Tabernacle of David: The Model for Church Part 4

The early church experienced much power amid much persecution. After the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2) and the healing of the man at the Gate Beautiful (Acts 3:1-10) the persecution in Jerusalem took an aggressive turn. The glory of God increased and the number of believers were multiplied. At the same time the fledgling church experienced many imprisonments and its first martyr (Acts 7). As a result the believers were scattered to many gentile regions, including Samaria (Palestine), Phoenicia(Lebanon), Cyprus, and Antioch(Syria). (Acts 8:1, 11:19).

By Acts chapter 11, Peter had his encounter with the gentiles at Cornelius’ house where the Holy Spirit was powerfully poured out. At the same time the Lord had begun to move in a city called Antioch, which is modern day Antakya, a major town of south-central Turkey.

The testimony of the move of the Spirit that had broken out in Antioch reached the leaders in Jerusalem. As a result, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to see what was happening. Barnabas saw the grace of God upon them and reported back to Jerusalem that God was indeed moving in power among the Gentiles! Barnabas immediately sent out to find Paul who had been in Tarsus for nearly the last 15 years. (Acts 11:20-26). Upon finding Paul they went to Antioch and made it their home base.

Antioch became the first prominent church among the Gentiles in the New Testament. It was the church that ultimately commissioned Paul for his apostolic ministry. Antioch became the context that Paul would base his entire church planting ministry upon. For this reason it was the prototype church for all of Paul’s apostolic work. With that backdrop in mind, let’s consider more specifically the ministry activity that is described in the church of Antioch.

Acts 13:1-3 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

The Greek word that is translated “ministered to” is leitourgeo. It’s the same word from which we get the English word “liturgy”. It’s the word that was exclusively used to describe the priestly duties of the Levites in the temple. The tense of the word gives the expression an ongoing sense. In other words, rather than this being a one-time event, it was an ongoing ministry. The leadership team was continually assembling themselves in ministry to the Lord as the center of how they were leading the church.

From their continual ministry to the Lord, they Holy Spirit then spoke to them and gave direction as to a key strategy they were to follow. In obedience to the Spirit’s leading they commissioned Paul and Barnabas into their apostolic church planting ministry. They were operating as priests ministering to the Lord, who then heard the prophetic word, and then moved into apostolic ministry. This pattern is incredibly instructive for us today. If this was the appropriate pattern for the leadership teams of the first century church, why would it be any different in our day? How foreign does this pattern seem to our organizational structures and professional ministry environments!

It’s evident that Paul’s theology of the church as a Temple was born out in Antioch. Luke’s description of ministry to the Lord at the center closely links the activity of Antioch with the Temple. Samuel Whitfield, in His book, Discipleship Begins with Beholding, expands on this idea, “The church in Antioch was a temple, but it was something more specific than that: The church in Antioch was an expression of the tabernacle of David. David established singing as a core part of temple ministry, and this remained until the time of the apostles…The church in Antioch did a number of things. There was teaching and pastoral ministry. They were a multiracial community that lived together as “one new man” and took care of each other and gave to the poor... The church at Antioch did all the things we typically associate with a local church family, but corporate beholding (ministry to the Lord) was the core DNA of the church…The main point is simple: Is our approach to church built on the values of Antioch—values that came from David’s tabernacle? Do we begin with corporate beholding (ministry to the Lord) as the foundation of the church? … David’s tabernacle was extravagant, and if the New Testament church is built on that foundation, then our commitment to behold the beauty of the Lord should be extravagant as well.” 1

“Luke connected this description of the church in Antioch to the Holy Spirit’s decision to send Paul and Barnabas so we would make a critical connection: Paul and Barnabas were sent to reproduce Antioch. They were launched out to establish new “temples” in every place where communities could gather to behold the beauty of God (minister to the Lord) together, become like Him, and mourn for His absence. Paul and Barnabas were sent from a worship sanctuary to go plant worship sanctuaries.”2

I am convinced that the example of Antioch as a biblical model should inform all of our operational and church planting efforts. Namely that we are to first organize our spiritual families around the presence of God through prayer and worship and from that place hear how the Spirit of the Lord is directing us. The expression and format may vary, but at the very least our church models should glean from Antioch, the prototypical New Testament church, and be centered on ministering to God first as the Temple of old and the Tabernacle of David were.

In our next blog we will consider these thoughts more fully as we look at the Jerusalem council and Paul’s admonitions to the New Testament Church in his epistles.

1 Samuel Whitfield, Discipleship Begins with Beholding, pg 95-98, OneKing Publishing, 2021

2 Ibid, pg 98