by Dennis Su

In Sonlight, we’re continuing our study of the Old Testament, focusing on the book of Exodus for the past few weeks. We recently learned about the tabernacle and how it was used by God to dwell with the Israelites. It has been encouraging to see the interest the kids have about the tabernacle and items within it. What has also been encouraging in studying the tabernacle is seeing how God uses the tabernacle to point to Christ.

In one of the lessons, we saw how the Mercy Seat and the Day of Atonement pointed to Christ’s atonement for man’s sin and how the sins of the Israelites were covered through this ceremony. We can also see how other items in the tabernacle point to Christ and to God’s holiness. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies conveys God’s holiness and His separation from man’s sinfulness. Later we see in the New Testament (Hebrews 10:19-20) that Jesus represented the new way for man to be brought into God’s presence (veil no longer needed) and that the death of Christ also resulted in the tabernacle veil being torn in half. The bronze altar was for continual sacrifices required of the Israelites by God and pointed to the ultimate sacrifice through Christ. The basin in the tabernacle was also used by priests to wash themselves clean before being in God’s presence. If this was not done before going into the Holy Place, they would die. In each item of the tabernacle we can see either God’s holiness or illustration of Christ.

The kids also had an opportunity to reconstruct the tabernacle during Sunday School. This activity helped emphasize how it was God who wanted to be with Israel and who gave specific instructions on how the tabernacle was to be built. My hope is that the Sonlight kids would be able to see how God wants to have a relationship with man despite our sinfulness and that the purpose of Christ’s death would be more clearly seen through the tabernacle lessons.