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 A young brother stirred my heart last evening with something he said. He was talking of his love of the Old Testament and how much we miss by its neglect by so many in the church. He pointed specifically to the High Priests role of coming into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the Temple on the Day of Atonement. On that day he would represent the people and their sin before God and seek His cleansing and forgiveness through the sacrifice he offered. Only the High Priest could come into His Presence and only once a year on that day. The actions of the High Priest were representative of the future work of Jesus Christ on His cross, offering Himself as the sacrifice and opening the door not only to our sin and sins being forgiven, but of giving all who believed upon Him free access into the presence of the Living God. 

This is mind boggling if we dwell upon it, which most of us don't. We have no real understanding of the honor, blessing, and privilege He has given us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Think upon it. Before Christ, only one man had access into the presence of God, and that only once a year. The Holy of Holies was where God dwelt in His Temple. A thick curtain separated it from the rest of the Temple. So sacred was it that when the High Priest went in, he had a rope around his waist so that if he should die while within, the other priests could pull him out, for none of them had access to His Presence there. All of this changed when Christ died upon the cross. With his death, that curtain was literally torn, and not by men, but by God. This was symbolic that no longer was only one person allowed into His presence, but all people who believed upon Jesus Christ now had free access to the Presence of Almighty God. From the least to the greatest, there was no distinguishing between them with Him. By faith, we are welcomed into His Presence. Welcomed by the shed blood of Christ the King.

I know I'm failing to even come close to describing the wonder of all of this, that a completely Holy and perfect Father should welcome someone like me, like you, covered with the filth of our sin into His presence. Someone who openly rebelled against Him, denied Him, blasphemed Him. Welcomed because by our faith in Him, our sin has been cleansed. Not just welcomed, but loved to the extent that He wishes us to linger long in His presence, abiding in intimacy, being nurtured by His love and life. Words fail to describe the beauty of all of this, of the honor and blessing He gives us. It grieves me as to how little we honor Him in return, and how much we take for granted in all of it. How little we recognize not only His sacrifice, but how unworthy we are in ourselves to even be there.

I think of Wesley's lyric, "That God should love a sinner such as I, how wonderful is love like this." Do you know this wonder? Have you ever? May we each just stop and meditate on the glory He invites us to by faith, and all that He sacrificed that we might come at all, and all of it because of what Jesus Christ accomplished upon the cross. As the old hymn goes, "I can never repay the debt I owe." I can't. He did. Glory to His name forever.

Blessings,
Pastor O