Sanctuary: The Need for Change

By Craig Ashton Jr., August 5, 2023

We live in a critical culture that considers the Bible outdated. There is a push not only against its traditional norms and moral maxims but also for those who believe in keeping God in a neat, static package for social conformity. Christians sometimes present a tragic image of God, drawing criticisms not of God Himself but of the changeless and impassible God Christians have imagined.

Sometimes, we define morality according to what is right and wrong for all times and cultures, missing the biblical vision for change. Certainly some things are clearly written in stone by the finger of God for ever-shifting ages, but not everything in the Bible is changeless. Some things have changed. Much of the Bible is based on past people and cultures. God has revealed His perfect will to us, yet our perceptions of this truth reflect the imperfect filters through which we view the world.

I find the Bible filled with change. I don’t think we should consider it a changeless book of rules. Some activities once permitted in society were meant to change. For example, the sacrifices and ceremonies once required to atone for sin are no longer required. Might this tell us something about how change will come in the future? We are told that ravenous lions will someday become peaceful, eating hay like cows, and that the wolf will lie down with the lamb (Isaiah 65:25). How can we appreciate all the changes that have already happened and appreciate and implement those to come?

While God’s character of love is unchanging—the same today as it ever was—the Mosaic Sanctuary demonstrates to me that God’s experience with our world changes. For example, God is said to have changed His mind in response to Moses’ conversation with Him (Exodus 32:14). God is said to be a gracious and compassionate Person who longs to have relationships with us, as His love delights in creativity and improvisation. Joining God’s experience as expressed by Moses shows us that the desires of our hearts matter to Him. History has a redemptive trajectory, and we are called to join God’s plan to bless the world.

God’s relations with humanity and the world are not static and changeless; He is a loving God working with a resistant world to bring about His vision for change. I think we sometimes lose sight of what constitutes the immoveable and changeless core of reality: God’s love for His creation. The flow of God’s love throughout history—His longing to hold us and have relationships with us—never changes. When we lose sight of what is truly absolute, we settle for static structures of expressed faith and rigid religion that offers mere knowledge and conformity to external rules. But if we view it from God’s perspective, we find that love, justice, and faithfulness are the weightier matters of law (Matthew 23:23). In fact, righteousness does not need an ordered checklist. Knowledge of the rules must give way to experience and relationship—the new covenant accompanied by the many signs and wonders that invite change. The law is a teaching tool for learning wisdom principles, not a rigid set of rules. Such direction and change builds on the old, expanding rather than denigrating the past.

The Sanctuary built by Moses in the wilderness shows me that God’s work in history is a process. It took time—a year to be exact—for this Old Testament system to complete its ceremonial progression. The Sanctuary’s daily and yearly phases not only point toward a timeless fulfillment but also show the need for change. The outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place comprise a progression that invites change and has a cosmic reality that shows the changes in God’s experience as He helps us (Hebrews 9:24-26). It shows us what is real about God and His work in heaven, but it also has a decided relation to what happens on earth. God wants an ultimate and delightful fellowship with human beings. He longs to hold us and experience relationships with us.

While God’s vision for His creation does not change, His experience with us does. God’s love delights in creativity and improvisation. Might this perspective help us engage with our modern culture? Veering from God’s singular path to bless the world is fraught with danger, not only for the cynical secularist but also for those of us resistant to change who believe in keeping God in a neat, static package. I am committed to following God’s story to bless the world. It not only subverts the ever-shifting culture but gives me hope for real liberation and change. I am convinced that connecting to God’s vision for His creation is the most counter-cultural approach I can possibly take.

Craig Ashton Jr.