By now I think we’re getting clear on the idea of sacred space. It has to be different than “normal” space. If this idea makes you uncomfortable and you take interpretive steps to weaken it, (like telling yourself the text doesn’t actually mean what it sounds like it means), you will simultaneously be diminishing the wonder of God becoming man and inhabiting “normal” space. So no. The strict rules around sacred space stay. They are what they are.

And remember how we said that the Tabernacle must reflect the truth about the heavenly reality. We need that understanding firmly in hand for these chapters. Especially the part in 21:18-23 where men with physical “defects” are not allowed to serve as priests.

Is God “ableist?” Is he prejudiced against persons with disabilities? ♿️

Well… kinda…yes – but in the best way possible. Jesus certainly wasn’t a fan of disabilities. He healed people and took their disabilities away.

Jesus: (sees lame man) 💭 Ugh. Dude would be happier if he could walk. “Do you want to be healed?”

Lame man: “I don’t have help, Bro.”

Jesus: “Take up your mat and walk.”

Lame man: 👀 (gets up, walks) Whoa. Cool. Look. It just says “man.” Cause I’m not Lame anymore. ✊🏼

(Highly paraphrased but that’s essentially what happened in John 5.)

There are no disabled people in heaven. They all get healed upon entry. So it would not reflect heavenly reality to have a deformed or disabled person in sacred space.

Christ – our High Priest – is flawless. The model of him can’t be disfigured.

It’s so precious though that these ineligible men in the priestly family still get to eat the sacred food. There is still a place at the table. As long as they’re clean.

And that goes for any offering that people are allowed to eat from. People got to eat most of the offering they brought.

🥩 Peace Offering. It’s what’s for dinner.

As long as you’re ceremonially clean. (Which brings a whole new level of meaning to the idea of washing up before dinner.)

Everyone who eats at the heavenly banquet table will be spotless; cleansed by Christ. So the earthly model needs to reflect that reality. It’s a teaching tool. An object lesson. A way to make the unseen, visible.

It’s very important that Israel understand that the priests, and the High Priest especially, belong to Yahweh. Their lives are not their own to do as they please. They cannot marry just anyone. They cannot do as others do. God’s anointing oil is on them.

Is the oil of God’s Spirit on you?

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If the Holy Spirit dwells in you, it means something. It means that just as the high priest had to exercise care to not defile himself so as not to bring uncleanness into sacred space, so do we.

I’m not suggesting that we are required to dress in linen and avoid funerals. But we need to know something:

WE ARE THE SACRED SPACE.

Let’s just have a seat here on a park bench and meditate on that for a sec. 🌳🌳🌳

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One day a churchy “Karen” came huffing into the pastor’s office. “They’re chewing gum in the sanctuary!” she fumed. The pastor corrected her theology as he replied, “No. The sanctuaries are chewing gum.”

😏

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Now let’s get personal…

IF (and that’s a solid IF), you are a born-from-above-by-the-Holy-Spirit, name-in-the-book-of-life SAINT, then you do not stop being sacred space. Ever. Not in the shower. Not on the toilet. Not when you scrub the toilet. Not when you eat. Not when you sweat. Not when you’re intimate with your spouse. Not when you change dirty diapers. Not when you work. Not when you sleep. You are sacred space.

How careful are you with your tabernacle?

Do you put junk in it? On it? Do you take care of it? Treat it kindly?

There’s a reason the old timers used to quote the line that isn’t in the Bible but feels like it kinda should be: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” This can mean more than physical hygiene. Are we keeping our hearts and minds clean?

What song lyrics bounce through your head? Or stream through the speaker? What images do you look at or imagine? What books do you read? What words come out of your mouth? What words come to mind that you sometimes have the good sense to not actually say? What do you think about?

Ask yourself: How clean is it? A priest couldn’t just shrug and say, “Nah – it’s probably fine.” That could get him killed. He either took these commands seriously or he’d be dead. I wonder if most Christians take their personal sanctity seriously.

Let me be super clear. We do not sanctify ourselves by works anymore than we are justified by works. The Lord sanctifies us.

“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The answer is: Of course not. It is all a work of grace. What I’m asking is – are we walking in step the Spirit or in step the Flesh? Are we doing our part to keep the temple clean?

(If you have a couple extra minutes, this would be an IDEAL time to pop over to Ephesians and read chapters 4 and 5.)

I’m going to share with you one of my personal prayers. You may want to memorize it and pray it too. I began praying this simple prayer several years ago. But you should know that if you pray it and mean it, prepare to have the Holy Spirit dig all kinds of crud out our your heart. Here it is:

“Lord, make me a REAL Christian – the kind You want.”

That’s it.

It’s a small but mighty prayer.

Rather like a stick of dynamite. 🧨

No matter what kind of sinful behavior you want to engage in, there’s a “Christian” somewhere who will tell you it’s fine. There will be people at church or somewhere who do it or watch it or talk like that.

Guess what. They don’t get to decide how a REAL Christian should be. Only One person gets to define what constitutes an actual Christian: Christ.

The LORD had an idea in mind when He started this thing of what the redeemed saints would look like. What does HE want?We should consider that what we think a good Christian is, might not be exactly what Jesus is thinking. Only He can make us into a real Christian from the inside out.

It’s not some big secret either. A real disciple will look like his Teacher.

Jesus is sacred space. He is the Tabernacle of God among men. And the plan is for us to be just like Him. When you go about today, keep in mind – you are the tabernacle of God among men.