In one
sense, we are a completed work in Christ at the moment of our salvation. What I
mean is that on heaven’s side of the equation, it is a finished work. That
being said, is there a work in us on this earth side that is just as important
and necessary? At this point of
justification, have we arrived at perfection of character, there being nothing
more to do inside of us? And is this important? Is justification by faith the
end of our faith journey or just the trail head of the Christian walk? And if
there be more to do, does it happen automatically or does it require something
on our part? I’d like to start with a type from the Old Testament in looking
for answers to these important questions.
After the law was given at Sinai and the tabernacle constructed, as the Hebrews traveled across the wilderness, they camped in the shape of a cross, with the tabernacle at their very heart. The tabernacle was constructed with three parts. There was an outer courtyard, and then under a tent were the holy place, and a most holy place, the Holy of Holies. There was prescribed protocol, under the law, at each court. People were blessed and their sacrifices received at the gate separating the outer courtyard from the encampment of the people. Priests would then perform the rituals of sacrifice in the outer courtyard which contained the bronze laver for their purification and the bronze altar for burnt offerings of the people. Other priests maintained the inner court, or holy place, where the altar of incense, the table of the Bread of the Presence, and the lampstand were located. It was in the most inner court, the most holy place that the high priest entered once a year to atone for the sins of the people. Here was located the Ark of the Covenant and above it the Mercy Seat. A heavy curtain separated this most holy place from the rest.
Now the word, specifically in the book of Hebrews, teaches us that the tabernacle in the wilderness and the accompanying sacrifices was only a type and shadow of those better things to come. The One who came was Jesus Christ. One of the best visuals of this is, tying the O.T. type with the New Testament reality, is when the curtain in Jerusalem’s Temple was rent from top to bottom at Christ’s death, opening the opportunity for all men to commune with a Holy God. The very Holy Place was made available to us. The cross gave us access to all three courts, His work complete. There are shadows of truth relating to our Christian walk at each court. We’ll now look at all three of these shadows with a great understanding of His finished work in mind.
We have an outer court experience when we accept Jesus as our savior and are born again by grace through faith. Keep in mind it was in the outer courtyard that the cleansed priest (Jesus) sacrificed (in this case Himself) the offerings. Nothing was required of the people in this process other than bringing their sacrifice to the gate. Here they were blessed and their portion received. We can liken this to our exercise of faith (also a gift) that allows grace to work in our lives. Now that first step at the cross, which initiates the process, is vital, but only a beginning. Justification is that trail head experience that puts us on the right path, most certainly the starting place, but also most certainly not the final destination.
It is sad that many in the body of Christ are taught that this is all there is. They are kept on a steady diet of milk well past the point where they should be weaned. And because they are taught this is all there is, they limit their experience and camp in the outer court. Sometimes they are told their desire for more is unscriptural. Other times they are offered activity to fill the void in their desires. Such activity, as much as it may benefit the program of the local church, does little to benefit the long-term growth of the saints. Service is good, but can be harmful if offered as the solution for true spiritual hunger. Hebrews 6:1-2 exhorts us to move on to perfection.
After the law was given at Sinai and the tabernacle constructed, as the Hebrews traveled across the wilderness, they camped in the shape of a cross, with the tabernacle at their very heart. The tabernacle was constructed with three parts. There was an outer courtyard, and then under a tent were the holy place, and a most holy place, the Holy of Holies. There was prescribed protocol, under the law, at each court. People were blessed and their sacrifices received at the gate separating the outer courtyard from the encampment of the people. Priests would then perform the rituals of sacrifice in the outer courtyard which contained the bronze laver for their purification and the bronze altar for burnt offerings of the people. Other priests maintained the inner court, or holy place, where the altar of incense, the table of the Bread of the Presence, and the lampstand were located. It was in the most inner court, the most holy place that the high priest entered once a year to atone for the sins of the people. Here was located the Ark of the Covenant and above it the Mercy Seat. A heavy curtain separated this most holy place from the rest.
Now the word, specifically in the book of Hebrews, teaches us that the tabernacle in the wilderness and the accompanying sacrifices was only a type and shadow of those better things to come. The One who came was Jesus Christ. One of the best visuals of this is, tying the O.T. type with the New Testament reality, is when the curtain in Jerusalem’s Temple was rent from top to bottom at Christ’s death, opening the opportunity for all men to commune with a Holy God. The very Holy Place was made available to us. The cross gave us access to all three courts, His work complete. There are shadows of truth relating to our Christian walk at each court. We’ll now look at all three of these shadows with a great understanding of His finished work in mind.
We have an outer court experience when we accept Jesus as our savior and are born again by grace through faith. Keep in mind it was in the outer courtyard that the cleansed priest (Jesus) sacrificed (in this case Himself) the offerings. Nothing was required of the people in this process other than bringing their sacrifice to the gate. Here they were blessed and their portion received. We can liken this to our exercise of faith (also a gift) that allows grace to work in our lives. Now that first step at the cross, which initiates the process, is vital, but only a beginning. Justification is that trail head experience that puts us on the right path, most certainly the starting place, but also most certainly not the final destination.
It is sad that many in the body of Christ are taught that this is all there is. They are kept on a steady diet of milk well past the point where they should be weaned. And because they are taught this is all there is, they limit their experience and camp in the outer court. Sometimes they are told their desire for more is unscriptural. Other times they are offered activity to fill the void in their desires. Such activity, as much as it may benefit the program of the local church, does little to benefit the long-term growth of the saints. Service is good, but can be harmful if offered as the solution for true spiritual hunger. Hebrews 6:1-2 exhorts us to move on to perfection.
Therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
(Hebrews 6:1-2 KJV)
Further
along the path of Christian growth is the holy place, the inner court. The
inner court is the place where the priests performed the daily tasks of keeping
the lamp burning, offering incense twice a day, and bringing a new supply of
bread on the Sabbath. This is where we,
as believers, experience His light (revelation), offer our prayers (consecration),
and feast on His presence (renewing of covenant blessings and
responsibilities). It is at this place that
the gifts and calling of God on our lives are activated to a greater degree by the
Holy Spirit. These gifts and calling are, as Romans 11:29 tells us, without
repentance. In other words, God does not change His mind about the gifts He has
given us or the specific calling He has placed on us for ministry. But this is
the place in our growth that we must be willing to “stir up the gift” as Paul
exhorted Timothy in 2 Tim 1:6. That spiritual hunger we talked about in the
outer court moves us to dig a little deeper in our Christian walk. It is at this place that the work of
sanctification, the process by which we are conformed to Christ’s image, moves
to a greater level. There is no earning at this place, but effort is required.
Just as the priests had maintenance duties to perform in the holy place, we,
too, must be willing to maintain the light, communion, and presence of God in
our lives.
Paul tells us in writing to the Philippians, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. “(Philippians 3:13-14 KJV) So as great as this holy place is, it is only a resting place along the Christian path, and also not the destination. But here is where many of us stop. Many have been taught that this is as far as we can go in this life. So instead of continuing to grow in sanctification, pressing toward the mark, they see what God has given them in gifts and calling and count it enough. Some even put such emphasis on their gifts that they worship the gifts instead of the Giver, which is idolatry. What they give up is the opportunity of moving from having a gift to being a gift. But this next step requires the offering of blood, our blood.
Now the third court of the cross, the Holy of Holies, offers us the entire nature of Jesus. Justification comes to us by his grace. Gifts and calling are given without repentance. But further on into the core of that cross is where God wants us to come into full measure of character. To enter there takes the death of our selfish nature. It means that we offer ourselves, as Romans 12:1-2 says, as a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Unlike justification, which costs us nothing, and the beginnings of sanctification, which requires some cooperative effort on our part, coming into fruitfulness of character, that transformation, will require death to our flesh. We may be happy to stop at the good, and might be hungry enough to pursue the acceptable. But are we willing to die to self in order to walk in the perfect will of God? Just because Christ rent the veil and offered this to us doesn't mean we want to grow up into that place. The complete work is offered at the cross, but not all want the complete work that the cross has to offer. Many of us walk in and out of the Holy of Holies, but the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to such a transformation of the mind that we embrace that most sacred place as more than just a nice place to visit. It is our destination and the journey can be completed on this side of the grave.
Paul tells us in writing to the Philippians, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. “(Philippians 3:13-14 KJV) So as great as this holy place is, it is only a resting place along the Christian path, and also not the destination. But here is where many of us stop. Many have been taught that this is as far as we can go in this life. So instead of continuing to grow in sanctification, pressing toward the mark, they see what God has given them in gifts and calling and count it enough. Some even put such emphasis on their gifts that they worship the gifts instead of the Giver, which is idolatry. What they give up is the opportunity of moving from having a gift to being a gift. But this next step requires the offering of blood, our blood.
Now the third court of the cross, the Holy of Holies, offers us the entire nature of Jesus. Justification comes to us by his grace. Gifts and calling are given without repentance. But further on into the core of that cross is where God wants us to come into full measure of character. To enter there takes the death of our selfish nature. It means that we offer ourselves, as Romans 12:1-2 says, as a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Unlike justification, which costs us nothing, and the beginnings of sanctification, which requires some cooperative effort on our part, coming into fruitfulness of character, that transformation, will require death to our flesh. We may be happy to stop at the good, and might be hungry enough to pursue the acceptable. But are we willing to die to self in order to walk in the perfect will of God? Just because Christ rent the veil and offered this to us doesn't mean we want to grow up into that place. The complete work is offered at the cross, but not all want the complete work that the cross has to offer. Many of us walk in and out of the Holy of Holies, but the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to such a transformation of the mind that we embrace that most sacred place as more than just a nice place to visit. It is our destination and the journey can be completed on this side of the grave.
Satan’s
greatest tactic in these last days, as his seed comes to the full measure of
iniquity, is to keep the saints from believing the seed of Christ, His bride,
can come to the full measure of the stature of Christ in this life. We have been ministered to long enough by
those who stand in the two outer courts but have no vision for our full
inheritance at the cross. As we read in
Ephesians, the giving of the fivefold ministry to the church by Jesus was to see
this very thing accomplished in the life of the church.
And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
(Ephesians
4:11-16 KJV)
Only those
willing to enter into the full workings of the cross by going past the first
two courts will be ready to fight in this last hour Star Wars we find ourselves
in. Gifts will not be enough to topple the principalities from their heavenly places.
We can remain in the two outer courts and be offended by the scandal of the
cross, not willing to admit a deeper work needs to happen in us, or be willing
to empty ourselves and die so that His nature can accomplish its full work in
our lives. As God whittled down Gideon’s army to those who were fully prepared
for battle, He will use a remnant who has submitted to the entire journey the
finished work of Christ has made available.
