Meditation 10
The Ground Plan of the Sanctuary
The word of God is
always a silver clear truth and by His Sacred images He speaks to us in
an “unveiled” (Jn 16. 29) language when He reveals His intentional plan
by the pictures taken from His art museum or gallery in the Bible. It
is thus profitable for us to study the ground plan of the Sanctuary
before we proceed further, as it reveals God's intentional plan as
regarding us. Its length as whole was 100 Hebrew ammahs or cubits, the
numeral of fullness in union. He divided His Sanctuary into three
sections: (A) The
courtyard – (B) The Holyand – (C) The Holy of
Holies. This reveals the Living Body of the Militant Church on
earth as an exterior and institutional Church, as well as an interior
Church of liturgical prayer and its inmost core as the Church of the
Sacred Heart of our Lord and Redeemer. But this threefold division
refers also to the human nature as a psychosomatic unity of body, soul
and spirit.
When Moses followed God's instructions revealed on the Mount, he divided the three sections still further into three subsections. The numerals on the diagram expose them in following order: (1) The entrance or gateway – (2) The altar of burnt offerings– (3) The bronze laver – (4) The entrance into the Holy – (5) The Golden table of loaves – (6) The lamp stand or menorah – (7) The golden altar of incense – (8) The curtain and entrance into the Holy of Holies and – (9) The ark of the covenant. Regarding the measures they were as follows in the light of Christ's incarnation: from the entrance to the altar of burnt offerings the distance was 10 cubits referring to the 10 commandments as a Way of obedience. From the altar of burnt offerings to the bronze laver the distance was 40 cubits which referred to the desert prayer of our Lord when He conquered Satan (Mt 4. 1-11). From the laver to the entrance into the Holy the distance measured also 10 cubits revealing the ten days from the resurrection of our Lord to the descending of the Holy Spirit. Thus the distance as whole from the altar of burnt offerings was 50 cubits referring to the Pentecost.
The Tent of Meeting as whole measured 30 cubits and the Holy with its 20 cubits revealed the Human and divine nature of Christ which the soul is clothed in as her wedding garments in the Holy. The Holy of Holies measured 10 x 10 cubits, the perfect numeral of unity. The length of the Tent or its 30 cubits refers to the three great nights of the prayer life when the powers of the soul dwell in these nights as our Lord dwelt three nights in the tomb. The three main sections of the Sanctuary reveal thus these nights or winter season of the soul (Macarius the Great): the Night of the senses, the Night of the powers or the spirit and the Night of redemption (John of the Cross).
This is fully in accordance with the classical definition of the holy fathers of the prayer life as a Way of purification, a Way of illumination and a Way of union.
When Moses followed God's instructions revealed on the Mount, he divided the three sections still further into three subsections. The numerals on the diagram expose them in following order: (1) The entrance or gateway – (2) The altar of burnt offerings– (3) The bronze laver – (4) The entrance into the Holy – (5) The Golden table of loaves – (6) The lamp stand or menorah – (7) The golden altar of incense – (8) The curtain and entrance into the Holy of Holies and – (9) The ark of the covenant. Regarding the measures they were as follows in the light of Christ's incarnation: from the entrance to the altar of burnt offerings the distance was 10 cubits referring to the 10 commandments as a Way of obedience. From the altar of burnt offerings to the bronze laver the distance was 40 cubits which referred to the desert prayer of our Lord when He conquered Satan (Mt 4. 1-11). From the laver to the entrance into the Holy the distance measured also 10 cubits revealing the ten days from the resurrection of our Lord to the descending of the Holy Spirit. Thus the distance as whole from the altar of burnt offerings was 50 cubits referring to the Pentecost.
The Tent of Meeting as whole measured 30 cubits and the Holy with its 20 cubits revealed the Human and divine nature of Christ which the soul is clothed in as her wedding garments in the Holy. The Holy of Holies measured 10 x 10 cubits, the perfect numeral of unity. The length of the Tent or its 30 cubits refers to the three great nights of the prayer life when the powers of the soul dwell in these nights as our Lord dwelt three nights in the tomb. The three main sections of the Sanctuary reveal thus these nights or winter season of the soul (Macarius the Great): the Night of the senses, the Night of the powers or the spirit and the Night of redemption (John of the Cross).
This is fully in accordance with the classical definition of the holy fathers of the prayer life as a Way of purification, a Way of illumination and a Way of union.