I know I’m probably late to the party and sharing something most of you know, but I got a great picture this morning of how the tabernacle (and Solomon’s temple) reveal salvation in Christ.
First, all the furniture is in the shape of the cross: first the altar and then the bath outside; in the holy place is the showbread on one side and the lamp on the other, with the altar of incense in front of the veil; finally the ark and the cherubim above it in the most holy.
We enter the holy place first by the altar, then the bath. This represents Jesus’ sacrifice and our baptism. When we come into the holy place there is the table of bread and the lamp that lights, which never goes out. This is obviously the light gives us and the communion table where we both remember Jesus’ death and always share a meal with him and one another. The table of incense represents prayer, and in prayer we can enter the holy of holies, to commune with God between the cherubim, which represents heavenly places. We never come into the most holy without the blood of sprinkling, but it is confident access (Eph. 3:12) that we have to the throne by the blood.
There are a lot of opinions and rumors about Constantine, the Council of Nicea, and the events of the fourth century that changed Christianity to Christendom. Not only will you get the incredible story, with all its twists, plots, and intrigues, but you will find out how history is done and never wonder what is true again.
The Rest of the Old, Old Story 