Our neighbour was startled when  two young men walked into her home uninvited. She screamed and they ran out. Yet no one would accuse her of failing to be hospitable. If you enter someone’s house, you come in on that person’s terms.

We sometimes forget that the same principle applies to our entering into the presence of God. This was made clear in the Old Testament ‘house of symbols’ known as the tabernacle (Ex. 25–27). Its construction and the arrangement of the objects within it teach us that we come into God’s presence only on His conditions.

Consider, for example, the bronze altar of sacrifice (27:1-8). Bronze in Scripture stands for divine judgement of sin. The slaughtering of sheep and goats on the altar symbolised the results of sin. An unmerciful death for innocent animals pointed forward to a coming substitute, the sinless ‘Lamb of God’. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, His sacrifice was more than adequate to atone for the sin of all people (John 1:29). The only way to approach God is on His terms. We must receive the forgiveness He offers to us through Christ.

Have you accepted Jesus, the Lamb of God, as your Saviour from sin?

Author

Mart DeHaan

Topics

Our Daily Bread