When we think of the place that can be called
the center of our Faith where we pray and worship our Lord, we think of a
Sanctuary. The Jews had the Temple as the place, indeed the center, of their
praying and sacrificing. Jesus honored the Temple in Jerusalem with His many
visits for teaching and proclaiming the Heart of the Faith, the Good News in
Him. He also clearly showed how the Jewish people’s and the leaders of the
Faith had perverted His Father’s House of Prayer and had changed it into a
house of trade, a den of thieves. The prayer center had to be cleansed out and
returned to its rightful purposes. At His Death, the veil/curtain that hung in
front of the Holy of Holies (the Sanctuary and Holiest Place on earth) was torn
from top to bottom. This opened the Sanctuary making it accessible from all who
come to our Lord with faith: total access to Almighty God! Indeed, the Heavenly
Sanctuary was opened to believers to enter into worship-filled union with our
Lord through faith.
In Jesus Christ and through Faith in Him,
the center for praying, sacrificing and for living becomes the Living Sanctuary
on earth which is in the midst of the people of Faith. Through faith, believers
are joined as a Spiritual House, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling
place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:14-22, 1
Cor.3:16-17, 1 Peter 2:4-5).
Indeed, as a believer our
body is transformed into a temple of the Holy Spirit within us (1 Cor.6:19).
The Center for praying, sacrificing, and living is within our souls, within our
bodies personally, amidst fellow believers corporately, united with God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within us and united with God in Heaven…
Therefore
let us do as is stated in Hebrews 8:19-25
19 Therefore, brethren, since we
have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way which 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. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for he who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you
see the Day drawing near.
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