The Beatitudes in the Sanctuary
Jesus was a Jew.
That is not exactly breaking news, but Christians tend to forget that Jesus and His followers had the books of Moses, history, wisdom, and the prophets for guidance. Rather than point out the limitations of these writings, Jesus used these books to affirm the character of God and His kingdom.
When confronted by Satan, Jesus quoted from Moses to refute him (Matt. 4:1-11).
When confronted by the Pharisees with their legalism, Jesus used the Scripture available to correct them. A wonderful example is their question of whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:15-22 NKJV). Jesus asked whose image was on the denarius, the coin that also was the amount of the tax. The Pharisees said it was Caesar’s image. Jesus’ response, “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” is only half understood.
The coin had Caesar’s image, and it was to be given to Caesar. Remember from Genesis 1:26-27 that mankind was created in God’s image. To render “to God the things that are God’s” is for each person to give themselves to God. Thus, we return to Him what was made in His image, ourselves.
When confronted by the Sadducees (who held only the books of Moses as from God and denied the resurrection) with a question designed to deny the resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33), Jesus again quoted from Moses. Using the small portion of the “Old” Testament accepted by the Sadducees, Jesus affirmed the existence of life after death.
We should not be surprised that the Beatitudes are rooted in the books of what we call the Old Testament. As with His other teachings, Jesus shows us the teachings that had come down to His time in a new light. Rather than a tit-for-tat transactional relationship with God, Jesus reveals the intimate relationship envisioned by our Creator from the Beginning. He shows us that our happiness, our blessedness, is wrapped inseparably in our relationship with God.
That the Beatitudes use the template of the Sanctuary should come as no surprise.
Psalm 77:13 states, “Your way, O God, is in the Sanctuary….” Is His way not also to be our way?
Please join me in a full experience of the Beatitudes and of the Sanctuary. Note that some of the following is from the pages of the individual Beatitudes.
The layout of the Sanctuary was in the pattern of a cross. This is an appropriate image for both the Sanctuary and the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who confess their spiritual bankruptcy and their need for redemption, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:3 NKJV).
The first step of the journey leads to the foot of the cross, the Altar of Sacrifice, in the Courtyard.
The sacrifices brought to the altar represented every aspect of existence for the slaves escaping from Egypt.
Stepping into the Courtyard, we leave the outside world behind. This is a place set aside for meeting with God. Yes, God is everywhere and available everywhere, but here is a place set aside where we make ourselves available to Him.
We begin this spiritual journey by stripping away the baggage we have accumulated in this world. This is not so much the accumulation of physical things (although much of this will be but an encumbrance and must be shed) as the accumulation of beliefs about God, other people, and ourselves. The discovery of foundational truth causes the tower of our human-centered ideas to topple. We must remove the debris to find our core truth.
This sacrifice is more than a lamb or dropping an envelope in the tithe box. Here we offer to God the results of our life-long efforts at accumulation – money and goods; secular wisdom and the traditions of men; and false beliefs about God, other people and ourselves. The Altar of Sacrifice accepts all of our offerings, our physical possessions and the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual possessions that stand between us and our God.
Without sacrifice, there is no remission of sin (Hebr. 9:19-28). If we do not give up those things that separate us from God, then how are we to be reunited with Him? With this sacrifice, we submit and are joined as citizens in the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who mourn, those who weep because they have turned away from their Creator, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:4).
From the Altar of Sacrifice we move to the Laver (Ex. 30:18), located between the Altar and the Tabernacle. This is for the washing of hands, cleansing the impurities of the sacrifice. We are acknowledging to God that we are washing from ourselves all that has just been sacrificed. Those things are no longer ours.
Unlike Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:24), we wash our hands of the world and commit to the Father.
Blessed are the meek, who say, “Not my will, but Your will be done, O Lord,” for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5, NKJV).
The Altar of Incense (Ex. 30:1-10) is straight ahead, inside the Tabernacle and in front of the Most Holy Place. Every morning, “sweet incense” was burned before the Most Holy Place. The fragrance of a special blend of essential oils filled the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place each morning.
With the third Beatitude, our prayer to God rises like the fragrant smoke of the incense. This prayer that follows our sacrifice and cleansing of the world is an echo from the Lord’s Prayer: not my will, but “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who desire to adopt the character of God, for they shall be filled (Matt. 5:6).
Longing to bear the character of God, to live in mercy and truth and to be mercy and truth, is the prayer that now ascends from the Altar of Incense. Pulling aside the veil behind the Altar of Incense, our gaze is directed to the Ark of the Covenant, directly ahead in the Most Holy Place.
The Ark of the Covenant contained the Testimony (the Ten Commandments written on the tablets of stone), the manna, and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Heb. 9:4). The character of God is represented in these symbols.
The Ten Commandments are the foundational laws of relationship between man and God (Commandments 1 – 4) and between man and man (Commandments 5 – 10).
These Commandments were summarized by Moses in the Old Testament in two verses: “Ýou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5), and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Jesus restated these summary statements in the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 22:37-40).
The manna that had given life to the Israelites for forty years in the desert represents the Word of God. After arriving in the Promised Land, Moses recounted to the people the history of their sojourn in the desert, reminding them of the Commandments and then of the manna. Moses went on to remind them that “man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3). Jesus used this same verse in responding to Satan’s first temptation, that Jesus should turn a stone to bread to satisfy His hunger (Matt. 4:4).
The opening line of John’s Gospel comes to mind: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1). The Word is identified with God, as God, as the source of all that exists. The manna is the Word of God as His instructions, the food for our spirit, and as the bread of life, the food for our bodies,
Isaiah comes to mind, also:
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance. (Is. 55:2)
Aaron’s rod, the symbol of God’s authority, is here in the Ark. The rod of Aaron, like the rods of the other tribal leaders put to the test in Numbers 17, was a dead piece of wood. All the rods were left overnight in the tabernacle of witness. The following day, “…the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds” (Num. 17:8).
The symbolism of Aaron’s rod is dramatic. Here we have resurrection, the dead stick brought back to life. The almond tree is the first tree to blossom after the cold death of winter, another rebirth after death. The almonds are the first fruits of a renewed life. The rod is transformed by the authority of God.
The Law, the bread and the rod are a single unit. The Word is simultaneously the Law, the bread, and the authority of God. The mind, the body, and the spirit are also one. God is one, and His character is plain to see.
Blessed are the merciful, those who know they are but a conduit for His mercy to others, for they shall obtain mercy (Matt. 5:7).
We see the Mercy Seat resting on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place. The foundation of God’s throne is within the Ark. This visual of the Sanctuary, the Mercy Seat sitting above the Law, reminds us that God’s Law is foundational to His throne and to His character.
This picture of the Mercy Seat above the Law is to be understood in the context of its application throughout the Bible.
Ezekiel 28 chronicles the rebellion of Lucifer. From the Mercy Seat, there was no recourse to an unrepentant sinner other than to cast Lucifer “as a profane thing, out of the mountain of God” (Eze. 28:16). The Law within the Ark of the Covenant is everlasting and just. Lucifer declared himself to be “a god” (Eze. 28:2), thus violating the Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3).
Judgment by God is just, for He is righteous. To uphold the Law, God was required by His character to punish the transgressors, those in rebellion against His Law, His character. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell … to be reserved for judgment…Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:4,9).
This is God’s just judgment, but there is one more example that must be given, the painful consequence of His justice and His mercy: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up (to death) for us all….” Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). Jesus died not for His sins, but for ours (Hebr. 9:28).
This is the Gospel message – that Christ died for us “that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
This is the model of the Sanctuary. The Law is in the Most Holy Place. It is righteous and just. It is of value above mankind (the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah…), above the angels (Lucifer and those angels who followed him), and even above His Son (the Cross). “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12).
And above the Law is the Mercy Seat. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Ex. 33:19, Rom. 8:15). Any transgression must be confessed and repented. An act is forgiven, but its consequences must play out.
Blessed are the pure in heart, whose focus is not on self, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
As we return to the Holy Place from the Most Holy places, our way is lighted by the candlesticks. In the light of the candlesticks, we see the fixtures of the Sanctuary in their true roles.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path.
The light has been there all along, and now we are ready to appreciate all that it shows to us.
For the moment, we are pure in heart, and this allows us to be at peace.
Blessed are the peacemakers, those who recognize that men cannot create peace but can only be peace, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt. 5:9). Or as the article on the seventh Beatitude suggested, “Blessed are the peace-doers.”
The last stop in the Holy Place is the Table of Shewbread (Ex. 25:23-30). Partaking at the Table of Shewbread, the Word of God, we are filled with the abundant life that comes from Him.
There is a peace that comes from fullness: we do not lack for anything. Perhaps this is the reason that Psalm 23 has such an appeal to us: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” I shall not lack for anything. What a wonderful assurance!
Leaving the Sanctuary, we are peace.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, those who seek first the kingdom of heaven, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:10).
The most amazing aspect of the soon return of the Christian to the world is that this peace within will not be matched by peace among those with whom we will come into contact. In a world where artificial peace, the cessation of hostilities, is bought with money or force, the peace of God is foreign and is rejected.
Satan taught mankind to rebel against God, against the Law of God. In rejecting God’s command, we rejected His character. No longer in unity with God, we could not be in unity with His Creation. All Creation was fractured by this act. Rebellion, “I will ascend,” was the message of Genesis 3. And we have been in rebellion ever since. We have sought our own identity, our own character, our own law. Failing in each respect, we have been unable to find peace. And here is peace: submission to truth.
Recall at the beginning of the Beatitudes, the man who came into the Courtyard was at war with God, his fellow men, and himself. If he thought himself at peace with any or all of these, a ceasefire condition might be a more accurate description of the uneasy peace.
Emerging from the Sanctuary, the vain attempt to control what is beyond his own power has been abandoned. Surrender of this imagined power has restored order. God is in heaven and in His rightful place as Lord. “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20). And this is our blessedness.
Jesus was a Jew.
That is not exactly breaking news, but Christians tend to forget that Jesus and His followers had the books of Moses, history, wisdom, and the prophets for guidance. Rather than point out the limitations of these writings, Jesus used these books to affirm the character of God and His kingdom.
When confronted by Satan, Jesus quoted from Moses to refute him (Matt. 4:1-11).
When confronted by the Pharisees with their legalism, Jesus used the Scripture available to correct them. A wonderful example is their question of whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:15-22 NKJV). Jesus asked whose image was on the denarius, the coin that also was the amount of the tax. The Pharisees said it was Caesar’s image. Jesus’ response, “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” is only half understood.
The coin had Caesar’s image, and it was to be given to Caesar. Remember from Genesis 1:26-27 that mankind was created in God’s image. To render “to God the things that are God’s” is for each person to give themselves to God. Thus, we return to Him what was made in His image, ourselves.
When confronted by the Sadducees (who held only the books of Moses as from God and denied the resurrection) with a question designed to deny the resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33), Jesus again quoted from Moses. Using the small portion of the “Old” Testament accepted by the Sadducees, Jesus affirmed the existence of life after death.
We should not be surprised that the Beatitudes are rooted in the books of what we call the Old Testament. As with His other teachings, Jesus shows us the teachings that had come down to His time in a new light. Rather than a tit-for-tat transactional relationship with God, Jesus reveals the intimate relationship envisioned by our Creator from the Beginning. He shows us that our happiness, our blessedness, is wrapped inseparably in our relationship with God.
That the Beatitudes use the template of the Sanctuary should come as no surprise.
Psalm 77:13 states, “Your way, O God, is in the Sanctuary….” Is His way not also to be our way?
Please join me in a full experience of the Beatitudes and of the Sanctuary. Note that some of the following is from the pages of the individual Beatitudes.
The layout of the Sanctuary was in the pattern of a cross. This is an appropriate image for both the Sanctuary and the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who confess their spiritual bankruptcy and their need for redemption, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:3 NKJV).
The first step of the journey leads to the foot of the cross, the Altar of Sacrifice, in the Courtyard.
The sacrifices brought to the altar represented every aspect of existence for the slaves escaping from Egypt.
- The daily offerings provided the time and place for a daily meeting with God where He would speak to them (Ex. 29:42-43);
- The burnt offering (Lev. 1) on the Altar of Sacrifice was a personal offering for the atonement of sin, the foreshadowing of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross;
- The flour and oil of the grain offering (Lev.2) were symbolic of the produce of the land and the food (and life) of the people;
- The peace offering (Lev. 3) burned on the Altar was a celebration of the peace (wholeness, prosperity, health, blessings, etc.) of the individual.
Stepping into the Courtyard, we leave the outside world behind. This is a place set aside for meeting with God. Yes, God is everywhere and available everywhere, but here is a place set aside where we make ourselves available to Him.
We begin this spiritual journey by stripping away the baggage we have accumulated in this world. This is not so much the accumulation of physical things (although much of this will be but an encumbrance and must be shed) as the accumulation of beliefs about God, other people, and ourselves. The discovery of foundational truth causes the tower of our human-centered ideas to topple. We must remove the debris to find our core truth.
This sacrifice is more than a lamb or dropping an envelope in the tithe box. Here we offer to God the results of our life-long efforts at accumulation – money and goods; secular wisdom and the traditions of men; and false beliefs about God, other people and ourselves. The Altar of Sacrifice accepts all of our offerings, our physical possessions and the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual possessions that stand between us and our God.
Without sacrifice, there is no remission of sin (Hebr. 9:19-28). If we do not give up those things that separate us from God, then how are we to be reunited with Him? With this sacrifice, we submit and are joined as citizens in the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who mourn, those who weep because they have turned away from their Creator, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:4).
From the Altar of Sacrifice we move to the Laver (Ex. 30:18), located between the Altar and the Tabernacle. This is for the washing of hands, cleansing the impurities of the sacrifice. We are acknowledging to God that we are washing from ourselves all that has just been sacrificed. Those things are no longer ours.
Unlike Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:24), we wash our hands of the world and commit to the Father.
Blessed are the meek, who say, “Not my will, but Your will be done, O Lord,” for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5, NKJV).
The Altar of Incense (Ex. 30:1-10) is straight ahead, inside the Tabernacle and in front of the Most Holy Place. Every morning, “sweet incense” was burned before the Most Holy Place. The fragrance of a special blend of essential oils filled the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place each morning.
With the third Beatitude, our prayer to God rises like the fragrant smoke of the incense. This prayer that follows our sacrifice and cleansing of the world is an echo from the Lord’s Prayer: not my will, but “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who desire to adopt the character of God, for they shall be filled (Matt. 5:6).
Longing to bear the character of God, to live in mercy and truth and to be mercy and truth, is the prayer that now ascends from the Altar of Incense. Pulling aside the veil behind the Altar of Incense, our gaze is directed to the Ark of the Covenant, directly ahead in the Most Holy Place.
The Ark of the Covenant contained the Testimony (the Ten Commandments written on the tablets of stone), the manna, and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Heb. 9:4). The character of God is represented in these symbols.
The Ten Commandments are the foundational laws of relationship between man and God (Commandments 1 – 4) and between man and man (Commandments 5 – 10).
These Commandments were summarized by Moses in the Old Testament in two verses: “Ýou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5), and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Jesus restated these summary statements in the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 22:37-40).
The manna that had given life to the Israelites for forty years in the desert represents the Word of God. After arriving in the Promised Land, Moses recounted to the people the history of their sojourn in the desert, reminding them of the Commandments and then of the manna. Moses went on to remind them that “man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3). Jesus used this same verse in responding to Satan’s first temptation, that Jesus should turn a stone to bread to satisfy His hunger (Matt. 4:4).
The opening line of John’s Gospel comes to mind: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1). The Word is identified with God, as God, as the source of all that exists. The manna is the Word of God as His instructions, the food for our spirit, and as the bread of life, the food for our bodies,
Isaiah comes to mind, also:
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance. (Is. 55:2)
Aaron’s rod, the symbol of God’s authority, is here in the Ark. The rod of Aaron, like the rods of the other tribal leaders put to the test in Numbers 17, was a dead piece of wood. All the rods were left overnight in the tabernacle of witness. The following day, “…the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds” (Num. 17:8).
The symbolism of Aaron’s rod is dramatic. Here we have resurrection, the dead stick brought back to life. The almond tree is the first tree to blossom after the cold death of winter, another rebirth after death. The almonds are the first fruits of a renewed life. The rod is transformed by the authority of God.
The Law, the bread and the rod are a single unit. The Word is simultaneously the Law, the bread, and the authority of God. The mind, the body, and the spirit are also one. God is one, and His character is plain to see.
Blessed are the merciful, those who know they are but a conduit for His mercy to others, for they shall obtain mercy (Matt. 5:7).
We see the Mercy Seat resting on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place. The foundation of God’s throne is within the Ark. This visual of the Sanctuary, the Mercy Seat sitting above the Law, reminds us that God’s Law is foundational to His throne and to His character.
This picture of the Mercy Seat above the Law is to be understood in the context of its application throughout the Bible.
Ezekiel 28 chronicles the rebellion of Lucifer. From the Mercy Seat, there was no recourse to an unrepentant sinner other than to cast Lucifer “as a profane thing, out of the mountain of God” (Eze. 28:16). The Law within the Ark of the Covenant is everlasting and just. Lucifer declared himself to be “a god” (Eze. 28:2), thus violating the Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3).
Judgment by God is just, for He is righteous. To uphold the Law, God was required by His character to punish the transgressors, those in rebellion against His Law, His character. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell … to be reserved for judgment…Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:4,9).
This is God’s just judgment, but there is one more example that must be given, the painful consequence of His justice and His mercy: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up (to death) for us all….” Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). Jesus died not for His sins, but for ours (Hebr. 9:28).
This is the Gospel message – that Christ died for us “that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
This is the model of the Sanctuary. The Law is in the Most Holy Place. It is righteous and just. It is of value above mankind (the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah…), above the angels (Lucifer and those angels who followed him), and even above His Son (the Cross). “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12).
And above the Law is the Mercy Seat. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Ex. 33:19, Rom. 8:15). Any transgression must be confessed and repented. An act is forgiven, but its consequences must play out.
Blessed are the pure in heart, whose focus is not on self, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
As we return to the Holy Place from the Most Holy places, our way is lighted by the candlesticks. In the light of the candlesticks, we see the fixtures of the Sanctuary in their true roles.
- The Mercy Seat above the Ark is the meeting place between man and God
- The Ark of the Covenant contains the Law of God
- The linen veil that has concealed the Most Holy has been replaced by Christ
- The Altar of Incense are the prayers ascending in the righteousness of Christ
- The Golden Candlesticks are the light of truth for the world
- The Table of Shewbread holds the bread of life that has come down for us
- The Laver where we are cleansed
- The Altar of Sacrifice of self where we begin our Courtyard experience
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path.
The light has been there all along, and now we are ready to appreciate all that it shows to us.
For the moment, we are pure in heart, and this allows us to be at peace.
Blessed are the peacemakers, those who recognize that men cannot create peace but can only be peace, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt. 5:9). Or as the article on the seventh Beatitude suggested, “Blessed are the peace-doers.”
The last stop in the Holy Place is the Table of Shewbread (Ex. 25:23-30). Partaking at the Table of Shewbread, the Word of God, we are filled with the abundant life that comes from Him.
There is a peace that comes from fullness: we do not lack for anything. Perhaps this is the reason that Psalm 23 has such an appeal to us: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” I shall not lack for anything. What a wonderful assurance!
Leaving the Sanctuary, we are peace.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, those who seek first the kingdom of heaven, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:10).
The most amazing aspect of the soon return of the Christian to the world is that this peace within will not be matched by peace among those with whom we will come into contact. In a world where artificial peace, the cessation of hostilities, is bought with money or force, the peace of God is foreign and is rejected.
Satan taught mankind to rebel against God, against the Law of God. In rejecting God’s command, we rejected His character. No longer in unity with God, we could not be in unity with His Creation. All Creation was fractured by this act. Rebellion, “I will ascend,” was the message of Genesis 3. And we have been in rebellion ever since. We have sought our own identity, our own character, our own law. Failing in each respect, we have been unable to find peace. And here is peace: submission to truth.
Recall at the beginning of the Beatitudes, the man who came into the Courtyard was at war with God, his fellow men, and himself. If he thought himself at peace with any or all of these, a ceasefire condition might be a more accurate description of the uneasy peace.
Emerging from the Sanctuary, the vain attempt to control what is beyond his own power has been abandoned. Surrender of this imagined power has restored order. God is in heaven and in His rightful place as Lord. “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20). And this is our blessedness.
