Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

Imagine for a moment that you are in God's position...
If you wanted to draw the people of Israel a virtual 'road-map' of the rescue plan
that you have in mind, how would you do it?

Well... to start with, you would probably want the map to illustrate where the people have come from,
and also, their current position at the moment.

So... if Egypt symbolized the world of 'slavery to sin' and Israel has been called out from that place,
you could illustrate that point with a diagram like this ---

A simple diagram like this would do a fine job of representing Israel's 'separation' from Egypt.
As you can see, it shows where they have come from, and also their position at the moment.

But... what about where they are going?

Well... in order to illustrate where they are headed, you could probably use another enclosure within the first.
Something like this ---

In some sense, the small enclosure must represent the 'promised land' of Canaan, because God has previously stated that it is His intention to take them there 40.... Canaan is to become Israel's "everlasting possession".

So... as you can see, the above diagram would do a fine job as a basic 'roadmap'..

Of course, that's really no surprise... God designed it to do just that.
This diagram comes from a structure called the "tabernacle".

God's instructions regarding the design and construction of the tabernacle are documented in the latter chapters of the book of Exodus, from about chapter 25 on. This structure was the original model for what would later become the Jewish Temple. And as stated previously, this structure is intended to be a 'roadmap'.

The first thing to notice is that the large enclosure is really just a large fenced off space.

And as seen in the previous diagrams, the area outside this fence represents the 'world of sin' (symbolized by Egypt) from which God has called Israel to come out.

The area inside the fence is called the "outer court", and although in the broadest sense, it too represents 'the world', at this point in our story, it can be seen as representing 'the wilderness' in which Israel stands after first being freed from Egypt.

Within the outer court is a tent-like structure... This structure is the actual "tabernacle" itself. The area within the tabernacle represents the 'promised land' of 'relationship with God'.

The proof that the tabernacle enclosure represents the place of 'relationship with God' can be seen by looking at the material that the 'tent' is covered with ---

Exodus 36:19 "Then he made a covering for the tent of ram's skins dyed red, and a covering of badger's skins above that".

You will note that the tabernacle is covered with "skins"....

Previously, we saw that God replaced Adam and Eve's "coverings of leaves" with "tunics of skin" ... And as we saw, God did that in order to vividly portray the fact that 'death' (or 'separation') stands between mankind and God as a result of sin.

And now, as the skins covering the tabernacle indicate, God is again illustrating that point in a visible way. God is using the skins covering the tabernacle to say, "I'm in here, and you're out there. 'Death' still stands between us".

Now... take a look inside the tabernacle ---

At first glance, this seems a bit strange...
Why would the 'promised land' be divided into two rooms?

It seems fairly easy to identify the symbolism of the first room when we remember that the people of Israel are on their way to a new land (Canaan), where they are to become a "kingdom of priests" and a "holy nation"...

Since the 'wilderness' (or 'outer court') where Israel currently stands is obviously not Canaan, it would seem safe to say that the first room within the tabernacle may represent that place. In other words, the "holy place" would appear to represent the 'physical' kingdom (or 'promised land') of Canaan, here on earth.

This leaves the innermost room of the tabernacle... the "Holy of Holies" (or "Most Holy Place").
Its deeper meaning can be found by examining the furnishings within it.
The original furnishings are described in the following verses ---

Exodus 25:10-11 "And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. (v.11) And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around".

Exodus 25:16 "... put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you".

Exodus 25:21-22 "You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. (v.22) And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment of the children of Israel".

Exodus 26:33-34 "...Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. (v.34) You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy".

First... notice the words, "there I will meet with you"...

As these words indicate, the Most Holy Place (where the ark sat) was considered to be the very 'presence' of God. While both rooms of the tabernacle were considered to represent the place of 'relationship with God', it was only the Most Holy Place that represented the actual 'presence' of God.

Now look at the "ark" and what it contains ---

According to the passages above, the Most Holy Place contains the "ark of the Testimony". This "Testimony" is further identified in Exodus 34:29 as being the "two tablets of the Testimony". In other words, the ark contained the 'ten commandments'. 41 This is quite significant... As we saw earlier, the 'stone tablets' represented the 'standard of obedience' that was required in order to gain "everlasting possession" of the promised land.

But they also represented something else... something that holds particularly good news for Israel...
Those tablets also represented a 'promise'.
Here's the point ---

In Genesis 17:8, God told Abraham in no uncertain terms that Isaac's descendants would eventually inherit the land of Canaan as an "everlasting possession"... Thus, Israel essentially has God's promise that sooner or later, they will somehow be brought into compliance with the Law written on those tablets... Otherwise, Israel could never attain "everlasting possession" of either the land, or the "everlasting" relationship with God that the land represents.

So, given the fact that the stone tablets which symbolize the promise of 'everlasting relationship' are stored within the Most Holy Place, it would seem reasonable to say that this room particularly represents the place of 'everlasting relationship' with God...

Thus, the Most Holy Place represents both the 'presence' of God and the place of 'everlasting relationship' with Him.

Or in other words, the Most Holy Place would seem to represent 'heaven'.

Thus we find the tabernacle's 'promised land' actually represents two 'kingdoms' ---

Thus far, our diagram seems to be showing quite a clear and logical progression overall ---

There we have the basic roadmap...

In the next chapter, we will see how God uses the 'priesthood' to bring out the details of this map...
And believe me... you haven't seen anything yet!

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