Set Apart Before The Throne
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:19-23
Praise be to God that in Christ we have admittance into the Presence of the Father.
But, What does it mean to be in His Presence?
Does the way being open to us mean that any method that we find helpful for us to experience God/ to meet with Him/ to come before His throne, is open to us in the name of Christ? Indeed, we have been given tremendous freedom in Christ, but our freedom is never to be divorced from obedience. Therefore, if we do not approach His throne by His own terms, we will not reach it, though it is ever available to us. And if we do not seek to understand Him by the means He has made Himself known to us, can we honestly hope to meet with Him?
What does it mean to approach God in an “Acceptable manner”? This is most assuredly not a conversation on what we must do to make ourselves acceptable to God. For the answer to that is now and forever has been that there is nothing we CAN do of ourselves to be acceptable to Him. It is a conversation of what responsibility is ours once we have been accepted by Him, by His own means. When first the ability to obey is a gift, how can we then say that obedience is arbitrary. What remains is that we, as Christians, have a responsibility to act as Christians, both to our neighbor and to Christ whom we serve. One of My mother’s consistent refrains over my young life, to foster proper behavior, was “there are blessings in obedience”. To Christ we don’t yield in order that we might receive a blessing. We yield because we have already received the impossible; we are accepted.
If we wish to bear the name of Christ, we bear the responsibility of the name. This is not works, it is allegiance. So, what is it that He has asked us to do in our approach of Him?
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38
We are to love and serve Him and Him alone with all that we are. Its simple really. Yet apparently, all too easy to complicate. God spends a lot of ink in the Old Testament reminding His people to serve Him and Him alone, and that worship of Him was never to be attempted in a fashion that other gods required.
“Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose…” Deuteronomy 12:13
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“and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.” Deuteronomy 12:30-32
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or a spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of the detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” Deu. 18:9-13
“the nations you will disposes listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.” Deuteronomy 18:14
“but a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him today, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.” Deuteronomy 18:20
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
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There is a prolific attitude in the Western Christian Church that spiritual experience = relationship/ closeness with God. And or, that any life hack/ tool/ practice/ is acceptable for use by the Christian, as long as the elements that would stand in opposition to the Word of God can be done away with, ignored, or changed.
BUT.
If we understand that God’s character is unchanging, then it would stand to reason that, though we as recipients of the new covenant (Hebrews 9-10) experience the freedoms that the cross of Christ has afforded us, we have no right to assume that Gods opinion on Idolatry or experimental spiritual practice has been made new or that we are free to (without repercussion) attempt to engage with Almighty God in ways that were fashioned in order that the people who practiced them might gain experience with other gods or, in ways contrary to the one way He has made Himself available to us.
How has He made Himself available to us?
With the people of Israel, God established a way for them to abide in His presence without being consumed by His holiness. 1st the tabernacle and then the temple. Built to Gods exact and exhaustive specifications, with regulations for worship to match, these structures housed the presence of God among the people.
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Only a select few men of a select lineage of all the people were allowed to hold the office that allowed them, one man, once per year, to enter into the presence of the LORD (Hebrews 9:7, Leviticus 16) and that not without fear. Chapter 16 of Leviticus is 34 verses dedicated to the exact and exhaustive instructions given to the high priest on how to ceremonially make atonement for the sins of themselves and people. Exodus 28:34-35 describes the robe of the High Priest, that into the hem of the robe there was to be sewn a bell, “and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the LORD, and when he comes out, so that he does not die.”
The NIV study Bible commentary on this verse speaks to the necessity of complete obedience in this role “…according to Jewish tradition, one end of a length of rope was tied to the high priests ankle and the other end remained outside the tabernacle. If the bells on his robe stopped tinkling while he was in the Holy Place, the assumption that he had died could be tested by pulling gently on the rope.”
Additionally, Leviticus 10:1-3 gives the account of two sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu (rightful priests Exodus 28:1), who offered “unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command” (NIV) and were consumed by fire on the spot. No One, not even the high priest, was to approach the presence of God in the Holy Place except for one day of each year. This was the means of the forgiveness of sins. Year after year after year after year, again and again and again…
And again…until Christ
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more prefect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.” Hebrews 9:11-17
“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world, But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:24-28
Jesus Christ, God Himself, broke down the barrier of sin that stood between His people and Himself. His sacrifice opened up the entrance to the Holy Place for all who would put their trust in the sufficiency of His sacrifice.
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“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:50-51 (Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45)
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:19-23
Both our ability to and our means of approaching God are Christ. Therefore, if anyone attempts to approach or draw near to God through any means other than Christ, He reserves the right to consume with fire, just as He did with Nadab and Abihu. Indeed, He lavishes us with grace and withholds condemnation; even so, why is there no righteous fear among us who search up and down over and under for spiritual experience, for peace within ourselves, and for union with God?
1. Because we are ignorant of who our God is.
2. We are ignorant of who we are, in light of who God is.
“At that time (before the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai) His voice shook the earth but now He has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more.” Indicates the removal of things that are shaken- that is, things that have been made- in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and this let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:26-29
If Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire because of bringing an unauthorized fire to the place where God dwelled. How much more offensive is it to take our hearts and minds, the place where His Spirit now dwells and sit under the wisdom and teaching of false gods? You could argue that the word says there are no gods besides God so how would I find myself under the teaching of something that doesn’t exist? Right? Isaiah 44:6 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.’”
All the verses in the OT that proclaim there is no god besides our God are saying there is no one that compares, not that our universe only holds one deity. In fact, the truth would be quite the opposite. God is not contained by our universe, but there are many deities that are. And THESE are the ones not to be confused for the One True God.
Our God is the Most High. There are other “high” beings. He created them, and He rules over them. There are high/ spiritual beings that hold allegiance to the Most High and there are ones who rebelled. The fallen/ rebellious sons of God, are in opposition to the Lord, and also, to us, as His children.
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” Deuteronomy 32:8
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“God presides in the great assembly; He renders judgment among the ‘gods’: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said ‘You are ‘gods’ you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” Rise up O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.” Psalm 82
Sadly, reading scripture in this light has been labeled conspiratorial. Yet, no matter what the popular opinion is, we must read the Word as God’s story and not our own. The Word was not given to us to make us comfortable but to be a weapon. Does not Ephesians 6 and Hebrews 4:12 describe the Word as the Sword? What good does it do for us to make dull our only weapon given to us for offensive advance in spiritual battle? Our Lord prayed that we would be sanctified in the truth of the Word (John 17:17). Therefore, the skeptic would be wise to consider how accepting this as truth, rather than a fringe teaching, would bring clarity. Understanding that God appointed lesser gods to hold authority over the nations of the earth, and that these gods failed to honor the Most High in their position, goes a long way to explain not only what is depicted throughout the scriptures, but even the world around us in our current time and place.
Take the 1st commandment as an example:
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3
*NIV study note: before. The Hebrew for this word is translated “in hostility toward”
Why would God command us to hold no other gods above Him or in hostility or competition to Him… if there was no such thing as other gods? There are indeed lesser gods in the spiritual realm who would delight in our being led away from, or at least confused in our allegiance to the Almighty God. Paul makes it clear that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against powerful spiritual enemies.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
Considering this reality, Idolatry takes on a whole new light. Somewhere along the line in our modern minds we somehow decided that idols and idolatry is taking good things and putting too much weight on them as to make them something that we worship. i.e. Parents turning their children into idols, or food as an idol, or entertainment... Surely, we should not do these things, but when we perpetuate the idea that the false gods of scripture are only wood and stone that ignorant peoples worshiped as gods, we are blinded to the truth that what we are up against is real, intelligent, spiritual power. Power that is at work behind our affections, our vices and even those trending worldly wisdom tips and spiritual practices that seem like they could really help as long as we offer them to the Lord and not back to whomever they originated from. But our Father calls us to be set apart and He tells us to be wise. Taking the edge off of truth indeed leads to a slippery slope. Praise be to God that He has given us His Spirit, that when we walk in obedience keeps our feet from slipping.
“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.” Exodus 23:13
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“and when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars- all the heavenly array, do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” Deuteronomy 4:15-19
“the images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.” Deuteronomy 7:25-26
“Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their *names from those places. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. “Deuteronomy 12:2-4
“But you are to seek the place of the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put His *name there for His dwelling.” Deuteronomy 12:5
*In verses 3 and 5 the word NAME has significance. NIV Study Bible note: “The place…the Lord…will choose…to put His name. The tabernacle, the Lords dwelling place during the desert journey, will be located in the city in Canaan where the Lord would choose to dwell. Moses stresses the importance of centralizing the place of worship as he prepares the people for settlement in the promised land, where the Canaanites had established many places of worship since in ancient Semitic word “name” often stood for the essence of the thing named, Gods name is equivalent to His Presence.”
So if in verse 5 to put God’s name there, means for His presence to dwell there, then also in verse 3 Gods people are to wipe out the presence of the other gods.
Much has happened in the world of men in 4000ish years. The spiritual practices of peoples across the earth that were once only accessible within the boundary of their land, are now available to anyone in the world at any time, but we would be remiss to believe that just because they are accessible and seem to offer benefit for those who practice them that they will benefit us (Christians) as well. Remember that our God is unchanging, and to Him “a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) His hot displeasure with the gods of the nations of the world will not have cooled in 4,000 years. Therefore, Christians, be in the world but not deceived by it, do not find ways to agree with darkness, but oppose it. Be set apart. Because (1)our God is the Most High, incomprehensible, but knowable and approachable by the means He established. And (2)we, are for now a little lower than the angels, but one day we will be their judges (1 Corinthians 6:3), as we take our place as the children of God and heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:14-17)
Approach the throne with confidence, for in Christ we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations. (Romans 1:5)
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