2nd Chronicles Chapter 5
What does the Garden Of Eden, the Ark Of The Covenant, and Heaven have in common?
This kind of sounds like the beginning of a joke, but in reality I couldn’t be more serious. All three of these have something to do with HOLINESS.
The Garden of Eden is where Adam and Eve dwelt when they were without sin. It was the place where God walked. But when they sinned they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and could no longer eat from the Tree of Life because sin brought the curse of death. They were unholy and could no longer enter before God.
The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God dwelt and the Ark was placed into the temple in a room called the Holy Of Holies. No one could enter into this room before the presence of God unless they had gone through all the rituals to make themselves holy before God.
Heaven is no different. In order to enter into heaven one has to be made holy, and that can only be done through the work of Jesus. Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins and when we surrender our hearts to him, he enters our life and makes us holy before God. This enables us to enter into his presence in heaven.
The Garden of Eden was God’s heaven on Earth. Sin broke the ability to dwell with him there. The Ark of the Covenant became God’s new dwelling place but no one could enter unless they were holy. Now heaven or hell is our final destination when we leave this earth. We will spend eternity in one place or the other. The only way to enter Heaven is to have a relationship with Jesus who died and she’d His Blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Having a relationship with Jesus enables us to enter into the presence of God.
God, thank you I can have a relationship with you because of my relationship with Jesus. Thank you that I have been made holy, and now help me to walk in holiness before you each and every day.
