June 22, 2011 – Write From Karen

by John Schoenheit
Even a casual reading of the Old Testament indicates that God did not seem very accessible to the believers living then. This became very clear once the Tabernacle was built in the weeks after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. Although it gave people a place to worship God, it also clearly kept them apart from Him. High curtains separated the people even from the courtyard where offerings were burned to God. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, where God dwelled between the cherubim, and even he got to go in only one day a year.

He took so much incense that even if the place was well lighted (which it certainly was not) he could not see anything anyway. When the Israelites did come to God, they were to bring an offering, which the Hebrew text of Leviticus calls “an approach offering.” One of the great works of Jesus Christ was to remove all the distance between God and the people and give each believer welcome access into the very presence of God. This teaching goes into some detail on the setup and operation of the Tabernacle, explains the offerings in Leviticus, and then expounds important verses in the book of Hebrews that pertain to the work of Christ.

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