He Built it

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

HE BUILT IT

Heb 8:1-2

8:1 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

NIV

The point, we are actually at the point of all this, but still after this there is more to the point, but we should just stop here is revel in this point for a moment. Man built an earthly tabernacle in years past at the direction of God. Men are still building places that sort of take the place of that tabernacle, places they claim are the places we can come an meet with God. Earthly places built by the hands of men, to gather together and worship the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, God almighty. It is true we do not have a burning fire on the altar outside to bring our sacrifices to for our sins. We do have an altar on the inside facing a cross in many churches where we could bring ourselves as a living sacrifice. But for the most part all of it is still built by men, and thus is truly not worth the materials used to build it. If we think about it, God does not need these tabernacles; he was satisfied walking with Adam in the Garden. But for some reason men feel the need to have a place where they believe God meets with them. So in the past God told them to build a tabernacle to carry with them. And it is true he directed Solomon to build a solid temple in Jerusalem for the people from the same basic plan of the tabernacle, burning altar and all. But after the curtain was torn from top to bottom and the holy of holies was open to all, and later the whole temple was destroyed not ever having been rebuilt, are we sure he has directed us to build all these edifices designed by men? What worth are they? Why must we gather within the walls? God has established a perfect sanctuary not designed by men. He has established the perfect place of worship, where our high priest now serves. This place is not built by men, but by God. Do we not know that we are the temple of God? Do we not know having our Lord and Savior, our high priest in our heart, even if that is metaphorically speaking, we should worship the Lord within our own being, within our heart? We should worship and serve him, with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Yet there also is one more place we will worship him in a physical sense, the new heaven and new earth. We will worship him in his sanctuary, the one he has built.