A Holy Place

Introduction

In his famous autobiography, the church father Augustine wrote as a prayer to God, “you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Dispite our falleness, sinful corruption, ignorance, and weakness, every human heart comes into this world, looks around, and experiences a desire for something beyond what it sees. Whether it is in the trees, rocks, and rivers; whether it is in the sky, the sun, moon, and the stars; whether it is in rituals, songs, and dances, human nature looks for a way to rest in a holy, sacred space that is made sacred by the presence of God. We were made to dwell with Him and the entire story of the Scriptures is about bringing us back to a place of free communion and fellowship with our Maker.

That story takes us through God making a covenant with Israel that established a sacred space, a tent known as the Tabernacle. This old covenant relationship was characterized by an earthly sanctuary (a holy place for worship) and extensive cultic regulations for worship. Today, the author would have us recognize what these things were for; to prepare us for heavenly realities that bring salvation and that accomplish the ultimate purpose of purifying our consciences so that we know God and have eternal life.

A Sanctuary

Verses 2-5 gives us a peek into the holy place built with hands, the one which was built according to the pattern God showed Moses in Exodus 25. You may remember a couple of weeks ago we looked at Hebrews 8:5 and explored the idea of typology. Typology is the way by which the NT directs us to interpret the OT seeing, in historic events, people, institutions, and prophetic words, great patterns and themes that are fulfilled in the coming of Christ. For a Christian reading the OT, even the parts that seem dull and irrelevant to us are actually preparing us for the great truths of the Gospel and the way Christ meets our spiritual needs that all these OT patterns pointed to.

We read “a tent was prepared”. The word Tabernacle just means tent and that is what is being described here. The idea is having a place where God’s presence is uniquely encountered and experienced. His goodness, majesty, power, holiness, and love draw near in a place where the veil between the physical and spiritual world is thinned so that God may dwell with his people.

The idea of sacred space is universal among human cultures throughout history. Ancient shamen believed that caves were portals to a spiritual realm and you can go to places like Chauvet Cave in France to see how they maticulouusly covered the walls of such caves in art that is thought to have spiritual significance. Bronze and Iron age Europeans believed that bogs were places where the boundary between the spiritual and physical worlds was blurred, and the Myans had similar belifs about the underwater caves found in the Yucatan Peninsula. In both of these cases, human sacrifices were offered to appease and obtain the favour of the spirits. Not to mention the use of temples in religions all over the world. Though these are pagan examples, they show a consistent human recognition of sacred spaces, places where the spiritual can be encountered and that an offering was often necessary to engage with the divine. Today, great cathedrals and other buildings stand as an example of this ongoing reality; human beings long to dwell in a sacred space. Despite our falleness, humanity has never forgotten that we are spiritual creatures and belong in places where the divine can be experienced.

The Bible shows us that this desire to dwell in sacred space is legitimate. The first temple was inhabited by the federal heads of humanity, the first king-priest and queen-priest Adam and Eve. In that Garden east of Eden, they walked with God and communed with Him. They dwelt in a place where God’s presence was manifest. It was more than a Garden. To use language from C. S. Lewis’ book, The Magician’s Nephew, the Garden was a ‘Wood Between Worlds’; a place where the divine realm where God’s majesty abides and physical realm which we experience more directly, came together.

The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, were sacred spaces; they were places where God could be experienced more directly than in common places. When we see these are patterns that reflect the reality of sacred space, those details about how the Tabernacle was constructed in Exodus 25-30 are suddenly meaningful, because those details reflect the pattern that God showed Moses of a heavenly reality. They give us objective expectations and structures that guide how we should think of sacred space and of how humans man approuch God in them.

The end of verse 5 tells us that the author did not have the space or time to cover all of the details of the Tabernacle in his letter, and that is also true of our time here today. Nevertheless, we can look at the details he does bring up and what they say about being in God’s presence.

The main detail that the author focuses in on in the fact that the inside of the Tabernacle was divided into two sections: the holy place and the most holy place.

The holy place, the outer room, contained the candlestick made to look like an almond tree, and the bread of the presence, which the priests alone were allowed to eat.

These two areas were separated by a curtain, making the experience of God’s presence a layered one. We could also note the courtyard outside the tent was a place where the priests could serve in a way which other Israelites could watch, though they could not enter.

The most holy place contained a golden bowl where incense was to be burned when the High Priest entered. In the middle was the Ark of the Covenant, a golden box which was seen as the footstool of God, who was to be thought of as sitting invisibly behind the Ark. Inside this box was a bowl of manna, Aaron’s budding staff, and the stone tablets of the covenant law. The manna was a reminder of God’s provision for his people, the staff was a reminder of the legitimacy of Aaron’s priesthood, and the stone tablets were a reminder that God’s presence could only be accessed through God’s ordained covenant. Above the box, on the lid were two cherubim; angelic being that stand as servants and guards of the holy Throne of God. These cherubs represent those that guarded the way back to the guarden of Eden with flaming swords. They remind the high priest that the way into God’s presence is limited because of the Fall and subsequent human sinfulness.

The Holy Rituals

With these two areas of the Tabernacle being established, in verse 6 the author points out that the first area, the holy place, where where the priests regularly served. Various duties were kept here in an ongoing basis.

First, the lamp had to be lit and continually left burning from evening until morning, so a priest must stay there throughout the night to make sure it did not go out.

There was also the showbread. Every Sabbath, a branch of Levitical priests called the Kohathites would bake twelve loaves of bread which were then stacked on a table of gold which stood across from the candlestick. They were then covered with frankincense. When new bread was baked, the old was ritualistically eaten in the holy place by the priests as a most holy portion.

The sacred incense was also burned in the tabernacle in the holy place, once in the morning and once in the evening. This incense was a specific mix of sweet smelling spices that was illegal to replicate for any other use. When Aaron’s two sons attempted to use a different kind of incense, they were struck dead for violating the command of God in that sacred space. Scent has a lot of power over us, and smelling something with a specific context attached to it can bring you into an entirely different frame of mind. To this day, the smell of cedar brings back sweet childhood memouries to me in a very powerful way. The scent of this special incense would have become very familiar with anyone working there and world immediately signal to the worshipper the power and holiness of the place they were in.

The author then points out the limited access there was to the most holy place, the inner room beyond the curtain. In here, only the High Priest could go once a year on Yom Kippor, the Day of Atonement.

On this day, the high priest entered with burning coals and incense for the golden alter. Then he brought the blood of the atoneing sacrifice and sprinkled it the horns of the alter and on the lid of the Ark, which was called the Mercy Seat. This represented the purification of God’s people from sin so that, with their sins covered, they may dwell with God without being destroyed by his holiness. This offering was for the unintentional sins of the people, meaning that there was no atonement for those who presumptively sinned and thought, “its ok, God will forgive me later on” are not covered by this sacrifice. God’s covenant offers grace to sinners in their weak stumblings, not those who wish to wickedly abuse that grace. Likewise, those who live in sin in the new covenant have no reason to believe that the blood of Jesus cleanses them. 1 John 3:6 warns us that

1 John 3:6 ESV

No one who abides in (Christ) keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

So, the holy place where God’s presence was most clearly displayed, where he sat enthroned, was limited greatly and points towards a need that the old covenant had not yet filled: the need to purify the conscience.

A Place and Means to Purify the Conscience

Verses 8 and 9 are very interesting. The author of Hebrews, looking at these two distinct areas in the Tabernacle, say something about the age of the old covenant. He says that the existance of a barrier indicates the holy place is not truly open. In other words, the full presence of God cannot dwell with his people in the old covenant so long as there are barriers in that sacred space.

An example might be found in the history of slavery in the United States and subsequent racial segregation until the 1960s. Although the US constitution promises equal treatement for all men based on inailiable rights, the segregation of slave and free or white and coloured showed that the reality of that constitutional promise had not yet been realized. In the same way, the segregation between the holy place, where the priests served, and the most holy place proved that God has not yet fully made his dwelling with his people. Another covenant would be necessary to, not only remove that curtain, but to welcome all of God’s people into the holiest place where they could truly live with God.

So, the old covenant might be seen as a transition to undo what the Fall had done. Adam and Eve were barred from sacred space by cherubs with flaming swords. In the old covenant through Moses, one priest could pass that flaming sword once a year while the others served near but outside that space. This certainly is a step in the right directly, but it cannot be the final result.

The author says that this division between the first and second room represented the present time, not meaning the present time for NT Christians reading this letter, but rather the then time present in the age of the old covenant. The priests in the holy place represented the people of Israel, who as a nation of priests lived near the presence of God and were meant to serve him there while the world looked on from the outside. But what the world saw was not a people living in sacred space or the presence of God, but rather near to it. A high priest was necessary to represent God’s people in the presence of God, but that high priest never succeeded in bringing an offering that was potent enough to cleanse the people in their hearts and lead them into that place. The curtain remained closed.

But what kept that curtain up? Why was it that the other priests could not enter? After all, they were ritually purified for service, they were priests ordained by God, and they belonged to a kingdom of priests. What was lacking? The author points out that the gifts and sacrifices offered by those priests could not “perfect the conscience of the worshiper”.

On this phrase, commentator Peter O’Brian writes,

“The old covenant provided the means for a cleansing that was external but could not purify the conscience, the person’s internal moral faculty by which they discerned right and wrong (see on v. 14). Those who had their bodies washed but consciences defiled were in no position to draw near to God. Thus a more complete cleansing was needed.”

The reason that the old covenant could not cleanse the people and bring them into sacred space with God was because it dealt only with external things, not with the heart and mind of the person. Cerimonial washings, insence, the blood of animals, all of it dealt only with external realities during the time of expectation, expernal rituals pointing towards a greater cleansing needed and coming in the appearance of the Son of God.

This connects the reader to what we looked at last week in chapter 8, where the main distinction of the new covenant was that God’s instructions would become an internal reality in the heart of God’s people. God’s instructions would not simply be rules to follow and rituals to practice, but a relationship of trust, faithfulness, and love; what Jeremiah calls “know(ing) the Lord”.

As a side note, this reality should inform us aboutr how we should view the rituals we do have in the new covenant; namely, the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Table. Traditions that stress some kind of mechanical happening in the sacrement, such as Baptism causing regeneration or the Eucharist transmuting bread and wine into the true substance of Christ’s body and bloody, seem to miss the NT emphasis here. OT rituals were weak because they were merely outward, why would these outward rituals be any different? Peter famously says in 1 Peter 3:21 that baptism saves, but clarifies that it is not the waters that save (which only remove dirt from the body) but it is the appeal to God for a good conscience. In other words, it is the faith which is actively expressing itself through Baptism that saves. Likewise, the taking of the Table is only bread and wine to those without faith, but to those who express a faith that reaches out to recieve Christ’s body and blood it is a true participation in the things that the elements represent. The ordinances are only as powerful as the faith that is expressed through them; otherwise, they are useless.

When verse 10 speaks of the time of reformation or correction, it speaks of the new covenant in Christ as an improvement or a new order which fixes this inherent problem in the old covenant. Everything the old covenant displayed in outward signs, such as temple rituals and cleanliness laws, pointed to an inward need that the new covenant fulfills. Again, O’Brian notes that these external rituals

“left the participants feeling guilty for their sins because they were merely external regulations.”

If your body feels unclean, a shower will help you feel better. But if your heart and soul are unclean, washings and blood rituals will not clear your conscience because you know that the sinful heart remains in you. Only in the blood of Jesus and his priestly service in heaven can cleanse us from the guilt, shame, and power of sin to serve the Lord with all our hearts.

We see Paul address this reality in Romans 7 showing that, even if you desired to serve God under the old covenant law, sin would prevail. What hope is there is such a predicament? He answers in Romans 8:2

Romans 8:2 ESV

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

That is, the instructions of God given to us by the Holy Spirit in Christ frees us from the slavery to sin and death that the old covenant was unable to do anything about.

God’s People in Sacred Space

The result is that, in Christ, the curtain is torn, the walls of the Temple are opened and all may enter in under the priesthood of Christ. Because his work actually solves the problem of sin and uncleanness, he alone is a high priest able to enter the most holy place and invite his people in with him, having sprinkled his own blood in atonement for their sins and transforming them through the work of the Spirit.

The final reality of God’s people living in sacred space is ultimately that we will dwell with God forever. When describing the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21:3, John records

Revelation 21:3 ESV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

and in describing the new Jerusalem, he writes in Revelation 21:22

Revelation 21:22 ESV

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

The eternal result of Christ’s work is the abolishment of temples simply because sacred space will be universal. With hearts cleansed and consciences renewed, God will dwell with his people without walls, without curtains, with full access in Christ Jesus out Lord.

Conclusion

Deep in the heart of all people is a recognition that we belong in a sacred space. We were made for this, and we had it at Eden before our sin cut us off from that priviledge. We recognize the danger of approaching these spaces unprepared, and humans have tried various rituals to make themselves feel able to approach the divine beyond the veil. The OT use outward signs and symbols to reveal that God did mean to bring us back into a sacred space; that is, to bring us back into his presence so that he may dwell with us as his people and we may live with him as our God.

In Christ, this basic need has been satisfied. God dwells with his people through the Holy Spirit, making any place where Christ is worshipped by his saints a sacred and holy space. To come to church, to get on your knees and pray, to seek God’s help in need, to serve his saints in love, all of this should be interpreted within the framework of an invisible reality that God dwells with us. Our future hope is to see that invisible reality, which we percieve by faith, become visible when Christ returns. The Christian lives everyday in the presence of God; what a tragedy if you should go through even one day without realizing it.

And if you do not yet know Christ, I hope you will search your heart and find that awareness and desire for a holy place, which is a desire to be in the presence of God. Though marred by sin and misdirected by ignorance, it is a universal condition of the human heart. Will you not turn to Christ and see in him the solution to this need, who disarms our terror and confirms our hope through his redemptive work. Look to Christ, who died and rose and reigns and call you to dwell in the presence of God. Will you not come?