For just a brief moment, close your eyes and imagine the three compartments of the sanctuary and reflect on this question: If you had to spend a day in the sanctuary, where would you like to be? Would you choose to be near the Shekinah glory in the Most Holy Place or would you rather be in the outer court, shielded from God’s presence by as many veils as possible? Many people have agreed with the words of Elihu who told Job, “I won’t ask to speak with God; why should I give him a chance to destroy me?” “God’s power is so great that we cannot come near him.” (Job 37:20,23) Sanctuary symbolism is often used to suggest that we need as many things as possible between us and God. For example, the function of priests has been described as necessary because we need someone “better” to put in a good word with God for us; the blood is sometimes depicted as shielding us from God’s wrath; and words like “propitiation” are used in association with the lid over the ark of the covenant (Romans 3:25).
On the other hand, it would seem that the whole point of setting up the tabernacle in the first place was because God wanted to come closer: “The people must make a sacred Tent for me, so that I may live among them” (Exodus 25:8). And, there have been individuals like Moses who “Spoke face to face with God as a man speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11).
But most convincingly, if we can just wrap our minds around the fact that Jesus was God in human form, in Jesus we see a God very much trying to come close. Remarkably, Jesus even came close to people that society perceives as outcasts – tax collectors, prostitutes, fisherman, and lepers. And Jesus many times said that friendship and intimacy is what God really wants, “I don’t want to call you servants any longer…I would rather call you friends.” (John 15:15)
The sanctuary system is designed in a way that beautifully invites us to better understand how we are to enter into this closer friendship with God. I suggested last time that the 3 main compartments represent individuals at three different stages in relationship to God. The brazen altar in the outer court represents the unconverted mind, the altar of incense in the Holy Place represents the converted mind, and the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place represents the “sealed” mind of an individual who is fully “at-one” with God and experiencing a joyful relationship with God (represented by the Shekinah glory). I’d like to explore this in a bit more detail in this article.
