For the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. – Exodus 26:36

Today's Scripture Reading (November 26, 2024): Exodus 26

When I was seven, my parents moved into a new house my Dad had purchased. I was seven, and we lived in the house for only a few months, but I still remember the house and my bedroom. One of the house's unique features was that my bedroom had a door leading into the backyard. As a seven-year-old, I was a reasonably sick child, and seven is young, so I never did use the unique door in my room, at least not in a clandestine way. But as I have had children and grandchildren who have passed the age, I admit I have wondered what I might have done if I had lived in the house a little longer or had been a little healthier.

As I remember that house, I remember that only one door led into the world: the front door. The door in my room led into the backyard, which was completely closed off to the rest of the world by a fence. There might have been a second door into the yard, but I think it is more likely that the only other door led into the garage. From there, you could enter the backyard or walk into the outside world, but from the house, the only door to the world was in the front of the house, so that was the one we used.

As the plans for the Tabernacle are revealed, there is only one entrance to the tent that would be seen as the home of God over the next five hundred years. The Temple that would replace the Tabernacle would have many gates into the Temple complex, including an entrance that was only used by the king. But here, there is one entrance. 

Maybe that entrance foreshadows the idea that there is still only one way to God. For Israel, at the beginning of their journey, that one entrance stressed that there was only one way to God, a way that was guarded by priests and Levites. 

In the 1970s, singer Larry Norman wrote a song that stressed this idea: there is one way to Heaven, although this one wasn't guarded by priests but by Jesus. 

So I say one way, one way to Heaven.

Hold your hands up high.

Follow, free and forgiven.

Children of the sky.

There is still only one way to God, open only to those who have been forgiven by the sacrifice of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 27