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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog June 5, 2024
"We Belong in God's Inner Sanctum?"
Have you ever snuck into a place you weren't supposed to enter? Perhaps you were on a vacation to a foreign destination and there was a temple or shrine you were forbidden to enter, but you did it when nobody was looking. Or perhaps, much closer to home, there was a private wing of a government building or a religious house of worship that was strictly off limits, but you went in anyway. I'm not advocating that you break religious or political taboos and enter locations where you're not allowed. But I'm not blind to the fact that many of us have been where we're not supposed to be. So what would you say if I told you we belong in God's inner sanctum because of Jesus' humanity?
Hebrews 6:19-20 states, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek" (NIV). These verses make it very clear WHAT we have and WHERE we find ourselves. We have a hope that is a firm and secure anchor for the soul, and that hope enters into "the inner sanctuary behind the curtain." Obviously, Hebrews 6 is talking about entering into some sort of temple or sanctuary, but verses 19 and 20 strongly suggest that temple is in heaven rather than on earth.
But what is amazing is that there's someone who has already been in God's heavenly temple or sanctuary: "our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf." The Greek grammar of verse 20 doesn't merely identify Jesus as the one who has gone before us into God's temple. Instead, it piles on the identifiers for Jesus: he is the forerunner, the one who has entered on our behalf, the one who acts according to the order of Melchizedek, and the one who has become the eternal chief priest. All of this is because of Jesus' humanity. Jesus is the human forerunner, the human who has entered on our behalf, the human who serves according to the order of Melchizedek, and the human who becomes a chief priest but who does so as the eternal God.
Friends, you can hold onto your hope and know your place is in God's heavenly inner sanctuary, because Jesus your Best Friend has gone before you to make a way for you.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
