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It is important in our lives that we have a courtyard: a place and time in our lives that is set apart for us to bring our offerings of worship to God and to share in those offerings with others. A place of fellowship, worship, repentance, and cleansing. The altar, laver, and the courtyard represents what should be true of our outward actions within this world, the things that others can witness, as well as those things that are the manifestation of the deeper truths in our own hearts. Indeed, this is the foundation to the Jewish practice of praying three times daily at the same time as the regular burnt offerings on the altar.
Our hearts then are to be like the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the Holy Place the showbread is put on a golden table near the entrance. This bread is also called the Bread of the Presence, and there were twelve loaves for the twelve tribes that were renewed every Shabbat( Exodus 25:30, 35:13; Leviticus 24:5-9). The bread had so much oil that it was preserved for the whole week in God’ s presence until it was eaten the following Shabbat.
This perfectly represents how we should present our hearts before God on Shabbat with fellow-believers as the whole people of God – the body of Messiah. The truest fellowship in marriages, families, and friendships is the fellowship with each other and the Holy Spirit. That fellowship is what fills us up with life and preserves us the whole week.
Across from the table of showbread is the Menorah. The light of the Menorah is the( Ner Tamid) eternal flame( Exodus 25:31-40, 26:35, 27:20). This is also the presence of the Holy Spirit( Zechariah 4:10, Revelation 4:5). Inside the darkness of the Tabernacle, the Menorah was the only light. So, it is that only the Holy Spirit can illuminate what is in our hearts. We are to keep the light of God continually lit in our lives( Matthew 25:1-13). Just as the Menorah has become the distinguishing symbol of Israel, the presence of the Spirit in our lives is what distinguishes us from the rest of the world( Exodus 33:15-16).
The last thing in the Holy Place is the altar of incense( Exodus 30:1-10). The incense is our prayers before God( Revelation 5:8). The altar and the incense is to be continually before God( Exodus 30:8), so our prayers should continually be coming before Him.
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