November 18-Through the Glass
Saturday at the store the cutest little girl with giant blue eyes was fascinated with all the sparkly diamond rings in the big glass case. She wanted one so badly but her dad couldn’t make her understand that she just wasn’t quite old enough for one yet. Children often play at being grown up—play house, pretend to drive, pretend to be mommies and daddies...but it’s only a picture of the real thing.
Here in chapter eight of Hebrews we are reminded that here, the earthly tabernacle has human priests to do the work. However the work they re doing is only a picture of the real thing in Heaven. The work and the ministry of the human priests have very limited value and meaning, not much different than the work of a child pretending to play house.
“Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands...If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.”
Hebrews 8:1-2, 4-6 NLT
Jesus could not possibly work as effectively as a priest in this shadow tabernacle as he does in the heavenly tabernacle where His ministry, His offerings, and His intercession provides the way for not only our salvation but for our daily walk. In this heavenly tabernacle, effective ministry happens, effective sacrifices are offered, and powerful promises of God get answered—He forgives us completely.
The priests offered sacrifices because it was prescribed by the old covenant. But that covenant was not good enough for salvation. With a new high priest it follows there needs to be a New Covenant. Jesus does not just take over doing what the former priests did. The terms of the relationship between God and us have been changed.
There are greater promises—one sacrifice covers all our sins. Forgiveness is eternal and God changes our hearts and releases forgiveness. These promises that are available to us today were unavailable to the Israelite people because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We can not only take hold of the real priest but we can grab onto the real promise —not just the play acting, shadow.
We don’t have to be children looking though the glass window any more.
Father, when we look at the old tabernacle, it was a beautiful place and it released powerful blessings. Still, that building only looked like the real tabernacle. The one you have created in heaven gives a much greater blessing because it is the real thing. Help us today to not let the picture of temporary things take the place of the real. Teach us not to accept things of earth that bring temporary joy instead of receiving the joy of the Spirit. Teach us to to know the difference in trusting in this world to meet our heart’s desire and longing for heavenly blessings. There are so many ways to settle for the temporary—to play house and just settle for looking through the glass instead of actually living the life. We want the real thing that can only be found in you Lord, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. It can’t be found anywhere or anyway else, so we earnestly ask for the heart and mind to seek you and to find you. Amen and amen.
Love you dear one,
Pam
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