Many Christians know the concept of the OT scriptures being shadows of future events. Of being symbolic representations of future happenings or time prophecies. The story of OT Joseph can be closely paralleled with the Story of the Messiah Jesus and the steps He has taken and is yet to take.
Here is another interesting parallel but in times for the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Today we look at the dimensions of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Yaveh gave the Hebrews very defined dimensions of the mobile temple they where to build whenever they stopped. People may wonder why God seems so pedantic about having everything just so in the layout and dimensions of a tent temple, but in that layout and dimensions Christians can see shadows of His long term plans for His children.
So lets look at the tent temple.
The outer wall was 100 cubits in length, 50 cubits in width, and 5 cubits in height (Exodus 27:18). This is a place where we as Bible Scholars are tempted to continue on without investigating any further. But if we add the two longer walls (100+100) to the two shorter walls (50+50), then we find that the Tabernacle Courtyard was 300 cubits around. Further, if you multiply 300 cubits by 5 cubits (the wall height), we find that the wall was 1500 square cubits. Keep this number in mind.
Next we proceed to the Holy Place. The Holy Place was 20 cubits long, 10 cubits wide, and 10 cubits high. This is tough discern from the details of Exodus 26, but these dimensions are uniform from every account that I have seen. Notice though that in Exodus 26:7 the Tabernacle is covered with goat hair. More on that later, but for now just note that 20x10x10 is 2000 - the Holy Place was 2000 cubic cubits.
Finally there is the Most Holy Place, which was also covered. Its dimensions were 10x10x10, or 1000 cubic cubits. So what, you may be asking, what of all these numbers?
The Courtyard had the Bronze Basin and the Bronze Altar. This is where, under the law, Jews brought their ritual sacrifices to offer to God. In other words, the Courtyard represents the Age of the Law and Prophets. From Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai to the resurrection of Christ was approximately 1500 years. If you recall, the Courtyard wall was 1500 square cubits!
The Holy Place contained the Table of Showbread (the Lord's Supper), the Alter of Incense (the prayer of the saints), and the seven branched Lampstand (typifies the Church in the book of Revelation). The Holy Place therefore represents the Church Age! And because the Holy Place was 2000 cubic cubits in size, we can infer that the Church age will be approximately 2000 years in duration.
The Most Holy Place contained the Ark of the Covenant, which itself contained a vile of Manna, the Stone Tablets, and Moses' rod. Resting on top of the Arc was the Mercy Seat. When we put all of this together we find that the Most Holy Place, 1000 cubic cubits, represents the Millenniel Kingdom of Christ which will of course will last a thousand years. During this time, Jesus Christ, the living bread from Heaven will rule and reign from the Mercy Seat in Jerusalem with a rod of iron. He will write His Law on our hearts and the lion will lay down with the lamb.
One other detail here. Notice that the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place were covered, whereas the Courtyard was open air. To me the implications here are obvious. The Age of the Law and Prophets knew about God the Father and the Holy Spirit, but the revelation of Jesus Christ remained concealed. During the Church Age and in the Millennium to come, Christ is and will be revealed. Hence the two dimensions (square cubits) on the outside and the three dimensions (cubic cubits) on the inside. The distinction between the Church Age and the Millennium are twofold. First and most obviously, Christ will be on Earth in person and fully revealed. Second, during the Millennium the Jews will recognize Christ as Messiah, which by and large they have yet to do.
It's going to be Heaven on Earth and it's almost here!
This post is linked to the other posts i have posted in this section of the forum. If you have not realized it yet.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
PS: Oh yeah the goat hair covering the TaberÂnacle, It is a symbol of the complete way in which the sacrifiÂcial death of Jesus covers the Body of Christ. Because of the death of Christ, and our acceptance of it, God cannot see our sins. Remember the scape goat.
