God's Camping Trip at Sinai

God's Special Tent

This Tabernacle is the most exciting and colorful explanation of Christ. It is an object lesson. Each color, smell, and piece of furniture is part of the story. This is the story of how Jesus can make sinners clean and cover them with His white robe. This is the story of prophecy of how Jesus planned to fix the whole sin problem. There are parts of this story that have never yet happened. There are details of how He was going to die for our sins before He even came. This tent story is simple yet so deep that the most intelligent people in the world do not understand it all. Every time you study it, you can learn more.  The description of this is found in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.

The reason this topic is extremely important to the world is because right now in the last days of this old world, Jesus is finishing up His work in the heavenly sanctuary. You need to know what is happening because it involves you and your choices. The secrets of what He is doing up in heaven are easy to learn if we look at the copy or model of heaven's sanctuary. Let's go to the tent tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness and we can figure out what Jesus is doing in heaven right now. 

His love is hard to understand, it is so amazing. He is available to be your FOREVER FRIEND. 

The altar of sacrifice was made out of bronze. 

The horns on the altar tell of the POWER of Jesus to save us from sin. Jesus is the horn of our salvation (Psalm 18:2, 2 Samuel 22:3) Jesus is symbolized by the altar. When we come to Him asking for help with our sins, He lifts the heavy load from us and carries all our sins on Himself. He will help us get rid of the desire to keep doing wrong. He has power to save us from sin.

Ashes were placed beside the altar.

David went to the sanctuary to understand the end of the wicked. (Psalms 73:3 & 17) Then he understood their end was just ashes. In Malachi 4:3 the Bible tells us the wicked will be ashes under foot.

They put the Ashes on east part by the altar. The gate into this court yard was also on the east. (Leviticus 1:16)

The laver was a large bronze basin that held water for washing hands and water for washing feet. The priest removed his shoes and washed his feet and hands before entering into the holy room of the sanctuary. This was a symbol of what happened inside their hearts. The heart of the priest was to be like Jesus. Jesus is unselfish and full of love. He wants to encourage all in the path to heaven.

The washing is the same symbol as used in baptism. We need to have our sins washed from our hearts before we can really enjoy the blessings God wants to give us. When we choose to give our lives to Jesus and take the step in baptism, we have the pledge of  the three Persons in the God family. Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit promise that in any emergency they will answer our prayers. They keep their side of the bargain and want us to keep our promises to them.

  Taking shoes off showed reverence for God in His house. We need to show respect to God in His house.

The table of showbread held the fresh bread made without yeast. It was renewed every Sabbath morning the seventh day on Saturday, and frankincense was sprinkled on it.  There were 12 loaves of this flat bread. One loaf for each tribe. These were bigger than pan cakes. Each big loaf held up to 4 1/2 quarts of flour or 2-4 liters. This bread is a symbol of the truth about God. We find this truth in the Bible His WORD to us. As we read the Bible it is like eating bread from this table. We grow when we eat. We shrink when we do not eat. Jesus said His body was broken for us when He died on the cross for our sins. As we believe on Him, we eat this bread.

John 6:48 Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." He  freshly delivers more life giving truth each Sabbath morning the seventh day of the week on Saturday. Many believing Christians meet on other days of the week. They are God's children also. The best day to get this fresh bread is on the day God said. Those who meet on the other days get God's blessings too but it is the left over crumbs. The richest blessings are given out at the time God appointed to meet with His people.  Left over bread is great when you are starving. Left overs are good when you are hungry but they taste better on the day things are meant to be eaten.

Also on this table was a pitcher which the lambs blood was placed in. This is a symbol of the blood Jesus shed when He died for our sins. We drink grape juice thinking about the blood Jesus shed for our sins. I am so thankful Jesus loved us enough to take our punishment so we could be saved.

This golden candlestick was trimmed every morning at 9AM. The lamps were kept going so there was never darkness in God's tent. Acts 2 shows that the Holy Spirit was poured out at 9AM. This was an exact fulfillment again. The people accused the apostles of being drunk but they said it was only 9AM. 

This candlestick holds many symbols of the Holy Spirit. The fire, the oil, and fruit bearing. In Galatians 5:22 it talks about the fruits in your life if you have the Holy Spirit leading you to truth. You will have love, joy, peace and more.  Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit  work together with one purpose as ONE GOD.

The priest's job in the earthly sanctuary was to keep the Holy oil in the lamps and the fire burning. Jesus has this job in heaven. It says in Revelation that He walks among the candlesticks that represented His church families. His job is to make sure that the lights do not go out. He makes sure His churches have special light of truth from heaven. On the 7th day He pours out rich light to all who meet to learn of Him. This is an appointment time He set up during the creation of this world. During the time the sanctuary was being set up, the ten commandments were written out on stone to be kept inside the sanctuary. The fourth commandment told them to remember something. This showed that they already knew about the 7th day appointment. This was just to remind them.

Above the ark was a glowing light which showed God was present there. Above the ark is called the mercy seat. That is where God sits. In heaven, in the real tabernacle, God sits on the mercy seat. 

How special of Him to have mercy on us. We should die for the sins we have each done but He has provided a way for us to be saved from sin. Through Jesus the way is made clear into the throne room where God is.

In this ark there were three treasures kept. In the ark in heaven, the same treasures are kept in God's treasure chest. This law never changes. God created it. He is too wise to make mistakes. 

Each treasure in the ark tells us a little more about God's amazingly loving heart. The law of God was printed on stone by God's own finger. It was on blue stone cut out from Mt Sinai and placed in the ark. 

20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: 
20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; 
20:6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 
20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
Commadment number IV  (4)  20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 
20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: 
20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 
20:13 Thou shalt not kill. 
20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
20:15 Thou shalt not steal. 
20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's. 

We also break God's law in our minds when we disobey even one point. If we get angry and call people mean names, we are murdering them emotionally. It is impossible without God's help to really keep God's law. This law is a description of how to love Him and each other. No one will be mean or rude or stealing in heaven. In 2 Timothy 3:1-7, Paul says that there will be terrible sins in the last days on this earth. Here is the list. Hope you don't have something you like to do that is on this list. If you do, get on your knees and ask God to help you become like Jesus. There is not much time left to get ready.

THE LIST

Lovers of self, covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Pretending to be godly but denying the power of God.

Aaron had made a bad mistake. He had built an idol for the people to worship while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai getting the ten commandments. When Moses came into camp, there were terrible sins being done in camp. Later people did not trust Aaron. God heard their criticism. God knew Aaron was really sorry for his sin. God asked all the leaders to bring their walking sticks to the sanctuary over night. The next day, Aaron's rod had these leaves, flowers, and almonds growing right out of the dry old dead stick. This miracle was to show that God still needed Aaron to do the work of being high priest in the new tabernacle tent. 

This work was to represent the work of Jesus in heaven.

  What a picture of God's forgiveness. We often say if someone does something really horrible, he can never be trusted again. Yet God forgave and gave a job to Aaron that was extremely important. He treated him as though he had never sinned.  He can do the same for you. Take your sins to Him and tell Him how ugly they are to you and that you want to be free from them. He can fix your ugly problems and make you very precious. He says He can throw your sins into the deepest see and let them sink.

Now look at the candlestick with the same items. It had almond bud, flower and fruit. Isn't it interesting that the Rod of Aaron and the candlestick are with the same motif? 

Jesus promises that if you want to have victory over your sins, if you want Him to help you be loving, unselfish and kind like He is, He will pray for you to God. That is what he means when he promises this: "He that overcometh,...I will confess before my Father and before the angels." Rev. 3:5

My friend, this sanctuary lesson book is so bright and colorful and full of interesting sounds and sweet smells. You are going to want to learn more about the love of Jesus. Every detail describes beautiful things about Jesus. Some details show the future acted out. Other details tell what has already happened. These lessons help you know about the end of time. Watch for more lessons soon to come. On larom.com, these lessons have been published for 6 years. Now we are putting in new graphics and placing these stories also onto this web site.

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Credits:

Many thanks to dear 13 year old son Kyle who God gave the gift of art to in answer to his heart felt prayer at age 10 to be an evangelist and to be given the gift of computer art for illustrating his sermons.