Jerusalem

"Christ entered into heaven itself, not into man-made copies, but where the real things are, in the presence of God," Hebrews 9:24.

Let's be clear. When Scripture talks about a hand-made holy place, it refers to the physical, material temple in Jerusalem we read about in the Bible. This stunning temple, first built by Solomon and then rebuilt under Ezra (and even Herod), is a much enlarged copy of an earlier big tent built by Moses. Scripture talks about these man-made holy places as mere shadow of the real thing. So where's the real thing? It's God's real temple in heaven. God had showed Moses the real sky temple, then told him to build a copy of it on earth. All the bloody sacrifices and rules of the Law dealt with - not the real deal - but with the hand-made, shadow copy. Jesus bypassed the shadow and took his blood into the real heavenly deal. No more shadow, man-made temples in Jerusalem. Jesus' sacrifice, once for all time. Sky kingdom!

Jesus, our eternal high priest, made us priests. We serve, with a brother or sister, right now, in God's real, sky temple. And, together, out loud, we offer to God the praise sacrifice that confesses his Name!