Come Close to God!

“This is it!” the people thought. We’re marching on Jerusalem w/ the Son of David to set up his kingdom. When God’s people rule the world, I’ll tell my kids and grandkids, “I was there! I helped escort the Messiah into Jerusalem.”

It’s a big moment! Big anticipation! This was the moment God’s people were waiting for. They chanted Ps 118 and rejoiced: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” God’s promises are coming true at last!

We’ve seen uncomfortable demonstrations like this in both Canada and the US all too recently. Unruly crowds descending on symbolic buildings in capital cities: The Jan. 6 riot @ US Capitol. Trucker’s convoy in front of the Parliament Building.

What about Jerusalem: when the Messiah arrives, were does he go?

Roman Barracks @ Antonia Fortress?

Pilate’s palace?

Jesus goes to the temple, with kids trailing after him, still shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” It’s not as odd as you might think. The temple was close to the hearts of the Jews. The temple of the Lord sets the Jews apart as God’s dearly loved people. The temple is God’s dwelling place right in the heart of Jerusalem, in the midst of them all.

Of course, as Solomon prayed outside the 1st temple,

Even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.

How much less this temple!

I Kings 8:27(NIV)

Yet, the temple in Jerusalem is where heaven connects w/ earth.

In the Holy of holies, God’s mercy seat is above the ark of the covenant. God sits enthroned between the cherubim.

Outside the Holy of holies is the Holy place, outside the Holy place is the priest’ courtyard, outside priest’s courtyard is the women’s court, outside the women’s court is the Court of Gentiles.

The templeis a massive place. Have you stood at the centre of a soccer pitch or baseball diamond and just looked around at how big it is? This courtyard is bigger. The whole temple complex was more than 30 acres. I know farms that aren’t that big!

Some space was rented by bankers. The temple was a secure place to store valuables. Who would steal from a god? Who would steal from the house of the Lord God?

The money changers provided a useful service. They converted Roman denarii or other coins to Jewish half-shekels so people could pay the temple tax. The currency exchange businesses rented space in the huge courtyard.

Other stalls were rented to farmers selling doves. It’s not the main market, but these businesses met a need: doves for sacrifices: for guilt offerings and purification rites.

Why did this upset Jesus?

He wasn’t minorly irritated. Jesus got angry! He drove them out.

Here’s the trouble: the merchants and bankers, their birds and booths obstructed worship for the Gentiles. God had reserved this whole area for Gentiles to pray. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:6-7.

Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord

to minister to him,

to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,

all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it

and who hold fast to my covenant—

these I will bring to my holy mountain

and give them joy in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar;

for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Isaiah 56:6–7 (NIV)

Problem: The space rented out for currency exchange and bird-shops is in the Court of the Gentiles. Foreigners and lame people can’t get any closer to God than that. But the tables and merchants, birdcages and the bustle prevent Gentiles from getting close to God.

It’s the same for the blind and the lame.

Disabled people aren’t permitted further into the Temple than the Court of Gentiles; not allowed into the Women’s court. The sellers didn’t make the courtyard a worshipful space to pray. But Jesus ushered the blind & lame further in God’s presence. He healed them; making them whole, making them eligible to come to God.

As for the temple being “a den of robbers,” Jesus is quoting from Jeremiah 7. Back in Jeremiah’s day, the prophet was sent to the temple to confront the priests with God’s word:

Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:9–11 (NIV)

Using Jeremiah’s words, Jesus brings these charges against the religious leaders of his day.

Worshipping God at the temple is tainted by sin and brokenness. Jesus has come to bring renewal!

Think, what a privilege it is to talk with God!

Moses @ burning bush – fire, remove sandals, hear God’s name!

Israelites at Mt. Sinai:

fire and smoke, trumpet blast. It’s a terrifying thing to meet God in all his righteousness and majesty.

“No, no, no,” the people said to Moses. “You go. We’re good. We’ll just stay in the camp. It’s too risky to meet with God in all his holiness.”

When the tabernacle was made, after everything was done, God’s glory descended and filled the tabernacle. Moses had to escape the cloud and smoke of God’s glory.

Same thing when Solomon’s temple was completed. God’s glory descended in a cloud of fire and smoke. The Priests all spilled out of the temple b/c they couldn’t stay when God’s glory flooded in.

There’s a reason why Jewish people still pray at Western Wall. Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. Only the western wall and some tunnels remain. Jews gather at the wailing wall to pray. Temple mount is where Abraham and Solomon, Isaiah and Ezekiel encountered the glory of God Most High. It’s where God had his mercy seat. It’s the closest they can get.

In Mt 21, after driving out the buyers and sellers, Jesus welcomes the blind and the lame. In the court of the Gentiles, the blind and the lame are healed. They’re restored. Healed and cleansed, they are permitted to come even closer to God.

It’s an act of great hospitality. Jesus opens space for Gentiles to encounter the LordMost High. He opens the way for the blind and lame to enter God’s dwelling place on earth, closer to where he’s enthroned between the cherubim.

God has always been in the business of hospitality.

Creation: room for humankind to live and enjoy God

The garden of Eden – a great place to live, walk and talk each evening with the Creator, God Most High

God gave Moses the design for the tabernacle. He made a place for them to come close to God safely.

The big difference between the Garden of Eden and the tabernacle is that guilt had risen. Adam & Eve’s disobedience made it impossible to stand in God’s presence. Shame made it impossible to encounter God’s holiness and righteousness. Guilt and shame made people afraid.

The tabernacle and the temple were designed to make it safe for people to approach God.

3 Categories: Unclean, Clean, and Holy.

Uncleanness removed by washing. Become holy by sacrifice: lamb or a dove atones for sin. On Atonement Day, blood is sprinkled under the mercy seat.

That day in the courtyard, Jesus opened a way for the Gentiles, the blind, and the lame to come close to God. In the days that followed he opened a way for all people to come close to God. At the cross, Jesus shouldered the shame and guilt of human sin. His blood covered human guilt, once for all.

The author of the NT book of Hebrews marvels at the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice. After comparing OT priests and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the author records this conclusion:

Brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:19–22(NIV)

Is there anything that would prevent you from accepting Jesus’ hospitality?

Come close to God w/o fear and w/o shame! – at Jesus’ invitation.

That’s the gift offered us by faith in Jesus. We can come close to God! No need for priests, for offerings, for the temple. The whole world is being transformed to be holy.

When we read further in the story in the gospel of Matthew, this happened when Jesus died on the cross:

When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:50–51a(NIV)

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence. He still sits on his mercy seat. He still hears your requests for forgiveness. He hears your prayers and petitions. In fact, Jesus and the Holy Spirit both intercede with the Father on your behalf.

How do you take advantage of it?

Do you come to God and talk?

Do you revel in the intimacy you can enjoy of walking and talking with God?

Jesus opened the way for us to come close to God. He has prepared us for the day when God’s dwelling place will once again be on earth. By faith we have space reserved for us in the New Jerusalem.

Another NT author, John, got a glimpse of that day. He recorded what he saw in the book of Revelation. This is what Jesus’ death and resurrection made possible. John writes:

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 21:2–4 (NIV)

In the new Jerusalem, we’ll be able to enjoy being close to God; to walk and talk with our Creator and Redeemer in the cool of the day. Your daily prayers now are a foretaste of that intimacy.

So what kind of prayer habits have you developed?

· 1/wk?

· daily?

· mealtimes?

· b/f bed?