|
   
Old Testament Tabernacle Plan
Introduction
|
Motto: "You will know the truth, and the truth will
make you free.”
John 8: 32 |
Do you ever watch the sky in the night feeling that something is missing and
wonder: who we are, where we come from? Are we alone in this huge Universe? Or
what is the meaning of the life? You are born, go to school, get in love,
married, kids, job, mortgage, retired, get old and die… That’s all? It’s not
possible; the life has to be something more.
There is a very old book, which can give answers to the fundamentals questions of the
life: the Bible. This book was providentially kept it from generation to generation,
through ages, in order to be studied and understood by everybody. It speaks about the
times when the first people lived on Earth, who they were and where they came from. It
tells us that we are not alone in Universe and even though we are passing through a
crisis, there is a better future for us. Somebody up there loves us and He has prepared a
plan to save us.
I think people always wanted to know the future. If
we go deeper to study this subject, we will find various methods that people used to
discover what future has in store. For example, astrologers think that by studying the
position of stars, of planets, of Sun and Moon in horoscopes we are able to know somebody’s
present and foresee his/her future. They think that the astrals have influence on the
Earth events. The palmistry says that we can find out somebody’s future by studying that
person’s lines and shape of palm, and there are a much more examples: the Tarot cards,
the necromancy that is the most dangerous one, reading in a coffee cup, etc.
How different from
these is the biblical prophecy. It appeals to our rational, our spirituality and our trust
in God. We don’t have this prophecy in order to satisfy our natural curiosity, but to
understand that there is one God only; a God that knows the future and who, in His love,
wants to warn and save us from the dangers we have to face.
How precious
could be an hour taken from future to save somebody we love. If, by this knowledge, we
could save thousands or millions of human lives, who wouldn’t give everything to know
the future. God is the only one who knows the future, not because He can make it anyway He
want, but because HE KNOWS. He didn’t keep this knowledge for his own, but He shared it
with us through His chosen people called prophets and through a very special book called
Bible. The book we are going to study is “The Apocalypse” which means discovery,
revelation of the future, and it is the last one of the 66 books of the Bible. Through
this book, God shares his secrets to us in order to prevent and save us from the coming
dangers.
In this book you will be able to see the curtain that
separates this world from the Universe torn off. The fiction and reality, the past and the
future, the love and the justice, the faith and the rational are combined together in a
unique picture of the world reveling with boldness to you, the censured TRUTH.
Old Testament Sanctuary
There was a special time in the World’s history
when the King of the Universe used to communicate with His children directly and uncovered.
Unfortunately, people chose join the fallen angel in his rebellion and to sin and the
communication became impossible, because His presence would have meant the presence of the
divine judgment and its consequence, death. (See Exodus 33:20; Isaiah 6:5) Despite
our trespasses, God didn’t leave us. He found other ways, some indirect means to be
present in our lives.
The Divinity communicated and communicates with us
through: consciousness led by the Holly Spirit, nature, prophets, the providential
incidents in our lives, angels, the Old Testament’s Sanctuary, and Bible. Nevertheless,
the supreme discovery of His character it is His Son, Jesus the Messiah. While reading the
Book of Apocalypse we will find many pictures and events that used to happen during the
ceremonies held in the Old Testament’s Temple. That’s why, before starting the
Apocalypse study, we need a short introduction, to get a bit familiar with the Sanctuary
and its ceremonies. Actually, this is the secret of understanding the Book of Revelation
or any other Biblical verse that cannot be understood a first reading: finding other
verses on the same theme, because the Bible’s best interpreter is the Bible itself.
Short
after the Jews’ liberate from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses they built, at God’s
request, a Sanctuary of worship that was very different from all the other peoples’
sanctuaries of that time. By this Sanctuary, God wanted to reveal His divine presence and
will to this Semite people and by them to the entire World. How did Moses know the plan
and the details of the construction? God Himself had shown to Moses the big original that
was in Heaven, and Moses had to build another one after that model, at a much smaller
scale. (See Exodus 25:40)
The
component parts of the Sanctuary are as follows:
1.The Golden Ark -
It is the main piece of the Sanctuary, like a box of acacia wood, its walls being overlaid
with gold on both exterior and interior, with a length of 2,5 cubits, width
and height of 1,5 cubits. Inside this ark, there were to be kept the two tablets that
Moses had received on The Mount of Sinai and on which God Himself had written The Ten
Commandments. (See Deuteronomy 10:5) Aaron’s staff was to be kept here, as well, as a
sign of the Levites’ dedication for priesthood, and a jar of manna, too, as a
remembrance of the Jews’40 years amazing feeding in the desert. On the top of the ark,
there was a covering named “the throne of mercy” guarded by two cherubs made of gold,
this being the place where God was to reveal His overwhelming presence. From the spiritual
point of view, the ark symbolizes the faithful one’s heart, where the law of the Ten
Commandments should be written. (See Jeremiah 31:31-33;
Ezekiel 36:26-27)
2.The table for breads of Presence -to be put before the priests. It was made out
of gold, either, and it was meant for the drink offerings for the Temple ceremonies. On
this table were also kept, in 12 rows, the breads of Presence for the priests. Every
Sabbath the breads were replaced with fresh ones. They symbolize Jesus, the Bread of Life,
and the Bible as spiritual food. (See John 6:51)
3.The Menorah - It was a stand made of gold, with seven candle branches that were
to light the inside of the Sanctuary. The Lamp stand needed to be perpetually filled with
oil in order to keep them burning. It symbolizes, again, Jesus, He who is the light of the
world, and His word, the Bible. (See Psalms 119:105
and John 8:12)
4.The Altar of Incensing - It was 2 cubits wide, with a square shaped base, and 1
cubit side. It was also made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and it was meant to serve
for the burning of incense by the priests in the Temple ceremonies, every morning and
evening. The incense flavor is the prayer’s symbol. (See Psalms 141:2 and Revelation 5:8)
5.The Basin for the Priests’ Washing - It was a bronze basin for hands and feet
wash for the Temple priests. Before putting on the priestly robes and entering the
Sanctuary, they had to do this ceremonious wash. We are not told the basin’s sizes, but
we know that the one built by Solomon, later on, for the new Temple, was had a 10 cubits
diameter. The correspondent symbol for the basin in the New Testament is the baptism.
6.The Altar of Burnt Offerings - Was made out of the same acacia wood, but overlaid
with bronze and with 5 cubits side. It was for the animal sacrifices in the Temple
ceremonies. The symbol for it is the repentance. (See Romans 12:1)
The Sanctuary was a parallelepiped construction of wooden boards, overlaid with gold, 30
cubits long, 12 cubits wide and 10 cubits high. Carpets of different textures skillfully
woven were covering this tabernacle. A blue curtain was covering the entrance that was
sunrise orientated so that the worshipers in the Temple to do their praying towards the
sunset. A second blue curtain, of the same texture as the first one, was dividing the
tabernacle into two chambers. The first one was called The Holly Place, and it was the
place where the priests were holding their daily Temple ceremonies; the second one, the
Most Holly Place, was the place where the high priest was allowed to enter once a year.
(See Exodus chapters 25-27)
In the first chamber, there were, on the
right-hand side or towards north, the breads of presence meant to be put before the
priests. Then in the middle of the tent just before the dividing curtain of the two
chambers there was the altar of incensing, and on the left-hand side or the south side-
the Menorah that was to be kept burning. All these items of furniture were overlaid with
gold. The second chamber, The Most Holly Place, was the most important place in the
Sanctuary, because there was the golden ark here, on the top of which God was revealing
His Presence, at the throne of mercy, between the two cherubim. On the Day of Atonement
only, once a year, the High Priest was allowed to enter to do the atonement for the people
at the golden ark, before God.
The Courtyard of the Sanctuary
Around the tabernacle, there was a 100 cubits long fence, 50 cubits wide, 5 cubits high.
It was of fine linen on the posts. The entrance was also fine linen and sunrise oriented.
At the entrance in the courtyard, there was the Altar of burnt offerings for the
sacrificed animals, followed by the basin for the priest’s ceremonious wash, and the
Sanctuary or the Tent of Meeting, on the sunset side.
The religious
festivals (See Leviticus chapters 23-25)
There were four important religious festivals
in the Jewish religious calendar, on which occasions the people were invited to partake.
Their chronological order was:
1.The Passover or Pesach was
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It began on the fourteenth-fifteenth day of the first month
of the spring and lasted 7 days. This festival was a remembrance the Jews’ release from
Egypt under Moses’ leadership. On this
occasion, a lamb had to be sacrificed and
eaten with bitter herbs without breaking any of his bones; that sacrifice was a symbol of
Jesus Messiah, the Lamb of God. (See Exodus 12 1-28; Isaiah 53; John 19:31-37,etc)
2.The
Pentecost Day or Shabuoth also called the Festival of Weeks, the festival of Harvest,
was the fiftieth day after the Passover and it lasted one day. On that day, the people had
the opportunity to bring new grain offerings with a thankful heart to the Temple. This
feast found its spiritual fulfillment when the Holly Spirit came on Pentecost Day, 50 days
after Jesus’ death on the Passover day of the year 31 or, 10 days after Jesus’
ascension. (See Acts chapter 2) For we, the Gentiles, will see that this festival passed
without being marked.
3.The Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah
– The New Year, was the first day of the seventh month in the autumn, in the Jewish
religious calendar and the first month in the civil one. It was the preparation day for
the Day of Atonement that was coming. For nine days the priests’ trumpets blasts were
calling the people to confess their sins, forgive each other, consecrate, and reconcile
one to another and all with God.
4.The Day of Atonement or Yom
Kippur - take place on the tenth day of the same seventh month. It was the solemnest
day of the year. On that day, the High Pries was making the atonement for the people and
for the Temple by a special ceremony
performed on that day of the year only. Two
goats were presented as offering; one of them was sacrificed for The Lord, and the other
one called the “scapegoat” was to be sent into desert, after all the people’ sins
were symbolically put upon him. That goat, as we will see further on in the Book of
Daniel and Revelation, was the symbol of Lucifer, the rebellious angel thrown out of
Heaven. (See Isaiah 14:12-15; Rev 12:7-12)
Only on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest was allowed to enter the second chamber of
the Sanctuary, the Most Holly Place, before the golden ark to do the expiation with the
sacrificed animal’s blood, for all the sins that had burdened both the people and the
Temple during the year. (See Leviticus chapter 16) In the New Testament, this position was given to the one who
was the real High Priest, Jesus the Messiah. (See Hebrews chapter 8 and 9)
5. The tents festival or Sukkoth -
follows the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur and takes place for 7 days from the 15th to the
22nd day of the 7th month. This festival remind too the Exodus. (See
Leviticus 23:33-43)
Today
in the Jewish religious calendar, there are another two important festivals, established
later on, Hanukkah or the Feast of the Renewal of the Temple, on the 10th month in the
winter, and Purim on the 12th month in the spring. The first was celebrating the Maccabees’
consecration of the Temple in 165 BC, and the New Testament reports about this event, too.
(See John 10:22) The
second one festival was a remembrance of the Jewish people’s release from the death
sentence given by Haman, during the Medo -Persan Empire and Esther the Quinn. (See Esther
9:17-32)
As we will advance in our study of the Apocalypse, we will
need these data from the Old Testament, helping us to understand what is going on
in John’s heavenly vision, for the reason that the Old Testament Temple was a reflection of the big
original from Heaven.
[Next Chapter]
[Page Up]
|
