“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house”
(Psalm 5:7 – NLT)
Entry to my Father’s house is purely and simply by his grace – or as David puts it, because of his “unfailing love”. It is because of this active love, in which the Father proactively seeks his children, even when lost, whether through ignorance or rebellion, that we are assured of a place in his house. In “The Shepherds Psalm”, David’s assurance that he will “live in the house of the Lord forever”, is inextricably linked to his assurance that Father’s love will “pursue me all the days of my life”. (See Psalm 23 – NLT) Consequently our place in Father’s house is by merit of his seeking us out and passionately pursuing us with his love.
Our entry to the house is through the door. A door offers both access and protection. During the early history of the Jewish people their protection from the destroying angel was by means of blood applied to the door (see – Exodus 12:7).
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved….” said Jesus (John 10:9 – NKJV). The imagery could not be clearer – we enter Father’s house through the person and by the merit of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death for us. It is most significant that it was as Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice for our sin that the veil of the temple, which represented the door of separation between man and the holy presence God, was violently torn apart (see – Matthew 27:51 and Luke 23:45). The significance of this act is taken up by the writer to the Hebrews – “And so dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s most holy place because of the blood of Jesus. This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us.” (Hebrews 10: 19 & 20 – NLT)
In all of this we see another aspect of the mystery of the unity between the Father and the Son in respect of “The House”. Again in his letter to the Hebrews the author, referring to Jesus, makes this statement – “Christ, as a Son over his (God’s) house, whose house we are…” (Hebrews 3:5 – YLT). In this context the writer is considering the “High Priestly” ministry of Jesus – the one who took our flesh, lived our life, knew our sorrows, shed our tears and felt our pain. Therefore, in God the Son, who today dwells his Father’s house, we have a friend who “knows how it is” – for he lived through the rough and tumble, pain and sorrow associated with being human. He is not separated from all we experience in life – “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weakness,” we are assured (Hebrews 4:15 – NKJV). The slogan of a major Computer Company once was – “You’ve got a friend in the business”. We have something far better – far more beneficial – a Friend in Father’s house!
To be continued …
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