The Cube

Earlier this evening we were sitting watching TV, when Phillip Schofield's programme came on UTV / ITV1. The Cube is a big glass cube, as the name suggests, and inside, challengers take on The Cube to perform certain tasks for monetary reward. There are memory tasks, balance tasks, ability tasks, and many others. It seems that things which appear very easy in every day life suddenly become very difficult inside The Cube.

The rewards are very profitable - £1000, then £2000, then £10,000, then £20,000, then £50,000, then £100,000, then £250,000. Challengers have nine lives to use in the pursuit of the big money. Compelling viewing as the contestants try to win against the cube's tricks.

When the nine lives run out, the contestant loses all money won so far, although before they begin a particular challenge they can decide if they keep what they have or risk it for the next prize. They enter the cube, and either emerge with a prize, or with nothing.

Reminds me of the cubes in the Bible. The inner sanctuary of the Temple was a cube, as 1 Kings 6:20 tells us: 'The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold.' This is the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, where the High Priest entered once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to make sacrifice for the sins of the people. Entering without the blood of sacrifice would have meant certain death for the High Priest. As it was, he achieved the purification of his people for the year.

However, as the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, this was but an earthly shadow of the reality of the heavenly temple, where the Lord Jesus entered to achieve eternal salvation and satisfaction for sin (Hebrews 9:12). The thing is, though, that in contrast to the television competitors, Jesus never leaves the cube, and has won his eternal prize - the inheritance of all things and the salvation of his people. How do we know he never leaves the cube?

Fast forward to John's vision of eternity in Revelation 21. John is shown the holy city, the new Jerusalem. Revelation 21:16 shows us that 'The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.' Another cube, the eternal dwelling place of the Lord God, where God dwells with his people forever.

Isn't it great how even television programmes can be reminders of the gospel? Phillip Schofield asks if you'll enter the cube. Will you be part of that greater reward in the greater cube of the New Jerusalem?