Faithful Find a Sanctuary in Costa Mesa

By ELAINE GALE

Aug. 31, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A replica of the ancient Jewish Tabernacle--the tent housing the Ark of the Covenant and described in great detail in Exodus--is drawing thousands of the devout and the curious this week to a field by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

The tabernacle is a touring exhibit started two years ago by Jeanne Whittaker of Capistrano Beach, who returned from a visit to Israel inspired to make a full-size replica of the tent and the ark--the chest containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. According to scripture, the ark was kept in the holiest part of the tabernacle, outside which priests sacrificed lambs and offered their blood to God in a ritual of atonement.

With help from volunteers and about $4,000 in donations from her church, Calvary Chapel Capistrano Beach, Whittaker went to work.

“This isn’t meant to be a museum,” Whittaker, 49, said this week. Rather, it is an interactive exhibit with 12 stations reminiscent of purification rituals of the ancient high priests. Visitors may put a piece of wood on a sacred fire, tear off a piece of pita bread, wash their hands and feet, light candles and burn incense.

Staffing the exhibit and working in shifts to guide people through the 12 stations are 86 volunteers from the church.

The ritual plus the sensory experience of the replica could help explain its drawing power, experts said.

“When we talk about the tabernacle or the temple in class, people really get interested,” said the Rev. Ronald Farmer, dean of the Wallace All Faith Chapel at Chapman University.

“The ritual of the tabernacle is so overt,” said Farmer, who teaches classes on the Hebrew Bible. “That’s something that many people haven’t experienced. Unless they come from a tradition that has that rich heritage, it’s brand-new to them.”

From the opening of the tabernacle exhibit Aug. 21 through Wednesday afternoon, more than 5,000 people had walked through. Calvary Chapel officials said they expect close to 6,000 total by the time the display closes Friday night.

Rob Crombie of Huntington Beach, who brought his family to the exhibit Tuesday, said, “It gives you an appreciation of how the Israelites did this. Moses got these specifications from God, exactly how to design the place.”

Whittaker followed the dimensions spelled out in the Bible. Exodus calls for an outside wall of 50 cubits by 100 cubits, with a 20 cubit-wide gate. The modern equivalent is 150 feet by 75 feet--exactly the length and width of the replica’s outside fence, built with wooden poles and white linen.

Whittaker and her crew did deviate from the heights specified in scripture: their tabernacle is only 10 feet tall instead of 15 feet because that was the largest size tent available for rent, she said.

The replica uses canvas, cardboard and gold paint instead of the goat hair, ram skin and seal or porpoise skin that the first tabernacle had. It takes almost six hours to assemble. Between tours, the tabernacle is stored at Calvary Chapel Capistrano Beach.

The fenced courtyard features the tent at one end, a wood fire burning on a platform at the center and a ceramic basin of water for those who want to wash hands and feet. Most visitors just dip their hands in the basin and dry them on small squares of white linen handed out as people enter the courtyard.

The inner tent has a seven-tiered candelabra with continuously burning candles. The Ark of the Covenant is surrounded by purple curtains hung from the top of the tent and the ark, made of wood and painted gold, is backlighted and topped with two gold angels.

Walking through the exhibit and reading the explanatory placards takes about half an hour.

“It’s not worth anything if the Lord doesn’t speak to you in it,” Whittaker said this week as she watched people explore the exhibit in Costa Mesa. She said she has been overjoyed with the turnout this week and earlier. “I feel very blessed.”

When the touring tabernacle made its debut earlier this year, it drew more than 800 visitors Easter weekend to Calvary Chapel Capistrano Beach, an affiliate of Calvary Church Costa Mesa. In April, the exhibit drew more than 500 on a one-day stop at Fallbrook Presbyterian Church in Fallbrook, she said.

Though the Calvary chapels are evangelical Christian churches and the exhibit is a scene from the Old Testament, organizers and participants said a careful understanding of the Old Testament is critical to Christian faith.

“Jesus’ blood cleansed all of us of our sins,” said John Mann, assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, who is in charge of the exhibition during its stay there. “God has made a new covenant with us through the blood of Christ.”

The realism of the exhibit stirs the faith and emotions of many who visit it. Kathy Dove of Costa Mesa exited the tent Tuesday with tears streaming down her face. “It’s one thing to read about the tabernacle for so many years. But this was such a moving experience,” she said.

She said she and her husband, Al Dove, have been participating in Bible study classes with Chuck Smith Sr. at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and just finished examining the book of Exodus, which is where the tabernacle is described in detail.

She said the replica conveys to her how believers had to atone for their sins before Jesus Christ became a human sacrifice, the “lamb of God,” to take away people’s sins.

“When you go through the tabernacle, you’re so thankful and grateful for what Jesus has done for us,” Dove said. “He’s taken away all our sins.”

The free public exhibit will be on display at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, 3800 S. Fairview Road, Santa Ana, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday. For more information or to book the exhibit, call Calvary Chapel Capistrano Beach, (949) 493-2006.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Traveling Tabernacle

Calvary Chapel plays host this week to a full-size replica of the Old Testament tent that once housed the Ark of the Covenant 3,000 years ago. The traveling exhibit, constructed on a playing field at the Costa Mesa church, remains true to the precise size and layout of the original tabernacle.

Entrance: faces east

Linen Curtain: forms outer boundary of courtyard

Brazen Altar: for animal sacrifices

Lavar: washing basin

Curtain: of finely-woven linen

Roof: layered with linen, goat’s hair, ram’s skin and badger’s skin

Veil: separates “God’s Tent”

Holy of Holies: houses Ark of the Covenant, which contains Ten Commandments

Holy Place: houses Golden Table for bread, Golden Candlestick and Altar of Incense

High Priest

Garments worn into the tabernacle:

Mitre