Sacred Space 1

Sacred Space: a type of unique space set aside for habitation by a deity. Such space represented the intersection of heaven and earth in the biblical world. (Wells, 2020)

Sacred space is a place where God is encountered in a special or direct way, by virtue of which the very place becomes holy and set apart from ordinary space.

“His realm is supernatural; ours is terrestrial. The space he occupies is sacred and made otherworldly by his presence. The space we occupy is “profane” or ordinary. Yahweh is the antithesis of ordinary. Humans must be invited and purified to occupy the same space.”[1]

The ancients believed that certain locations had gained sacred status as portals through which the gods traversed.””

Bible Project video:  https://youtu.be/Zy2AQlK6C5k?si=9VA9X0iTJTgsH-uo “Where heaven and earth overlap”

Where was the first sacred space man was with God? Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” ______________________

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What happened, regarding sacred space, in Genesis 3:24 “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” ? ______________________________

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Why was it gracious and loving for God to do that?

Where else do you find cherubim in the Old Testament? ___________________________

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‘The cherubim reappear in only one other context in the entire Pentateuch, and that is in the Holy of Holies in the Sanctuary.’ Cherubim and other like creatures were the traditional guardians of sacred space in the ANE. (Morales, 2015)

We read the descriptions of them in Revelation 4:6-10; 5:6-14; and 7:11.

What other examples of sacred space can you find in the Bible?_______________________

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Recall times in your life when you may have experienced sacred space. _________________

[1] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 172.