Your Spiritual Identity #6

Galatians 2:19-20

I read a story recently about a heavily booked commercial flight out of Denver that had to be cancelled. Unfortunately, there was only a single gate agent trying to rebook a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the front and slapped his ticket down on the counter. He insisted, "I have to be on this flight and it has to be first class!" The agent kindly replied, "I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to help you, but I have to take care of these folks first." The passenger was unimpressed and replied in a voice loud enough for the other passengers to hear him. "Do you have any idea who I am?" Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and picked up the public-address microphone and broadcast throughout the terminal. "May I have your attention, please? We have a passenger here at the gate who does not know who he is. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate immediately." As the man retreated, the people in the terminal burst into applause.

Did you know that identity theft is rampant in our nation. This experience is frightening and overwhelming, especially when you consider that usually the victim is the one that has to prove his own innocence. You would naturally think the police, creditors, and credit-reporting agencies would come to your defense in these situations. But, it’s estimated that victims have to spend an average of $1500 and approximately 175 hours recovering their good name.

Today’s message brings us to the close of this series about our true spiritual identity. It’s a subject you could pursue for weeks and still have plenty of material left over. The Bible is very clear about our standing with God and how He sees us. However, too often we allow someone/something to steal our spiritual identity or we simply don’t know who we are in the first place.

Consequently, instead of living in the joy of our relationship with Jesus Christ, we spend our entire lives living at the level of spiritual mediocrity. Some of the sources that steal or confuse our spiritual identity are:

1. Basic ignorance of the truth of our identity in Christ.

2. The deception of Satan reminding you of your past or present failures.

3. Friends/family that berate you, rather than build you up.

4. Weak faith that fails to believe what God says about you.

5. Stubbornness in yielding to God’s refining work (so your identity can be revealed).

6. A love for this world more than a love for God.

7. Spending too much time looking into self rather than looking up to the Savior.

This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but it shows some of the prominent ways that people’s spiritual identity is lost or stolen from them.

Thus far in this series we’ve learned that we are saints, possessors of spiritual life from above, new creations in Christ Jesus, God’s mobile temple, and God’s spiritual masterpieces. Today we learn that we are also “crucified with Christ!”

Crucifixion was among the cruelest forms of capital punishment ever invented by men and only the worst criminals were subject to it in Paul’s day. By the time of Christ the Romans had perfected crucifixions, making them as torturous as possible. From the beatings, blood loss, physical exhaustion, and strangulation that occurs as the lungs fill up with fluid, a crucifixion death was excruciatingly painful.

There are some modern examples of crucifixion torture, though they pale in comparison to first century crucifixions.

In an effort to draw attention to world peace, Patrice Tamao of the Dominican Republic allowed himself to be crucified in 1973 as thousands watched on TV. Patrice had three six-inch stainless steel nails driven through his hands and feet and intended to stay on the cross for 48 hours. However, after 20 hours he requested to be taken down because he had developed an infection.

In 1965, a man in Kenya convinced his wife to crucify him "for the sins of all Kenyans." After reluctantly obeying, his wife collapsed and died, apparently from shock. The man was rescued by neighbors, but later died from an infection.

As these illustrations demonstrate, crucifixion is a horrendous process leading to the death of the crucified. But, for Paul, rather than loathe the crucifixion of Christ, he now lived because of it. Incredibly, the crucifixion of Christ was an event that he celebrated.

In addition to Galatians 2:20...6:14 says,

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

What had been known only as an instrument of death was now Paul’s (and our) means of eternal life and freedom from religious legalism.

As the context (Galatians 2:20) shows, Paul had attempted to appease God by living up to the perfect standards of the law. Instead of finding that the Law brought him life, he discovered that it only led to his death. He could not live without breaking God’s Law and therefore, found himself a condemned criminal. Now he knew that his only hope was in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. It wasn’t until Paul the Pharisee identified with Jesus in crucifixion (by faith) that he found the liberty, forgiveness, peace and joy he had longed to know. It was through the cross that Paul (and all that have lived since Christ) have entered into a relationship with God. That personal relationship cannot be found in the Law, but only through faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ.

It’s important to note that the Greek word for “crucified” is a perfect tense verb, denoting a past action with a continuing effect. Whether or not Paul had realized the full ramifications of his new position in Christ, this was his spiritual identity forever as a believer. Sometimes Christians don’t realize/remember this identity (“crucified with Christ”) and Paul reminds them of a very important truth in Romans 6:11 that must be applied, if your position is to be translated into practice.

“Likewise you also, reckon (consider, count, i.e., put to one's account) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is also interesting that this verb translated as “crucified with” is used only five times in the NT. Three of those are in the Gospels dealing with the criminals that were crucified with Christ (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32; John 19:32) and twice Paul uses it in his epistles (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20). Unlike the criminals of the Gospel stories, Paul is clearly indicating that his “crucifixion with” Christ was voluntary. No one bound him kicking and screaming against his will, forcibly making him trust Jesus Christ as his Savior.

And, by saying he (“I”) was crucified with Christ he was declaring that his “old man” had died with Christ. In other words, the old self-righteous, self-centered Saul died, and the new Christ-centered Paul lives. When speaking of the “old man” (“I”), we mean the worn out, useless, and unconverted sinful nature corrupted by deceit. It is the dominating control of the Adamic nature whose power over him had been broken.

Unlike crucifixions that cause physical death, Paul’s crucifixion with Christ caused the death of his self-centered life. But, he was still very much alive physically! However, by yielding to the Holy Spirit he was able to have a life that was pleasing to God. In other words, this new life Paul lived was in the flesh, but it was not lived by the flesh.  

Someone has paraphrased the way Paul might have given his testimony in light of Galatians 2:20:

“I was brought up under the strict laws of my religion.

“I tried to satisfy the law, but I couldn’t. I realized that I could never find God’s favor by trying to obey the letter of the law, since I kept failing. I fought myself even as I struggled to be good (Romans 7). Eventually I gave up.

“Then something wonderful happened. When I gave up, I learned that there is a way to please God. It wouldn’t be through all my vain efforts, but by believing in Jesus Christ and letting Him live in me.

“So I am now dead to the law and it is dead to me. It no longer has any jurisdiction over me...

“...I have only one hope, therefore. I hope in Christ. I live in Him. I don’t trust intellect or religion or money or glamor or power or anything else to save me. I live in Him who alone can save me.

“Only what Christ wants do I want. He lives in me, rules me, directs me. You see, I can’t be bothered with the outdated rules of an outdated and powerless religion.

“Christ lives in me. He’s been resurrected. God lifted Him high above the power of death and the authority of any human law. He has lifted me along with Him (Romans 6:1–14). I’m not subject any longer to the rule of this world but am triumphant over it in Christ.” (Lawson, L. [1987]. Galatians, Ephesians: Unlocking the Scriptures for You. Standard Bible Studies [50]. Cincinnati, OH: Standard.)

Herein is the practical significance of the wonderful truth about our crucifixion with Christ as it relates to our spiritual identity! We who have believed on Christ have had the power of sin and self broken so that we are able to live a new life that pleases God. Instead of trying to earn His favor by living in obedience to His law, we now live yielded to the Holy Spirit Who indwells us in order that He might produce through us the kind of life that pleases Him.

It is like a glove, for example. A glove cannot do anything by itself. It needs a hand to fill it. When the glove has a hand inside, it is enabled to do all sorts of things. We are like a glove. What we need is the Lord to fill us with His power, which God does when we are “crucified with Christ.” That’s why Paul says, “...it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me...”

Baptism is a visible illustration of what happens when we trust Christ as our Savior. When a new believer is immersed beneath the water, he/she is symbolically saying that the old life is “crucified with Christ.” And, when they come up out of the water they symbolize that God has given them a new life to live for Him and through Him.

A military chaplain that was deployed in Iraq once told about how he improvised on the field in order to baptize soldiers that came to faith in Christ. He would take a wooden coffin intended to be used for the remains of a soldier killed in combat and line it with a plastic body bag. He then filled it with water and used it as a makeshift baptistry. The symbolism couldn’t have been more stark than when a soldier was immersed into the coffin filled with water only to be raised out of the water to live a new life for Christ.

That is the exact visual image God is giving to us in Galatians 2:20, which is part of our spiritual identity. You can live in victory over sin because you’ve been crucified with Christ. You are not a slave to your flesh anymore. There isn’t anything God gives you to do that you cannot do because He lives in you and provides everything you need to live for Him. Your spiritual identity is that of one who has died to his old self and has been raised to live a new life by God’s grace. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ means everything to the believer in Christ!

History records that during the Civil War, many acts of violence were committed by both the armies of the north and the south. Once such act occurred in October of 1862 in the town of Palmyra, Missouri. According to W. E. Sutterfield, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Palmyra, the town was under military law at the time....occupied by one of the armies involved in this conflict.

The commander of the army ordered ten men shot in reprisal for the work of an informer in the town who leaked information to the enemy. Several men were being detained in Palmyra jail as prisoners of war at that time, and ten were selected from among them. One of the number was William T. Humphrey, the father of several children. His wife pleaded for his release because of the children and her poor physical condition. Because of this, the commanding officer struck Humphrey’s name from the list and chose the name of Hiram Smith, a young man without a family. Hiram agreed to take the place of Humphrey, stating that perhaps it was better for a single man to die than a man with a family.

The ten men were shot on October 17, 1862, in what has come to be known as the “Palmyra massacre.” At the Mount Pleasant Church cemetery, there is a stone erected at the grave of Hiram Smith by G. W. Humphrey, the son of the reprieved man. It reads:

“This monument is dedicated to the memory of HIRAM SMITH, the hero who sleeps beneath the sod here, who was shot at Palmyra, October 17, 1862 as a substitute for William T. Humphrey, my father.”

In a very real way our lives are living, breathing monuments to the One who rescued us from imminent danger and set us free to live for Him out of love, not legalism...the Lord Jesus Christ!

Conclusion: Thanks To Calvary - Bill Gaither

Verse #1

Today I went back to the place where I used to go

Today I saw the same old crowd I knew before

When they asked what had happened I tried to tell them

Thanks to Calvary I don't come here anymore.

Verse #2

And then we went back to the house where we used to live

And my little boy ran and hid behind the door

I said “son never fear, you've got a new daddy”

Thanks to Calvary we don't live here anymore.

Chorus

Thanks to Calvary

I am not the man I used to be

Thanks to Calvary

Things are different than before

While the tears ran down my face

I tried to tell them

Thanks to Calvary I don't come here anymore.

Your Spiritual Identity (#5)

A Sports Illustrated article dated July 5, 2010, tells the story of a one-time rising tennis star by the name of Jennifer Capriati. She won 14 singles titles, including the Australian and French Opens in 2001, and in the same year reached the WTA's No. 1 ranking. From a young age she was groomed for stardom but constantly struggled with her weight, personal problems and repeated injuries, which finally led to her retirement. As she struggled to maintain her place in tennis, she fell into the world of drugs and alcohol, unable to cope with failure. She was hospitalized, on one occasion, following a failed suicide attempt. After her release reporters questioned her about the incident. She said, “It all started to crumble when I quit playing tennis. After that I could not figure out: who am I? What am I?”

Now that tennis no longer defined her, she had no answer for one of the most important questions in life. It’s a question that resonates in the hearts of every person alive: Who am I, really?

Too often the answer comes back: I’m a minister. I’m a banker. I’m a student. I’m Bill’s wife or Jenny’s husband. I’m an activist. I’m a vegetarian. I’m a quadriplegic. I’m an alcoholic. I’m a single parent. I’m a Democrat. I’m a Republican. I’m a nobody. I’m somebody. I’m lost. I’m alone. I’m an athlete. I’m a computer geek.

People tend to define their identity according to their career. Their sense of self worth is too often driven by their perceived status or reputation. It is often grounded in some past success or failure.

A well-known football player was suspended for several games because he was arrested for domestic violence. Upon returning to the game, he stood before the microphones and said, “I am glad to be back. I know what I did was wrong, but the person who did that—that’s not me. It’s just not me.” Essentially what he was saying was, “That behavior was not indicative of my true identity. My true identity is something else. I am not what I did.”

So, how do you answer the question: “Who are you, really?”

For Christians, the answer is best found in their spiritual identity received from Christ. Our true identity is a matter of what God has made of us and what He’s done in us.

Consequently, we’ve discovered, thus far, that we are saints. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. We are born from above with a supernatural life within us. We are God’s sacred mobile home...His temple. And, we learn today that we are God’s special masterpiece.

Read: Ephesians 2:8-10

The Greek word (ποίημα) translated “workmanship” literally means, “something that has been made.” It’s from a root verb that means, “to make, cause, do, or perform.”

Different Bible translators render the word as, “handiwork,” “workmanship,” [NKJV, NASB, NIV], “creation” [BAGD], and “work of art” [NJB]. The noun form is also translated as a clause: “what he has made” [BAGD, NRSV, TEV].

The only other place where this specific word is used in the NT is in Romans 1:20, speaking of God’s work of creation in the beginning. It’s also used in the LXX in this same fashion (God’s work of creation). Listen to the verse:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse...” (Romans 1:20)

We derive our English word “poem” from the Greek word ποίημα (“workmanship”). But, that translation alone can be misleading as the word refers to any work of art. It could be a statue, a song, a painting, a poem, architecture, or any other form of artistic expression.

Maybe the best translation for the word is the one that’s given by scholar  F. F. Bruce. He translates the word as “his work of art, his masterpiece.”

Following that translation, I don’t believe there is any more exalted description of a follower of Christ than this one. We are God’s works of art — His masterpieces!

A couple of other things to note about this key phrase: "we...are His workmanship” means every born-again child of God. And, the possessive pronoun "His...workmanship” means it the Lord God Himself that makes the masterpiece. The pronoun is emphatic by its position at the beginning of the clause (“His handiwork are we.”). Just as we contributed nothing to our physical creation, so we contributed nothing to our spiritual creation; both are totally the works of God. Therefore, Christians are the subjects of His two most significant creative acts (physical-Gen. 1:27 & spiritual-Eph. 1:10). Consequently, our true spiritual identity is wrapped up in being His ultimate workmanship, His masterwork!

Further, this clause (“For we are His workmanship...”) gives us the reason why our salvation is “not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Because we are GOD’S “workmanship,” our salvation is due to Him...not to our works, “lest anyone should boast.”

Consider how Paul works out this great truth of our being God’s “workmanship” in Ephesians 2:1-10.


1. What we were before salvation. (2:4-6)

A. We were dead in trespasses and sins. (v.1)

B. We once walked according to the prince/power of the air. (v.2)

C. We conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh. (3a)

D. We were by nature children of wrath. (3b)

Not necessarily the types of raw materials you would think of using for making a masterpiece. However, the entire pericope turns on the first two words in 2:4...”But God.” He can make something beautiful out of nothing! Or, He can take a mess and make it into a beautiful work of art...which is what He does with our lives!

2. What we are in Christ right now. (2:4-6)

A. He made us alive. (2:5)

B. He raised us up. (2:6a)

C. He made us sit in the heavenlies. (2:6b)

D. He secured us in Christ (‘together” -- three times “with/in Christ”). (2:5-6)

3. What we should be now and in the future. (2:7-10)

A. We are to be testimonies of His grace (“created...for good works”).

B. We shall be trophies of His grace (“in the ages to come...”).

The truth is that none of us feels like “trophies of His grace,” let alone masterpieces of God. We know what we sometimes do and how we sometimes behave, which only serves to reinforce our feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. But, consider how God goes about releasing our inner spiritual identity so that we and others can see it, as He intends.

One day the famous artist, Michelangelo, was said to be chipping away at a shapeless piece of rock. When someone asked him what he was doing and he replied, “I’m liberating an angel from this stone.” That’s what God is doing in each of our lives, too. The Master sculptor is chipping away at the stone (un-Christlike ways) that hides our true identity. He uses tools like the Holy Spirit, His Word, preaching, difficulties/difficult people, great saints, His church, providential events, etc., to peel away the things that are hiding our true spiritual identity.

Realizing the fullness of your spiritual identity requires you operating in faith (to believe what He says about you) and cooperating with His divine shaping process. When your inner spiritual identity begins to emerge into view, you’ll know it and others will, too.

Author David D. Swanson writes about a young man named Joel whose life was transformed as he learned to see Himself through God’s eyes rather than through the eyes of others or himself. He discovered that his true identity was not found in how he looked, what he did, or how others treated him. His true identity was found in Jesus Christ and what Christ had done for him.

Listen as he tells this story of Joel.
“I was busy backstage when I saw him for the first time. I was leading a youth conference at Jekyll Island, Georgia, and was planning details for the evening program. One part was a testimony by a young man named Joel. Someone on the staff had heard his testimony months earlier and invited him to speak, but I had never met him.

“He wore a plaid button-down shirt, jeans, flip-flops, and a baseball hat. His eyes were deeply expressive, sharp, and clear. When he looked at you, it was as if he saw your heart. Honestly, it felt intimidating.

“While he looked at me, I found it hard to look at him. My difficulty was not because of his piercing eyes but because he had no hair, no eyelids, no ears, and no lips. His rebuilt nose breathed oxygen into his body—a body that had been burned over 90 percent of its surface... The details of the accident were of no consequence in light of their result: a body so badly burned, so grossly disfigured that he barely resembled a human being.

“It was hard not to stare, but he acted as if everything was perfectly normal. He did not seem the least bit self-conscious but instead was confident, poised, and calm. He had endured hundreds of hours of plastic surgeries and skin grafts, physical rehabilitation, painful bandaging, the formation of scar tissue, and constant infections that threatened his life, yet here he was, ready to speak to 1,500 high school students.

“Since I was going to introduce him, I asked questions about his story, trying to wrap my mind around what I should say. As we chatted, I discovered a young man who was warm, engaging, bright, funny, self-effacing, and articulate. And Joel loved Jesus. My goodness, did he ever love Jesus.

“He talked about the agony of his recovery, how he came to know the Lord, how the love of Jesus had filled his life, and how he had learned that his beauty was defined by how God saw him, not how the world saw him. That was his testimony. His words were often accompanied by a warm, wide smile as he thought about all that God had done in his life.

“I found it almost too much to believe. How does someone burned over 90 percent of his body ever smile about anything, much less act as if he is the most blessed man on the planet—all at the age of eighteen? Here’s what I found amazing: in a twenty-minute conversation, I went from feeling shocked by his physical appearance to feeling drawn to this young man’s heart and life. In a word, Joel was attractive.

“Here’s the other thing: when Joel spoke to those 1,500 students, they were absolutely mesmerized. They couldn’t understand it either. When he finished, they erupted in thunderous applause. But Joel was not done impacting our camp. He didn’t leave, and over the next two days he participated in camp activities. He went to the beach. He played volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee. As he did, he was a rock star. He had students following him all the time, and not just the male students. The female students surrounded him everywhere he went.

“By worldly standards, this young man was ugly and disfigured. He had none of the exterior look that defines cool for his generation, and yet there he was, acting like the Pied Piper. How was such a thing possible? It became quickly apparent to all of us... His identity had been transformed, presently and eternally, by one simple truth: God loves him. God’s love is so powerful that he no longer views himself through the eyes of the world but through the eyes of God. And because he sees himself that way, the beauty of God’s love pours out of him so that others see him exactly that way: he is beautiful. (Swanson, David D. [2012-09-01]. Learning to Be You: How Our True Identity in Christ Sets Us Free [Kindle Locations 2011-2014]. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)

Following is Joel’s story in his own words:

Your Spiritual Identity (#4)

1 Corinthians 6:15-20

Who are you? Ask that question to most Christians and their responses will probably sound something like this...

• “I’m a carpenter and have spent most of my life building houses.”
• “I’m a failure because I couldn’t keep my marriage together, even though I tried with all my heart.”
• “I’m a little girl who grew up on a dirt street on the other side of the railroad tracks. We were just poor people with nothing to our names.”
• “I’m an addict that keeps relapsing into the same destructive patterns that keep me enslaved.”
• “I’m a successful business man/woman that built my business from the ground up.”

Our identity shouldn’t primarily be related to something we do, have been told by others, or some difficult personal trial we’ve faced. The tendency to define ourselves in terms of our vocation or some particularly formative or emotional life experience is a grave mistake for the believer in Christ.

It’s not the type of work we do or the successes we achieve that tell who we really are. Nor are our failures or struggles in life the right representation of us as believers. As followers of Christ, our identity should be found in our union with Him. We aren’t what’s been done to us or even what we do daily. We are what Christ has already done for us and declared us to be. God wants who we are in Christ (our spiritual identity) to determine what we do and how we live.

Satan has deceived us into living by the visible (life experiences/accomplishments/failures/etc.), rather than the invisible qualities of being “in Christ.” When we become dominated by the visible (life experiences/accomplishments/failures/etc.), our attraction to it becomes just another form of addiction. We end up living according to the visible more than the invisible things that God has made us to be. We value all the wrong things in life. Consequently, our faith is frustrated and we fail to experience the abundant life God intended for us!

When asked the question, “Who am I?,” the best answer is to explain who we are related to our position in Jesus Christ. We are saints, new creations in Christ Jesus, people that have been born from above with a supernatural life within us.

But, we’re even more than that. We are also the temple of the Holy Spirit.

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)

Paul makes a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, but there he is specifically speaking of the church collectively as God’s temple (plural pronouns). In this passage he explains that each individual believer is the dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit.

To understand the significance of this declaration you have to understand the functioning of the OT Temple and the most sacred place in it, the Holy of Holies. To get a picture of this inner sanctuary where the presence of God resided, you have to turn to Leviticus 16 where we are told about the only day of the year when the High Priest was allowed into that inner sanctum. It is called the Day of Atonement and there were strict rules that governed that day’s activities.

Instead of reading Leviticus 16, let me give you a summary of the instructions given by God to the High Priest about his approach to the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.

It begins with...
(1) Aaron (High Priest at the time this was given by God) taking off his normal priestly garments, washing, and then putting on special linen garments prescribed for the sacrifices which ultimately took him into the holy of holies (v. 4; cf. Exod. 28; 39 ).

(2) He then secured the necessary sacrificial animals: a bull for his own sin offering and two male goats for the people’s sin offering; two rams, one for Aaron’s and the other for the people’s burnt offering (vv. 3, 5).

(3) He slaughtered the bull for his own sin offering (vv. 6, 11).

(4) Entering into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the bull, he created a “cloud” of incense in the Holy of Holies to “veil” the glory of God covering the mercy seat so that he could enter, thus sparing his life (vv. 12-13).

(5) He then took some of the blood of the bull and sprinkled it on the mercy seat seven times (v. 14).

(6) Lots were then cast for the two goats, to determine which would be slaughtered and which would be driven away...called the scapegoat (vv. 7-8).

(7) The goat for slaughter, the one for the people’s sin offering, was sacrificed, and its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the mercy seat, in a similar fashion to the bull’s blood earlier (v. 15).

(8) Cleansing was then made for the holy place (v. 16), seemingly by the sprinkling of the blood of both the bull and the goat. The atonement of the holy place is done alone, without anyone present to help, or to watch (v. 17).

(9) Next, outside the tent, he made atonement for the altar of burnt offering using (it seems) the blood of both the bull and the goat (vv. 18-19). There is a difference of opinion as to whether the “altar” in verse 18 is the altar of incense inside the veil or the altar of burnt offering outside. Some argue forcefully for the latter, which is my opinion also: “(1) The term ‘altar’ in verse 20 must clearly refer to the altar of burnt offering, yet it would have no previous reference apart from verses 18 and 19. (2) Verses 20 and 33 speak of atonement for the ‘Holy Place,’ the ‘Tent of Meeting,’ and the ‘altar.’ Since the ‘altar of incense’ is a part of the ‘Tent of Meeting’ there is no need to specify it, while there would be a need to specify the altar of burnt offering, outside the tent.” A. Noordtzij, Leviticus, trans. by Raymond Togtman (Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, 1982, pp. 167-168.

(10) Then the second goat that was kept alive had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which it must never return (vv. 20-22).

(11) Aaron then entered the tent of meeting, removed his linen garments, washed, and put on his normal priestly garments.

(12) Following his change of clothes into his normal priestly garments, he sacrificed the burnt offerings of rams, one for himself and his family...the other for the people (v. 24).

(13) The final details of the earlier sacrifices (the bull and goat) were completed. The fat of the sin offering was burned on the altar (v. 25), and the remains of the bull and the goat were taken outside the camp, where they were burned (v. 27).

(14) Those who had been rendered unclean by handling the animals on which the sins of Aaron or the people were laid were to wash themselves and then return to camp (vv. 26, 28).

There is also a legend about this day that says whenever the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies a scarlet rope would be tied around him so that he could be pulled from that inner sanctuary if he died in the presence of the Lord.

Dr. W.E. Nunnally writes about this legend, “The rope on the high priest legend is just that: a legend. It has obscure beginnings in the Middle Ages and keeps getting repeated. It cannot be found anywhere in the Bible, the Apocrypha , the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, the Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud, Mishna, or any other Jewish source. It just is not there.” (Dr. W.E. Nunnally is Associate Professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins at Central Bible College and Adjunct Professor of Hebrew at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.)

In addition, it is highly unlikely that you would have been able to drag the High Priest out, even if he died in the Holy of Holies. The curtains of the temple were designed such that it would make it nearly impossible to do so. Some people say that the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was made using layers of cloth possibly reaching three feet in thickness (The Talmud says it was 4 inches thick...still too great for a human to tear). The curtains probably overlapped in such a fashion so as to create a maze-like effect through which the priest would enter and exit the Holy of Holies in the NT Temple.

If you also take into account the fact that the High Priest didn’t wear his normal garments (16:4, 23-24) that included alternating bells and pomegranates along the hem of the garment so that you could hear whether he was moving and alive, the argument for the use of this rope grows even weaker.

There is no factual or biblical evidence that this practice actually occurred, but I think the legend may have grown in the minds of some people because the Holy of Holies was the most sacred place on earth. Entering the presence of the Lord was not something to be taken lightly or carelessly.

On a November night in 2009 a sophisticated looking couple by the names of Michaele and Tareq Salahi, sneaked into a White House dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India. Following the event Michaele Salahi posted pictures on her Facebook page of the couple with Vice President Joe Biden, chief of staff (at the time) Rahm Emanuel, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Rep. Ed Royce, and three Marines in their dress blues.

Most of us remember hearing about the incident and the embarrassment it caused the White House staff and Secret Service. Apparently, no one was in any real danger, but these White House party crashers quickly learned the consequences of their actions.

There was no one in Israel’s recorded history that ever decided one night to sneak into (“crash”) the Temple to do some exploring and get a few minutes with one of the Priests.

Even more significant is the fact that no ordinary citizen of Israel ever dared enter the Holy Place, let alone the Holy of Holies. Why not? Because God was in there! To do so would have been an immediate death sentence.

I imagine that even the High Priest prepared for days in advance for the rituals of this holy day. He would have been prayed-up, read-up, and studied-up on every detail of his approach to God.

The significance of all this is that mankind could not come close to God (the symbolism of the Temple curtain) in the OT and only those prescribed to be intermediaries (High Priest & priests) could represent God to man and man to God.

Stop for a moment and consider what Jesus did in His death on Calvary to this Temple curtain.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split... (Matthew 27:50-51)

The death of Jesus opened the way for men to approach God because once for all, Jesus paid the penalty of mankind’s sin in full on Calvary.

...then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:9-14)

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

There are no more barriers keeping you from being reconciled to God. Jesus will make you a new creation, forgive your sins, make you His child, give you life from above, impart the presence of the Holy Spirit into your life, if you’ll only come to Him and trust Him as your Savior.

Now, here’s an incredible truth about who you are in Christ Jesus. Since you trusted Jesus you are now “the temple of the Holy Spirit.” That’s what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20. Everywhere you go, He goes! Think of it this way...after you finish your morning coffee and head out the door to your day’s assignments, you are God’s “sacred mobile home” everywhere you go. I’ll bet you that will affect the way you live your life each day!

You might not feel as if He’s always at home in you or that He’s entirely happy with all He finds in His new dwelling place. But, the scripture is clear that each and every believer is His new Holy of Holies in which He dwells.

In other words, He has made you an excellent place in which to live. “He that has ears to hear let him hear...” If you are a child of God through faith in His Son, the Temple where God lives today is listening to this message right now. That means God has made you compatible with His presence. I know, I know! That’s hard to get your mind around, but it’s biblical truth, nevertheless.

If you’ve ever worked with computers you know how frustrating it is to find out that something you already own is INCOMPATIBLE with your new hardware. You can tinker with it and try to make it work, but it’s never right or able to do what it’s supposed to do. God didn’t just tinker with the old hardware of your life to force it to be compatible with His holy presence. He totally replaced the old hardware with new components that will always be up-to-date and never need replacing again. He made you holy in your standing before God so that practical holiness could be worked out in your life.

Listen to some additional scriptures that teach that each of God’s children are His holy dwelling place.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:24-27)

What we have to do is what God taught Peter to do. We have to stop calling unclean what God has called clean! Peter was given a dream filled with non-kosher creatures, which he refused to eat. God quickly corrected him and said, “...What God has cleansed you must not call common.” (Acts 10:15) Regardless of your attitude, look, or actions, if you are God’s child you have been cleansed and made compatible with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Satan doesn’t want you to believe God’s description of you. He only wants you to see your failures, struggles, and shortcomings. If you believe those things define who you really are then you will become fixated and fascinated with something other than God!! Don’t let him cheat you out of your spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus!