Hebrews 9:8

Hebrews 9:8

Welcome, Holy Spirit!

It has often been brought to my attention that the Old Testament speaks very little about the Holy Spirit! It was only after Pentecost that this extraordinary gift from God was poured out on His people and suddenly the whole basis of human relations with Him changed! In ancient times the relationship of men with God, or Israel with God, relied entirely on the Law, the Tabernacle or Temple, and the rites and ceremonies of the faith of these people. It was all outward and external, driven by religious men who tried desperately to apply the rigours of the commandments to their daily lives. To confine the Lord our God to a tiny space in a stuffy tent was both ridiculous and fruitless, and yet the Israelites were so convinced of His Being and His superiority that they tried to obey the Law and to pursue the rules of their faith down to the tiniest detail. That God was with them was beyond doubt, but He was a hard taskmaster to say the least, and the regulations that He put on these people must have made Him seem like some kind of divine tyrant at times! The fact that they kept trying, despite the odds, is what endeared the people to the Lord and what also frustrated Him when they failed. The truth is, they had no alternative, this was the way that God had prescribed for them and they must do their best to pursue it! 

What we fail to recognise is that this methodology, these empty practices, the effort and the sacrifices needed to appease the deities is exactly what characterizes all religions across the world. The Lord God used the Jews to show mankind that religious duty and deference to unobtainable and unapproachable deities is pointless and tiresome, devoid of relationship, and such devotion does not satisfy the hearts of men or promote anything other than blind faith. Religious devotion is cold, heartless and empty.

And then. And then the curtain in the Temple / Tabernacle was torn in two from top to bottom and the way into the Most Holy Place was opened up to all. Shortly afterwards, the Holy Spirit was poured out and filled the first disciples with love and joy, expressions of heart-felt praise and a passion for God such as their ancestors had never known. Of course, these first disciples must share this with the world. Of course, they must declare that the Tabernacle was now defunct and the entry into the Most Holy Place was opened to all. They rejoiced that the role of the priesthood was now redundant and all true believers are priests before the Lord. Within a few years the Temple was razed to the ground, the Jewish religion terminated and the people were scattered, but the Holy Spirit continued His work across the world in many places and amongst all peoples. Wow! What a God! What a faith we have! What a delight and privilege it is to be freed from religion and to be given access to relationship. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

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