PART THREE: "Peace! Be Still!" How to settle our soul in the midst of wars and rumors of wars...

Our CONFIDENT HOPE is an ANCHOR for our Soul--Jesus is our LIVING HOPE

So often we think of "what" Jesus did (He died on the cross and rose again), but if we don't understand "why" he did it--our heart can be in a constant state of disconnect from the revelation and mystery of Jesus. Every single thing Jesus did was to restore the intimacy and un-inhibited, perfect relationship that man experienced with God in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world.

The very moment that Jesus died, Matthew 27:51 says that "the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." This is so significant and crucial to our understanding of how the death & resurrection of Jesus made a way for complete and perfect intimacy with God-- just like he had originally created it to be. The tearing of the temple veil was a supernatural event done by the power of God to make a very specific point: because of the death of Christ on the cross, man was no longer separated from God.

The Temple in Jerusalem was sectioned into three parts: the Outer Courts, The Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. If you weren't Jewish, you were a gentile and you could only enter the outer courts--that was a close to God as you could ever get. The Holy of Holies (aka The Most Holy Place) was the innermost and most sacred area of the temple. The Holy of Holies contained only the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the very presence of God. All throughout the Old Testament, you read time and time again where if someone unclean accidentally touched the ark (the presence of God), they instantly died. Therefore, the Holy of Holies was accessible only to the Israelite high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed animal on the mercy seat to atone for his own sins and the people's sin. The Holy of Holies was completely separated from the rest of the tabernacle/temple by the veil, a huge, heavy drapery.

So now, through Jesus Christ--we not only have complete access to a relationship with God, but we have actually become the very TEMPLE of GOD (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). This is the mystery, Christ IN US, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)! How clean must Jesus have made us for the God of this universe, his very presence, to literally dwell within us and we not instantly blow up or die!? That's how close and intimate He wanted to be--He was not satisfied staying in the Ark of the Covenant and just being 'near us'...He wanted to be ONE with us!! That is his love for us-that he sent his perfect Son to remove the barrier of intimacy and relationship with our very creator! This is our Confident Hope, the Anchor for our souls--Jesus died, but is now ALIVE and has made a way for our spirit, soul, and body to be completely saved from the death and separation that our sins caused!

Hebrews 10:19-22 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place (also known as The Holy of Holies). And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

What is his promise? We WERE saved, we ARE being saved, and one day we WILL BE completely saved (1 These 5:23). He has saved us in our spirit at the moment we put our faith in Jesus our Messiah--we are guaranteed eternal life in heaven with him because He removed the penalty of sin (Acts 16:30-31). He is saving us in our soul (mind, thoughts, will, emotions), and removing the power of sin in our lives when we put our faith in the alive Jesus, our High Priest (1 Peter 1:3-9). And one day he will completely save us in our body when he returns as Jesus our Bridegroom and we are caught up in the clouds, given glorified bodies, and promised to be alive with him for all eternity where he will remove the presence and effects of sin entirely (Rev 19:6-9; Phillipians 3:20-21). This is our triune salvation-- having faith in the WORKS of Jesus as Messiah, High Priest, and Bridegroom, supplies grace (unmerited favor-outside of any works we could ever do in an of ourself) to walk in the reality that we were saved, we are being saved, and we will be forever saved!

Hebrews 6:18-20 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy ANCHOR FOR OUR SOULS. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

1 Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

See post PART FOUR as we dive into how Jesus invites us into resting in complete peace even when there are storms are raging around us.