Christians often use the example of the tabernacle as a justification for their worship of Jesus. The missionary contends that just as God came to dwell in the tabernacle, allowing His people to direct worship towards Him by bowing towards the Holy of Holies – so it is with Jesus, they claim. They argue that the infinite God came to dwell in Jesus’ finite body and therefore there is nothing wrong with the Christians directing their worship towards Jesus.

This fallacy of this argument is readily apparent. The tabernacle had no personality of its own. The tabernacle was an inanimate building within which God’s presence came to dwell. No one ever confused the tabernacle with God. No one ever claimed that the tabernacle was a second person in a triune godhead. Everyone understood that there are two separate entities here; the tabernacle and God, and no one ever confused the…