Do you know how long you've been on God's mind?
Pretty soon after the people of Israel left Egypt, Moses received instructions from God to build Him a dwelling place: the Tabernacle (read Exodus 25 onwards). Also known as the Tent of Meeting, the tabernacle was a movable structure that they set up at the centre of their camp wherever they camped.
The instructions are long and tedious, and that’s not without reason; almost every aspect of the Tabernacle points to Jesus. For example, the tent had only one door, and it faced the camp of the tribe of Judah, referencing Jesus, the Lion of Judah, who is the only way to God (John 14:6).
And that’s just one of the many hidden messages in the Tabernacle, its entire construction, the materials and colours used, the numbers, measurements, it’s all drenched with symbolism, pointing at Jesus and His love for us—way too much to cover in today’s Chamatkar.
But I do want to point out one very special picture that not many people are aware of. Not only did the people receive specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle, but also on how to camp around it. In Numbers 2 we read where each tribe was supposed to camp and how many people they counted. If you add up the numbers, you’d see that not every camp would be the same size; one side was significantly bigger.
There was a reason for this imbalance: believe it or not, if you were to draw the camps to scale as described in Numbers 2, you would end up with a… Cross!! ✝️😱
Many centuries before Jesus would die on the cross, the symbol of His ultimate sacrifice was already visible among the people of Israel.
Isn’t that incredible? You’ve been on His mind throughout the ages!
