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Please note...
This overview contains many diagrams,
so please be patient while the page loads.
Total size of part 1 = 79 kb

Please also note that this is only an 'overview'...

Although every attempt has been made to make this overview clearly understandable to everyone, be advised that many concepts are not fully explained here, they are only summarized. This being the case, please consider reading the individual chapters at some point, where all the concepts are more fully explained.

Now... on with the overview...
It begins with this diagram ---

Copyright © 1998 by Jason Michael Sr.

This is a diagram of a structure called the "tabernacle"...
(The tabernacle was the base model for what would later become the Jewish "Temple").

And as stated previously in the introduction,
this structure is actually an incredibly detailed 'roadmap'...
It is a roadmap which depicts two things simultaneously ---

On one level, it simply depicts Israel’s physical journey from Egypt to the ‘promised land’.
But on another, deeper level, it depicts God's offer to take Israel on a spiritual journey...
A journey from the 'world of sin' to the place of 'restored relationship with God'.

As you will see ---

Those "two things" were ---
The shed blood (or 'death') of the "first-born"...
(or in the case of the Israelites, the shed blood of the "lamb" which took their place).
And... a passage through water...
(represented in this case by Israel’s passage through the "Red Sea" on the way out of Egypt).

And in order to underscore the fact that both blood & water are the ‘keys’ to the next doorway,
God placed two things out in the outer court for all to see ---

The necessity of 'death' (or 'shed-blood') is explained in the main text of this site and is not covered here. For our purposes at the moment, the point is simply that in biblical terms, 'death' literally means 'separation from God', and 'death' must be experienced by anyone who has been tainted by the 'slavery' of sin.

Since Israel had indeed experienced 'slavery' (symbolizing 'slavery to sin', as represented by their bondage in Egypt), the altar's placement in the outer court was thus a visual reminder that 'death' stood between them and the 'promised land' (within the tabernacle).

The fact that 'death' stood between Israel and the 'promised land' was demonstrated repeatedly...
One of the more vivid examples being seen in Numbers 32:11-13 ---

And this brings us to a significant point in the tabernacle’s symbolism ---

To the Jewish people, both of these rooms represented the place of 'relationship with God'.
But as you will see, the tabernacle’s symbolism is actually quite specific,
and defines two distinct 'kingdoms' for a reason ---

In other words, the tabernacle represents both a physical and a spiritual 'promised land'.

And according to Genesis 17:8, both of these rooms (i.e. the entire 'promised land')
were promised to Israel by God as an "everlasting possession"...

Which brings us to our next point ---

And again, as promised in Genesis 17:8, this land was to become Israel's "everlasting possession"...

But as virtually any Jewish person can tell you, for most of the world's history, Israel has not had possession of this land at all. On the contrary, it is only recently (1948) that Israel has regained possession of her ‘promised land’, and currently, she only maintains possession of it through sheer military force and determination.

The really interesting thing about all this is that (although the Jewish people didn't realize it) their inability to take and retain "everlasting possession" of the 'promised land' was actually predicted by the tabernacle’s symbolism all along... even before Joshua led the people into the land the very first time, so many years ago.

As you will see, this 'prediction' was made evident by the 'priesthood' of Israel (and the accompanying 'Law & sacrifices') ---

In Jewish theology, there was only one group that had access to the tabernacle (which represents the 'promised land')... These were the 'priests'... But interestingly, although the priests were allowed a certain level of access to the tabernacle through use of the 'animal sacrifices' and assosciated 'cleansing' rituals, they were also repeatedly required to leave it... All of the priests were required to periodically return to the outer court for ‘cleansing’ on an ongoing basis... over and over again... year after year after year. This applied to the entire priesthood, including even the High Priest himself.

The symbolism of this seems fairly obvious ---
Given the fact that the priesthood (which represented the entire nation)
was required to periodically leave the tabernacle, this would clearly suggest that
no one in Israel had yet been granted "everlasting possession" of the ‘promised land’ (that the tabernacle represented).

And as history will attest, the tabernacle's symbolism has certainly been proven true in this regard.

So... the next question we come to, is ---
Why would God promise the land to Israel as an "everlasting possession"
and then allow them to try and take possession of it, while knowing full well that they would fail?

There are a couple of reasons...
For one thing ---

God wants Israel to realize that they cannot take
"everlasting possession" of the physical ‘promised land' here on earth
(as represented by the 'holy place')
until they are FIRST granted
"everlasting possession" of the spiritual ‘promised land' of 'relationship with God'
(as represented by the 'Most Holy Place').

And again... although the Jewish people could originally be 'restored' (in a sense) to relationship with God through the priesthood, the Law, & its sacrifices. the tabernacle's symbolism also showed the inadequacies of that system... Not even the priests could be said to have gained "everlasting possession" of its two rooms using those things. Clearly, that system could not provide "everlasting" restoration of man's relationship with God or "everlasting possession" of the tabernacle's 'promised land'..

Thus we come to our second point ---

Israel's failure to take "everlasting possession" of the 'promised land'
was intended to underscore the fact that "everlasting" 'relationship with God'
could not be established by the priesthood, the Law, and the sacrifices that they then had...

God simply used those things for a time, in order to show them that something very similar,
but greater, would be coming.

So then...
What is it going to take in order to finally attain "everlasting possession" of the promised land?

Well... go to part 2 of the Overview and see...

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