Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 26:1–6; 27:20–21; 28:1–5
“Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set. Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit.
“Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.
“Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests. Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen."
CONSIDER THIS
Curtains.
He cares about the curtains.
Don't ever tell me God is not in the details. He cares about the curtains.
Exquisitely cares.
Ten curtains. All the same size. Twenty-eight cubits long by four cubits wide. (By my math, with conversions, it comes to about 240 square feet per curtain [2,400 square feet in all].) Join them together into two groups of five. Not just any old black-out curtains from Target will do. These are custom curtains. They are to be made of finely twisted linen in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and they are to have cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker.
After that, make loops for the curtains, presumably so they can be held up by rods. Make one hundred loops, fifty for each set of five curtains. But that is not ten loops for each curtain. No, put fifty loops on the curtain at one end of the first set and then fifty loops on the other end curtain of the second set. Make sure those loops are on the opposite side of each other. Oh, yes, and make the loops from blue material—not the trendy beige, but blue. (And something tells me the Hebrew word identified some specific shade or tint of blue—like maybe indigo or something like that.)
Now, don't forget we need fifty clasps so we can close and fasten those finely crafted cherubim woven curtains with the exquisitely stitched blue loops. And those clasps need to be made from solid gold. Because they will be hung in the presence of the almighty God of heaven and earth, curtains matter to God.
So why all this exquisite care about all these otherwise seemingly insignificant details?
Because we are dealing with a Holy God—a Divine Being who is wholly other than human beings, though he created them in his image. This God is not common, not casual, and not contaminated by sin.
The curtains matter because we are creating a space on the earth unlike any other space anywhere else on the earth. It is a place where a Holy God can draw near to and meet with unholy people. It is a place of overlap—the overlap of realms long separated—the heavens and the earth. It will serve as a portal of sorts—a most holy place unlike any other place anywhere in the cosmos where mortals can behold the eternal, where one can dare to breathe the rarified air of "on earth as it is in heaven" and where one can dare to sing the ancient verse, "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end, amen! Amen!"
Curtains matter so much to God that he, himself, became the curtain.
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:19–22, emphasis added)
That's why curtains matter and oil matters and clothes matter. And if these curtains and oil and clothes matter most, might all curtains and oil and clothes matter more?
And yes, those curtains are to die for!
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
I receive your deliverance from seeing and approaching you as casual and common and otherwise believing all the hullabaloo about curtains was overkill. Forgive me. I receive your deliverance into approaching you as holy beyond any degree of holiness I could ever even conceive of and into a measure of gratitude beyond anything I can presently fathom for your Son and his blood atonement for me.
Thank you that the very physical body of Jesus became the Curtain of all curtains, and at the moment of his death, the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom. Deliver me into the fullness of the open curtain like never before, by the blood of Jesus into the Most Holy Place of his presence, which is now available everywhere and all the time. Thank you for the cross.
It will be for your glory, for others' gain, and for my good.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
