A Study of the Tabernacle—Part 3

Only One Way In!!!

Who doesn’t like options and the freedom to express themselves in unique fashion? In fact, tell most of us there is only one way to solve something and we will immediately begin looking for loopholes or alternatives to prove you wrong. We don’t like being limited to one path!

I was watching the TV show The Amazing Race this past Sunday night and each team was given a task to follow a tangled mess of power lines where there were tags in random places with numbers upon them. Once they found all the numbers, they were to turn their list in to be checked by one of the natives to see if they found them all. I was startled to see one team follow the power lines looking at the wrong numbers and then get mad when the person checking their answers told them they were wrong. They went through the course several times searching in the wrong places and became angrier and more frustrated each time they were rejected. The truth is, there was only one right way to solve the challenge and because of their inability to step back and consider what the real task was, they wound up being eliminated from the race.

How many of us treat the ways of God in this manner? How many times do we get locked into a certain way of looking at things and then just can’t imagine that our way is not THE WAY? There must be something wrong with God; because we are convinced we are right. The problem could not possibly be with us! Right, Job? (He tried to bring a case before God about being mistreated and found out that God’s ways are far above his own, and he needed to walk by faith.)

The Tabernacle is such a beautiful teaching tool because it shows God’s desire to dwell among His people. Each element of the Tabernacle emphasizes what it takes to actually dwell in the presence of God. The first of those elements is the gate or door to enter into the courtyard of the Tabernacle. The walls of the courtyard were solid on every side but one, the side facing the east, in which there was an opening that served as the gate or door.

ONE WAY IN!

ONLY ONE WAY IN!!!

Every element of the Tabernacle points to the ministry of Jesus (as we will see as we go through each part of the Tabernacle). The gate is not an exception! John records some interesting words of Jesus in John 10:9 in which He states: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Consider also the teaching of Peter before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:12 where he proclaims, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” Jesus also proclaims about Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” This last quote comes in the midst of a discussion with His disciples in which He shares with them the plan of preparing a place for them with His Father, so they can DWELL with Him.

God wants to dwell among us, but there is only one way in to His presence. People are not allowed to invent their own ways to come before Him. That might come across as “politically incorrect” or “intolerant”, but God is not concerned about our short-sighted and incorrect ways of looking at things. Do you want to draw near and dwell in the presence of God? Then come to the One Way In: JESUS!!!

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-Scott