I had taken refuge in the best hotel in town. It was far from world-class lodging, but, in this almost-forgotten corner of the world, it was the best there was. Others had the same idea, and I was soon deep in conversation with a man who had left home and country, journeyed to this distant country for no other reason than to teach the Bible. He had learned the language and culture and was now ready to launch into teaching.
He was well convinced that the only way to teach the Bible was to start in Creation, and lay adequate foundations for the life of Christ. He walked me through the key Old Testament stories he planned to use. As he did so, he skipped any reference to the Tabernacle. "The Tabernacle is very hard to teach without pictures," he explained. "Even with pictures it is hard to explain." He figured he could skip it just fine and the life of Christ would make sense.
I asked him if he intended to include John the Baptist's profound statement as to the identity of Jesus, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
He said, "By all means!"
I asked him, "Who was John the Baptist? And why was John a reliable witness to make such a defining statement?"
He launched into an explanation beginning with the story of John's birth. When he mentioned John's father, Zacharias, being a temple priest, I asked him, "Which temple did Zacahrias go to? A Buddhist temple? A Hindu temple? A Mormon one? And what sort of priest was he? Catholic? Shinto?
He answered, "No! He was a Jewish Priest in the Jewish Temple!"
When I asked him what Jewish temples were all about and why these temples needed priests, he immediately got the idea. The temple (only one), complete with the stories of lamb sacrifices, plotting and accusing Priests, a torn curtain, are ineradicably linked to the stories of Christ's birth, life, death, burial and resurrection. And the only way to understand the Jewish Temple system was to have the foundational teaching gained by a basic study of the Tabernacle.
He was right on the fact that the Tabernacle is very hard to teach, even with pictures. But if you have a 3-D model, it really comes alive. We equipped that Bible teacher with 3-D furniture of the tabernacle and he did just fine.
