D
Spurgeon was talking abut the temple's veil being torn in half today and I got to thinking about that.
Imagine something like the Liberty Bell or the Statue of Liberty (or whatever the symbols are for your land) standing where they stand today, but covered up. Imagine they're covered up for close to two thousand years. Wouldn't you want to take a peek inside that veil?
Think about the mercy-seat. You've read what it looks like, right? Pretty big, handles on both sides because it's so heavy it takes more than one person to pick it up. A big wooden box, originally, but covered in gold. Not a flimsy sheet a gold, a fairly thick layer. And on top of it were two angels set in such a way that you knew something important stood in the middle always meriting out mercy. Most impressive because that something in the middle is God himself, yet no one saw him there. He was there. And it was such an important symbol, it had to be covered in canvas. More of a tapestry than what we consider "veil" today. A thick cloth always hiding that.
Rumor traveled around fast about a guy who touched it once, just to stop it from falling over, but he died. That is a national knowledge instilled in every generation for many, many centuries. Also the knowledge that priest had to wear a rope when they went in, because they could die in there if they hadn't prepared well enough to walk inside. A cleaning was required just to put sandal behind that canvas. One of the body, the mind, and the heart. And if it wasn't a through cleaning -- zap! Death! Instantly.
It was about mercy. God's mercy. And yet a whole nation couldn't go inside to look at it. Imagine growing up, wanting God's mercy, getting married, having kids, and telling those kids about God's mercy and his mercy seat. Your kids have kids, and they tell them, and by the time you die your great grandkids are just as enamored by that thing behind the curtain. A chair where Jehovah himself gives mercy. At least 1600 years of this happening right in front of them, but always that chair is hidden behind the veil. Very few -- very, very few -- have been behind that veil. They're the only ones who have seen that seat. Seen God's mercy.
And then one day the veil is ripped right down the middle, completely in half, and the seat is shown to whoever will look at it. An earthquake happened at the same time, but earthquakes don't rip fabric in half. They just don't.
A really nice guy was crucified over on another hill in town. Something of a messy ending to a wonderful guy's life. Everyone knew miracles were happening around that guy. Did you hear the one about the centurion's little girl? She had died, and that guy -- that Jesus fellow -- said something nice, and she was brought back from death. He was friends with that really nice family. You know the ones, Mary, Martha and Lazarus? Well, I went to Lazarus' viewing. I was there when they rolled the boulder in front of his tomb. That Jesus fellow raised him up ant that boulder moved away so Lazarus could walk out. And then there was that blind man. Remember him? He sees now, but he was blind. Jesus did that. He taught us all about the one who sits on that mercy-seat.
No idea why he was killed for that, but how was it the two things happened at the same time? How does the curtain get ripped in half at the same time he died? And now I can look in. And I can see God's mercy-seat. It is beautiful. Have you seen it yet?
So why is it I don't believe?
It seems like such a duh-now moment for us in the 21st century. But we didn't believe either, until the Lord opened our eyes. What a wonder to think finally God's mercy comes individually. And the proof is in an old gopher-wood box layered in god visible to anyone looking... for the briefest of moments in history. And then Man would rather cover up the evidence than deal with the fact.
Imagine something like the Liberty Bell or the Statue of Liberty (or whatever the symbols are for your land) standing where they stand today, but covered up. Imagine they're covered up for close to two thousand years. Wouldn't you want to take a peek inside that veil?
Think about the mercy-seat. You've read what it looks like, right? Pretty big, handles on both sides because it's so heavy it takes more than one person to pick it up. A big wooden box, originally, but covered in gold. Not a flimsy sheet a gold, a fairly thick layer. And on top of it were two angels set in such a way that you knew something important stood in the middle always meriting out mercy. Most impressive because that something in the middle is God himself, yet no one saw him there. He was there. And it was such an important symbol, it had to be covered in canvas. More of a tapestry than what we consider "veil" today. A thick cloth always hiding that.
Rumor traveled around fast about a guy who touched it once, just to stop it from falling over, but he died. That is a national knowledge instilled in every generation for many, many centuries. Also the knowledge that priest had to wear a rope when they went in, because they could die in there if they hadn't prepared well enough to walk inside. A cleaning was required just to put sandal behind that canvas. One of the body, the mind, and the heart. And if it wasn't a through cleaning -- zap! Death! Instantly.
It was about mercy. God's mercy. And yet a whole nation couldn't go inside to look at it. Imagine growing up, wanting God's mercy, getting married, having kids, and telling those kids about God's mercy and his mercy seat. Your kids have kids, and they tell them, and by the time you die your great grandkids are just as enamored by that thing behind the curtain. A chair where Jehovah himself gives mercy. At least 1600 years of this happening right in front of them, but always that chair is hidden behind the veil. Very few -- very, very few -- have been behind that veil. They're the only ones who have seen that seat. Seen God's mercy.
And then one day the veil is ripped right down the middle, completely in half, and the seat is shown to whoever will look at it. An earthquake happened at the same time, but earthquakes don't rip fabric in half. They just don't.
A really nice guy was crucified over on another hill in town. Something of a messy ending to a wonderful guy's life. Everyone knew miracles were happening around that guy. Did you hear the one about the centurion's little girl? She had died, and that guy -- that Jesus fellow -- said something nice, and she was brought back from death. He was friends with that really nice family. You know the ones, Mary, Martha and Lazarus? Well, I went to Lazarus' viewing. I was there when they rolled the boulder in front of his tomb. That Jesus fellow raised him up ant that boulder moved away so Lazarus could walk out. And then there was that blind man. Remember him? He sees now, but he was blind. Jesus did that. He taught us all about the one who sits on that mercy-seat.
No idea why he was killed for that, but how was it the two things happened at the same time? How does the curtain get ripped in half at the same time he died? And now I can look in. And I can see God's mercy-seat. It is beautiful. Have you seen it yet?
So why is it I don't believe?
It seems like such a duh-now moment for us in the 21st century. But we didn't believe either, until the Lord opened our eyes. What a wonder to think finally God's mercy comes individually. And the proof is in an old gopher-wood box layered in god visible to anyone looking... for the briefest of moments in history. And then Man would rather cover up the evidence than deal with the fact.