Not With Human Hands

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:14-16 (ESV)

Outside of the intense heat on a Saturday during our most recent Families for Christ weekend, the presentation of God’s Word was some pretty cool stuff to dig into. Mark Kolchin, who serves on the Board of America’s Keswick, was our guest speaker and he went over those things that not only make up the House of God but what our part in that house is. He went over the people of, the promises of, the priorities of and the priest over the House of God. But it was when he took this breath of fresh, cool air kinda rabbit trail that brought something into focus and understanding. The House of God cannot be made with human hands if the human’s hands are not divinely guided.

He pointed out a few verses in Scripture that make it quite clear that the House of God cannot be made with human hands by human effort. Take a look at Exodus 20:25, “If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.” This may have been a simple law but after time in Egypt using tools to build Egyptian idols it could have lead the Nation of Israel to do the same. And when we think of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerning his vision of a statue Daniel informs him of this, “As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.” We can get the notion that this stone represents both Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God; its appearance in the dream portrayed the coming of Christ to establish the Kingdom.

A few New Testament verses that reinforce that the House of God cannot be made of human hands with human effort…

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”— 2 Corinthians 5:1

“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”— Colossians 2:11-12

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)”— Hebrews 9:11

In the Garden is where we fell and God showed Adam and Eve what it took to make an offering to Him. But when we take a look at Genesis 4:3,  ^“In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground” it shows just how forgetful we can be because Cain brings an offering from a cursed earth. He had to work the ground with his hands and like thinking that we have a “religion” we too can think our offering made from our works will be acceptable to God. It is in Psalm 139:14-16 where we can see that David had the best take on us.

Since we are fearfully and wonderfully made we get to be partakers of the things of Christ. We need to rest in the knowledge that we are the people that make up the House of God. Not mere hewn stones but individual living stones fearfully and wonderfully made who have been given the promises of House of God. We get the privilege of maintaining the priorities in the House of God, but most importantly, resting comfortably in our roles as Priests of the House of God. All this and we don’t lift a finger with our effort…He wants to use us to do His work and guide our fingers, hands and minds. Pretty cool stuff to understand on a hot summer day, don’t you think? – Chris Hughes is a grad of the Colony of Mercy and a regular blogger on Freedom Fighter

Team YOU: Psalm 33-34; Proverbs 23; Acts 24

Motivations: “And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for He shall branch out from His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord. It is He who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on His throne. And there shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”— Zechariah 6:12-13 (ESV)

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 2:4; Level 2: Philippians 2:5-11

Powered Up:  He who labors as he prays, lifts his heart to God with his hands. Bernard of Clairvaux