Assurance of Faith St. Davids-Queenston United Church, April 24, 2016 Sermon by: Christine Earley

Transcription

1 Assurance of Faith St. Davids-Queenston United Church, April 24, 2016 Sermon by: Christine Earley Let us pray, O Holy One, we pray your wisdom will be revealed to us as your Word is shared with us this day. Amen. Every week, we hear two or more passages from the bible. Some more familiar than others. It can put us into a comfortable, familiar place when we recognize a passage. Sometimes, it can also be uncomfortable. Something we don t want to deal with dwell on. Certain words can make us cringe. Crucifixion. Flesh. Blood. You can even hear the sounds in your mind hammering of spikes. Of course, we all know the story of the crucifixion. And even though we re reminded each year why we call it Good Friday, in our hearts we feel it was not a good day when Jesus was crucified. We know Jesus was fulfilling a prophesy. We know. We know. So, when we move on from Good Friday and Easter Sunday into the Easter season, we get passages like this one from Hebrews 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places 1

2 by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 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. This is where you think, wow, that s great! This is fabulous news! Or, maybe phrases like by the blood of Jesus and through his flesh stop you short from absorbing the full meaning of this passage. They re not especially pleasant ideas to picture. Picture this a room covered in gold perfectly square certain death to those who entered blood from a sacrifice sprinkled seven times. Okay ready? Sounds pagan, doesn t it? It s not. It s actually the Most Holy Place, also known as the Holy of Holies. And it was around during the time of Jesus, and much, much, earlier. You see, the temple in Jerusalem was the centre of religious life. The building itself was built according to the directions God gave to Moses. They built a travelling temple called the tabernacle, which they moved with them as they wandered the wilderness. Think of M*A*S*H 4077, but religious. There were clear directions on how it was built. In Exodus 26 verses it says 31 And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet 2

3 yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. 32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the covenant in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. This veil of blue and purple and crimson yarns was no ordinary veil. If a picture of a wedding veil pops into your head, or something that you can see through, erase those thoughts. This veil was a separation, a barrier. And it was reported to be four inches thick. And.. it was 60 feet high! This barrier veil separated the holy place from the most holy place. There were clear boundaries on where you could and could not enter. Visualize a rectangular building. When you enter, the first area is the holy place, and is only for priests. At the western end, is the most holy place, with one thing inside, the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat on top of it. This was the earthly dwelling place of God. Only the high priest could enter the most holy place, and only once per year. 3

4 This is where it gets even more interesting. God had directed his people to build a temple. God had directed his people to make animal sacrifices to atone for sins. Once a year, a priest, the high priest would enter the most holy place. This was always a scary time for the priest because he, like everyone else was not without sin. God had warned that to enter the most holy place on any other day would mean certain death. (Lev.16:2 ISV The LORD told Moses, "Remind your brother Aaron that at no time is he to enter the sacred place from the room that contains the curtain into the presence of the Mercy Seat on top of the ark. Otherwise, he'll die, because I will appear in a cloud at the Mercy Seat. ) The priest would enter the most holy place with incense burning. He would have to do this so he wouldn t accidentally see God. This part is important, because God could not stand to look directly at a sinful person. God wanted to dwell among the Israelites. But God being perfection, this made for a tricky union. An encounter could only be made just once per year. It was the day of atonement. That veil was a constant reminder of humanity s sins. Of how humanity was unfit for God s presence. 4

5 For all those centuries, from the time of Moses, they would make blood sacrifices to try to atone for their sins. But, those atonements were only temporary. And they would have to keep on making them. Until Jesus. We know that Jesus died for our sins. Think back to the crucifixion story. Look at Matthew chapter 27 verses 50 and 51. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Powerful stuff! The veil was torn in two. This 60 foot high, four inches thick veil was torn in two from the top down. There was no way any human or humans could do that. It was by the hand of God. This is significant. The tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus death meant that we were no longer separated from God. The sacrifice Jesus made meant that no more animal sacrifices needed to be made. Not only that, but the animal sacrifices would no longer mean anything. Could there be anything that could compete with the blood sacrifice of Jesus? No. 5

6 His sacrifice was a sufficient atonement for sins. This meant that the most holy place was finally open for all faithful people, for all time, for Gentiles and Jews. Can you imagine how the priests reacted when the veil came down? Remember, it was forbidden to look upon God or God s dwelling place. They must have been petrified. They could now look into the most holy place. They would probably have run from the temple fearing that God would strike them down. Perhaps some would have thought about Jesus and maybe...just maybe... what they said about Him must have been true. God no longer needed to have an earthly dwelling place to be connected with us. We have a direct line to God through Jesus. No more animal sacrifices. No more intermediaries to speak for us. The old covenant was gone. We now had a new covenant with Jesus. Under this new covenant, our hearts and consciences are cleansed, are sprinkled clean. Not partially. Not temporarily. Permanently. It s because of this cleansing that we are able to enter into God s presence. 6

7 There s a wonderful image of our bodies being washed with pure water in this passage. A baptism is an outward sign that symbolizes the purification that Christ does inside us. This image from Hebrews is an internal cleansing from sin. Once cleansed, we can move towards God. This passage is so positive, so full of hope and promise. What more is there for Jesus to do? He s done it all. The Most Holy is open to us. We don t have to be afraid like the priests were. We don t have to do all those washing and blood sprinkling rituals like they used to. We can enter with confidence and full assurance. We ve been washed and sprinkled by Christ. We don t ever have to leave. And we can stay with God forever. Listen to the passage again, but this time, open your hearts to hear the good news 19 Therefore, brothers and sister, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 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. 7

8 We ve received a great gift from Jesus. His redeeming grace has overpowered sin and removed it from us. It s up to us now to live that life that Jesus gave us. It s up to us to accept the blessings, and in return, show grace and mercy to others. Jesus death, His blood, has removed all barriers between God and man. We didn t sneak around the curtain, the veil, to get to God. We went through it. We can now approach God, through Jesus, and approach Him with confidence and boldness. It is because of this, that we can say, thanks and praise be to God. Let us pray, Come and speak to us in this Easter season, God. Into our dying, speak your word of new life. Into our fear, speak words of courage and hope. Into our doubt, speak words of trust and of faith restored. Speak to the very heart of our lives with your word of grace, and grant us your peace. Amen. 8