Wood You Be In Awe?

by Mindy Lenahan on behalf of Linda Reppert

Ever read details in scripture and wonder why God focuses on such specifics? I have found when I take the time to ask Him, even the tiniest insight He may give leaves me in awe.

God described his temple in great detail: “Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court, as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows and galleries around the three of them – everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered.” Ezekiel 41: 15-16

Wood is hard to find in Israel. There are plenty of rocks, loads of sand and rubble, but not much wood. Due to the limited supply, it holds great value.

Yet the Lord chose wood to fill His temple. Is it insignificant that the only way to enter the inner room – where God’s manifest presence resided – was through wood paneling? To go from common to holy, one had to pass by wood.

Jesus, our pathway to God, worked as a carpenter. Sweaty, dusty and callused, He spent His days dealing with this precious commodity. Though carpentry was considered a lowly profession, He sawed, nailed and hammered on wood daily. A common trade, but an uncommon material…

As a small town Jewish carpenter, He carried the wood into His father’s workshop knowing one day this costly object would be placed on His back. Wood was more than His livelihood; wood was an instrument of His death.

Jesus carried a treasure as He hauled the cross beam up to Golgotha. Along with the inconceivable weight of our sin, He felt the familiar slivering of wood as it etched into His skin.

With the scarcity of wood, the cross beams were recycled. He carried only half His cross up the rugged mountain. The vertical stake was in the ground waiting for Him. Our sin heavy on Him, He still waited to experience the culmination of God’s wrath as He was forsaken.

Hung on a wooden cross, Jesus the carpenter carved our way into Heaven with His own blood, sweat and tears. “It is finished!”

The sky darkened as the earth shook. The veil tore in two and the wood paneling on each side bore the weight of a Savior cutting through. Those wooden walls in the temple would no longer separate the holy from the common. The Master Carpenter created a beautiful masterpiece. We call it the gospel.

Every aspect of Jesus is held to the cross, tied into the gospel – even Him being a carpenter. Truly, He carved the way with nails through His hands and a precious wooden beam on His back.

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” Hebrews 12:28

Lord, the more I know of You, the more I realize I have yet to learn. Every detail holds truth. Jesus, Carpenter of my heart, I stand in awe.