reading Leviticus

I’m reading the Bible through, chronologically this time. I’ve just got to Leviticus: the shoal that’s wrecked a million Bible reading plans (at least, it did mine when I was a teenager). Once again, as I read this hard part of God’s word, it seeps into my skin and reshapes my insides.

There’s something beautiful about Leviticus. Sometimes, like those 3D pictures, you have to blur your eyes to see it. As you persevere through the bewildering details (split hooves? a sore with white hairs in it? two materials woven into one?) you begin to sense the outlines. Laws that protect life and relationships. Laws that forbid detestable practices and depraved worship. Laws that uphold justice and provide for the poor.1

There’s also something terrifying about Leviticus. It opens with sacrifice upon sacrifice, described in brain-numbing detail. (As I read, I feel my mind glaze over. I pull my attention back to the page.) Blood must be shed, atonement made. For in the midst of his wayward people God has put up his tent, his palace. Infinite in size, the universe his footstool, he rules from a hidden, golden throne.

To serve such a God comes at enormous cost. The disabled are excluded from the priesthood, those with discharges can’t enter God’s tent, and the diseased live outside the camp (Lev 13:1-15:33, 21:16-23). There is food that cannot be eaten, first-born and first-fruits set aside, the best of the herd given in offering (Lev 11:1-47, 22:17-25, 23:9-14, 27:26). Everything is affected: the shape of the year, mourning for the dead, a woman’s period (Lev 15:1-33, 19:28, 23:1-44). Every moment repeats,

You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. (Lev 19:2).

Who can live up to such a law? Who can live up to such a God? Who among us has never endangered or slandered his neighbour (Lev 19:16)? Who has never lied or stolen (Lev 19:11)? Who has never sinned unintentionally, habitually, without even noticing (Lev 4:1-6:7)? Who doesn’t put her own needs before others (Lev 19:18)? Who doesn’t allow what he loves to steal his heart from God (Lev 19:4)?

Repetitive, relentless, Leviticus drives the point home: God is holy, made of different stuff from us. To be his people, we must be holy, set apart, pure, clean, all the things we cannot and will never be.

It’s easy to forget the gospel. We’re told to be gospel-minded and gospel-hearted, but it slips away from me, time after time. I feel secure because I’m not doing a bad job of things today. I slide into despair because I can’t live up to the pathetic standards I set myself. I think of Jesus’ death, and it seems an irrelevance, a song once loved but now forgotten, wiped from my iTunes list.

Leviticus won’t let me forget. Like a dark sky that makes the morning shine more brightly, it reminds me that the gospel means something. That this holy God can’t be approached by someone like me. There’s no hope that I could waltz into his presence. What’s in store is not a welcome but a fire (Lev 10:1-20).

Leviticus helps me to see. It’s scattered with stars, small pictures of the dawn. When Jesus comes, he keeps every one of those pesky laws. He touches those who are unclean and – how this should surprise us! – they become clean (Matt 8:1-4 cf. Lev 5:2-3). He carries the sacrifice of himself and walks boldly into God’s heavenly tent, where he offers priestly prayers for our forgiveness (Heb 7:23-28, 9:11-10:25). He does what I can’t do, and I dare take it for granted, let my eyes glaze over, let it slip away.

I’m half-way through Leviticus when I take a walk along the beach. Waves pound the shore after a storm, reminding me that the Creator of all this is holy, different beyond knowing. To glance at him is to be incinerated by his glory. Even the smallest of sins keeps me from him, and sin runs through me like veins in a rock.

I taste the word “Father” on my tongue, and all at once it feels like a miracle. I barely dare say it, even as I know I must say it. For this – this passage into the throne room, this invitation to speak with God, this unchanging welcome – this is the privilege that Jesus won for me.


1. This became clear to me as I was reading Leviticus chapters 18-20. The other references are from chapters 11, 13 and 19:19.

This post first appeared at The Briefing.

image is by natematias at flickr

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices wrap-up

You might remember our Sunday School lessons on the law and sacrifices last term. I promised you a look at our finished books, and here they are, outside:

inside:

and showing how they were put together:

Yes, that is a gameboy Andrew is holding. Since the older children were proudly holding up something they'd made, he thought he'd better join in.

The books turned out well, didn't they? The pop-up crosses on each page look fantastic! The kids and I have learned an immense amount about God's law and sacrifices and how they point forward to Jesus.

If you'd like to see or use my Sunday School material on the law and sacrifices, Romans, or the fruit of the Spirit, please contact me.

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices (7) the Day of Atonement

The priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. (Heb 9:6-7).

Going near God is not something you want to do carelessly.

After Aaron was set apart as high priest, fire came from the presence of God and burned up everything on the altar: the fire of God's approval. Soon afterwards, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu approached God their own way rather than God's way, and fire came from the presence of God and burned them up: the fire of God's judgement. (Lev 9-10)

Going near God is not something you want to do carelessly.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in Aaron's shoes (or rather, Aaron's bare feet) on the Day of Atonement.

This was the day when the man who had seen God burn up 2 of his 4 sons had to go into the Most Holy Place. He had to go behind the curtain which must have seemed like an impenetrable barrier the other 364 days of the year.

Going near God is not something you want to do carelessly.

Why was it necessary? Why did Aaron need to go into God's presence at all? Why not stay on the other side of the curtain?

However careful the priests and people were, it was inevitable that some would become unclean without realising it and take that uncleanness into the temple. However many sacrifices were offered, the sins of priests and people mounted up over a year.

Once a year, the tabernacle, right in to the Most Holy Place, had to be cleansed from the built-up sin and uncleanness of the Israelites, so that the holy God could continue to live among his people.

God gave exact instructions about the Day of Atonement. Aaron had to be careful about what he wore, what he brought with him into the Most Holy Place, what he did, and most of all, what he saw.

Going near God is not something you want to do carelessly.

We told the story of the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 16 as a drama. Here's how it went:

On the day the high priest went into the Most Holy Place, he didn't dress like a king. You can't go into God's presence saying, "Look at me! I'm so good! I'm a king!". On the day the high priest went into the Most Holy Place, he dressed like a slave. He washed himself and dressed like a servant, in plain white tunic, plain white sash, and plain white turban.

He took a bull, put his hands on its head, and killed it. It was a sin offering for the sin and uncleanness of himself and the priests. He put some of its blood in a bowl. He put some of the coals from the altar into a censer, or fire-pan. He sprinkled incense on top of the coals, so that when he went into the Most Holy Place the smoke would rise up and he wouldn't see God's glory and die.

He went into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled blood on the lid of the ark - God's throne - and in front of the ark 7 times. The blood cleansed the Most Holy Place from the sin and uncleanness of himself and the priests.

He came out. He took 2 goats. He cast lots for the 2 goats - perhaps by taking 2 coloured stones out of an urn - to decide which was the sacrificial goat and which the scapegoat.

He killed the sacrificial goat as a sin offering for the sins and uncleanness of the people. He put some of its blood in a bowl. He put some of the coals from the altar into a censer, or fire-pan. He sprinkled incense on top of the coals, so that when he went into the Most Holy Place the smoke would rise up and he wouldn't see God's glory and die.

He went into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled blood on the lid of the ark - God's throne - and in front of the ark 7 times. The blood cleansed the Most Holy Place from the sin and uncleanness of the people.

He came out and sprinkled blood on the Holy Place and the altar. The whole tabernacle was now cleansed from the sin and uncleanness of priests and people.

He put his hands on the head of the scapegoat and confessed - told God about - the sins of the people. A man took the scapegoat away into the desert. It carried the sin and uncleanness of the people away with it into the desert.

The high priest put on his normal, kingly clothes. He took 2 rams and sacrificed them as burnt offerings for the sin and uncleanness of priests and people.

Now the tabernacle was cleansed from the sins and uncleanness of priests and people for a whole year. Now the holy God could continue to live in the tabernacle among his people.

One day there was a far greater Day of Atonement. This was the day when Jesus died, and took away all our sins and uncleanness for all time. On that day, something amazing happened: the curtain in front of the Most Holy Place tore from top to bottom.

The way was opened into God's presence for anyone who trusts in Jesus. We can pray anytime, any where. One day we will walk straight into God's presence and stay there forever.

The way is open. We don't need to be scared about going near God. The way is open. Jesus died, and the curtain is torn in two. The way is open.

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 in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22)

The way is open. Come!

Here's the page for our book this week. Yellow for the glory of going in to God's presence.

If you'd like to see my Sunday School material on the law and sacrifices, the fruit of the Spirit, Proverbs or Romans, please contact me.

image of the Holy Place is from Music of the Bible

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices (6) priests

The questions came thick and fast this week. "How were the priests chosen?" "Where's the tabernacle now?" "What did you learn when I was away?!"

We've watched the tabernacle being built and we've seen God's glory rest on it. We've learned how sin and uncleanness keep us from God's holy tent. We've seen how we're forgiven and cleansed through sacrifices. But this is all pretty pointless without priests.

You can't just walk straight into God's presence, or you'll die! You need a go-between to approach God on your behalf. You need a priest, someone to go near God and offer sacrifices for you.

To mediate between God and humans, priests had to be human like us, but they also had to be holy like God. No-one could be a priest if he wasn't from the priestly family. No-one could be a priest unless he had no physical defects. No-one could serve as a priest if he'd come into contact with anything unclean. (Lev 21-22)

The priests were protected from the messy parts of the sacrifices. They protected the tabernacle from the touch of unclean hands. They represented God to the Israelites. They represented the Israelites to God. They came between people and God.

Out of all the world, God set apart 1 nation for himself: the Israelites. Out of the 12 tribes of Israel, God set apart 1 tribe to look after the holy things: the Levites. Out of this tribe, God set apart 1 family as priests: Aaron and his descendants. Out of this family, God set apart one man, and his oldest son after him, to serve him as high priest: Moses' brother Aaron.

Here's how Aaron was consecrated as the high priest and his 4 sons as priests (Lev 8-9). You'll notice that most of the steps have to do with being cleansed from sin and uncleanness and set apart as holy for God's service:

• washing with water
• dressing in clothes designed to give "honour and dignity" (Exod 28:2) - he was dressed like a king!
• anointing with oil - to set him apart for leadership
• sin offering, burnt offering, fellowship offering - Aaron laid hands on the head of each animal to put his sin on them
• blood on the right ear, right thumb and right big toe - to cleanse him from sin and uncleanness top to toe
• sprinkling with oil and blood - to set him apart for God's service and cleanse him from sin and uncleanness
• wave offering of meat from the fellowship offering and unleavened bread from the grain offering
• cooking and eating meat and bread from the offerings - to show he shared in the benefits of the offerings
• 7 days waiting at the entrance to the tabernacle with daily sacrifices - he couldn't walk straight in to God!

On the 8th day, Aaron took up his high priestly ministry, offered sacrifices for the first time, and blessed the people. Fire came from the presence of the LORD and burned up the offerings on the altar. The people shouted for joy and fell facedown. What a day that must have been!

As I told the children the story of Aaron's consecration I "dressed" a drawing of a high priest, "anointed" him with oil, and "sprinkled" him with oil and blood. Here's our high priest wearing undergarments to cover his private parts to show respect (Ex 28:42-43);

a fine white linen tunic to show purity and holiness (Ex 28:39-41, 39:27-29);a blue robe with pomegranates on the hem in royal colours (blue, red, purple) alternating with bells - these rang as the high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement so he would not die (Ex 28:31-35, 39:22-26);a richly woven ephod and sash in royal colours and golden thread (Ex 28:6-14, 39:2-6);a breastpiece in royal colours with 12 jewels engraved with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, hung from gold chains from 2 onyx stones each engraved with 6 of the 12 tribes on the ephod's shoulder pieces - the high priest carried the names of Israel over his heart as he went into the Holy Place on their behalf, and carried inside the breastpiece the Urim and Thummim, used to make decisions for the people of God (Ex 28:6-13, 39:8-21);a white turban with a gold plate engraved "Holy to the LORD" (Ex 8:36-38, 29:30-31).The high priest was dressed like a king! But then his beautiful robes were sprinkled with oil and blood:The children were horrified to see me putting oil (sewing machine oil) and blood (red paint) on our beautiful picture. I wonder if the Israelite craftsmen felt the same, seeing all that fine white linen, gold-embroidered cloth and precious jewels splashed with blood? What a vivid picture of the cost of sin!

Here's our finished high priest:
I'm sure I haven't discovered everything the priests did, but here's what I've found out so far. I had no idea they were so busy!

• they offered sacrifices (Lev 1-7)
• they taught the law (Lev 10:11, 2 Kgs 17:28, 2 Chr 15:3, Ezra 7:11-12, Jer 18:18, Ezek 7:26)
• they blessed the people - which means they prayed for them (2 Chr 30:27, Lev 9:22-23, Nu 6:22-27)
• they made decisions for the people using the Urim and Thummim in the high priest’s breastpiece (Ex 28:30, Nu 27:21, 1 Sam 14:41, 28:2, Ez 2:63)
• in the Holy Place they burned incense every morning and evening on the incense altar, lit the lamps on the lampstand every evening, and laid fresh bread on the table every Sabbath (Ex 30:1-10, 37:25-29; 27:20-1, 37:17-24; 25:23-30, 36:10-16, 1 Chron 9:32)
• they decided who and what was clean and unclean (Lev 10:10, 14:3-4, Ezek 22:26)
• they judged difficult cases in the law courts (Deut 17:8-9)
• they addressed the army before battle (Deut 20:2-4)
• they officiated over feasts, fasts and festivals, including the Day of Atonement, the only day the high priest entered the Most Holy Place - more about that next week!

All of which brings us to Jesus, our Great High Priest, the one perfect, eternal high priest. We don't need any others! He is the perfect go-between, fully man and fully God, free from sin and uncleanness so he never has to pay for his own sin. He offered the one perfect sacrifice for all time when he died on the cross. He teaches us God's ways, cleanses us from sin, and prays and pleads for us before the throne of God.

Our tabernacle model came into its own this week, as I explained where the priests were and weren't allowed to go, and showed the children the bronze basin for washing, and the incense altar, lampstand and table the priests tended in the Holy Place. Here they are:



Here's our page for the week (white for purity and holiness):


Next time, we'll be talking about the Day of Atonement.

If you'd like to see or use my Sunday School lessons, either these or my lessons on the fruit of the Spirit or Romans, please contact me.

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices (5) sacrifice

It all came together this week.

The endless laws. The fiddly rules about what's clean or unclean. The holy God living in his royal tent among his people, an ever-present blessing and ever-present threat. A tabernacle you can't even set foot in if you're unclean. A holy God you can't approach, sinful creature that you are, without being burnt to a fritter.

Then suddenly, there is sacrifice. Sin paid for. Death removed. Anger turned aside. Uncleanness cleansed. Forgiveness granted. Suddenly, the two halves come together - the holy, sinless God and unclean, sinful humans - and there is peace.

The kids and I have learned a huge amount this term. My view of God feels stretched and deepened and challenged. But it was lovely to reach the safe harbour of God's atoning, forgiving love.

I wasn't sure how graphic to be in my description of sacrifices. With a bunch of tough-minded 8 year old boys, you'd probably lay it on thick: the spurting blood, the lowing of frightened cows, the dismembered carcases, the smell of smoke and cooked meat and blood.

You see, the tabernacle was no cathedral, all stillness and echoing silences. It was an abattoir, a charnel house, a constant, unforgettable reminder of the cost of sin.

I took along one of my 8 year old son's beloved stuffed toys, a woolly lamb. I talked about the process of sacrifice (Lev 1-7):

• you brought one of your own precious animals from your flock to the tabernacle (sacrifice had to be personal, to cost something)
• you chose a perfect animal, without defects (or it would be dying for its own faults, not yours)
• you put your hands on the animal's head (to show that your sins were taken off you and put on the animal)
• you killed and cut up the animal with your own hands (a vivid reminder of the punishment you deserved)
• the priest laid the pieces on the altar (like a giant BBQ!) and burned them (giving off a "soothing aroma" to quell God's anger against sin)

The eyes of the 6 year old girl on my right got bigger and rounder as she listened to me. My son asked to hold his woolly lamb, I think to reassure himself that it was okay.

Although I did lay my hands on the lamb's head, I decided that now was not the time to demonstrate throat-cutting (with a butter knife) or to go into graphic details (although this would make a wonderful drama or re-enactment if you were so inclined)! Perhaps with another audience I might have done so, but not with this one.

Still, I think they understood:

• when we disobey God, we deserve death
• God is fair, so someone has to die
• the perfect lamb dies instead of us

We talked about big words like "atonement", which means "propitiation" (turning away anger*) and "ransom" (paying the price for a life**), and "substitution" (dying in someone's place). With an older audience, I would have spent more time on this, perhaps with some worksheets (matching words with their definitions?) to drive the point home.

In the end, all I needed to say was this: the lamb dies instead of us.

It's only a short step from here to Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God who takes our sins on himself and dies in our place so that we can be forgiven and can be friends with God (Jn 1:29, 36, 1 Pet 1:19, Rev 5:6-13).

Here's how our tabernacle model is coming along. You can see the inner curtain, in royal colours, the outer curtain, and the bronze altar for the sacrifices:



And here's the page we made for our books this week (red for blood, of course! - and as we all know, blood represents life; and when it's poured out, it represents death; and when it's poured out for us, it gives atonement - Lev 17:11, Jn 1:29, Eph 1:7, 1 Jn 2:2, 1 Pet 1:18-19).

Next time, we'll be talking about priests. There's a huge amount to cover - consecration, clothes, chores - so it should be interesting!

*Ps 78:38, Prov 16:14, Jer 18:23; 2 Sam 24:18-24, 2 Chr 29:7-8; Rom 3:25, 1 Jn 2:2, 4:10
** Ex 30:11-16, Nu 31:50, Gen 32:20, Ex 32:30-33, 2 Sam 21:1-14

If you'd like to see or use my Sunday School lessons, either these or my lessons on the fruit of the Spirit or Romans, please contact me.

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices (4) clean and unclean

Phew, this one was pretty overwhelming! I found it hard to get my mind around the Leviticus categories of clean and unclean myself, let alone teach it to kids. And when I arrived at Sunday School, I discovered we had 8 extra children! Aaaargh!

Thankfully, I was already planning to go over what we've learned so far this term:

• that God is holy - which means different from us in every way. He made a special people for himself and rescued them from Egypt. He wanted them to be holy like him, to be set apart for him, to be different from all other nations.

• that God gave his people laws to tell them how to live. These laws showed them how to live as his holy people, different and set apart from all others.

• that God lived among his people in a special way in the tabernacle, God's royal tent palace. That the tabernacle was also holy, set apart as God's dwelling place.

No-one can walk straight into God's house and up to God! Because God is so holy, because he is so different from us, we would die if we saw God. And because God is so perfect, because he never does bad things but we do, we would die if we walked up to God.

No wonder God was hidden behind a curtain in the Most Holy Place!

It's been said that Leviticus has two main themes: "the goal of holiness for Israel and the need for forgiveness".* The rules about clean and unclean beautifully illustrated God's holiness and our need for forgiveness - that's what they were for!

I explained to the kids that clean didn't have anything to do with having a shower, and unclean didn't mean you were muddy and needed a bath.

If you were clean, it meant you could go into God's holy house, the tabernacle. If you were unclean, you couldn't go in.

Here’s some things that were clean and unclean (Lev 11-15):

• some kinds of animals (like sheep and cows) were clean and people could eat them (but not if they died naturally)
• some kinds of animals (like pigs and flies) were unclean and people couldn’t eat them or touch their dead bodies. If a dead fly fell into your bowl and you ate soup from the bowl you were unclean and couldn’t go into the tabernacle!
• some kinds of sicknesses were unclean. If you had spots on your skin, some kinds of spots were clean and others made you unclean. If you had unclean spots, or touched someone with unclean spots, you became unclean and couldn’t go into the tabernacle.
• when people died, the body was unclean. If you touched a dead body, you couldn’t go into the tabernacle.
• some houses were unclean. If the house had mildew (green stuff) growing on its walls, it was unclean. You had to pull down the house.

It was very hard to stay clean all the time! Wherever you went, whatever you did, there were things that could make you unclean.

Every day God's people were reminded of 2 things.

• Every day – every time they were careful about what they ate or touched - it reminded them that God is holy (different), that he chose them to be his holy people, and that he wanted them to live holy lives.
• Every day – every time they touched something unclean and couldn't go to the tabernacle – it reminded them that sin is everywhere, that it kept them from God, and that they couldn’t go near God unless God made them clean again.

Once Jesus came, everything changed.

Jesus said that all animals are clean! You can eat whatever you like! (Mk 7:19)

Instead of people with unclean skin diseases making Jesus unclean, he made them clean when he touched them! (Mk 1:40-42)

Jesus said uncleanness doesn't really have anything at all to do with our bodies - with what we touch or eat.

Uncleanness is about our hearts. It's about what we are like on the inside. It's about what we think and say and do.

The things that make us unclean are things like being greedy, killing people, stealing things and telling lies. We do these things because we have unclean hearts – hearts that want to do bad things. (Mk 7:1-23)

We have a big problem, don’t we? The people of God couldn’t go into the tabernacle when they were unclean. We have unclean hearts - we do bad things - so we can never be friends with God! We need God to make us clean again.

After we'd talked about these things, the kids had a ball making this poster. They coloured the animals and stuck the clean ones at the top and the unclean ones at the bottom (the quote on the heart is Jesus' words about what makes us unclean from Mark 7:14-23).
When I asked the kids what makes us unclean now, one boy said "Mud!" and a girl said "Disease". Obviously, they got the point about the Old Testament but not about the New Testament. So if I taught this lesson again, I think I'd make our poster like this:
On the right hand side, after Jesus comes, all the animals have moved to the "clean" section. In the "unclean" section are all the things which come out of our hearts and make us unclean (Mk 7:14-23).

Here's how the page for our books looked this week:

As you may have guessed, next week's lesson is about sacrifices. Can you guess what colour the page will be?

* William Dumbrell The Faith of Israel 40

If you want to see or use my Sunday School lessons, please contact me.

Sunday School - the law and sacrifices (3) the tabernacle

There's nothing like teaching kids to help you realise how much you have to learn! Last week I learned how much I didn't know about the tabernacle.

• Did you know that the Most Holy Place was a perfect cube, representing God's perfection?
• Did you know it took about 5 largish steps to get from one side to the other (4.5 meters/15 feet)?
• Did you know that the further you went into the tabernacle, from courtyard to Holy Place to Most Holy Place, the more sumptuous it became, from bronze with silver trimmings to gold with silver trimmings?
• Did you know that the colours of the tabernacle curtains were royal colours, purple and red and blue?
• Did you know that the ark, the only piece of furnishing in the Most Holy Place, represented a throne?
• Did you know that only kings had cherubim in their throne rooms and on their thrones?

This was not just any old "tabernacle", not just any old "tent". When the Israelites moved into the Promised Land, it would become a "temple", a "palace". The tabernacle was a royal tent, where the King lived among his people's smaller, plainer tents.

I've never noticed these details because I've never taken the time to read the chapters on the tabernacle carefully. Let's admit it, these are not the most obviously exciting chapters of the Bible! The tabernacle is described in painstaking detail (Exod 25-30) and then, a few chapters later (Exod 36-40), it's described in virtually word-for-word detail again.

There's a reason for this: the tabernacle was God's holy house, the place where he lived with his people. He was the one who told Moses how it should be built, from post stands to woven coverings. It had to be built exactly to his design. It had to be set up exactly to his design. And it was.

In the last verses of Exodus, something spectacular happens. The cloud and fire move away from Mount Sinai and come to rest on the tabernacle (Exod 40:34-38). God no longer speaks to his people from a mountaintop: he lives among them.

For us, something even more spectacular has happened. Just over 2000 years ago, a tiny baby was born into this world: Emmanuel, God with us (Isa 7:14, Matt 1:23). There was no cloud and fire, although the skies did blaze with glory, at least for a bunch of poor shepherds. God "tabernacled" amongst us in his Son (Jn 1:14).

Just over 30 short years later, the "temple" that was Jesus' body was destroyed and 3 days later raised to life again (Jn 2:12-24). The curtain which led into the Most Holy Place was ripped apart (Matt 27:51). Jesus' death opened the way for us to enter God's presence any time, anywhere (Heb 10:19-22).

God no longer lives in temples (Jn 4:21-24). He never really did: heaven is his dwelling place (Deut 26:15, 1 Kg 8:27, Ac 17:24). The heavenly city needs no temple "because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Rev 21:22).

God doesn't live in temples or church buildings, but he is "pleased to have all his fullness" live in Jesus (Col 1:19). And if we trust in Jesus, he lives in us by his Spirit (1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16, Eph 2:19-22). We are God's temple.

The kids and I started building our tabernacle model this week (we also traced out the dimensions of the Most Holy Place in masking tape on the floor, to give us some idea of its real size).




We made the next page for our books, in royal purple:


Next time, we'll be talking about what makes us clean and unclean, and the uncleanness which keeps us from the presence of the holy God. I'm hoping I can explain it clearly. Any ideas?