I invite you to turn with me in the scriptures to Exodus chapter 26. There are seven chapters of detail in how to set up this tabernacle. in Exodus 25 through 31, and then it's followed up by another six chapters from Exodus 35 to 40. 13 chapters of detail on the tabernacle is quite a bit. And I do wonder if more than one person has failed in their kind of intention to read through the Bible in a year, kind of come to this and, ah, so many details here. What are we going to do with this? I selected this passage partly because we worked through the second half of Exodus in a workshop, a translator's workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico, recently. There were three teams that had made drafts of, draft translations of Exodus, and we went through it together. Two of those teams were Nahuatl, which is Aztec languages. So it's remarkable to me to see the Aztec people, you remember how bloody they were before Cortes came, to see them seeking the Lord and hungry for his word in their own language. It's quite remarkable. Of course, as translators, there's a lot of detail here. How are we going to translate the colors, which vary from language to language? How are we going to translate little words like hooks and loops and clasps, things like that? Fortunately, we had the advantage of a number of pictures from the ancient Near East, which kind of helped our translators to visualize what this tabernacle looked like. When we talk about a tabernacle, we can talk about either the larger just the tent or the larger structure. So sometimes both of those words are referred to in the Bible. And one other note before we begin, and that is that a cubit is the distance between your elbow here and the top of your finger. So that's the distance of a cubit, just so that we are on the same page. But more importantly than just the details, as we work through Exodus together with our indigenous Mexican brothers and sisters, I had a growing sense of just how marvelous this material is. just how relevant it is to our daily living and how much encouragement we can find as we face the troubles that we have to wade through every week. How much encouragement there is and instruction here and inspiration for us in this teaching about the tabernacle. So here then the Word of God, reading Exodus 26, we'll read the whole chapter. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns. You shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain shall be 28 cubits, and the breadth of each curtain 4 cubits. All the curtains shall be the same size. 5 curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other 5 curtains shall be coupled to one another. And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise, you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 50 loops you shall make on the one curtain, and 50 loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loops shall be opposite one another. And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole. You shall also make curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains you shall make. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. You shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole. And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it. And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned ram skins and a covering of goat skins on top. You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. There shall be two tenons in each frame for fitting together, so shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames for the tabernacle, twenty frames for the south side, and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty frames, and there forty bases of silver, two bases under the one frame, and two bases under the next frame. And for the rear of the tabernacle westward, you shall make six frames. And you shall make two frames for the corners of the tabernacle in the rear. They shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them. They shall form the two corners. And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under the one frame, and two bases under another frame. You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear, westward. The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold, and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan You shall erect a tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain. And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps and bring the Ark of the Testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. And you shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table. And you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen. embroidered with needlework. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them." Thus far the reading of God's holy word. May his blessing be on each of us who hear it, and may we take it to heart and benefit from it. Amen. Brothers and sisters, well loved by our Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to ask, from this text, I'd like to ask three questions to guide us in our reflections. And the first question is very simple. What is the tabernacle? What is the tabernacle? The tabernacle, as we see it here, is, that's just a fancy word that we get from Latin, tabernaculum, but in short it means a tent. It is a tent with four layers to it of fundamentally three different kinds of materials. It's a little bit like what people used to wear in the old days in many different cultures. On the inside, you wear what's comfortable. You wear your linen on the inside, even as we wear cotton. And then outside that comes the itchy wool. And then outside that comes the leather to protect you from the elements. It's got those three basic layers. Of course, there's two layers of skins of fine leather on the outside. The tent is not fundamentally different from the tents that the desert peoples use today, the Bedouin people use. You may see them in their black tents in the desert areas of Palestine and Syria even today. But the word for tent here, the word Mishkan, basically means dwelling. We see the word used for the habitations of Israel in Isaiah 54, verse 2. In the Song of Songs, the word Mishkan is used for the shepherd's tents. It means an abode, a habitation, a place for living. But of course, what's special about this tent is that it is Yahweh's tent. It has poles. It has stakes, like all tents. But of course, in this case, the poles are covered with gold, and the bases that go into the ground are silver. This tent has two veils, one at the front of it and one in the middle of it, and that separates the tent into two sections. We see the outer veil in 31, and the outer veil in 36, and the inner veil described in verse 31. Sometimes the Bible talks about the tabernacle in a bigger sense. There is a courtyard around the tent itself. It is separated from the camping area of the Israelites by a linen screen. And it is, I don't know how it would compare to our property, it's 150 feet on one side and 70 feet on the other. So it's not huge. This is not an enormous area, and it's not an enormous construction. If you come into the area, if you are an Israelite in clean status, you come into the area, the first thing that you see is a very large altar in front of you, and you smell meat cooking. and sacrifices being offered. It's this large altar made out of bronze. And behind that, you can see a large tank. It is a holder for water that's used in the tabernacle. You don't stick your hands in there to wash your hands, but you draw water out of that for washing and other holy purposes. Then, if you enter through the first veil, you enter into the tent itself, you come into a room that is 30 feet by 15 feet wide, and on the right-hand side you'll see, or here would be the right-hand side for you, you'll see a table, and on that table you'll see 12 pita breads, and those breads represent the tribes, the people of God. And on the other side, on your left-hand side, you will see a menorah, which is a symbolic tree. It has seven candles, seven lamps on the top of this symbolic stand. And then at the far end of this holy place, you'll see a small altar with incense being burned in front of the second veil, and that is the veil that leads you into the most holy place. If you had the privilege of entering into that place, you would see in front of you a cubic room. The room is 15 feet wide, 15 feet tall, and 15 feet deep. It is a perfect cube, which we will see is very symbolic. It is representative of the perfections of God. But the The only person that is allowed into that room, it's basically always sealed off. The only person that is allowed into that room, the most holy room, is the most holy person of the community, dressed in the most holy clothes of the community, who comes in on the most holy day of the year, and performs the most holy possible actions. It is sacred, sacred, sacred, that particular room. Now, if you're accustomed to the temples of the Greeks, or of the Mesopotamians, or of the Egyptians, basically all ancient Near Eastern peoples, there is something that you always see in the middle of the holy place. And what is that? In all the temples of the other gods. It is the idol, right? The statue. The picture. It'll always be that representation. That is missing here. Because you cannot represent the invisible God. And he forbids it. But there is something that represents the relationship that God has with us, his people, that is in that room. And what is that? It is a box. It's about yay wide, yay deep, and yay tall. It's not very big. It's covered with gold. And inside that box are two copies of the Torah, the covenant document that affirms the relationship between God and His people. It's written down and it's deposited there in that holy of holy place. Now, of course, on top of that golden box, there is what we call a mercy seat, a place for the making of propitiation, for the sprinkling of blood, to reconcile the people to God. And over that place are two joined statues of cherubim. Now, when I was a kid, I used to think, after having seen the pictures, you see, what is a cherub? Oh, he's a cherub, right? You think of something that's small and cute, you think maybe of the renaissance pictures of little babies with wings, right? Those are the cherubs, right? I assure you, whatever these cherubs were, they were as far from that as possible. Perhaps you should think of dragons. The cherubim are these fearsome guardians of the holiness of God, and we see them represented in different ways on all the temples throughout the Middle East. They are composite beasts that may be part lion, part bear. Eagle, part human, part bull. They represent strength, wisdom, and terrific power. In short, as you come into this holy of holy rooms, you have come into the symbolic footstool of the very throne room of God. God is not represented. It's not even his throne, but it's his footstool. It's just the very suggestion that the invisible God manifests himself here. So this is what the tabernacle is. It's this special tent that has two rooms and two sets of curtains. But let me ask a second question. What is the symbolism, then, of this tabernacle? Now, of course, there are some points of disagreement about these things. If you have some questions about what I might suggest today, please feel free to talk with me afterwards. But I think we can see here, to start with, that the tabernacle is the mobile version of Sinai. What Mount Sinai was in its relationship to the Israelites is what this tabernacle is in a mobile version. Sinai has three sections. Sinai takes place, the encounter of God with his people at Sinai takes place at three levels. So at the bottom level, as we read in chapter 19 of Exodus, 9 through 13, it's a place where the Israelites who have consecrated themselves, they're not ritually impure, they can come. If they are ritually impure, they will die. But it's the first stage. There's a second stage where a limited number of people can come, and we read about that in chapter 24, 1 through 11. Here, the priests and the elders can come to meet with God, and they eat in his presence. But there's a third stage of Sinai, and that is the very top of the mountain, and only Moses is allowed to go there. These three levels correspond to the three sections of the tabernacle. There is the outer court, which is for the people. There is the holy place, which is for the priests. And then there is the holy of holies, which only the high priest can go, and has very strict limitations on it. I have been to Mount Sinai. It's an impressive place. I've never been to anywhere where you could see for 50 or even 100 miles and barely see a tree. Sinai is unbelievably desolate. It's very clear you can see the place where the people camped down in the plain below it. Very impressive granite mountain. But the thing that is most impressive about Sinai is not what you can see when you visit as tourists today. The impressive thing about Sinai we read at the very end of Exodus, which is the same thing that happened with Moses, of course, which is that God comes down. God comes down. God descends on the top of Sinai, and that is exactly what is most impressive and most important about this tabernacle. At the end of Exodus, God comes down. The presence of the invisible, omnipotent God dwelling amongst His people is now there in this portable Sinai. Sinai was a point of connection between earth and heaven, and so the temple, the tabernacle, and then later the temple, is as well. It is, as if I may put it this way, a stairway to heaven. It is the juncture between where God is and where human beings are. It's the access point. That's what's remarkable about the tabernacle, even as it was remarkable about the Sinai itself. Continuing along the lines, thinking of this tabernacle in three ways, you may have noticed from today or from your earlier reading, that there are a number of things that are represented in threes. Not only are there three kinds of materials used, linen, wool, and skins, but there are three kinds of metals that are used in the construction of this tabernacle. Even the clasps that appear on the linen, what material that's closest to the Holy of Holies, what metal is that made out of? That's made from gold. And then there's silver. And then what's used for the clasps on the outside? And for the big altar and for the big water container, it's bronze. So it's less, these are levels of holiness. More holy and then less holy. I didn't know this until recently, but there are three different terms used for the level of workmanship and skill and embroidery that was used in the construction of the material. In verse 31, it says that the inner veil is made with skillful workmanship. And that's a different expression from verse 36, which says that it is embroidered with needlework. And then there's a third level of weaving that's used for the outside linen as well. So all this is emphasizing the royalty of God, the separateness, and the specialness of God. Additionally, most of the peoples of the Middle East, of the Ancient Near East, looked at their temples as microcosms of the universe, small versions of reality as a whole. And it seems that the Lord Himself has set up His tabernacle along the lines of this three-part reflection of reality. The outer courtyard is associated in particular with the earth, things that have to do with our daily life in the earth. So of course, as soon as you come into the place, you're thinking of animals. You're dealing, you hear the goats and bulls and sheep and lambs. There are bulls that are underneath the water container as it's formed in the later temple. What is it called in Solomon's temple? The water container is called the sea, related to this present world as we experience it. There are flower motifs all over the place in this construction. And of course people are offering the fruits of the earth, they're offering grain, they're offering wine. The products that come from this particular are earthly living situation. But if you have the privilege of entering into the next level of the tabernacle, what color strikes you as you enter into the holy place? It's blue. That you have now entered into the realm of the sky. There's blue all around you. Perhaps the other colors remind you of the sunrise or the sunset. Perhaps the silver reminds you of the moon and the gold of the sun. Certainly, the fact that you are of the menorah is significant there. The menorah is a tree. with seven lamps, and it seems very likely that the seven lamps are representative of the seven planets that are visible from the naked eye. So this is a representation of the next layer of reality, the sky. And then as you enter into the Holy of Holies, what is pictured on the veil entering the Holy of Holies? It is an unearthly creature. It is not something that we see in this earth. There are no cherubim that you can find if you go into Africa, right? It is a heavenly beast. And this inner chamber represents the very dwelling place in the heavenly realm of the great king himself, Yahweh, who lives in unapproachable light and in blistering holiness. the throne room of the creator of the universe. So there are three levels in this building, in this tabernacle, in many different ways. Now, if we had time, it would be interesting to go back and to think about the tabernacle in retrospect back on Eden, that Eden is something of a tabernacle itself. It is oriented to the east, as the tabernacle is oriented to the east. It is segregated from the rest of the area, and it has a symbolic tree at the very center of it. Of course, two trees, in fact. one of the detesting tree and the tree of eternal life. It would be interesting if we had time to go prospectively and think of the tabernacle forward. For example, if we think of in terms of Ezekiel's vision at the end of his prophecy, whereas the temple has now become the entire city, the entire city of Jerusalem and expanded Jerusalem is holy. But what is the glory of this city temple tabernacle that we see with Ezekiel? It is the same glory as the glory that we saw in Sinai, and the glory that we saw in the tabernacle. The very end of the book of Ezekiel, in chapter 48, 35, puts it this way. The name of the city from that time on shall be Yahweh Shem. The Lord is there. It is the presence of God that makes the tabernacle the special place that it is. It is the dwelling place of the Most High Himself. It is the stairway to Heaven, the connecting point between humans and the Divine Realm Himself. Now, if I may push this one more level, which to me is mind-boggling. Not only is this Holy of Holies a perfect cube, representing the perfections of God, but where else do we see this perfect cube represented in Scripture? I want you to think the very end of the Scripture, right? The very end of the Scripture. If you look at Revelation chapter 21, verse 16, you will see that the new Jerusalem, as it descends from God out of heaven, comes down in the form of a perfect cube. A perfect cube. It's almost impossible to imagine this literally and physically because if a stadium is 600 feet long, then the size of this, the footprint of this New Jerusalem is a continent. It's a continent the size somewhere between India and Australia. It's just massive. And if that were literally the case, this would put the top of the building somewhere up in the exosphere, you know, getting close to the space station, right? That would be indeed a stairway to heaven. But the point is not, the point is not physical, that somehow, you know, thinking, is this going to put the earth out of whack or something? That's, we're barking up the wrong tree when we start thinking in those kind of terms. That was certainly not in the mind of the Apostle John. This new Jerusalem, this new form of the tabernacle, the point of it is the same as the previous tabernacle. It is the meeting point between God and human beings, right? At the end of Revelation, in chapter 22, verse 3, this is where we come to. It says there, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. The relationship between God and human beings will come to its consummated end. That's the point and the climax of the story. And that's why it's called a marriage. And that's why we are invited to a marriage feast between Christ and His Church. We are going to have our relationship with the Lord through Christ consummated and come to its glorious and happy flourishing on the last day. And it will never end. So we've seen what the tabernacle is, we've seen its symbolism to a certain extent. As our last question, I'd like for us to think, what does this mean for us then? What is the connection for us? Well, let me ask, why is it that Israel needed a tabernacle? Why do they need a tabernacle? Well, what in between these 13 chapters of description, loving description, that the Jews for 3,000 years plus have been doting on, loving the details, what's in between the two descriptions, the setting up of the tabernacle and then the actual construction of the tabernacle? There's a story that takes place in between those two. Do you remember the story? Let me tell you, it's a sad story. It's the story of the golden calf. Right in the middle! The golden calf. What is that all about? God has just made a covenant with His people. And what have they done? This is along the lines of unthinkably base Betraying and false. It's kind of like the idea of someone getting married and committing adultery on their wedding night. It's that disgusting. It's that false. God's people have just connected with Him, and sworn fealty to Him, and now they abandon Him. They abandon Him with this golden calf. This is a reminder to us of just how weak they are in themselves. Israel is weak. Friends, you and I are weak. Our first father, Adam, was weak. He was weak when it was his duty to act the part of St. George and to take the spear and shove it down the dragon's throat. What did he do? He allowed his partner to be tempted beyond her ability. He failed in his duty to slay the dragon. Right? Adam was weak. Israel was weak. We are weak. Adam was ejected from the presence of God. Israel was ejected, ultimately, from the presence of God, in exile. And we deserve nothing better. So the question ever since Adam and his ejection from the garden, the question that has been on human minds has always been this question. How do we get back into the safe and enjoyable presence of God? That's the question. How can we get back to have a peaceful, comforting connection with God? All human hearts, all human cultures, I would argue, are looking for a stairway to heaven. Now, in southern Mexico, if you've been there, you've certainly seen pictures, I'm sure, what are the stairways to heaven there? They're like this. Right? Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, right? They are the temples of the Mayans and the Aztecs. What do they look like? They're stairways to heaven. Now, of course, it's always perverse. The impulse may be good to connect with God, but it comes out perverse. And in their case, they literally, in the center of Mexico City, they would literally take knives and cut open living humans and take out their hearts and offering that beating heart to their gods. That was their attempt to make peace with heaven, right? But we ourselves, in our culture, all cultures have this drive to have a stairway to heaven. Now, if you'd indulge me, I'm sure you thought, those of you that are old enough, thought of the Led Zeppelin song, of course, Stairway to Heaven. So famous, right? But I dare say Jimmy Page, when he wrote this song, you see the impulse, right? At first, the song... It exposes this person in their false attempt to get to heaven, right? This person, they said, there's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven. Now, Led Zeppelin would suggest, is that possible? No, of course not. You can't buy a stairway to heaven. Jimmy Page hasn't given up yet. He's still, you can hear, you can still hear what he's looking for at the end of the song. He says, but if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last when all are one and one is all to be a rock and not to roll. Can you see it? Even Jimmy Page, his heart is beat, his longing for a time when everything's right again, when everything's peaceful again, when things are well between us. and God and the universe, right? So you think of the Mesopotamian temples, right? What do they remind you of when you think of the Bible? Stairways to heaven. When you think of that, when you think of a pyramid, right? Of Egypt. What Bible story does that remind you of in Genesis? When were the people trying to make a stairway to heaven? What do we call that construction? We call it Bab El, Babel, right? That was a stairway to heaven, on human terms, which displeased God. But the problem with Babel, of course, is the trajectory. No, we ourselves cannot connect ourselves with God. It is unacceptable from us, and we will pervert it in one way or another. The stairway to God comes down, it doesn't go up. Who is the one to really experience the first stairway to heaven in Genesis? Was it not Jacob? And what happened with Jacob? Did he build the stairway to heaven? No, the angels of God were coming down to him. God himself made the tabernacle to make a connection point between him and himself. Now, these are extraordinary pictures, of course, but what are they pointing us to? Are they not pointing us to the one that John the Apostle describes in the first chapter of his Gospel, verse 14? It says there, the Word, that is the Son of God, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word came down to us. That is Christ himself descended from heaven to be among us and to establish a residence among us. Verse 14 there can be translated, tabernacled. That Jesus came and he tabernacled, he set his residence, his dwelling place among us. Jesus himself, he says of himself, That he is the gate. He says, I am the gate. The word Bab-el, the word Bab means gate. So a Bab-el in ancient Near Eastern languages means the gate of God. Jesus is the true Bob L. He is the true Kate of God. He is the connecting point for us and for God, even though we are blemished and though we are impure. Jesus is the fulfillment of all this priestly, architectural, Old Testament descriptions of our connecting point with God. We see in the New Testament, He is the mediator, like Moses. He is the high priest, like Aaron. He, John tells us in chapter 1, 27, is the Lamb of God, who not only is the priest, but He is the victim, He is the sacrifice for sinners, right? He is the great high priest over the house of God. We read in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 21. And when Jesus dies, how is how is his accomplished work expressed as we read it in? in Matthew chapter 27 verse 51. The very veil that we've been reading about is torn, not from the bottom, but from the top down. He has established a way for us to have access to God in a way that is now safe for us and comfortable for us. In his dying, he has satisfied the wrath of God, taking it on himself in his own body on the tree. He has satisfied the judgment of God, which was against us because of our moral failings and our weakness. And on the other hand, he has established a positive relationship with God that we can receive blessing from God through his obedience to all the commands of God. So we can now have this re-established connection with God through him. So friends, this is an invitation to each of us. Did you ever want a stairway to heaven? Did you ever want to be connected safely, peaceably, enjoyably to God? To have a connection with God, not to be under His wrath, not to be afraid of Him as a terrifying judge, but to be connected with Him. It's through this stairway to heaven, Christ. It's through Christ. Christ Himself, at the end of Revelation, He makes the invitation. He says, He says, Come, let the one who's thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. The invitation is for all of you who can understand what I'm saying today, and for anyone listening to this over the Internet. The invitation is for all of us. Come and find life. You can have a connection with God through faith in Jesus Christ as the Bab El, as the gateway to God. Christ is the invitation for us. Christ also defines our life. Christ gives us a new identity. We'll talk more about this perhaps a little bit this afternoon. Some of our Congolese friends, we had last week an open house. It was great to see some of you there at the open house. We had a number of Alice's Congolese friends with us at the open house. And the day before, they had become American citizens, a couple of them. They had taken a vow, having gone through the whole process. They became American citizens. They are now identified with this country. It is who they are. And the same is true for you today. You're identified not simply on an earthly level by this particular political nation, but you are identified with a holy nation, a nation of priests. Let me say that again. A holy nation, a nation of priests. You now have access into the holy place, the tabernacle. You are a priest. That kind of special holiness marks you out. You don't have to dress in a particular way. You don't have to dress like, you know, 18th century Germany, like the Amish do or something like that, right? No. You are a priest because you're connected to Christ in holiness. John says in Revelation 22 14 blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have a right to the tree of life that they may enter the city by these gates. You are now pure through your connection to Jesus Christ. So what a motivation to seek purity. You are now holy, so what a motivation now to seek holiness in every aspect of your life. You're devoted to God. And you will see, just around the corner, you will see His glory with your own physical eyes. As our Lord Jesus was resurrected from the dead after His death, He ascended into the presence of God, sat down at His right and He's returning soon. When He returns, He will raise us to a higher level of physical life, where we will be with Him, established in joy forever. If that's true, then your whole life is now identified in a priestly way with Him. So live holy, because you are holy. What a beautiful thing, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a stairway to heaven, has made the way through the sacrifice of his own body on the tree. He has established through the veil a way for us to come into the comforting, the healing, the consoling, the enjoyable presence of this almighty, awesome, holy God. He has done the work, not us by any means, for we are weak and failures, just like our forefathers, just like Israel. But He has done this work for us. Should we not give Him praise? And should we not live for His glory? Let's pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we do give You thanks for what You have done for us Through your son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for his tremendous humiliation and humility to come take on our own lowly flesh in the form of sinful flesh. We thank you for his obedience on our behalf and his suffering on our behalf as well as the substitute. Our Lord, we pray that you'd help us to look at the yearnings of non-Christians like Led Zeppelin and others around us, to see that there's a yearning there for you, to pity them, to point them to Christ. We pray, Lord, for the Aztecs and the Mayans, Lord, that you'd bless them. We thank you that there are many, many churches amongst them. We pray that those churches would flourish and that people would find new life in Jesus Christ and find consolation, true consolation there. We pray for ourselves, Lord, that we might grow in holiness this week, as we see that we have a new nationality, a new identity. We're connected with Christ and his church, a holy people. Please, Lord, we pray, build us up in holiness, then, this week, we ask. Continue to fill our mouths with praises. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. We bless and worship you, and we give you thanks. In Jesus' name, and for Jesus' sake, amen, and amen.