Here's this month's update. I pray the Lord will draw you close to His heart as we celebrate Easter this week.
Under the Old Covenant, God's presence dwelt in the Most Holy Place, behind a curtain in the tabernacle/temple. Only the high priest could enter, and he only once a year, after he had made sacrifices to atone for sin.
31 “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place..." - Exodus 26:31-33The Old Covenant was just a shadow of what was to come, a way of preparing us for the day when God Himself would dwell among us on earth, out in the open. When Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins and mine, the curtain that had once separated us was torn.
Because He died, rose from the dead, and returned to His rightful place in heaven, the division between God and man has been destroyed. When we come to faith in Christ and surrender our lives to Him, the Spirit makes His home in us. Our bodies become the dwelling place of God. We enter into a relationship with our Creator! That's so crazy!
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” - Mark 15:37-39
12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. - Hebrews 10:12-15
Praise God for Easter!
