God expected His chosen people Israel to follow His revealed pattern when they built the tabernacle. He gave Moses elaborate, detailed instructions for its construction (Exodus 25-27). An overriding reason for Israel to follow God's pattern for the tabernacle was that God would there dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).
"And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it...And see that thou make them after the pattern, which hath been showed thee in the mount." (Exodus 25:8,9,40)
God wanted the tabernacle, which was a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things"(Hebrews 8:5) to be built according to His revealed pattern. How much more then, must God be interested in seeing "the heavenly things" (the church, Hebrews 8:2,5; 3:6; 10:21) conform to the pattern He provided for it. God dwells with us in His church. "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." {Ephesians 2:19-22}
More and more, people who should have been taught the importance of Bible patterns do not have the faintest idea what a Bible pattern is or how it should be used. As a result, division, confusion, and human doctrines are infiltrating the church and destroying souls. Basically, God's pattern on any subject is everything He revealed about that subject. Read the above passages about the tabernacle. Notice that God "showed" the pattern He wanted them to follow. God's revelation, then, is His pattern (Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:3).
To properly use a pattern, one must identify the pattern. God revealed His pattern for our conduct in three ways--direct commands, approved examples, and necessary implications. These simple tools enable us to ascertain, and then obey, God's patterns for such things as the work, the plan of salvation, the worship and organization of the church, and morality. Are these patterns the right tools for us to use to establish Bible Authority - a thus saith the Lord.
In the Lord's church today, many are talking and promoting "no patternism." Clearly, those who arrive at these conclusions have never studied the Exodus teaching concerning the structure of the tabernacle. Or the building of the ark in Genesis 6. God has not left these decisions to man. He made them Himself. The question is simple - will we follow them or do our "own thing?" Do we want God's approval or men's? -KG