Messiah in the middle!
Soul Snack 22/10 ...Messiah in the middle!
Flawlessly bowed in perfect unison to an unseen God, they exercised their faith.
Towards the unknowable, the untouchable and the unapproachable an unusual diligence was so regularly metered out.
Orchestrated gestures so meticulously, indeed perfectly, conducted. Their desire for diligence unsurpassed and their conviction to privation exemplary.
And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. (Lk 1:10)
They prayed 'outside' - only the priest was permitted 'inside'.
This is third party faith. It is faith by ritual, absent of relationship. It is faith only with mediation.
God did not like this. He is no third party God, He is no absent father.
So, what did He do? What were His strategies for remediation?
He sent His only Son to introduce us to Him!
He has replaced ritual with relationship.
He is now personally knowable, eminently touchable and permanently approachable. No one would ever have to be 'outside' again.
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known. (Jn 1:18)
... Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. ... (Jn 14:9b)