The Tabernacle

Faith Community Baptist Church just had our Feast of the Booths.

Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threashing floor and your winepress. [Deuteronomy 16: 13]

Live in booths for seven days. All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought then out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. [Leviticus 23: 42-43]

Ours was only for a weekend though. (Thank goodness.) =P

So we had a big tent set-up in East Coast Park with about the same layout as whatever Exodus 26-30 said. Just that we don't have all their chio gold and jewels and whatever. Not that rich lar.

The tabernacle is a place where God chose to meet His people during the 40 years they wandered in the desert after their deliverance from Egypt. The levites and the peopl would offer sacrifices and worship there.

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. [Exodus 25: 8]

Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. [Exodus 29: 45-46]

(Though now, God is everywhere, not just in the tabernacle, because Jesus died for us. [Luke 23: 46]) XDD

The tabernacle consists of three areas: the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies.

There is only one gate through which the people enter the tabernacle by.

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. [John 10: 9]

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John 14: 6]

The first thing you see when you enter the tabernacle is the Brazen Alter. This is where the Israelites burnt animal sacrifices.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! [Hebrews 9: 13-14]

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [Hebrews 10: 10]

... because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. [Hebrews 10: 14]

"Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. [Hebrews 10: 17-18]

So, that means we no longer have to sacrifice anything. ^ ^

Though for me, there is where I commit to God my offerings. This year, I told God: "I give you my hands, they belong to you, (as with every other part of my body,) and may everything that these two hands of mine do be not for my own pride but for the glory of your kingdom." Waaauugh~!! I have to stop being so conscious over my drawings, worrying whether people like them or not. If God likes them, it's good enough!! And if people like them, then it's God that helped me to achieve whatever I did.

And ummm, after that, we have the Laver, which is a bronze basin of water. This is where the levites clean themselves after their (bloody) sacrificing of animals, so that they would be pure and not get struck down by God when they enter the Holy Place.

... Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [Ephesians 5: 25-27]

Therefore, even though we are forgiven when Jesus died for us on the cross, we still have to wash ourselves in His Word before we can serve Him.

For me when I was in the tabernacle, I asked God here, to forgive me of all my sins: doubt, jealousy, anger, and selfishness and whatever which I don't remember already. (Yay go me. =__=)

And that was for the Courtyard. After that, would be the Holy Place, where in Moses' time, could only be entered by the Levites.

On the left, there would be a Golden Lampstand. It is made of pure gold (duh) to represent the perfection of Jesus, and has a main branch from which 3 more branches would extend from the left and right side, making 7 branches (with candles) in total, 7 being a number of completeness in the Bible. =D So, we are being made complete, by the perfection of Jesus. The lampstand is the only lightsource in the Holy Place, without it, everyone can all trip and fall and die.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. [John 8: 12]

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. [John 12: 46]

So for me, the lampstand is where I seek Jesus, and ask for wisdom and guidance as to what to do in my life.

On the right, would be the Table of Showbread. Place on the table would be 12 loaves (to represent the 12 tribes of Israel) unleaven bread (bread without yeast). It is priest food. It also shows God's invitation (to have a meal with man,) for man to have fellowship with Him and be in His presence.

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. [John 6: 35]

I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. [John 6: 48-51]

I ask God to answer my needs here. But since I know that I am already a very blessed person, I just asked, for God to show me the harvest (lives of my pre-believing friends), help me draw better, photoshop better, and illustrator better. =3 (I am greedy whaha.) Don't be afraid to ask God for MORE. God likes us to ask him.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. [1 Chronicles 4: 9-10]

And right in the center, before the Holy of Holies, would be the Alter of Incense. The Levites would burn incense there daily, and the incense would burn there for the whole 24 hours, as a pleasing aroma to God. It is a symbol of the prayers and worship of the people going up to God as a pleasing fragrance to Him.

There, I would simply worship and praise and pray to God. God likes us worshipping and praying to him. ^ ^

Lastly, we have the Holy of Holies. This is where God lives, sitting on the Ark of the Covenant as His throne. There is a veil (thick curtain) separating it from the Holy Place, shielding God who is holy from man who is sinful. Anyone apart from the High Priest (who does so once a year), who enters that place would die, because the presence of God is too awesome and holy for them. There is no physical lightsource there, because God's glory (described as an "unapproachable light") was so bright that the entire Holy of Holies would be, practically, shining.

When Jesus died on the Cross, the veil was torn from top to bottom (meaning the act was done by someone from above), exposing the Holy of Holies. And now everyone (not just the High Priest) can have their share of God's Presence.

In the Holy of Holies, I just stayed there, and waited for God to talk to me in any way. I didn't get any response though. =( But I know others who did. When I was 9 years old, I did get a vision when I was in the Holy of Holies though. And I heard that during the tabernacle last year, there was a bright light that suddenly shone in the Holy of Holies for a short while.

And here goes, the end of my entry. I don't claim to be a bible scholar or anything of that sort, (though I did do some research on the subject of the tabernacle,) so if anyone spots any mistakes please do let me know. I hope this will pique your interest and strengthen your spiritual growth. ^ ^


God, I pray that you would bless us and enlarge our territories!! Let your hand be with us, and keep us from any sin, harm or evil so that we will be free from pain.