This past Sunday we continued our series on 'Pictures of Sacrifice' in the Old Testament by looking at the various articles of the temple. God had a prescribed way of approaching Him. We must be cleansed. We must be forgiven. Our prayers are offered up to Him in the light of His presence under His watchful eye and in the hope of His provision. When we enter His presence it is with prayer that is possible because of the sacrifice made for us. To deviate in any way from this-the punishment is death.

However, Hebrews 9 declares that if these means of approaching God actually did what they illustrated, then there would be no need to continually repeat them and yet that is exactly what the temple worship centered around-continual repetition of God-ordained ritual. The writer of Hebrews shows that all that the temple was intended to do was point people to Jesus as the fulfillment of everything that the temple represented.

Jesus declared this about Himself-He said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' Jesus is the way to God. If you try to make yourself clean through any other means, then death awaits you. If you seek forgiveness through any other sacrifice, then death awaits you. If your prayers are sprinkled with the blood of anything else, then death awaits you. If you try to see with light from any other source, then death awaits you. If you seek sustenance and protection through any other means, then death awaits you. If you enter the presence of God without Jesus, then death awaits you.

When you come into the presence of God, there is but one way-every aspect of entering the presence of God must be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life-no one comes to the Father, except through Him.

Here is a link to a site that takes you through just about every aspect you could ever want to know about the temple (Herod's). It is written from a Jewish perspective, so much of what the temple was intended to illustrate in Jesus is lost. But I still found this to be a helpful tool to understanding the temple and its environment better. Obviously, for this past Sunday's sermon, I focused on the inner courts of the temple. However, if you want a very detailed and visual description of the temple and all its grounds, I couldn't find a better tool.