Mobile Messiah’s Mansion shows the original tabernacle symbolizes Jesus

Jefferson, Texas- People near and far were invited to travel back more than 3,000 years to the desert. Where more than two million people came together to build a tabernacle for their God.

From Nov. 5-13, Cross Threads Thrift store provided the space for the traveling tabernacle–which was built to exact specifications in the Old Testament.

Area churches banded together with Cross Threads to bring the exhibit to east Texas for free guided tours, providing a unique opportunity to learn more about the history of the tabernacle through the living museum in five stations.

In Station 1, our guide, Oriana gave us background and historical information on the tabernacle.

In Exodus 25:8, God said, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, in the Garden of Eden, by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, their sin called for punishment. Romans tells us the penalty for sin is death, but Adam and Eve did not physically die right away–However, they were separated from God’s immediate presence, and experienced spiritual death. According to Oriana, Moses was given the blueprint for the tabernacle on Mt. Sinai–but this would not be the first tabernacle. In fact, the tabernacle that was built in the desert thousands of years ago was made as an imitation of the tabernacle in Heaven, in which Jesus is our high priest.

The Mosaic tent sanctuary lasted 487 years and was built in six months with offerings made by the Israelites. On the day of dedication, God sent fire down from the heavens onto the altar of sacrifice to show that he accepted that sanctuary into his service.

Before moving on to the courtyard of the tabernacle for stage two of the tour, Oriana reminded her group that Jesus was the ultimate temple and, through his sacrifice, we could become temples of the Living God. In the New Testament, when Jesus told the Pharisees “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up,” Jesus was referring to himself as The Temple.

One gate, facing east, was the only way into the courtyard, representing how Jesus is the “one way to salvation,” Oriana said.

The colors of the gate, woven together thread by thread, would have been red, representing the blood sacrifice; white for purity; purple for royalty; and blue for obedience and remembering God’s law.

The first thing you see coming through the gate is a pile of ashes, representing the complete destruction of sin. Just past the ashes, you would see the altar of sacrifice, made of acacia wood overlain with brass with four horns on each of the four corners. The fire was always burning at the altar of sacrifice.

The nearby laver was made of solid brass, but there are no specific dimensions mentioned in the Bible–except that the laver had a bowl and foot or base.

The laver is where the priests and high priest would cleanse themselves before taking part in services in the courtyard or entering the holy place.

The sanctuary would open at 9 a.m. and close at 3 p.m., guides said.

The typical offering was a lamb without blemish, where the priest–after inspecting the lamb–would oversee the sinner as he cut the lamb’s throat, then belly. The blood was gathered and given to the priest.

“After baptism, Jesus spent 3 1/2 years among us,” Oriana said. “Jesus’ sacrifice replaced this ritual, as he was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the lamb without sin or blemish.

Oriana said it was symbolic that sacrifices in the temple were killed on the North side, while Jesus was also eventually hung on the North side of Jerusalem.

Oriana reminded the group that Jesus said he is the “Way the Truth and the Life” and no one gets to the Father, but through Him.

“He rose after three days, just as he said he would,” she said. “Here in the courtyard, Jesus shows us the way, from the gate to the door.”

At stage 3, Oriana brought her group into the Holy Place, which she said represents “the truth”.

The Holy Place was where only the priests and high priest were allowed beyond the veil, where they had to remove their shoes and wash their hands and feet before entering.

Everything in the Holy Place was made of gold while everything in the courtyard was made of brass.

First, one might notice is the table of shewbread, made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. Two even stacks of unleavened bread, with six pieces in each stack, totaled to twelve pieces of shewbread lay on top of the table, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. A pile of incense would have been placed on each stack for seven days. On the seventh day, the priests would move the incense to the altar of incense as an offering and would eat the bread that had been laid out on the table, before replacing it with new bread.

Two crowns on either side of the table of shewbread represent two kings; Jesus himself is quoted later in the New Testament as saying, “I am the bread of life.” The other king is God the Father. The table of shewbread also sits on the north side, as referenced in the courtyard.

The altar of incense, also made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold, was built one cubit square and two cubits tall. It contained four horns on each corner, and a bowl of incense and sat in the center. The altar of incense was to always be burning, Oriana said. The blood from the sacrifices was sprinkled on the four horns of the altar of incense and before the veil of the Holy of Holies at the morning and evening services.

In the opposite corner of the Holy Place is a seven- branch candlestick, where the high priest would twice daily relight each wick with fire from the altar of sacrifice after replacing each candle holder with fresh olive oil. This was also to be perpetually burning, like the altar of incense. The seven-branch candle stick was made from a solid talent of gold, which weighs between 70-120 pounds.

A man was called by God to help shape it by beating it with a hammer, rather than melting the gold into a precise form.

The Holy Spirit is represented in both the altar of incense and the seven-branch candle sticks. The altar of incense has one crown going over the outer edge, with incense burning perpetually representing our prayers ascending to God. The Holy Spirit intercedes in these prayers in this way, with the incense burning on the altar rising to the ceiling before piercing through the veil into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence sat upon the Mercy Seat, obscured by fire because if any were to look upon him, they would die.

The fires from the seven-branch candlestick had to be burning all the time because the Holy Spirit lives eternally. The seven golden candlesticks represent the seven churches mentioned in Revelations and what they do with the Holy Spirit.

God’s word was made flesh in Jesus and dwelt among us. The bread and the word also represent Jesus. We eat bread for nourishment—for life, Oriana said, before quoting John 6:35 - “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.”