It is painful and unbelievable the tragedies of the Ukrainian people, including those displaced from their homes and those who are dividing their families to get them to safety in Poland or elsewhere. Families divided by war – we watch it firsthand on the internet, thru TV. This is a traditional war that maybe we never thought we would see – with hand to hand combat – inch by inch. My 80 year old aunt remembers WW2, the Korean War, how eerie that we have not advanced in our diplomacy since then, and that war is seen as the means to the ends that never ends.

These families are divided by war and the ones left on the other side become family to each other. We heard of a ministry program that would have left town in the Ukraine but they instead picked up 7 orphaned children and now all huddle together while the bombs are loud and close. 

War can be a curtain that divides – it is a block. There were many physical walls that went up in a blockade war – dividing families in Germany – in Korea. This separation by choice is unbearable necessity in families.

Now, imagine how God feels. We have been separated from Him by a war of evil. Imagine Him fighting His war ever since Adam. His tactic took many years to bring to fruition, His whole plan of living on this planet involved the tearing of the biggest curtain between us and Him. He brought Jesus to earth to CROSS the barrier. Lord, teach us to worship in Spirit and in Truth, and now thru this torn curtain we must venture within. We ARE His children and He is calling us back by walking us forward. He does not blockade the opening – no, the enemy does that. He does not close the curtain – no, we tend to do that. God OPENED the curtain so we can approach HIM. See HIM rise even thru the battle smoke. If there is terrible smoke in your life, keep looking for the light, crawl on the floor if you must – but know that the door is OPEN.

Many times we forget that God does not want us to view Him as a mystery.  His power IS mysterious and miraculous, yes, and because we cannot wrap our heads around how great He is, on how He does everything, we shy away from asking more about Him. And yet He wants to be clear to us. He does not always reveal everything all at once – He knows that we could not absorb all that info anyway. Day by Day, moment by moment, we live on His Word.

He is the One Who tore the curtain. He DOES want us to share in his Goodness and Majesty. God places all the mysteries of the universe in our heart. We can not fathom if we do not look. 

How will this Ukrainian war resolve? We don’t know. We do know that if one aggressive power takes power, it won’t stop there. We must know that the world in unravelling, that is predicted and dare I say predictable. We ask world peace yet know we live in worldliness. Pray awakening, pulling close to God, knowing Jeses

How will this war of the separation of God and us resolve? We know. He has set eternity in our hearts. We must know that we walk in this world but belong to HIM in HIS. He will come again. Jesus WILL come again and take us up with Him. This will be the second coming that we SHOULD see coming. 

God will not stay away from His people. He tore the curtain once – and He is again coming for us all.

Amen

——–

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:50-53

And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:37

…because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Luke 23:45
——–

Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle Hebrews 9 :1-15, 23-28 (NIV)

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

The Blood of Christ
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant….

It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.