The Temple and the Tabernacle

The Temple and the Tabernacle  *****
by J. Daniel Hays

Overview: This is the story of God's dwelling with mankind first in the garden, then through the tabernacle and later the temple. The author is making the case that the whole story of the Old and New Testaments is centered around God being with us. He was with us in perfect fellowship in the garden at creation. Then after sin, mankind was seperated from God's presence. When Moses built the Tabernacle (the tent where God met with the people), he again could meet with God but not directly. There was always a barrier of some sort such as smoke, and the Israeties couldn't go into the most Holy Place inside the Tabernacle. When Solomon built the temple (a more permanent dwelling place for God), people again were seperated from being in God's direct presence like in the Tabernacle. However, after Jesus dies for our sins and raises again, we become the new Tabernacle. We house the presence of God...the Holy Spirit. No longer does sin cause any seperation between us and God.

Positive elements: Beautiful, full-color pictures, glossy pages, great diagrams, well-organized

Negative elements: The book is a bit repetitive. Parts of it also had more details than I cared to know.

Conclusion: This is a great resource book to introduce people to the two temples and the Tabernacle of the Bible and how important they were to the Christian faith.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.