CTG Week 15- The Tabernacle

We completed a model of the Tabernacle this week described in Exodus. I was blessed by a friend with this model to put together. It comes with everything including glue dots and here is a great book detailing the Tabernacle and all the parts.

It was really neat to see how everything in the Tabernacle showed us a foreshadowing of Jesus.

We read about the outer court and the altar of burnt offering and the bronze basin for ceremonial washing. It was cool to talk about how God is Holy and how we can't come to Him defiled by sin. But Jesus was the Living Water that by His Blood washes us clean, so that we can come before God made Holy and clean.
And that Jesus was the Lamb of God that was the final sacrifice needed to be made so God would forgive sins.

We talked about the Tabernacle building and the Holy Place and the three items that were kept there: The Table of the Bread of the Presence, the Altar of Incense, and the Golden Lampstand.  The Golden Lampstand reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the World. The Table of the Bread of Presence reminds us that Jesus is the Bread of Life and that whoever comes to Him shall never die. And finally, the Altar of Incense is the prayers of the people rising to God and is a sweet smell to Him.

Between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies (the inner room) was a curtain through which only the High Priest could go once a year and only along with the blood of the sacrifice in hand. That curtain was torn in two literally in the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus died on the cross. That curtain represents the veil that separates us all from God's Presence. That veil was torn by Jesus' death and we are no longer separated from God. 

Inside the Holy of Holies sat the Ark of the Covenant.

The blood of the sacrifice was to be placed on the Ark's horns to ask for forgiveness for the peoples sins.

That was completed forever by Jesus' death on the cross, so that He shed the last blood required for our forgiveness and we can enter the Holy of Holies and sit before God's Mighty Presence because we have accepted Jesus' sacrifice. Thus we are all priests before Him now and can bring our requests directly to Him in Jesus' name.  

God's presence sat in between the Cherubim. That is so cool, that we can come into His Presence because Jesus tore the curtain separating man from God and shed the blood to make us Holy and able to come before God forgiven. 

Finally,inside the Ark was the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod that budded and a container of Manna. 

This was such a cool project for us and we both enjoyed it a lot. I think I learned as much as Squirt did. It was cool to have a visual for me after having read Exodus so many times in the past. It really helped this visual-Momma to wrap her head around how everything looked. 

Now on to Week 16!