Living in the Spirit
November 8, 2018
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. –Hebrews 9:24-26a
The Greek word translated here as the noun sanctuary is more literally a holy place which means likeness of nature with the Lord” because “different from the world*.
The noun sanctuary means a consecrated place: one devoted to the keeping of sacred things**. The verb form of sanctuary means to shelter by a sanctuary or sacred privileges**.
Upon reading the English word sanctuary in this scripture, my first thought was of the large room in my church primarily set aside for the worship of God. My next thought was of the curve in the driveway on my family farm where a natural waterfall appeared with most rainstorms when water flowed down a hill across sandstone rocks in the drive, down an embankment, and into our pond. The entire length of the stretched “C” shape drive was lined with locust trees. In the spring when the trees were in full bloom and the little waterfall followed the rain, there was no more holy place on God’s good earth for me as I sat beside it on a slightly raised sandstone rock and pondered the wonder of God’s great creation. It seemed strange to me a few years ago when I sensed the same holiness visiting the coastline of Maine and sat on a rock above crevices of stone jutting out of the water being strenuously washed with beating wave after wave of seawater. The continuous nature of water cleansing the earth as it follows its natural paths or carves out new ones as it adapts to the environment in which it finds itself is always a holy experience.
As I traveled through England and Scotland in the spring, I saw and toured several no longer used crumbling cathedrals. Some were destroyed by war, some of those wars were dubbed holy. At Jesus’ death on the cross, Matthew reports* that the veil of the temple was torn thus the Holy of Holies was opened for all to see. Christ’s resurrection permanently lifted the focus of our faith to a higher plain where Christ’s unconditional love became the stream of living waters to the restoration of the whole world as his realm of love was initiated and is still developing today. Amen.
Prayer: Continuously cleanse our hearts, O God, so that our actions are pure and reflect your love. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/greek/40.htm
**http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/sanctuary
***Matthew 27:51