The Holy Place

 

Monday, April 4, 2022

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year.  Place the Ark of the Covenant inside, and install the inner curtain to enclose the Ark within the Most Holy Place.  Then bring in the table, and arrange the utensils on it.  And bring in the lampstand, and set up the lamps.  “Place the gold incense altar in front of the Ark of the Covenant.  Then hang the curtain at the entrance of the Tabernacle.  Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the Tabernacle entrance.  Set the washbasin between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water.  Then set up the courtyard around the outside of the tent, and hang the curtain for the courtyard entrance.  “Take the anointing oil and anoint the Tabernacle and all its furnishings to consecrate them and make them holy.  Anoint the altar of burnt offering and its utensils to consecrate them.  Then the altar will become absolutely holy.  Next anoint the washbasin and its stand to consecrate them.  “Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and wash them with water.  Dress Aaron with the sacred garments and anoint him, consecrating him to serve me as a priest.  Then present his sons and dress them in their tunics.  Anoint them as you did their father, so they may also serve me as priests.  With their anointing, Aaron’s descendants are set apart for the priesthood forever, from generation to generation.”  Exodus 40:1-15

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.  Hebrews 10:19-25

God gave detailed, sacred instructions to Moses as to how to set up the Tabernacle’s Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), along with cleansing and consecrating rituals for the priests who would serve there.  It would be a death sentence for anyone other than the consecrated High Priest to enter beyond the curtain that separated this place of God’s dwelling from all other places on earth.

Paul wrote that the blood of Christ changed all that.  We may enter into God’s presence boldly – that is, without fear of dying, but with awareness that it is the only way of living!  Entering the place of worship (in prayer, in church, on the golf course, driving on I-85, or changing the baby’s diaper) isn’t a place of worship at all, those are only the places we happen to be when we enter the place of worship – our being, our heart, soul, mind, and spirit, joining in conversation with the Father.  And that conversation requires both speaking and listening.

There is way too much here to unpack in a five minute devotional, but let’s open the conversation on having this conversation.  God, says Paul, is to be trusted with the promises He has made to have this conversation with each of us.  He speaks through His Word.  He speaks (sometimes) in an event or a growing sense of urgency in our heart.  And…He listens.  Best of all, He knows us – deep down, in every corner of our being…warts and all.  And He still loves us.

For You Today

If the new tabernacle for God is located in your innermost place, it would be wise to dwell on how God instructed Moses to  consecrate the first (temporary) Tabernacle…carefully, wholly-dedicating the place to God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The End of Sacrifices

 ^[1]

Monday, July 6, 2015

Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.  And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.   Mark 15:37-38^(NLT)

When something happens is almost as important as what happens.  At the moment Jesus died on the cross the curtain (veil) of the temple was torn in two.  These two events signify the end of the sacrificial system (Hebrews 10).  Jesus was the “perfect” (complete, ultimate) sacrifice, and therefore no further blood need be shed.

And, of course, Matthew and Mark both indicate the veil was torn from top-to-bottom, unlike William Bell’s painting which shows the split in the other direction.  This is important, because beginning at the top indicates it was done by God…not man.  In this case, it was God who ended the sacrificial system – it wasn’t decided at a general conference of all the religious nitpickers.

A detail about this moment at the cross and temple which I never noticed, is that there was more than one curtain; the veil within the temple screened off the holy of holies, while the outer curtain screened off the courtyard.  Whichever one was torn, it happened at the time of evening sacrifice, the time when it would have been impossible for the priests to have not observed this event; they were preparing the Passover. 

This could have been the outer curtain hung between the sanctuary itself and the forecourt or the inner curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place. If it was the outer curtain, then the tear was a public sign confirming Jesus’ words of judgment on the temple, later fulfilled in a.d. 70.[2]

It would take an awfully huge supply of spiritual blindness for the temple priests to ignore what God did.  As religious professionals, skilled, trained and given a front-row seat to the hand of God tearing down a four ton curtain, they should have been able to connect the dots that the Lord God Jehovah – JHWH was moving in judgment!

But they missed it altogether.

Which gives me pause here in 2015; I’m one of them!  I’ve been trained and have served as a pastor for the last 35 years; I’m in the same seat as the priests.  And there’s a question that comes with my “pause” – Am I connecting the dots?

Do I miss the obvious things God is trying to tell me because I’m caught in the everyday of what I do, the places I go, the people I listen to, and the demands of the urgent?  Am I sufficiently quiet within to hear the still, small voice…that one you never hear in the thunder of life’s storm?

Well…YOU can’t answer that for me, can you?

Neither can I answer it for you.

But you can.

For You Today

Take some time – preferably with your computer turned off – and get real quiet before God.  Ask the Father to show you where you may have missed hearing…and then wait.

If…no, rather when He speaks to your heart, pay attention so you can connect the dots.

I’d love to know what He says to you.

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[1] Title image: William Bell Scott [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[2] The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, ©1983, SP Publications, Inc. Comments on Mark 15:38