Time: March 1406 BC, 40 years after the Exodus.
Setting: The nation of Israel is encamped on the Plains of Moab, awaiting the order to enter the Promised Land.
Characters: Priest Elnathan, 10-year-old Jerusha, and her two parents, Baruch and Deborah.
“Jerusha, my dear young student, you have been blessed with godly parents who have taught you about the God of Israel. But imagine going to a primitive people with little or no education and with little or no knowledge of God. How would you begin to teach them the way of salvation? What lessons would you begin with? What teaching methods would you use?” queried Priest Elnathan.
“Eh… I’d teach them the Bible,” suggested Jerusha.
Priest Elnathan looked over at Jerusha’s parents, Baruch and Deborah, who were trying to stifle their smiles.
“To make things even more difficult,” added Priest Elnathan, “imagine there was no Bible available, not even one book of Scripture. What would you do in that situation? Then, as if you were not facing enough problems, you find out that there are over two million people to teach, they live in a desert, and they are constantly on the move.
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed Jerusha. “You can’t teach all these people if you don’t even have a Bible.”
“Well, yes, Jerusha. It’s impossible for us, but not for God. For with God all things are possible. Deborah, you love history. Tell Jerusha a little of our nation’s history.”
“Well,” began Deborah, “God faced exactly this situation, this seemingly impossible situation, when we came out of Egypt about 40 years ago and camped in the desert at Mount Sinai. There were two million of us – mostly uneducated and spiritually ‘Egyptianized.’ And we did not have one book of Scripture between us! Genesis had not even been written yet. What was the Lord’s solution to this ‘impossibility’? It was, ‘Make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.’’[i]
“Yes, God started a building project!” interrupted Baruch, Jerusha’s father. “He ordered the construction of the Tabernacle and its furniture to serve as a huge ‘visual aid,’ probably the world’s largest ever visual aid! These ‘holy places made with hands,’ were ‘figures of the true,’[ii] or ‘pictures of truth.’ God pictured the truth to preach the truth. This divine method of teaching is sometimes called ‘typology,’ or more simply ‘pictures of truth.’”
Priest Elnathan stepped in and said, “Jerusha, today I’m going to teach you four lessons about these pictures. And soon you will see the pictures for yourself.”
“I can hardly wait, Priest Elnathan. It’s tomorrow I go to the Tabernacle, isn’t it?”
“No, Jerusha. I’m sorry to disappoint you,” said Priest Elnathan. “It’s next week we go. Unless Joshua gives the command to pack up and move from the Plains of Moab into the Promised Land, next Thursday I will teach you one last lesson, just to review and summarize all we’ve been learning. And the day after that is Tabernacle day.”
Jerusha looked sadly at her mother.
“I told you,” said Deborah. “You have to be a bit more patient. Now listen to the Priest.”
Simple Picture
“Jerusha,” said Priest Elnathan, “If you asked your Father, ‘What is Egypt like?’ your Father wouldn’t read you every line and word on the thousands of Nile Library scrolls that describe that powerful nation’s geography, would he? No. He would sit you down and draw a simple sand-picture of that country. Mountains here, big river there, pyramids everywhere, etc! He would show rather than tell. The sand-drawing does not say everything there is to say about Egypt, but it does say something – something that is true, understandable, and memorable. By putting it in simple picture form, your Father communicates truth in a far more effective way than thousands of scrolls would in this situation.
“Your Father told me a few weeks ago that you asked him “Father, what is God?” That’s when your Father came to me and asked me to get you ready for your first Tabernacle visit. I said to him, ‘Baruch, this is a wonderful moment in every Israelite Father’s life. When our children ask the most important question of all, isn’t it wonderful that we can say to them, ‘Hold my hand and I’ll take you to God’s Tent. There I will show you what God is like.’
“God’s Tent, the Tabernacle, does not tell us everything there is to say about God, but it says something – something that is true, understandable, and memorable. It is really Israel’s first ‘Bible.’ As such, it shows us God and His way of salvation in a series of simple, stepping-stone pictures.
Important Picture
“But, though the Tabernacle has simple pictures, they are also very important pictures. Jerusha, your Father gets the Weekly Camp News doesn’t he? Yes, I thought he was on the delivery rota. When that scroll arrives, what does he do?”
Jerusha thought for a moment. “He always seems to read the long stories first.”
“Yes, that’s right. But why?”
Jerusha was stumped. “I don’t know.”
“Let me tell you,” said Priest Elnathan. “Your Father reads the long stories first because these are the most important stories. There are other stories in the scroll, and they are important, but not as important as the ones with the most writing. The Camp News editor decides what is most important and we trust him to make the right choices.
“When we pick up our Bibles, we know that all its contents are important. But we may also ask, ‘What is especially important?’ One way of deciding this is by looking at how much space is given to the various stories. For example, the creation of the world has about two chapters. That’s clearly important. But, how many chapters are given to the Tabernacle? Half of Exodus and all of Leviticus are devoted to it. What is the ‘Editor’ saying to us? He is saying, ‘This is very, very, very important. This is one of the chief ways I reveal Myself.’ Indeed, God reveals far more of Himself through the Tabernacle than through the creation. And, if we trust the ‘Editor,’ our preaching, teaching, and witnessing would reflect that far more.
Theological Picture
“Now, do you remember the main question we ask when we walk around the Tabernacle?”
“Yes, I do,” Jerusha responded. “What does this teach me about God?”
“That’s right. The Tabernacle’s furniture, and its rituals, are like painted theological pictures.[iii] These ‘figures of the true’ are God-centered ‘pictures of truth.’ That’s why anyone who wants to know what God is like spends many hours in the Tabernacle. When you go there next week, you will see people walking around with a priest to answer their questions about these pictures of truth. You will also see like-minded seekers discussing and fellowshipping together around the big bronze altar.
“God recognized that theological truth (truth about God) in sentence form would be very difficult for us Israelites to grasp. So, He gave us theological truth in sense form. He gave us things we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. And every touch, sight, sound, smell, and even taste conveys truth about God’s character, especially His mercy and grace. This is the most vital truth to grasp about the Tabernacle. It sets forth, in picture form, the only way of salvation. And Jerusha, remember, remember, remember: no Israelite was ever saved by making the Tabernacle, serving in the Tabernacle, or trusting in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle never saved anyone. What it pictures does! And what does it picture?”
“The coming Messiah!” Jerusha shouted.
Prophetic Picture
“Yes! That’s right. I love your enthusiasm, my young friend. But – and this is a big but – although the Tabernacle reveals much about God and His way of salvation, there is also something unsatisfying about it.[iv] God designed the Tabernacle in such a way that, while it taught much, it also taught that there was much more to learn. That’s why, while the Tabernacle does reveal God and His salvation to us, it also creates a longing and a hope for an even greater future revelation of God and His way of salvation.
So, the Tabernacle serves the present, but also points to the future. It pictures truth for the present, but also predicts more truth for the future. Wherever we look in the Tabernacle, our response should be, ‘That’s a great truth, but there is a greater revelation of that truth to come. God has shown the way of salvation, but there is a more glorious manifestation of salvation to come.’ Jerusha, an even greater Tabernacle of God will yet appear that will fully satisfy all our longings. God will tabernacle among us, full of grace and truth.” [v]
“Oh, Priest Elnathan,” exclaimed Jerusha, “I hope I’m alive to see that Tabernacle.”
Tomorrow: Part 2 - God’s Tent.
Pastor Murray, this series is wonderful. I look forward to reading it with my kids. Many thanks. If you havent considered it already, might I suggest compiling the final product in a PDF, or perhaps a book!
Thanks Bob. Yes, I’ll probably put it into a book eventually.
Wow..thank you again!