The Most Holy Place

A curtain hung between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and temple and separated the presence of God from the Israelite priests who served there.

Only the high priest was allowed into the Most Holy Place, and only after a strict regimen of cleansing. Jesus cleanses us from our humanity, so that we may serve the Living God through His divinity within us (Hebrews 9:14).

As Jesus took His last breath on Calvary's cross, the temple curtain split in half from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). Most scholars believe that God orchestrated this torn Temple curtain as an object lesson for us.

It illustrates and signifies the fact that we cannot earn our way to heaven, but we can now enter the presence of God by the blood of Jesus with confidence in our salvation (Hebrews 10:19).

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He sets His seal of ownership on us and gives us His Spirit as a down payment of our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Once we repent of our sins, ask for forgiveness and surrender our will to Him, He moves into our Born Again spirit and resides within us all through our lifetime. He places us in His Body and we work together for His glory.

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Christ lives in us (Colossians 1:27). Our Spirit is the Most Holy Place where God resides. God makes us a holy sanctuary in which He can dwell (Exodus 25:8).

Cleansed from sin by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19), we are His priests and we shall reign with Him during the Millennium for 1000 years and then serve Him throughout eternity (Revelation 20:6).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our safe haven and our power to deal with temptation and persecution (Psalm 46:1). Even in the most unthinkable and earth shattering circumstances, with our faith in Your faithfulness, we have no reason to fear (Psalm 46:1-3). We consider trails as a time of great joy, because they are an adventure with You (James 1:2).

We stop our stressing and watch You work in our behalf (James 1:2; Psalm 46:10). We are Your children (Romans 8:15). You promise never to leave us or to forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). You are our Mighty God who saves us and abides within us. You celebrate over us with delight. You calm us with Your love. You even rejoice over us with thunderous singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Thought for the Day:

Our hope in Christ is the sure and steadfast anchor for our soul. – Hebrews 6:19

A Holy God

Our human penchant is to trust in our self-righteousness, natural talents and basic good heart to earn us a place in heaven, or at least to ensure that we are reincarnated to a higher life form.

The problem with this thinking is that our heart is deceitful and basically wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Even our best day falls short of God's holiness and glory, which is the standard for residence in Heaven (Roman 3:23).

When we repent of our sin, ask for God's forgiveness and surrender our life to Him, He gives us the righteousness, which can only come from Jesus Christ.

Jesus then abides within us by His Spirit (John 15:4). He raises our spirit, which is dead in sin, to walk in a whole new life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). This secures our place in Heaven.

That is why God sent the perfect Lamb, who never lived a moment in sin, to take on the sin of the whole world and to make us righteous like God through the sacrifice of His life (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus willingly laid down His life for us (Luke 4:29-30). He made the choice in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night before He was betrayed, to carry out God's will (Luke 22:42).

Jesus submitted to the excruciating scourging and death on the cross, not due to human weakness, but according to the spiritual strength He received while considering the glory that lay waiting for Him in Heaven (Hebrews 12:2).

The grace of God transforms us into a Temple made without hands, a dwelling place fit for a King (1 Corinthians 3:16). He uses what the world considers as foolishness to carry out the work of His Kingdom (1 Corinthians 1:27).

Our only honorable response to this is to submit to His will in our life, so that we will also be counted worthy to dwell with Him in His glorious Kingdom for eternity (Luke 21:36).

God created each one of us for a specific purpose (Ephesians 2:10) and will judge our works in this life in order to reward us in the next (1 Corinthians 3:13).

Prayer:

Father God, many people do not comprehend the elaborate tapestry You have woven over millennia of time in order to bring about the fulfillment of all things (Ephesians 1:10). They do not understand that You never send judgment without first sending warning.

The flood, the annihilation of generations of people and their possessions in Canaan, the crucifixion of Your own son and other judgments are puzzles and a stumbling block, which prevent people from surrendering their life to You. Yet, before all of these events, You gave mankind plenty of warning that You are a holy and righteous God and nothing unholy may dwell in Your presence.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus had no thought for Himself, but only love for a dying world lost in sin's degradation.

God's Eternal Plan - Part 1

 

God is not a cosmic ogre, waiting to inflict pain upon defenseless human beings. He is a loving, supernatural Being, who wanted us to live in Paradise with Him forever. His ultimate desire is that we allow Him to give us His best. He does not want robots worshiping Him; therefore, like the angels, He gave mankind a free will to choose whether to serve God, self or Satan with our life (Joshua 24:15).

God gave humanity just one stipulation in Paradise: eat of any tree except one. Adam and Eve had all of Paradise to enjoy and to eat to their heart's content. However, their human pride, curiosity and greed were fueled by Satan's deception, and they stooped to his level to try to become like God (Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14).

Where was their gratitude for everything God gave them: for the perfect environment, for their love for one another, for the animals and all of creation, which dwelt together in perfect unity and harmony (Isaiah 11:6-8) and for daily face-to-face communication with God in the cool of the evening? (Genesis 3:8)

Due to human pride, all of creation was instantly under the same curse of sin that we are now. Since that day creation impatiently awaits the revelation of the children of God in order to be restored to its rightful place in the paradise of the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1; Isaiah 65:17). God has given mankind 6,000 years to repent and come to Him.

When Adam and Eve realized they were naked and felt shame, God killed an animal to make clothes for them to wear (Genesis 3:21). That innocent blood had to have atonement, a perfect Lamb, sacrificed to pay the sin debt. Jesus, the Lamb of God, paid that debt and freed us all to live in eternity with our Heavenly Father as co-heirs with Him of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank You that this earth will not live under the curse of sin forever. Jesus will return with His army and with one word of His mouth, he will destroy the maniacal army of Satan. He will make a new heaven and a new earth for us to enjoy for eternity. You never send judgment without first sending warning, often for hundreds of years before You acts on Your righteous judgment. I pray that people worldwide will heed the warning You are sending in these last days. You will never, ever leave or forsake us and we sing praises to You for Your steadfast love.

Thought for the Day:

We rejoice in knowing that Christ abides within us by His Spirit as we cling to Him as a branch on a vine.