Messiah’s Mansion
Almost exactly eleven years ago, I wrote a short blog post after touring the Messiah’s Mansion for the first time with our family. Today, our family is scheduled to take another tour with our church group.
Since I’m not even a hundred percent sure if that old blog of mine is accessible, here’s my summary. Here’s the link to my old blog.
More information about the local exhibit of Messiah’s Mansion
Messiah’s Mansion and a Blast from the Past
“Thy way, O Lord, is in the sanctuary…” ~Psalm 77:15~
The Biblical sanctuary provides a model of the true sanctuary, which is in heaven. By studying the earthly model, we can understand more about the plan of salvation and what Jesus is doing for us now in the sanctuary above. We have wanted to learn more about the sanctuary, and from time to time have studied parts of it with the boys. Today, however, we had the opportunity to take a tour through the Messiah’s Mansion, which is a full-scale model of the Biblical desert sanctuary–a model of the model, really.
I was honestly expecting a quick pass through to look at the articles in the sanctuary, but we got a 1 1/4 hour tour, where the guides explained in detail the things we saw and their Biblical and spiritual meanings. I left feeling like I want to learn more about the meanings of the things we saw.
As a part of Bible and nature class these last two weeks, we have looked at the meanings of the colors in the Bible and the sanctuary service. We took last Tuesday’s Nature Day to collect specimens from nature of every color of the rainbow. We then pressed the leaves and flowers and took them out today. So, we assembled a rainbow book and glued the specimens to the correct colored page. They came out pretty well. Little Acorn was very proud of his book, and took, as usual,the most time on his. We learned that pressing morning glories does not work too well (they stuck to the pages of our book and ripped because they were so fragile). And, as usual, the gluing activity made for a sticky bunch of boys, table, floor, and yes, faces! 🙂 (Still working on not eating the glue)
I am excited that the local church here is beginning a series of classes next week to go deeper in learning about the sanctuary. The kids will be studying things from Daniel and Revelation, and also making a sanctuary model to bring home. I think this sounds really neat, and we plan to attend. They will also have sanctuary classes for adults simultaneously, and I don’t know if I’ll get to go to those or if I’ll stay with the boys to learn with them. Either way, we are looking forward to what we will learn in the next month or two.
I guess I could have taken pictures at the Messiah’s Mansion, but it somehow seemed a bit sacrilegious while they were explaining everything, and I didn’t. Just me…so here is the link for more information.
http://www.messiahsmansion.com/
Sanctuary Resources for Children and Adults
Back to the Present Day
AdIt did funny things to my heart to read about “Little Acorn”, my nature lover. He’s now 18, tall and strong. I’m going to have to ask him about the glue, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t include that in his diet these days.
Excluding the glitter mess, I really miss those days of coloring, nature projects, and more time spent with my boys. They always say to enjoy the young years, and I wish I’d savored it more!
Now that we have visited Messiah’s Mansion, the life-sized replica of the wilderness sanctuary, I fear we will assume that the information is old hat. While it is not brand new this time, I pray that our hearts will be open to the lessons God wants to teach us from His sanctuary. He gave the plan to Moses, and since it is patterned after the heavenly sanctuary, that means God thinks it is pretty important.
I’m glad that we are visiting on a Sabbath day. The reverence in this day opens our hearts a little more to spiritual things.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Messiah’s Mansion, by all means, go! It’s always free!
Messiah’s Mansion is an educational tool for anyone to learn more about Jesus in the Bible, and it provides a full scale object lesson of the plan of salvation. The Israelites needed a visual image in their day, and I know that we are just as slow to understand as they were.
The True Lamb
The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the lamb that was slain for our sins. We don’t still practice the sacrifices that were required in the Old Testament. That’s because they were also a pattern of something, or, Someone, to come. Now that Jesus has paid our ransom, it would be an insult to Him and His sacrifice, to continue with the pattern.
We have everything explained in the Bible, and yet (I speck for myself) we don’t open it to learn the lessons. I want to do better.
May your Sabbath day be full of joy, and I hope you check out a Messiah’s Mansion when it comes to your area.
The above link provides many free resources for learning about the Bible sanctuary and how it relates to our lives today.
Below are two screenshots from a wonderful resource page! My Bible First has a treasure house of teaching materials for children and adults, but mostly focusing on children.
These resources specifically deal with the sanctuary, broken down to make it easy for everyone!
Another Resource
If you’d like to learn more, this chapter, In the Holy of Holies can be read online or downloaded. It’s very interesting.
Contact me if you have an interest in further study into the sanctuary.
Have a great day!
Laurie
For further reading…this post deals with God’s amazing goodness to our family recently. Probably my most heartfelt and most popular post, for good reason. It’s not about us!
Reckless Love….Austin’s Progress
All images in this post taken from the respective websites.
Eleven years – with kids, that feels like in another lifetime!
Glad you get to revisit and explore this special place.
Another lifetime, yet still us! Time marches along!
I’m happy to see people trying to find their way back to Almighty “God” (Yahweh), whether through their words or actions.
Thanks