Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Chapel today was really something, the preacher talked about how we were connected to the God in this present age.
When god brought his people out of Egypt, they expected a life free from hardships, with everything nicely layed out for them. And when they were in the desert, running out of food and water, they started complaining about how they would have been better off in Egypt, where they would have been fed. But God was merciful and sent birds to bring them mana or in idiot terms, bread. Something like pizza, but without the toppings. Anyway they still complained. And because of that ( and some other stuff) they wandered the desert of 40 years.
Oh and God also gave Moses and gave him a vision of the tabernacle....
The tabernacle of the Hebrews, during the Exodus, was a portable worship facility comprised of a tent draped with colorful curtains. It had a rectangular, perimeter fence of fabric, poles and staked cords. This rectangle was always erected when they would camp, oriented to the east. In the center of this enclosure was a rectangular sanctuary draped with goats'-hair curtains, and the roof was made from rams' skins. Inside, it was divided into two areas, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These two 'compartments were separated by a curtain or veil. Entering the first space, one would see 3 pieces of sacred furniture: a seven-branched oil lampstand on the left (south), a table for twelve loaves of show bread on the right (north) and straight ahead before the dividing curtain (west) was an altar for incense-burning. Beyond this curtain was the cube-shaped inner room known as the (Holy of Holies) or (kodesh hakodashim). This sacred space contained a single article called the
Ark of the covenant (aron habrit)
Well, the the tabernacle was made out of three parts, the outer courts, the holy place and the holy of holies outer courts everyone could enter, the holy place, the priests would enter to do their daily jobs. But the holy of holies, only the head priest could enter, and only ONCE a year. And if he didn't do anything according to Gods will, he would die. Now a dead body in the tabernacle wouldn't be a good thing right? So they tied a rope and bells around the guys feet, so if the priest died, and the people outside didn't hear anything for about 30mins, they would sort go.. Hrms..Must be dead, lets pull him out. So in some sense the head priest was a dead man walking.
But when Jesus died, at that exact moment, the curtain tore apart right in the centre. It wasn't two steroid body building priests, they would have died instantly. Those people working the the holy place heard a tearing noise, it wasn't coming from below, it was tearing top down. They must have thought '' ZOMG! Where are the hands??..... Wow the holy of holies, never seen it before. Well now I'm gone die......" so they were shocked basically. Anyone who was not the head priest would have died the moment they saw the holy of holies. This shows that god was now open to everyone, that everyone would be used by God, youth adults children etc...... And without the curtain, the arrangement of the furniture and the shape of the room formed a cross. Cool aint it?
