The Way into the Holy of Holies

The Gate:

As we come into a time of prayer today, let’s start with symbolically going through the gate and into the courtyard. We will begin our prayer with a time of thanksgiving and praise.

Psalm 100:4, gives us the first step in approaching God’s presence. This is the first symbolism in our prayer journey:

Thanksgiving means to thank God for the things he has done. They should be specific ways God has blessed, provided, and cared for you and others. Psalm 103:1–5 has a beautiful list of things to thank God for. Let’s look at that now. Take two or three minutes and prayerfully add your own thanksgiving to the list.

Think of two or three specific things God has blessed you with. This could be as broad as thanking him for the sun rising today or as specific as his meeting a certain need. Or say thank you for the beauty of his creation as seen in a flower. It can be a challenge to learn to say thank you in very specific ways, but this is the gateway to approaching his holy presence, therefore, we do not want to rush or skip it. We want thanksgiving to be spoken from us to him.

Praise is a little different from thanksgiving. Praise means to honor who God is, with words of appreciation and worship, his very character. I love the story beginning in Matthew 16:13. Jesus asks his disciples who the people say he is. They give several ideas, including Jeremiah, Elijah, one of the prophets, and John the Baptist. Then Jesus asks,

Peter correctly declares, “…You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:16).

Jesus commends Peter, saying that it took a revelation from God to reveal this to Peter. It was not something Peter could have thought up himself. It took God’s revelation to teach Peter that Jesus really is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This is praise: to declare who God is, his nature, character, and attributes. If we were to try to describe God, we could come up with a long list of words. God is love, eternal, mercy, justice, compassion, friend, goodness, wisdom, light, and fire. If we were to try and describe God in one word, what would it be? What one word sums up who God is? We need one word that can say it all. What would that one word be?

For help on this we will explore Revelation 4:8 in the Bible.

God is holy. This is the one word he has given us that can describe him. It is difficult to grasp the meaning of the word holy. It can strike fear or awe. It can seem lofty and out of our reach. ‘Holy’ is a word that causes us to pause and consider with a quickening in our heart that yearns to know more, yet is fearful to have more. It produces a reverence and respect that can leave us speechless. It is intentional that we are not able to grasp the splendor of the word ‘holy’. Because God is holy, how can we fully know him? He is surrounded by mystery except for what he has chosen to reveal to us through his written word.

We are commanded in Leviticus 20:7, “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” It is a command. See also, 1 Peter 1:16. We hear “God is love” a lot. And of course he is, but he is more than that. Around the throne of God angels are not saying, “Love, love, love”. What are they saying? “Holy, holy, holy.”

If God were only love, then where would justice be? If God were only justice, then where is mercy? God is both justice and mercy. Because he is holy love.