All Access Pass
All Access Pass
Wednesday, January 10, 2017
In the beginning, when the world was exactly as God wanted it to be, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God with no fears or worries. However, once sin entered the world everything changed and relating to God was no longer the same. For example, when God appeared to Moses he said to him: “take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground”. When God called the prophet Elijah out of the cave, the prophet covered his face with a mantle and would only come as far as the entrance of the cave. When God spoke to Jacob in a dream, Jacob awoke frightened and said, “how dreadful is this place, this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Immediately after Adam and Eve had sinned, their reaction was to hide from God. Now they were afraid and worried.
Following man’s fall and prior to Jesus’ act on the cross, encountering God was a terrifying proposition; people would actually die at the sight of God. After the fall of man, God became regional; He was with the Hebrew people but He dwelt in the innermost part of the Temple in a place called the holy of holies where no one was allowed to enter except the high priest who once a year entered to offer sacrifice on behalf of the people of Israel for their sins.
It is said that prior to the high priest entering the holy of holies, a rope was tied to his ankle with the end remaining outside. If the priest had not properly prepared himself prior to entering, he would die in the presence of the Lord and anyone attempting to enter to remove his body would also die. Thus the reason for the rope, if the priest died in God’s presence the only way to remove him was by pulling him out by the rope around his ankle.
Adam and Eve’s sin changed the way we related to God; that is until Jesus hung on a cross to forgive us and to cleanse us from all of our sins. According to the Apostle Matthew, when Jesus died the earth shook and at the same time the temple curtain that separated the holy of holies was ripped from top to bottom allowing those who have been forgiven to have direct access to God. Now we no longer have to hide from God and we no longer have to be afraid of God, on the contrary, we are welcome and accepted into His presence all thanks to Jesus.
Since the fall of man, and up to the arrival of Jesus, men and women were cut off from having an intimate relationship with God; no one was allowed in His sacred space. Today however, we have the blessing that the heroes of the Old Testament could have never imagined, an all-access pass into the holy of holies. When we sin, we no longer have to run from God, we can now run to God because in Christ we received forgiveness for all of our sins and direct access into His sacred space.
Questions:
- How do you believe people in the old testament perceived having a relationship with God?
- How do you personally feel about entering God’s presence?
- Are you more confident entering the presence of God when you believe you behaved well and why?
- Do you feel you are less likely to enter into His presence when you know that you have sinned and why?
- How should you feel knowing that you have an all-access pass into God’s presence?
