by Linda Hoeberlein
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Hebrews 9:11-12
As a child, I knew that Jesus, the Savior of the world, came to this earth as a baby in a manger bed. But I didn’t realize that Jesus existed before being a baby. Only as I grew in faith did I realize that, in obedience to the Father’s plan, Jesus left His throne in Heaven to come to be one of us and ultimately to offer His perfect sinless body on the cross for our salvation. God’s law demanded blood to be shed to make atonement for sin – a life for a life. The tabernacle was the tent that the Israelites traveled around in the wilderness with – the place where God met them, through the priests, who first offered the required animal sacrifices for their own sins and then for the sins of the people. Jesus came to be a perfect “High Priest” by offering His own body as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all people. The tiny baby in the manger would take the punishment for our sin so that we could be justified by faith in Him. When He died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, signifying our access to the Most Holy Place – the throne room of the King of Kings – by faith in the Lamb of God. Now we have the hope of eternity in Heaven because of what Jesus has done for us. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift of a Savior!