Weekly Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 1-13

I'm not going to lie, I did not remember that the first half of first Chronicles is full of genealogies. In fact, people always joke that Leviticus is the hardest book of the bible to read and I actually really like Leviticus because we learn so much about the nature of God through reading the laws that He set up for the children of Israel. However, for me, the first half of first Chronicles definitely takes the cake for the hardest book to read - all those names! However, that's not to say that there aren't some wonderful truths to be seen in the text. Let's just look at the very end of our reading in Chapter 13...

The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had. 1 Chronicles 13:14

As you remember, David had tried to bring the ark of the covenant to the City of David, but when a man names Uzzah died in the process of transporting it, he got nervous and left it in the house of Obed-Edom. And the LORD blessed Obed-Edom. I LOVE that. Let me dig a bit deeper into what this means for you and me!

The Ark of the Covenant was the physical home for the Spirit of God. It was to be kept in the Holy of Holies in the Temple of God. And the Holy of Holies was a very exclusive place where the Shekinah Glory of God (the presence of God) dwelt. Now at that point in history they had a curtain that was 12-24 INCHES thick between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. Exodus 26:33

This was basically there as a giant barrier between the presence of God and man. The reason is, if man entered the presence of God, they would die because of their sin. Only once a year was someone allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and that "someone" was the High Priest. If he went in and wasn't in the right spirit, then he would immediately fall dead. That's why David was afraid to bring the ark any further after Uzzah was struck dead. After all, the ark was the physical home to the Spirit of God.

But David had nothing to fear, because God blessed Obed-Edom while the ark was there. You see, because the Ark was there, the presence of God was dwelling in Obed-Edom's house. This is an amazing truth for us, because when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (yep, that 12-24 inch thick curtain) TORE from top to bottom.

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

You see, the separation of God's presence from man was no longer in place because the price had been paid for sin and God could now dwell IN sinful man! So now, God didn't need a temple anymore, rather, his presence and glory could dwell in US!

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? 1 Corinthians 6:9

Yes! That is right, WE became God's new temple. That means that same power and presence that brought blessing upon Obed-Edom's house is the same power and presence that is alive in our hearts IF we believe in Jesus and have His Holy Spirit dwelling in us. So we can open up the Word of God, kneel to pray, or lift our hands in worship on any given day at any given time, and in doing so, we are stepping into the Holy of Holies and experiencing the same presence and power of God that Obed-Edom experienced.

Praise Jesus for His death and Resurrection that has brought us New Life in Christ. My prayer is that you step into the power and presence of the Holy of Holies today and recognize that God's Spirit in you is the same Spirit that dwelt in the Holy of Holies and that brings blessing on all those who trust in Christ.

Be Blessed...

~Abigail Escobedo