(Intro Video-ark of the covenant-Holy of Holies)
Ok, Some of you are probably wondering how Noah’s ark fit inside this small box. Did they shrink it? What’s up with that? So, I have to clear up some of your confusion. The ark of the covenant and Noah’s ark are two different things. Noah’s ark was of course, the boat made by Noah when the great flood came. The ark of the covenant, however, was a sacred container that the stone tablets holding the Ten Commandments were placed into. In the days of King Solomon, the temple was built. The temple was built as a place for God to reside. 2 Chronicles 5 talks about how after the temple was built, the ark was placed in the Most Holy Place. Let’s listen to verses 4-14, “4 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, 5 and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests, who were Levites, carried them up; 6 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. 7 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. 9 These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. 11 The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. 12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang:
"He is good;
his love endures forever."
Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.”
So, the glory of the Lord filled the temple and God has his house built in Jerusalem. The temple was broken into three parts (show pic) – the outer courts, the holy place, and the most holy place. A thick curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. This curtain, known as the “veil,” was made of fine linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn. There were figures of cherubim (angels) embroidered onto it. Cherubim, spirits who serve God, were in the presence of God to demonstrate His almighty power and majesty. They also guarded the throne of God. These cherubim were also on the innermost layer of covering of the tent. If one looked upward, they would see the cherubim figures.
The word “veil” in Hebrew means a screen, divider or separator that hides. What was this curtain hiding? Essentially, it was shielding a holy God from sinful man. Whoever entered into the Holy of Holies was entering the very presence of God. In fact, anyone except the high priest who entered the Holy of Holies would die. Even the high priest, God’s chosen mediator with His people, could only pass through the veil and enter this sacred dwelling once a year, on a prescribed day called the Day of Atonement.
The picture of the veil was that of a barrier between man and God, showing man that the holiness of God could not be trifled with. God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil and He can tolerate no sin (Habakkuk 1:13). The veil was a barrier to make sure that man could not carelessly and irreverently enter into God’s awesome presence. In those days, the High Priest was allowed to visit the Most Holy Place once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to offer sacrifice for the sins of all the people. Except, when the priest entered in, he himself should be found blameless, or consecrated before the Lord. So, there was this process that he had to go through to get ready to meet with God, he had to make some meticulous preparations: He had to ceremonially wash himself 7 times, He would stay up all night the night before to meditate on the Scriptures, put on special clothing, bring burning incense to let the smoke cover his eyes from a direct view of God, and bring blood with him to make atonement for sins. Before the priest entered in, a cord was tied around his waist, and gold bells were attached. If the priest entered in, not being fully consecrated to God, he would be struck dead, and the other priests would use the cord to pull his body out.
At the time of Moses, Aaron was the high priest, and his sons tried to offer incense to God. Leviticus 10: 1-2, “aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire on them
So, you can see, in order to meet with God, the high priest, God’s mediator, would have to be very careful to be found spotless. So, why is it that when we enter into God’s presence, many of us don’t even care. We tend to goof off, talk through worship, and think nothing of it. If anyone would try to meet with God with this attitude, they would have been struck dead.
But, what is worship?
Worship-to honor and love, to ascribe worth to
Worth- the quality that makes something desirable, useful, or valuable.
So, when we worship God, we basically let Him know that we are honoring, and loving Him—that we realize that He is desirable, useful, or valuable.
You see, if you know Jesus, you should be in a love relationship with Him-you love him, and he loves you.
Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”
You see, in this love relationship with God, you have to understand, that not only He wants you to worship Him, but He worships you, He delights in you, and He sings over you.
When you show someone you love them, there are lots of different ways that you can do that.
Actions of Worship—
Sing--Yeah, you can sing to them, but if you sang to your boyfriend, he wouldn’t know that you cared about him if you just sang, la, la, la, would he? No, it’s more than just the singing it’s the words.
Reading –when you read the Bible, or words to a song, it is an act of worship
Praying
Drawing or Painting
Sculpting
Meditation –focused thought…
Silence
Serving
Listening
Romans 12:1
-lifestyle worship
Symbolic Actions-
Lifted Hands-surrender, stick ‘em up
Lying Face Down-we’re not worthy, to trust (batach)
Bow Down –an act of reverence
Eyes Closed-this allows us to focus on God, a being we can’t see.
There’s also two ways you can worship—corporate worship—you worshipping God in a setting with others; a group setting, and private worship—you meeting with God on your own—like when the High priest would meet with God in the Holy of Holies.
Let’s go back to the temple, or tabernacle. Are these the things we have to do to NOT be struck dead? Is the ark of the covenant so powerful that when we enter into God’s presence in vain, that we’ll be struck dead? Let’s look at Hebrews 9: 11-28,(the Message) “11-15But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
16-17Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
18-22Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s "will"—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, "This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God." He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, "This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you." Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.
23-26That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.
27-28Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.”
So, here we have the Old Testament and New Testament coming together on the Most Holy Place. In the OT, a high priest year after year, would enter the Holy of Holies offering sacrifices for the sins of people in an act of worship, yet in the NT, Jesus offered a once for all sacrifice, so that you and I may come into his presence, and we don’t have to worry about being struck dead, yet we come to him in order to praise Him for what He has already done.
Hebrews 10:19-22, “9Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water”
Let me tell you this—if we think we need to have a new reason for worshipping God every time we come into his presence, we are mistaken. If Jesus never does anything else for you in your life, what He did on the cross is more than enough reason that we should be praising Him!
Luke 19:40 (discuss the Rock, give away the pocket rocks)
Invitation
