OPTION 1: MOVING THE FURNITURE

Every once in a while, people choose to move around the furniture in their bedroom or even their entire house. A change like that can be both unsettling and exciting! It might also throw them off at first, since what they were used to was the way the furniture had been arranged before.

When God had his people set up the tabernacle in the wilderness, he gave them specific dimensions for the various pieces of furniture they were to build and place inside the sanctuary. Do you happen to remember what items were included in this list and where they were placed?

Use this time to quiz the participants in your Youth Sabbath School on what they know about the items and their locations in the sanctuary. If they are unfamiliar with these things, take some time to teach them to the participants. You can do this two-dimensionally by showing them a photo of the sanctuary’s layout (there is one available below), or you can do it three-dimensionally by creating or borrowing a model sanctuary made out of Play-Doh or pieces of wood or plastic and showing it to the participants. Sometimes younger children’s Sabbath Schools make a long-term project out of constructing a model of the sanctuary and keep them over time. If that has happened in your church, ask to borrow theirs for this Sabbath.

Download Wilderness Sanctuary PDF

OPTION 2: TURN IT AROUND

Last week we did an activity that tested our creativity. This week we’re going to test what’s called our “working memory.” Spelling can be easy for a lot of people, especially for easy words we use every day. But spelling words backward is a little more difficult, isn’t it? Trying to do that is what tests people’s working memories.

Test the participants by asking a volunteer or volunteers to spell the following words backward. Time them to see how many seconds it takes them to do each word.

• Wow (W-O-W)

• Draw (W-A-R-D)

• Youth (H-T-U-O-Y)

• Sabbath (H-T-A-B-B-A-S)

• Vacation (N-O-I-T-A-C-A-V)

TRANSITION

As you consider our lesson for today, keep in mind that God gave his people several tangible elements that would help them understand him more. Sometimes people are quick to forget or disregard these, and others never get past their literal implications and understand what they mean on a symbolic level. It’s possible for children to memorize and list these elements on a simple level, but as teens you have a better ability to understand them on a more complex, much more symbolic level. Hopefully this will lead to several aha moments for you today!

This is a short video clip you can show your Youth Sabbath School to illustrate this week’s topic, plus a few follow-up questions to spark discussion afterwards.

OPTION 1

Create a video clip that illustrates the lesson for this week. One way you could do this is by focusing on the creation of the sanctuary in the desert. Another way would be to focus on the concept of making room for God based on John 14:2 and 14:23. In John 14:2, Jesus tells his disciples that his Father’s house has many rooms (not “mansions” as the KJV translates it). In verse 23, Jesus promises that he and his Father will make their home with those who love and obey him. Remember to create a list of follow-up questions to go along with your video.

OPTION 2

In this 2:41-long video, Christian comedian John Crist reads out a list of cartoons that Christians weren’t allowed to watch as kids and why.

QUESTIONS

• Which of those answers sticks out in your mind most?
• Are there any cartoons that you weren’t allowed to watch that you can add to the list?
• Do you someone who might be offended by laughing at any of these answers? Were you offended at any point?
• Do you think people ever take things too seriously sometimes, or that they don’t take things seriously enough?
• The topic for this week’s lesson is a very serious one—about the sanctuary, which God gave his people very specific and serious instructions to follow when building. Do you think God ever laughs? If so, when?

OPTION 3

This 6:53-long video gives the viewers a tour of the tabernacle that the Israelites built in the wilderness. It moves rather slowly, but it does a good job of explaining the locations and purposes of the items found in the sanctuary.

QUESTIONS

• What were the various items that God instructed Moses to build inside the sanctuary?
• What were their various symbolic meanings?
• What changes did Jesus make to the sanctuary because of his death and resurrection? What stayed the same?
• How is your church similar to the sanctuary described in the Old Testament? How is it different?
• Do you think having a visible and tangible sanctuary would help or hinder your relationship with God?