The physical structures of the Tabernacle and the Temple were typifying the spiritual aspects of the New Testament system (Hebrews 8-10). God gave specific instructions as to the making of these structures, and the Israelites were to follow the pattern God gave them (Exodus 25:40). The Tabernacle proper was surrounded by the outer court, representative of the world. In that outer court were two things of importance: the brazen altar and the brazen laver. The brazen altar represented the cross where the Lamb of God shed His blood for man’s sin (Galatians 1:4; Titus 2:14; et al). The brazen laver represents baptism where we wash ourselves clean from our sins (Acts 22:16; Ephesians 5:26; et al) and qualify us to enter into the Tabernacle (Acts 2:41, 47; I Corinthians 12:13).<\/p>\n
The Tabernacle proper was in the western part of the court. It was divided into two compartments separated by a veil. The first compartment was the holy place in which were three pieces of furniture – the table of shewbread which had twelve loaves of unleavened bread on it, the golden candlestick or lampstand, and the altar of incense or golden altar. Inside the veil was the most holy place or holy of holies. It contained the ark of the covenant, and on top of the ark was the mercy seat.<\/p>\n
The most holy place represented heaven itself: the dwelling place of God. The holy place represented the church of Christ. The three pieces of furniture in the holy place each typified something God placed in the church. The candlestick had a twofold application:<\/p>\n
The table of shewbread typified the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; I Corinthians 11:20-29). Before the veil was the golden altar which typifies the prayers of the saints. John wrote, “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints<\/i>” (Revelation 5:8). “Odours” is translated “incense” in the American Standard and New King James. Later John adds, “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out the angel’s hand<\/i>” (Revelation 8:3-4).<\/p>\n
God placed the altar in the holy place, not in the court! The altar represents prayers and the holy place represents the church. While the denominational world has always tried to take prayers out of the church a put them in the world (so one can say the “sinner’s prayer” for his salvation), such is a violation of what God has established.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Michael Hatcher Taken from “John 9:31” in\u00a0Defender, November 2004 The physical structures of the Tabernacle and the Temple were typifying the spiritual aspects of the New Testament system (Hebrews 8-10). God gave specific instructions as to the making of these structures, and the Israelites were to follow the pattern God gave them (Exodus 25:40).…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,211,1531,740],"class_list":["post-60544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-figurative-language","tag-prayer","tag-symbols"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-tabernacle-of-witness\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":0},"title":"The Tabernacle of Witness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Why was the Tabernacle in Israel referenced as \"the Tabernacle of Witness?\" The inspired scriptures may provide several different reasons. It was designed to testify to God's Presence in the pillar of cloud and in the pillar of fire that demonstrated His Presence in the midst\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4044,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-sea-of-bronze\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":1},"title":"What was the Sea of Bronze?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the Sea Of Bronze? Answer: One of the furnishings in the tabernacle and the temple was a laver to hold water so that God's requirements for the priests to wash before doing certain ceremonies could be done. \"You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/scan0002-300x211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22029,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-worship-conducted-in-israel-when-the-temple-was-destroyed\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":2},"title":"How was worship conducted in Israel when the temple was destroyed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding the Tabernacle and the first Temple in the Old Testament: Was the Tabernacle the dwelling place of God and was the Temple the place of worship for the people? If so, when the first Temple was destroyed and tabernacle removed, how did the people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19481,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-anointing-aaron-as-high-priest\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":3},"title":"What was the significance of anointing Aaron as high priest?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was the significance of anointing Aaron as high priest? Answer: Anointing was a representation of setting something or someone apart for a special purpose. Thus, the altar was anointed before offerings were placed on them to God. \"And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9404,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-parallel-the-use-of-the-laver-to-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":4},"title":"Where does the Bible parallel the use of the laver to baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am trying to finish up my paper, and I remember learning about the basin or laver bowl stand for the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 30, but I can't remember where it says it relates back to baptism. It might be in Hebrews. I was wondering if you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-divine-temple\/","url_meta":{"origin":60544,"position":5},"title":"Jesus the Divine Temple","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer John's gospel begins by affirming that Jesus is the divine logos, the Word through whom all things were made. In Him is life and light. Life comes from Him, and He, the light of the world, came to this earth to overpower the darkness so that all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}