THE WESTERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

THE WESTERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE in Jerusalem

 During each Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shared with us the biblical and historical significance of The Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Walking up to the Western Wall, I am struck with the reality of the exact location where I am. When Herod renovated the second temple at the end of the first century before Christ, he shored up the temple plaza on all sides by massive walls, up to six stories high. Although only half that height is visible above ground level today, the Western Wall is still impressive, particularly the 165-foot portion known also as the Wailing Wall. I approach the Western Wall, reach out my hand and touch the unusually smooth surface of these formerly rough stones, made so smooth by so many people touching them over the centuries. This wall would have been just on the other side of the Holy-of-Holies in the Tabernacle. I wrote my prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, give us a heart and mind which worships You as the One and Only Holy God...” 

          I signed my name and the names of my closest family members, folded the paper and placed it in the small cracks between the smooth stones of the Western Wall, along with thousands of other small pieces of paper placed there each day. Out of all the world, the Jews had been God's chosen people. To the Jews alone had God miraculously appeared in the cloud and in the sea. When the Glory of the Lord filled the temple, God was literally present in the midst of His people! “Destroy this temple,” Jesus said, “and I will raise it again in three days.” But the temple of which Jesus had spoken was His own crucified body. One day it was as dead as the stone covering His tomb, three days later it was brought back to life again by the incomparable power of His Resurrection! And here lies our hope. “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” As I walk away from the Western Wall, I have not taken even the first step away from God's Presence—the Spirit of Christ Who dwells in the innermost part of me, taking Authority over my soul—the seat of my emotions, and my body—my fleshly desires and appetites. All Praise, Honor, and Glory to You, my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ, the One and Only Son of the Living God.
          How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.—Psalm 84:1-2 Because we can worship God anyplace and anytime, we might fail to understand the psalmist’s longing. In Old Testament times a person made a pilgrimage to worship God. It was a yearly event and often involved a lengthy journey. That is why the psalmist sang of a dwelling place where he could be in the presence of the Lord. It’s why he expressed a desire to be even a lowly gatekeeper in God’s house (v. 10) so that he could worship God every single day! We have available to us what the psalmist could only hope for. When Christ hung on the cross, the heavy veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple ripped from top to bottom. This symbolic act shouted to the world that believers were no longer required to stand at a distance. We can walk into God’s presence and commune with him by name. Today many religions continue to require a pilgrimage to worship their gods. Christ made a way for you by making a pilgrimage of his own—the long, lonely walk to the cross—so that you could praise him wherever you are.
          LORD JESUS, I am thankful that I can worship you right where I am. I will enter your courts with thanksgiving. I will kneel at the mercy seat and find forgiveness. I will call out your name in praise. Lord, I pray for those who do not have intimacy with the living God. You have already made the pilgrimage for them. Open their eyes to see that they can find you right here, right now. Amen.

          Look Up—meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 84:1-2 …pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.         

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: "Memorable Moments in the Holy Land," available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm

 

HOUSE OF CAIAPHAS IN JERUSALEM

House of Caiaphas at the Church of
Saint Peter in Gallicantu in Jerusalem

           During each Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shared from Psalm 88 as he explained the biblical and historical significance of the House of Caiaphas. This church, known as the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (cock's crow in Latin), marks the place of the House of Caiaphas. It's here that Jesus would be tried before Caiaphas, the High Priest. It's here that Jesus would spend the night before His crucifixion in a cold, dark dungeon. It's also here that Peter would deny Christ three times. We experienced the prison cell where Jesus was likely beaten, and the dungeon where Jesus spent the night before being crucified. It has rings in the walls where prisoners would be tied up and beaten. This is likely where Jesus was beaten before being thrown in the dungeon below it. We could see the path Jesus would have walked, going to Gethsemane from the Upper Room and returning under arrest from Gethsemane to here, including the steps beside the church that was used for ascending and descending from Mount Zion to the Kidron Valley. Jesus and His disciples most likely used them as they traveled from the Upper Room, where they had celebrated the Passover meal, to the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, Christ would use these same steps as He was brought from Gethsemane, which led through the Kidron Valley, to the House of Caiaphas. In the Courtyard of the church is a statue that recalls the events of Peter’s denial of Jesus. It shows Peter, the rooster that crowed, a maid, a servant, and a Roman soldier.

          Some people refer to a visit to the Holy Land as the fifth gospel. I guess it’s because everything you read about in the Bible comes to life when you walk where Jesus walked. Visiting the Holy Land engages not only one’s thoughts and emotions, but also the senses. Seeing the cities and towns where narratives in Scripture took place, hearing the bleating sheep on the hills outside Jerusalem, sitting on the same hillside where Jesus preached, and smelling the sea where he calmed the storm, makes those passages you’ve read countless times come to life. After his arrest, Jesus was taken to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest. Caiaphas was one of those behind the plot to have Jesus killed (John 18:14, Matthew 26:3-4). Peter stood out in the courtyard and waited to see what would happen. We went to that courtyard where a statue of a rooster now stands. We then went to an underground prison beneath Caiaphas’ home where Jesus was likely held the night of his arrest. It was a deep, dark pit. There was one light dimly illuminating the room for us, but I could easily imagine what it would have been like turned off. With our Lakes Church members crowded inside, our Lead Pastor Aaron Burgner read Psalm 88 and prayed. Reading the psalm in the place where Jesus spent his final night before going to the cross, struck me in a way it hadn’t before. “You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves” (Psalm 88:6-7).
          Psalm 88 is the darkest of the psalms in the Psalter. Unlike other laments, it doesn’t end with words of praise. Despite its darkness, the psalm has brought me hope over the years when I’ve found myself in my own place of darkness. The mere fact that the psalm is in included in the Bible, and in the songbook of God’s people no less, tells me how compassionate our God is. He knows how fallen our world is. He knows our pain and invites us to share it with him. Our grief and sorrow isn’t neat and tidy. Sometimes we can’t even put our thoughts and emotions into words. But no matter how dark our emotions, we need to cry out to the God who hears us, for he alone is our salvation. As Pastor Matthew Henry commented, “before he begins his complaint, he calls God the God of his salvation, which intimates both that he looked for salvation, bad as things were, and that he looked up to God for the salvation and depended upon him to be the author of it.” Like all of Scripture, each psalm has a here and now meaning for the author who wrote it. Psalm 88 was written by Heman, one of Israel’s worship leaders. As a worship leader, he wrote songs to help God’s people sing to God during all of life’s circumstances, both in the joys and in the sorrows. In Psalm 88, we can see that the psalmist obviously endured a significant trial in his life. He was in despair. He cried out to God day and night. He felt the weight of God’s judgement and the abandonment of his friends. God seemed far away—so far, darkness had become his only friend (v. 18).
          But also like all of Scripture, Jesus fulfills Psalm 88. As Luke 24:27 tells us, when Jesus walked on the road to Emmaus with some of the disciples following his resurrection, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” In Psalm 88, we hear Jesus with his friends in the Garden before his arrest echoing the psalmist, “For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol” (v. 3). Jesus stepped into the darkness on our behalf. The night he spent in the pit was only the beginning of all that he would endure for us. He felt the full weight of God’s wrath at the cross in our stead. “Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves” (Psalm 88:7). He too was abandoned by his closest friends (v.8). Christ took on the curse of death, the darkest of all pits. After my visit to that underground pit beneath the home of Caiaphas, I now read Psalm 88 with greater joy than ever before. I still rejoice that I can come to the Father and voice my sorrows, no matter how dark. I still turn to him in lament and ask for his help and rescue, trusting in him as my salvation. But I also rejoice, knowing that my Savior endured greater darkness—God’s wrath for sin—on my behalf. When it seems as though I’m stuck in a pit of despair, I remember Jesus and the lengths he went to for my redemption. He went to dark places I will never have to go. And for that I rejoice.
          God offers a kind of rest that is different from what our own minds would conceive. God offers us rest in the midst of our distress. It is the only true rest—an inner rest that comes from abandoning ourselves to the Lord and entrusting to him whatever troubles or problems are overwhelming us. Instead of flying away, run straight into the arms of God, and rest in his care and love for you today. God’s promises in the Bible gives us assurance that we are not alone in this fearful place. God has promised to be with you in every situation and to never leave you, so you can put your trust in him. He is the source of our courage and security. He can turn your fear into faith.

          OH, LORD, I do want my problems solved and my troubles removed, but from the crushing weight of my burdens, I turn my eyes to you. I entrust this perplexity to you. Enable me to find my rest in you, to discover a place of deeper abandonment and security in your everlasting love. You are my only rock. You are my only rest. Lord, you have said that when I’m afraid, at the very point of my anxiety, I can put my trust in you and experience your protection. I thank you for your Word that promises your presence with me. You are my heavenly Father, so please hold my hand in dark and frightening circumstances, and help me to trust you and walk close to you today. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

          Look Up—meditate on Psalm 88 …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 88 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 88 …pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: "Memorable Moments in the Holy Land," available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm

 

ELIJAH ON MOUNT CARMEL & MEGIDDO/VALLEY OF ARMAGEDDON

Elijah on Mount Carmel & Megiddo/Valley of Armageddon

           During each Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shared with us the biblical and historical significance of Elijah on Mount Carmel & Megiddo/Valley of Armageddon from First Kings 18:1-2, 17-46 and Revelation 16:12-21; 22:1-7, 20.

          Elijah on Mount Carmel—First Kings 18:1-2  When Elijah stood on this mountain to face down wicked King Ahab, Ahab was the king in Northern Israel. The people worshipped false gods and followed false prophets, so God sent the prophet Elijah to tell them to repent. At the time, there was a drought in the land. Elijah used that as an opportunity to show God’s power over all creation and His superiority over the false gods. The god who could prove his power by sending fire would be acknowledged as the one true God. The false prophets cried out to Baal, who remained silent. Then Elijah made two moves that were counterintuitive given the drought. He poured gallons of water on the ground—water they needed. Then he called for a fire—something they’d want to avoid in a drought.
          God sent a scorching fire; it burned the offering, the stones, and the dust! Afterward God brought the rain Elijah prayed for! Elijah knew God would answer that prayer with a yes because God had promised rain before Elijah ever met with King Ahab. Elijah’s faith was in the on true God, Maker of heaven and earth, Commander of fire and rain.
          At the showdown at Mount Carmel, Elijah pitted the Baal gods against the Lord God, and no matter what the 450 prophets of Baal did—dance wildly, cut themselves, and shout for hours for Baal to answer—there was “no reply, no voice, no answer” (v. 29). But when Elijah placed himself before the Lord and did what God showed him to do by rebuilding the altar and praying, God heard and answered in a mighty way. He revealed himself by sending fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice and everything surrounding it, even the water. And the people returned to him. Our God is not a “God at a distance” as a popular song and modern culture often depicts him. He is not like the impotent false gods who had no reply, no voice, and no answer. The Lord is a God who not only hears and speaks but who answers and acts on behalf of those who seek him.
          LORD, you are the one true God and I praise you! Thank you for going to such great lengths to demonstrate your power and to bring people back to you. Those great lengths led your only Son to the cross because of your love for those who are blind to your glory and power. Show yourself powerful in my life. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
          Megiddo/Valley of Armageddon—Revelation 16:12-21; 22:1-7, 20. This valley is widely known as the Valley of Armageddon, described in the book of Revelation as the site of a major battle and a turning point in the story of God’s redemption. For many people, the book of Revelation sounds terrifying because they fear the end times, the final days. But it’s a book that tells us about Jesus’ return to earth, and it promises the redemption of all things. Cities that were once destroyed will have trees that bear fruit all year long. Nothing will be accursed. And Jesus will reign forever from His throne in the middle of the city!
          While the end is near, the end is good news for believers in Jesus. When we forget this, we focus on the short-term, where fear is nothing but a distraction stealing our hope and joy. Through all the pain and trials, we wait for the Lord’s return. His nearness will be our healing and our joy. So we believe His words, “Surely I am coming soon,” and we echo the cry of the saints, “Come Lord Jesus.”
          Lord Jesus, I can’t imagine what it will be like to see your light fully for the first time and bask in the light of your glory. Your light has changed my life, given me wisdom, and helped me find my way out of dark places. It has illuminated your Word and comforted me and taught me. What will it be like one day to walk in a city where the Lamb is the light! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
          Look Up—meditate on Revelation 22…pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Revelation 22…pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Revelation 22…pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: "Memorable Moments in the Holy Land," available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm

 

MIRACULOUS HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA

 

MIRACULOUS HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA     

          Each year during his Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shares with us the biblical and historical significance of the miraculous healing at The Pool of Bethesda, which was “in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate” (John 5:2), which places it north of the temple, near Fort Antonia. John gives the additional detail that the pool was “surrounded by five covered colonnades.” During Jesus’ time, the Pool of Bethesda lay outside the city walls. It was at this pool that Jesus performed a miracle showing that He is greater than any human malady and that superstition and religious folklore are foolish and feeble substitutes for faith in God.
          Have you ever wanted something that always evaded you? The lame man by the Pool of Bethesda knew what that feels like. He had been sitting by these “healing” pools for 38 years—that’s 13,870 days—longing for something, and maybe even watching others get what he longed for. But he was helpless. Prolonged trials have a way of isolating you, and by this point, the man had no one who cared for him enough to help him. He was alone. He may have even fallen into despair.
          When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, he didn’t even say yes. Instead, he replied with reasons why healing seemed impossible for him. Jesus cared about what this man wanted—his heart and his desires. And He leaned into the man’s despair with hope and healing. Then, after the man was healed, do you know where he went first? To the temple. He went to draw near to the presence of God. He’d never been allowed to go to the temple before because of his lameness, and he didn’t have a way to get there even if he was allowed. But now, healed and hopeful, he walked—walked!—to the temple to worship God. The Pool of Bethesda was used in ancient times to provide water for the temple. The mention of the “Upper Pool” in 2 Kings 18:17 may be a reference to the Pool of Bethesda. The name of the pool, “Bethesda,” is Aramaic. It means “House of Mercy.” John tells us that “a great number of disabled people used to lie [there]—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed” (John 5:3). The covered colonnades would have provided shade for the disabled who gathered there, but there was another reason for the popularity of the Pool of Bethesda. Legend had it that an angel would come down into the pool and “stir up the water.”
          On the day that Jesus visited the Pool of Bethesda, there was a man there who “had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5). Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. The man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me” (verse 7). Obviously, the man believed the urban legend about the stirring of the water. He blamed the fact that he was never healed on his tardiness in getting into the water. Jesus swept aside all superstition and bypassed altogether the need for magic water with one command: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). The man was instantly cured, and “he picked up his mat and walked” (verse 9). The man did not need quicker reflexes or beneficent angels or enchanted water. The man needed Jesus. Amazingly, not everyone was happy about the man’s miraculous healing.
          The day Jesus healed the man at the poolside happened to be a Sabbath. As the man left Bethesda, the Jewish leaders saw him carrying his mat, and they stopped him: “It is the Sabbath,” they said. “The law forbids you to carry your mat” (John 5:10). The man told them that he was simply obeying orders: “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’” (verse 11). The Jews inquired who would so brazenly promote Law-breaking, but “the man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd” (verse 13). The reaction of the Jewish leaders shows that, no matter how much proof God provides, there will be some people who refuse to see the truth. Jesus was a bona fide Miracle Worker, but the religious leaders couldn’t see the miracle. All they could see was that someone had violated a rule. The issue was not the breaking of God’s command, for Jesus fulfilled the Law and was completely subject to it (Matthew 5:17). The only thing being broken was a pharisaical interpretation of one of God’s laws. So, a blessing meant to increase faith only increased the blindness of those who refused to acknowledge the blessing. The postscript to the story reveals that the man who was physically healed still needed some spiritual healing. “Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you’” (John 5:14). Jesus’ words are a rebuke of an unnamed sin—the man was living contrary to God’s will somehow—and a warning of “something worse.” What could be worse than thirty-eight years of paralysis? How about an eternity in hell (see Mark 9:47)?
          Now that the man knew who Jesus was, he returned to the Jewish leaders and told them “it was Jesus who had made him well” (John 5:15). It is likely that the man did this in praise of Jesus, to magnify the glory due His name, and also from a sense of obligation—he had been asked a question and felt he should respond with the answer, once he had it. Little did he anticipate the reaction the leaders would have: “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (verse 16). The Pool of Bethesda was the focus of a local legend about healing, but Jesus showed that faith in legends and superstition is misplaced. In contrast, faith in Jesus Christ—the One who can heal with a simple word, the Savior who can forgive any sin, the true Master of the “House of Mercy”—is never misplaced.
          Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant. Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live, for your law is my delight.—Psalm 119:76-77
          When we pray, Lord, may your unfailing love comfort those who need it today. Surround them with your tender mercies. And may they feel and experience and believe the love you have toward them, it is a powerful prayer that God delights to answer, for he is the God of all comfort. He is full of loving-kindness and tender mercies. Do you know someone who is in the midst of a trial, someone who is sick, heartbroken, alone, or in distress and needs to be comforted by the Lord’s unfailing love today? What friends or family members need to be surrounded with God’s tender mercies? As you pray for your friends and loved ones, you can be confident that there is no pain or suffering too deep for the love and mercy of God to reach.
          LORD, you are the God of all comfort. How grateful I am. I pray that your unfailing love will comfort my loved ones and that your tender mercies will surround them. These dear ones need your Spirit’s tenderness today. May they experience you in the midst of their pain, and please touch them with healing today. Lord, it is such a comfort to know that your eyes watch over me and my loved ones, that your ears hear our cries for help. Thank you for hearing our cries, for rescuing us when we are crushed in spirit. You are always close to the brokenhearted, to those who are in dire straits. I praise you for the hope and courage your promises give us when we are face-to-face with the most difficult of circumstances. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
          Look Up—meditate on Psalm 119:76-77…pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 119:76-77…pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 119:76-77…pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

* If you liked this post, you will LOVE this new book: "Memorable Moments in the Holy Land," available on Amazon at this link:  https://a.co/d/06G79jQm

TEMPLE MOUNT, MOUNT MORIAH, & THE THRESHING FLOOR IN JERUSALEM

 

Temple Mount, Mount Moriah, & the Threshing Floor in Jerusalem’s Old City       

          During each Holy Land Pilgrimage our Lakes Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron D. Burgner shared with us the biblical and historical significance of The Temple Mount, Mount Moriah, & the Threshing Floor, which are deeply intertwined sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, representing the same sacred hilltop. The Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine sits directly atop this rocky summit, which holds foundational significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The connection between these locations unfolds through history. According to the Bible, Mount Moriah is the mountain where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22). It is the geographic peak where the First and Second Jewish Temples were later built. Centuries after Abraham, King David purchased this Threshing Floor, an elevated bedrock from Araunah the Jebusite to build an altar and halt a plague (2 Samuel 24). Threshing floors were historically positioned on high, exposed surfaces so natural winds could separate grain from chaff. Abraham saw the acreage. David bought the lot. Solomon built the house. Nebuchadnezzar tore it town. Zerubbabel rebuilt it. Herod the Great expanded it. Titus flattened it. Before these temples stood on Mount Moriah, it was nothing but a hill used for threshing wheat. Hardly worth noticing. But today, the Temple Mount remains the most precious piece of real estate in the world. And the golden shrine that graces its crest has become the icon for the Holy City of Jerusalem itself.
          How did this ordinary hill become holy? Not through battles or land bartering or by popular vote. God chose it. It’s the same with us. The site of the Temple Mount first appeared on the scene when God told Abraham to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice Isaac there (Genesis 22:2). The “Binding of Isaac” climaxed with the Lord providing a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of his only son. “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.” One millennium after Abraham, King David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite as a site to offer sacrifices after David’s sin with the census (2 Samuel 24:18-25). In the same area where Abraham came to offer Isaac, and on the very hill where David offered burnt offerings for his sin, Solomon began to build the First Temple on Mount Moriah in 966 BC (1 Kings 6:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1). Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. —2 Chronicles 3:1 The original size of the Temple Mount was smaller than the outline we see today, which is Herodian. The Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar tore down the First Temple on in 586 BC. It had stood for 380 years. The exiled Jews returned to their land after 70 years when Cyrus the Great allowed them to rebuild the Temple. The structure Zerubbabel erected seemed modest in comparison to Solomon’s magnificent edifice. Following the first Maccabean triumphs, the Jews improved it even more. 
             The most elaborate reconstruction and renovation occurred when Herod the Great began his extensive building project that would crown the Second Temple. This was the Temple Jesus knew, whose destruction He predicted (Matthew 24:1-2). The Southern Steps of the Temple Mount where pilgrims walk today would have felt Jesus’ sandals too. In AD 70 Titus rolled in his Roman legions and destroyed in a matter of days what had taken decades to construct (see Daniel 9:26). Stones from the Second Temple still lay in the first-century street where archaeologists found them. The Muslim ruler Abd el-Malik built the shrine called the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount between AD 688-691. Its golden veneer is a 20^th-century addition. The Holy Land and the Holy City owe their designations to a hill where the Holy of Holies resided for centuries. The Temple Mount remains the most photographed spot in Jerusalem and the goal of many pilgrimages. It’s amazing that the most important religious site in the world was for centuries a mere elevated hill north of Jebus where farmers threshed wheat.

          The ordinary was made holy because God chose it. Just like all who follow Him. Solomon understood that the Temple he would construct could not house the Lord. Even the great Solomon understood that the best he could offer God was worship. When Jesus told the Samaritan woman that worship would no longer be confined to the Jerusalem Temple, He taught her “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:23–24). Because of God’s holiness and grace through offering His only Son, what can we really offer Him in return but absolute worship? That is what He seeks. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.—Psalm 84:1-2. Only the high priest goes into the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, and always with blood, which he offers to God to cover his own sins and the sins the people have committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the Most Holy Place was not open to the people.—Hebrews 9:7-8. Because we can worship God anyplace and anytime, we might fail to understand the psalmist’s longing. 
            In Old Testament times a person made a pilgrimage to worship God. It was a yearly event and often involved a lengthy journey. That is why the psalmist sang of a dwelling place where he could be in the presence of the Lord. It’s why he expressed a desire to be even a lowly gatekeeper in God’s house (v. 10) so that he could worship God every single day! We have available to us what the psalmist could only hope for. When Christ hung on the cross, the heavy veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple ripped from top to bottom. This symbolic act shouted to the world that believers were no longer required to stand at a distance. We can walk into God’s presence and commune with him by name. Today many religions continue to require a pilgrimage to worship their gods. Christ made a way for you by making a pilgrimage of his own—the long, lonely walk to the cross—so that you could praise him wherever you are. In the Old Testament, people couldn’t just walk into the Holy Place to ask for God’s help or mercy. The priests ministered there daily, but only the High Priest—and only on the Day of Atonement—could go into God’s presence in the Most Holy Place, to offer a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s sins and intercede for them. Even then, he had a rope tied around his foot so that if God struck him dead, the other priests could pull his body out.
          When Jesus was crucified, he entered the Most Holy Place once and for all by shedding his own blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. When he died, the thick veil separating the people from the Most Holy Place was torn. Think of it! Because of Jesus, we have unlimited access to the Lord. We don’t have to wait for a once-a-year meeting with God. We don’t have to ask someone else to go to the Lord on our behalf. We can enter his throne room anytime night or day. Go freely into God’s presence and thank him for his great gift of Jesus and this wonderful accessibility through prayer.

          JESUS, I am thankful that I can worship you right where I am. I will enter your courts with thanksgiving. I will kneel at the mercy seat and find forgiveness. I will call out your name in praise. Lord, I pray for those who do not have intimacy with the living God. You have already made the pilgrimage for them. Open their eyes to see that they can find you right here, right now. With all my heart I thank you, Jesus, for being the perfect sacrifice for my sins and the sins of the whole world. When your blood was presented on the heavenly mercy seat and you offered up your Spirit, the veil of the temple was forever rent, providing me access into the very presence of the Father. How I thank you, Lord. In Your Precious Name we pray, amen.
          Look Up—meditate on Hebrews 9:7-8…pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
          Look In—as you meditate on Hebrews 9:7-8…pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
          Look Out—as you meditate on Hebrews 9:7-8…pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.

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