 Chr. 28:12), built a temple. But this was not the prophetic fulfillment, the temple was only part of the pattern process.

Jesus became the prototype of the pattern’s fulfillment, the final fulfillment was in Acts 2, when the early church was filled with the Holy Spirit. The pattern in Exodus 25:8-9 was fulfilled in Acts 2. It went from a tabernacle, to a temple to a body of people, who are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6).

No wonder Haggai 2:9 says “You will stand by and watch as the magnificence of this new house will eclipse the magnificence of My first house. And in this new house, I will give you peace.” We are the pattern people who are filled with the glory of God, we are the fulfillment of the pattern given to Moses on Mount Sinai. God is in the business of building people as we are to be. This is the pattern we are called to follow. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org