The Hidden Glory

Good morning!

It is good to be back home with you guys.

I’m thankful for Glen covering for me last week and really preparing us for this new section in our study.

Today as we move into chapter nine we will see the author making a comparison between the old and new covenant and specifically how it changes our relationship with God.

As we begin this morning I want you to think for a moment about both the beauty of language but also the complications that can come when it isn’t completely understood.

I’m talking specifically about English because it is the only one I really know.

We have the ability to be very specific yet because all of our life experiences are different, there is an opportunity for miscommunication.

The person giving the information may think that they were perfectly clear, but the person receiving the info may not understand.

Just because we think we understand something, doesn’t mean that we really understand fully.

Writing good instructions -

When i was in sixth grade, our science class did a beta test of a science curriculum that was written by NASA.

One of the lessons focused on how important it is to document proper procedures for astronauts.

To demonstrate this point, they had us break up into pairs and write instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

We then swapped our written instructions.

We had to follow the procedure we were given exactly and could not deviate or add steps.

That would seem like an easy task, yet it was hilarious how many sandwiches were made that didn’t reassemble a sandwich.

Simple things like putting the two pieces of bread together aren’t actually simple.

Most of the sandwiches got put together inside out.

The point they were trying to drive home is that astronauts have to communicate with one another in ways that eliminate assumptions and perfectly describe all steps.

Often what they are doing is very dangerous and an incorrect assumption could have tragic consequences.

If you ever saw the movie Apollo 13, there is a scene when the ground crew help the astronauts figure out how to put a round filter in a square filter housing.

If they mess it up, the carbon dioxide will build up and they will all asphyxiate.

Complete understanding is important and in some cases life-changing.

Just because we think we fully understand something, does not mean that we do.

Language can fail us and most of the time, we need more than just a description of something, we need to experience it to fully understand it.

The author of Hebrews is about to make a point about our understanding and I wanted your minds to be prepped to see it.

Look at the first five verses of chapter nine with me.

Hebrews 9:1–5 CSB

1 Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves. 3 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. 4 It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

The first four verses probably sound familiar to you.

There are a number of places in scripture where the tabernacle and temple are described.

But in verse 5 he makes a curious statement.

Did you notice it?

Look at the last half of that verse with me.

Hebrews 9:5b (CSB)

It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

I don’t know about you, but that grabbed my attention.

Why?

If you will take a closer look there is a footnote at the end or near the end of that verse, depending on what translation you are reading, that references a passage from Leviticus.

Leviticus 16:2 CSB

2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

Do you have any guesses as to why the author couldn’t speak in detail about what was inside the inner court that he is trying to describe?

He had never seen it!

What is in the Most Holy Place has been described to him, but he has never actually experienced being in that room.

He can only tell the details that have been shared with him.

Imagine for a moment that your whole life you have had people tell you about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but you had never had one.

Sure you can tell someone about it, but not the symmetry of flavors that happen when you get your favorite nut butter and jelly combined in just the right ratio.

The author is making the point of how inadequate this covenant was.

Every Jewish person would have been told about the objects in that room, what they represented, and even that God’s very presence was in that room and was its source of light.

Yet, none of them had ever or would ever be able to see it for themselves.

Not only had the author never been in that room, but prior to the Holy Spirit, he had also never experienced God’s presence.

All of the things in The Most Holy were just representations of what is to come.

He can’t speak in detail about the fulfillment of those things until he experiences them through the person of Jesus.

All the things in that room were simply placeholders, reminders of what God promised that he would do one day through his son.

As I was thinking through this idea this morning, this hymn came on.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of glory and grace

Think about how lucky we are.

Every week when we gather, we get to either share our stories or hear other people's stories of what God is doing in their lives.

We are bearing witness to God’s activity and presence in our lives.

Before Jesus came to earth, that wasn’t a thing.

The Israelites had a description of God and his glory, we have the opportunity to have him living in us!

We’ve heard this before, but look at what the author says.

Hebrews 9:6–10 CSB

6 With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry. 7 But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience. 10 They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

There was a time in all of our lives when we didn’t have the Holy Spirit.

When we didn’t recognize God’s activity.

Because of that, we can understand what it was like prior to the Holy Spirit.

There are even some here today that have not yet trusted Jesus to be their savior and haven’t received the Holy Spirit.

if that is you today, you are in good company.

All of us were in that place at one time.

All of us also began to experience God’s activity in our lives prior to knowing him.

That is what is so incredible about this message about a better covenant.

For so many before us, this covenant didn’t exist and their experiences with God were exceedingly limited.

That is what the author is pointing to.

Look at verses eight and nine again.

Hebrews 9:8–9 CSB

8 The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.

It was not until Jesus destroyed the first temple and rebuilt it again that any but the high priest could enter the presence of God.

Because only one person could go into the inner room and only once a year, no one could experience God in the way that he intended.

I was reminded of the prophet Malachi this week.

His writings are the last in the old testament and if you read through this short four-chapter book you will see all the accusations that God makes through the prophet Malachi.

Just after this is what we refer to as the 400 years of silence when God did not speak through anyone.

At the end of these 400 years, we see John the Baptist preparing the people for the coming Messiah.

All that had been done prior to Jesus, all the sacrifice, all the attempts at righteousness, all that people did to be better were fruitless.

The law and regulations didn’t draw the people to know the person of God and they were even prevented from entering his presence.

We see this prevalent in the church today as people are still trying to earn God’s favor.

But now there is a new covenant that was promised by the prophets.

When God says in Mal 4:2

Malachi 4:2 CSB

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.

He is talking about the joy, peace, and freedom that is to come through knowing God, by personal experience.

That is what Glen was talking about last week.

The freedom that comes from knowing God by experience is what we at the Gathering Place have enjoyed.

This is what God has called us to share with both unbelievers and with believers that are still trying to earn God’s grace.

I know that many of us still struggle with comparing ourselves to others or fighting the lies of the enemy that we aren’t good enough.

The enemy's greatest tactic is to twist the truth.

While we say that we believe that Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins, we are still convinced that we must do something to reconcile our relationship with God.

We still walk in fear and shame, hiding from God because we believe the lie that he won’t accept us.

God loves you no matter what and wants you to not just know that in your mind, but by experience.

When you sin this week, and you will, let God remind you that he still loves you.

Be reminded that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding on your behalf.

God reminded me of a story from my childhood that really helped me understand the relational dynamics that were at play prior to Jesus and that still plague people today.

When I was in 5th grade, I was going down the hall by myself after going to the restroom, and as boys will do, I decided to mess with something.

There was no reason for it, and I can honestly say that I saw that thermostat and just decided in the moment to mess with it.

What I didn't know was that one of the office workers was behind me, saw the whole thing, and was good friends with my parents.

She immediately called me out on it and gave me a good chewing for it.

It was a Thursday just before the end of school.

That Friday was the parish fair and my sister and I showed sheep.

This friend of my parents would also be there because her son showed cows.

All weekend I spent living in fear of if she was going to tell my dad.

I made it through Friday.

Saturday came, the shows finished, and we were waiting around for the afternoon for the sale to begin that evening.

I thought I had made it.

I had successfully avoided her and my dad as much as possible those two days.

And then I saw him.

My dad was heading across the barn with that look in his eye that every child knows.

I was a goner for sure.

Because we were in public, my dad didn’t discipline me like he normally would, but he saw a chair and told me to sit down.

Now I’m feeling guilty, ashamed, furious at everyone but myself.

You know what would have fixed that whole situation?

Instead of avoiding it, hoping that it would go away, I should have gone to my parents that night, and told them what I had done.

I could have avoided days of agony and the embarrassment of being punished in front of all my people.

While that is a fun story to tell now, what I have realized now as an adult is that for so long, I interacted with God in the very same way.

Rather than being drawn closer to him by his grace, I was living as if we were still in the old covenant and I was actually pushing myself further away.

It wasn’t until I came to understand fully what Jesus had done and the grace that was given to me because of His work that I was able to really know God in any meaningful way.

As Glen talked about last week there are so many around us and sometimes even us, that still relate to God the way I did with my dad in that story.

We know we are guilty, we avoid God because we don’t want to admit our sin and deal with it, and then when God does bring us into correction, we blame God instead of ourselves.

The law was powerless then and it is still powerless today.

Hebrews 9:10 CSB

They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

What was the time that those laws were required?

The old covenant.

Now we live in the new covenant.

Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law.

There is nothing left for us to do.

The author of Hebrews is taking the time to walk through all of this theology to help his people understand the greatness of what God has done through Jesus.

For generations, the Glory of God was hidden from the people because of their sins and now, Jesus has literally torn the curtains down that separated God’s presence from his people.

Now, because of Jesus, we are no longer bound by the Old covenant but are living in a new covenant in which God’s presence is not only available to us but now lives inside of all believers.

God has no desire to relate to us in the way that I described in my story.

God wants us to run to Him with our sin and he will not only forgive us, but he will work in us to remove the sin completely.

This is the kind of relationship we were created to have with the Father.

The question I want to leave us with today is how long will we allow the Glory of God to be hidden?

We need it, our families need it, our neighbors need it, our friends and coworkers, all of them need to see the glory of who God is.

God didn’t send Jesus because he had to, he sent him because that is who he is.

He is love, He acts in love, He overflows with love, He loves you, and he loves your people.

You are the way in which your people will come to know God.

His glory overflowing in your life will the what begins to draw those people to God.

That is God’s plan for your life.

Where you work, where you play, where you live, none of that is happenstance.

God has placed you where he needs you to be.

In Oswald today he references John 14:12

John 14:12 CSB

“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Oswald says this:

Prayer does not prepare us for greater works, prayer is the greater work. -Oswald Chambers, Utmost for His Highest, 10.17

It is only by spending time in the presence of God that we can share that experience with others.

We do that through purposeful moments with the Father.

As we close out with worship this morning, let's purposefully take a moment together to pray over this work that God has called us to.

Right where you are this morning, lift up your heart to God.

If you are struggling, bring that to him.

If you have been hiding, run to him.

If there is a person on your heart this morning, lift them up.

Take a moment this morning and then I will close us up.