First of all, let me introduce you to a young Jewish boy named Aaron. Aaron is eight years old and is the son of a man who, if they still lived in the Old Testament times, would be a priest in the temple. Since Aaron was a little boy, his father has been diligently teaching him Jewish law. A few weeks ago, his parents met a family that introduced them to Jesus. Both Aaron’s mother and father gave their lives to Jesus, began to read the Bible and started going to church. Aaron went with them, together with his siblings, but could not quite understand the things he was participating in. Then one night he had a visitation…
“Aaron,” a strong but gentle Voice called him, “come with Me, I will show you My pattern for man.” Aaron was so startled by the voice.
“Who are You, Sir?” he asked.
“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and I want to be your God, too.”
“God of my forefathers,” Aaron thought, “and He wants to be my God!” He rose up quickly to follow the One Whom he heard so much about.
“Aaron,” the strong but gentle Voice said, “I want you to learn all that I will show you. I want you to experience it, too. And I want you to go and tell other people that I am a good God Who loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives.”
Immediately, Aaron was taken into the wilderness to a very interesting structure. It looked like a building but was not built with stones. He remembered his father telling him about the Tabernacle of Moses that the people of Israel were given before the temple was built. Could this be it? Suddenly, the Voice said, “This is My pattern for man. If you follow it closely, you will get to know Me and you will learn how to hide under the shadow of My wings. I want you to understand, Aaron, that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands as it is written in the Bible in Acts 7:48. Do you know what that means?”
“No, Lord, I don’t,” Aaron replied.
“It means,” the Voice spoke again, “that I live in human beings and they are My everlasting house. But I have given them My pattern to follow so that they would qualify to be My house. What you see here in the wilderness is the Tabernacle that I told Moses to build. You can read about it in Exodus chapters 25-27, 30, and 37-38.”
The Lord took Aaron in the air so that he would be able to see the whole structure from the bird’s perspective. What a marvelous picture it was – simple but beautiful! As Aaron was enjoying the view, the Lord spoke to him again, “Aaron, what you see here is called the Outer Court. It has two pieces of furniture, the Brazen Altar and the Brazen Laver. We will talk about the meaning of them sometime later. Also, have you noticed the tent placed in the Outer Court?”
“Yes, Lord, I see it. Is that the sanctuary?”
“It is the place where I meet with men. It has two parts. The first one is the Holy Place where the priests come every morning, light the Lampstand that is found in there, sit and eat by the Table of Shewbread and burn incense at the Golden Altar. The second part of the tent is the Holy of Holies and it has two pieces of furniture: the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant.”
Aaron thought this all looked very exciting. He had heard about all these things before, but somehow in his heart he didn’t understand how this could show God’s pattern for man. He asked the Lord, “Lord, I don’t understand. How can this all mean that You want to dwell in man?”
“It is more simple than you think, My child,” the Lord replied. “The man has to walk to the fiery Brazen Altar of sacrifice and through the watery grave (the Brazen Laver) for washing and cleansing of his human dirt. Then, he walks to the Lampstand and learns how to work together with the Holy Spirit. At the Table of Shewbread he feeds on Christ in order to receive life. At the Golden Altar of Incense he totally separates his whole human and spiritual life unto God. And if he does everything right, he enters into the Holy of Holies, which is a very special place. It brings man out of himself and into the nature of the Father. Here the man comes to be like Jesus.”
This was all a lot of new information for Aaron. He had heard about the Tabernacle before, but never saw it so real nor did he understand that it had something to do with the life of an individual. As he was pondering upon these things, the Lord took him down to earth and brought him outside of the whole Tabernacle. Aaron found himself standing outside the fence not being able to see anything inside.
“What a sad place this is,” he thought. “There are all those beautiful things inside and yet I cannot see any of them.”
The Lord, being able to read his thoughts, said to him, “Aaron, this is what the people in the world experience. They see only the fence and nothing else. They don’t know what is beyond the fence and cannot even enter in to find out. They don’t have Jesus in their lives. The only thing they know is dry wilderness where there is no water and nobody to care for them.”
Aaron had heard about Jesus quite a bit these days, but never gave Him much thought. Even this time he pushed the thought of Jesus back in his mind and began to think about the three parts of the Tabernacle: the Outer Court, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. He was wondering why God made the Tabernacle in three parts. Immediately, as this thought came to him, the answer came: “I have made all things in threes. I am in three parts – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; you are in three parts – spirit, soul and body; heavens are three, too; and even the atoms have three parts. This is how I created things.
“Aaron, I also want you to understand this: even though I created the Tabernacle in three parts, when the end of this age comes, only the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies will be saved from the destruction. I am sure you want to know why. It is because the people who live there have My covering upon them. Those who do not have My covering will die, whether they choose to live outside of the Tabernacle or in the Outer Court.
“Do you remember the first two days of creation and how I had to destroy the whole earth at the end of the second day? It will be the same in the time that is shortly coming. Only those who were hidden in Noah’s ark were saved from the destruction. And so, only those, who are hidden in Me will be saved. But without at least living in the Outer Court you cannot get to heaven after you die and be with Me forever. The Outer Court, with its first two pieces of furniture, shows the two thousand years in the history of men. However, we will talk about the details of it some other time.”
Aaron thought deeply about all of this. He really wanted to understand all these things but he knew he would have to meditate upon them a lot. Yet, he didn’t mind doing so.
While he was still deep in his thoughts, Aaron began to realize that the Lord was slowly leaving him. The last thing he heard Him say was, “Aaron, it is time for you to get some rest now, but I will come again and show you in detail the things about the Outer Court.”
What a joy filled Aaron’s little heart! He will get to meet with the God of his forefathers again and learn even more about His plan and purpose for men!
Answer the following questions to see how well you understood this chapter:
- In which book of the Bible can you read about the Tabernacle of Moses?
- How many parts does the Tabernacle consist of and what are their names?
- How many pieces of furniture did God tell Moses to put in the Tabernacle? Do you remember their names?
- What is going to happen to the world and the Outer Court at the end of this age?