Week 8 : Plan of Salvation in the Old Testament

Last week we looked at the imagery of Adam and Eve walking eastward through the "temple," turning (or repenting) at the altar of sacrifice and then returning back into the holy place and holy of holies. This can be seen as a circular path, returning to one's beginning place. "Circular" is very Eastern or Hebraic.

If you draw that out in a linear (or Western) way, you end up with a straight path:
Let's label each of the rooms in the temple.
Next, we'll add which part of our lives each room now represents.
Then we add labels for which of the kingdoms or degrees of glory (see D&C 76) these rooms represent.
And, finally, change the upper labels to show how each of our lives follow the pattern or plan of salvation.

I hope that you can see that the pattern is CHIASTIC : [A B C D C' B' A']. The whole plan of salvation is a beautiful Hebrew chiastic poem, with the central focus on the most important event, the atonement of Jesus Christ, which makes repentance possible.