Under the Old Covenant, only the priests of Aaron’s line could minister in the sanctuary, and only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, once a year. Now the way is open to every believer. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16), and we are “a royal priesthood, an holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9) called to minister to the Lord.
This teaching was first shared in a season when many could not gather in a building, yet it speaks to every season. God’s presence is not tied to a place; it is found wherever His children gather in His name, and in the temple of each believer’s heart. Read it as an invitation to practice His presence, for “in thy presence is fulness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).
Beloved, grace and peace be multiplied unto you in the Name of our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, Jesus the Anointed One. I believe that you, a child of God, and your household are taking advantage of the current situation in the world today to draw nearer to God, and also stand in the gap for those who do not know HIM.
We have a special opportunity presented to us in this day and hour to occupy and minister unto God in our priestly office. It’s a unique opportunity during this lock-down to focus on HIM undistracted, in offering our burnt offerings, sweet-savor offerings—sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to Him. It’s an opportunity for the Church of Jesus Christ to reset and get back to focusing on God in His living Sanctuary, worshiping HIM in spirit and in truth.
We have carried on so much like the world in the past 30 to 40 years that most believers who were born again during this period can hardly tell the difference between what they know as ‘church’ and the world. As the ‘People of God’ we must repent—humble ourselves, pray, seek His Face, make a right-about turn from our wicked and worldly ways, then, we can count on Him to heal our land. It is time to return to our heritage as the redeemed of the LORD and the Priests of the Most High God. It’s time to step into the Holy of Holies through the Blood of the LAMB with our censers full of incense to minister to God in worship and praise, and to intercede for our neighbors, our cities, our countries, and the entire human race over whom we serve as priests in the world.
The Lord Jesus, our Lord, Master, Forerunner, and High Priest has already gone into the Holiest of all on our behalf and He’s there right now, at the Throne of Grace beckoning us to come in and obtain mercy and find grace to help in this time of need.
Let us therefore, by the Blood, reverently and yet boldly go into His Sanctuary and offer our sacrifices unto our GOD for He is worthy.
Let us enter in the spirit and join the hosts of heaven and the ‘four beasts that rest not but worship day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Let us join the four and twenty elders who fall before the throne casting down their crowns before Him; let us with them, fall down before His throne, let us cast down whatever puny and worthless worldly crowns we think we have at His feet and worship Him, for He is worthy.
Let us worship Him in spirit and in truth for He is the LORD and He is worthy of all “glory and honor, and power: for He has created all things, and for His pleasure they are, and were created” (Rev 4:8-11).
But someone would ask: How can we go into His Sanctuary, when there’s a lockdown and places of worship, “churches”, chapels, synagogues, cathedrals, worship-centers, or whatever they are called in your congregation, are closed? This is exactly what God wants every one of His children to understand in this day and hour. He wants each of us to cultivate the habits of entering His presence, ministering to Him as priests on our behalf and on behalf of other people every day. He also wants us to learn to do this as family and with our children.
Yes, it’s our Father’s desire for us, His children, to gather together regularly in unity to worship Him and minister to one another and contribute to the building of the Body in love. Of course, for us people of the New Covenant in the Blood of the LAMB to gather and worship together, there must be a physical building that will contain us. With the early disciples, as they were few, their homes were sufficient at the beginning; and of course as the Word grew, and multiplied, and prevailed, we, the Body of Christ, have grown in number and larger and larger buildings for worship are needed. However, these buildings or houses of worship, or cathedrals or “churches” are NOT Sanctuary or Temple or Tabernacle of God. They are buildings we have dedicated as places of worship. When we talk about entering His Sanctuary, we are talking about the true Sanctuary in the “Tabernacle not made with hands” eternal in the heavens.
It’s only in this heavenly Tabernacle that you and I are recognized as priests, for it is there, in that heavenly Tabernacle that our Lord Jesus serves as the High Priest of the New Covenant, a High Priest after the order of Melchisedek. He is not a high priest of the early Tabernacle (Old Covenant); that belonged to the sons of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. As it’s written of Him:
“For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life” (Heb 7:13-16)
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb 9:11)
The Body of Christ, i.e., the ‘Temple that was destroyed and raised by God after three days’ is the new Tabernacle/Temple/Sanctuary of God. Therefore the entire aggregation of people of God alive today, those to be born, and those that have passed on form the complete Temple of God. Your local assembly is part of the Body of Christ and it’s a temple of God. You as an individual child of God are also a temple of God, for God dwells in you (1 Cor 3:16).
Think of it as a microcosm. You are a temple of God. Your cell group is a temple of God. Your local assembly is a temple of God. And the global body of Christ is the grand Temple of GOD containing all these individual temples. Or as Peter by the spirit illustrates it, each of us all are living-stones from which the Temple of God is being built to form a Habitation for Him in the spirit. And this Habitation, this Temple, this Throne for the Almighty is on Mount Zion in heavenly Jerusalem:
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psa 48:1-2).
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb 12:22-24).
So the physical building where you gather to pray or worship is not the Temple or Sanctuary of God as such, but the Temple is in it because you are gathered there. It is your presence that brought the temple of God there. If we choose an open field as our meeting place of worship, or a High School gym, or a Hotel room, or Grandma’s kitchen; as we gather there and worship, we have brought the Temple of God to that place and it’s become a place where His Presence is found. And when 2 or more of us, children of God gather in oneness of the spirit, enter into His presence in worship and prayer, we’ve entered into the Tabernacle and are proceeding on into the Sanctuary, and pressing forward into the holiest of all.
Let me make sure I emphasize this: you must not neglect the assembly of the saints; especially of those spirit-filled saints who seek the LORD in spirit and in truth for the ‘manifest presence’ of the Holy Ghost is always at work there in the gathering of His people. But you must, as you go there, ensure that you also contribute to the presence of God in that corporate Body/Temple of the congregation by being a ministering priest in your daily life in that singular temple of God that you are.
We will continue this thought next time. Let’s conclude this by restating our ministry as priests of the Most High that we must focus on and develop in this day and hour:
Beyond regular ‘quiet time’ we need to dedicate a block of time for prayer, fasting, and meditating on the Word of God. This is the time for us to minister unto God in our priestly office, communing with Him, seeking His face, and interceding for others. During this time, we also listen and hear Him speak to us from the Mercy Seat in the holiest of all.
Let’s practice this daily, practice tarrying in the presence of God, speaking to Him and waiting patiently to hear Him reveal His heart and will to us.
Application
- Set apart a regular time each day to enter the presence of God in prayer, worship, and the Word, as Jesus taught: “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matthew 6:6).
- Offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Hebrews 13:15). Begin and end each day with thanksgiving.
- Make worship a family habit. Read a psalm together and pray for your neighbors, your city, and your nation (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
- Practice His presence through the day. Say with the psalmist, “I have set the LORD always before me” (Psalm 16:8).
Key Takeaway
You do not need a building to enter God’s presence. Every believer is a priest with open access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ, so practice His presence daily.
Conclusion
The door is open and the High Priest is waiting. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). Whatever the season, enter in with boldness and let your worship become a way of life.
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