You are looking at the topography of community. All the sons of Jacob who became the tribes of Israel gathered around a central area. To the north there are the three tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali. The number of men over the age of 20 was 157 600. Including the women and children it was a city in itself under their standard and family banners. To the south are the three tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad. The total of men over 20 was 151 450. Another city under their standard and individual family banners. To the east towards the sunrise are the three tribes Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. The total of men over 20 was 186 400. Another city under their standard and individual family banners. To the west where the ocean lay are the three tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. The total number of men over 20 was 108 100. Another city under their standard and individual family banners. On all points of the compass there were a collective 603 550 men over 20 just over the population of Seattle. With women and children where there was an estimated 2.5 to 3 million people or the population of Chicago.

You can observe that the communities do different things on different days at different times. But everything was ordered especially in terms of hygiene. All the people without exception would make their way from the north, south, east and west to a central area inconspicuous in the context of the whole. Some were nearer than others but everyone walked there. It looked magnetic without any resistance but where were they going and what were they doing? The Michigan Stadium is the largest in the US seating 107 501 people. But this crowd is 27 times bigger. There were no divided families where some would stay home, sleep in or do anything else. They all came to this central enclosure together.

They are mobilizing towards an enclosure where there was a fence 7.5ft high supported by 60 poles made from acacia wood with bronze bases and silver tops. The fence was a curtain made from fine linen stretched between the poles. There is a 30ft opening on the east side. It is 150ft long and 75 ft wide or the width of our sanctuary and length from the back wall to the front doors. What the people do, where they go and how they do it is all regulated by what happens in this enclosure. Their living, family, giving, coming and going is all centered on this enclosure.

You join a family of Benjamites coming from the west. They are carrying or trailing something. As you look around everyone is either carrying or trailing something towards the enclosure. It is something from the flock or herd. As you go inside the enclosure you see the last thing you expected. Priests from the tribe of Levi meet you with a razor sharp knife in their hands and one in their belt. It is a place of sacrifice with blood soaking into the ground and animal parts with their flesh everywhere. Each lamb given to the priest was perfect and without any blemish. From the eyes, teeth, ears, mouth, coat, bones and limbs were perfect. It looked like a massacre as the priests cut the throat of each innocent lamb after confessing everything wrong about you over it. The animal never struggled in being a sacrifice. Words were spoken that contained powerful expressions like 'atonement.'

After the blood was drained the animal was put into an altar of fire 7.5ft square and 4.5ft high. The fire was mystical because God and the people kept the fire burning had started it. They seemed to understand that when God starts something you keep it burning day and night because the supernatural gets handed to human hands at some point.

There was a basin made from mirrors that the priests washed their hands and feet in. It was as though to go any further their hand to be a cleansing and washing.

Only a few people get to enter into a tent within the enclosure of 675 square feet. It contained three pieces of furniture. Each one was gold. It is not just furniture but it meant something that was transcendent and communicated something. To the right there is a table 3ft long 1.5ft wide and 2.5ft high and on it were 12 loaves of bread that remained there for a week then eaten by the priests. It communicated fellowship and food or sharing something we all have in common. To the left is a candlestick with seven branches. This is the only light in that room. The priests would always keep this burning. It communicated illumination that would otherwise not be understood. Then there is another altar in front of you filled with incense about 1.5ft square and 2ft high. The fragrance of this altar was simultaneous with the sacrificial stench outside. It communicated worship that could not be replicated so a man could not worship his car, career, boat, house or even his family. This perfume and fragrance was for God and God alone.

In front of you is a curtain 4 inches thick and on it is a tapestry that is almost 3D as the blue, purple, scarlet and fine linen depicted cherubim in their glorious array. Every time God is mentioned enthroned cherubim are present so God must be behind this curtain. You are confused because if God was behind this veil what was he hiding from? Perhaps it was more of a defense for you because there may be something not yet perfected in you that could be dangerous if exposed to what was behind the curtain. You go behind the curtain where there is no candle or window but it is the most brilliantly lit place even more than outside under the sun. It is a wonderful and yet dangerous place. If you go in there with a bad attitude you were dead. In the middle of the room 15ft square is a box. It is about 4ft long 2.5ft wide and high. On top is a seat with solid gold cherubim looking at the seat but their wings were pointed up. The seat communicates mercy, which is the last thing the sacrificial animals received outside. Inside are the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments on them with Aaron's rod that budded and a golden jar of manna. It communicated his Word, provision and supernatural life. The room was filled with a cloud that filled the room with light. It did not go anywhere except in this room. The only chance you have of surviving this room is if you have blood from a perfect sacrifice with you. There are no distractions, cell phones, schedules, screaming children or anything else that could draw you attention away except this cloud.

It is hear where David draws you from a world of information overload and impossible expectations manufactured by people.

On the front cover of Caribbean travel brochures is a beautiful female figure sitting in the lotus position with her back to you watching a beautiful ocean. Is this what is meant by 'being still?' Recreation is the biggest idol in America today substituting the presence that brings peace that transcends our understanding. Distraction is the subtle way of getting you out of his presence. To be still is not to do yoga but to be intoxicated with the living God. It is where you stop speaking and praying and hear what manner of love the father bestows on you to be called the children of God.

One of the most difficult things to teach in a culture is something that is not part of that culture. A blood covenant has no reference point to us. Marriage used to be a covenant of 'better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and in health' to always love and cherish but now it is contractual. The only illustration our culture has is an old black and white cowboy and Indian movie. The cowboy finds a wounded Indian like the Good Samaritan and takes care of him. When he is healed the Indian cuts his hand and joins it to the cut hand of the cowboy and the two become 'blood brothers.' The cowboy is later captured by Indians but is saved from death because he is one with them. This is the only reference we have in our culture. This is what David meant by

Blood has been shed and because of that no matter what life throws at you God is always with you.

All that lies beyond the bloody altar of sacrifice in knowing God cannot be yours unless you first come through the horror:

You have to hear him cry out on the cross "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Then you can understand what Paul meant.

Satan will accuse you like the Pharisees did with Christ

The question is not answered in terms of ability and talent or the lack of ability and talent but what happened on the cross. The floor of that small room symbolizes where you now stand

This is where you stand. You are not your past because it was buried in the sea of forgetfulness. If you do not know where you stand you will lose. The floor was laid by what was finished. You are not what you did or said or even thought. You are not someone else's past. Dr. James Dobson who founded Focus on the Family was the result of a brutal rape. His birth mother gave him up to a pastor and his wife. As the ground you stand on communicates no condemnation then the ceiling in that room communicates no separation.

It is like looking at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo spent four years painting nine scenes from the book of Genesis: Light and darkness, ocean and land, sun, moon and stars, creation of Adam and Eve, their temptation and expulsion, Noah and the flood. Paul is pointing out all your concerns saying that his blood has dealt with everything that could separate you from God.

The curtain has been ripped that separates man from God from top to bottom or from heaven to earth. It is not that God came out but you have been invited in. This is how you know the answer to the question 'who do you think you are?'

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