PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 67 – THE THREE H'S: HEAVEN, THE HOLY OF HOLIES, AND THE HOME
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
Episode 67: The Three H's: Heaven, the Holy of Holies, and the Home
Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy: Hello ladies. I bless you today in the name of the Lord Jesus. I hope you are having a very special day in your home with your children. Here's our poem for today:
I LOVE TO BE A MOTHER
Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows, little smudges on the doors,
I should apologize, I guess for toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children and we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine, their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other;
I like to be a homemaker but I love to be a mother.
Now, today ladies, I'd love to share with you some thoughts that I have on my heart. Actually, they were cemented while we were down on our vacation in Florida. I had time there, of course, to spend in the Word which I love to do. I was thinking that week about heaven and where is Heaven? Well, there are some Bible commentators that say Heaven is just a dimension, but I believe that Heaven is a place.
I have a few Scriptures which I'm going to give you as a little foundation. This is not my message, but this lays a foundation for it. Here are some Scriptures that I believe actually say, will give us a little idea, of where Heaven may be.
Psalm 75:6-7: “For promotion neither cometh east or from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge.” In other words, does God live in the north?
What about in Isaiah 14:13, 14? We read in this passage where we read about Satan rising up against God and he says: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will set also upon the mount of congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.” Here, we have another description of Heaven, and it talks again about the north, “in the sides of the north.”
What about Psalm 48:2: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.” Once again, it talks about the north.
Now, in Exodus 40:20-23, God tells Moses what to do, how to make the tabernacle. It says here: “And he put the table,” (that would have been the table of showbread), “in the tent of congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle, northward and he set the bread . . . ” (That's the Bread of His presence, speaking of Jesus who is the Bread. And it wasn't just one loaf of bread. They put twelve loaves of bread on the table. The Hebrew is lechem ha panim, and it means “the bread of faces.” Lechem is bread, Panim is faces or presence.
It's actually speaking of all the faces, all the attributes of Christ. As we feast on Him and we feast on His Word, which is also the living bread, we learn more of Him and partake of Him. This bread on this table was to be put in order in the presence of the Lord. It was to be put on the side, northward. Once again, we get that north.
Then, in Leviticus 1:11, it says: “And he shall kill the sacrifice on the side of the altar northward in the presence of the Lord.” Even the sacrifices that pointed to Calvary were to be done on the altar northward. They were all pointing toward Heaven which is somewhere in the north.
What about Ezekiel 1:4? Ezekiel says that the heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God. And he looked and there was a whirlwind coming from where? Coming from the north. A great cloud with fire, flashing back and forth, brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam-like ember, and the form of four living creatures came from it, from this fiery cloud, which came from the north.
Then it talks about the four living creatures, and one had the face of a man, one the face of a lion, one the face of an ox, and one of the face of an eagle. Each one represented another understanding, an attribute of God. We see all these intimations that Heaven could be in the north.
Now, what part of the north? We kept reading this phrase “by the sides of the north” or “in the sides of the north.” That is the Hebrew word, yerekah, and it literally means “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost part.” When it talks about Heaven being in the north, it's saying that it's in the far end, the uttermost part, the very recesses.” We don't know because man has not even fathomed space and all of the firmaments and the stars and everything that God has put in space beyond what we can ever even fathom. Heaven is beyond that, somewhere in the north.
Heaven is not on display for everything to see. Heaven is not on display for everyone to just walk in when they like. No. Heaven is where God dwells, and Heaven is holy. We can't get into Heaven without applying the precious blood of Jesus upon our lives. Jesus came to this earth to die and to shed his precious blood so that He could redeem us back, bringing us into his wondrous, glorious realm in eternity. We can't come into this realm except through the blood. We don't automatically get in Heaven, and no one will be in Heaven unless the blood of Jesus has been applied to their lives and cleansed them from their sin because there will be no sin in Heaven.
Then, we see something else, something very interesting. This is what I noticed. I was totally amazed. I found three things, all starting with H that all have something in common. The first one is HEAVEN, and we find that it is in the recesses of the heavenlies, somewhere in the north.
Then, in the Bible we read about the HOLY OF HOLIES, another H. Now, you will remember that the Holy of Holies was in the tabernacle. The tabernacle in the wilderness was a very important place and it was something that was built according to the pattern of the heavenly. There is a tabernacle in the heavenly. The one on earth was a type, a picture of the heavenly one.
t was in the shape of a cross. When you came into the tabernacle, the first thing you came to was the altar where they sacrificed the lamb every morning and every evening. We remember that that was also northward because it was speaking of Christ who was the lamb of God. After the sacrifice, the shedding of blood, there was the laver and that was where they had to wash and cleanse themselves, and you couldn't go into the next part, the Holy Place without washing. You had to have the blood, then you had to be washed and cleansed.
Then in the Holy Place was where the priests worked and lived in the presence of God. There was the Table of Shewbread on the right. There was the candlestick, the beautiful seven-branched candelabra on the left and that Shoshone upon the bread, speaking of the illumination of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and enlightening it to our eyes.
Then, there was, before you went into the last place, there was the Golden Alar of Incense and that beautiful golden altar speaks of intercession and prayer and praise and worship. And it’s just before you go into the place where God dwelt. Every piece of furniture has great meaning, and every one was important.
Actually, the altar that you first saw, where they did the sacrifices, had four horns on each corner of the altar, speaking of how salvation goes out to the four corners or the earth. Also, the Golden Altar of Incense had four horns. Now, horns always speak of authority in the Bible. Do you know ladies, that when we come to God in prayer, we are coming into a place of authority? When you and your husband pray for your children together, you are in a place of authority. There is authority in prayer, when we pray not in our own name, but in the name of Jesus. That also speaks of not only our own family but reaching out to the four corners of the earth and becoming a praying family that effects the nations of the earth.
Then, precious ladies, we go into the next place, the HOLY OF HOLIES. This place, where was it? This is where it has a similarity to Heaven because we read where God told Moses to build the tabernacle and where to build everything. In 1 Kings 6:16, it says: “He built 20 cubits on the sides of the house.”
Now ladies, did you remember me reading Scriptures that always continually said “the sides of the house,” “ on the sides of the north”? Here it is repeated again. It's the same Hebrew word that means “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost end.” You see, ladies, once again, God told Moses to build the Holy of Holies at the far end of the tabernacle.
It's not out in the front. No, the first thing you come into is the altar where the sacrifices are done. The place where God dwelt in all His Shekinah glory was in the Holy of Holies. It was at the far end. It was at the recesses. You see, we can't just come into God's presence how we like, when we like, if we think we'd like to. No, we cannot come into God's presence without the blood. Even back there in the tabernacle, it showed us the way.
First of all, the sacrifice and the blood was shed, then they had to go and be washed, then they went into the Holy Place where they fed off the bread and where they received light and illumination and anointing from the Holy Ghost, which is represented by the oil and the candelabra that lit the Holy Place.
All these things weren't every now and then. The fire on the altar was never to go out. The bread on the table was never to be taken off. Do you know what they did? When the priests came to take the old bread off, which was there for one week, as they took it off, the next set of priests put the new bread down, immediately, at the same time, so there was never a moment when the bread wasn't on the table.
The light had to be lit continually. The altar of incense, the incense had to continually burn. God told them they had to tend to these things MORNING AND EVENING. That's why we have devotions, coming into the presence of the Lord, morning and evening. What is our point here? Our point here is that the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt, was in the recesses. We don't get into His presence by barging in. No, we come through the blood, through the washing of the Holy Spirit, the washing of the bread of God that also washes us, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and so on.
Even the high priest, I wonder how he got in. We don't even read in the Bible how the high priest entered in to the Holy of Holies. It's a very, very thick veil. Different historians say different amounts of thickness, so we don't know for sure, nor do we know for sure how the high priests entered in. There are some commentators who say there was sort of a maze between the layers of the curtains, but we don't know that for sure.
Then there are some Bible commentators that say that it was supernatural. Do you know, ladies, I tend to go with that understanding? Now, I'm not saying for sure because we are not actually told in the Word, but we do read in the Word that the high priest had to go into the holy place with the blood. He had to take the blood in, or he could not enter the presence of God. He had to have the blood in one hand, but he also had to, it says that he had to carry the blood in one hand, and “he shall take a fire pan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord. And two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense and bring it inside the veil” (Leviticus 16: 12).
He was carrying the blood. He had to carry that in one hand and then he had a pan of live coals that were hot and then he had to put the incense on those live, hot coals, and then the beautiful, sweet incense would waft up and float up so that when he went into the presence of God, that incense would fill the Holy of Holies like a cloud so that he couldn't see God.
God was there, but ladies, how did he get in if he had blood on one hand, the incense of the coals in another? Some Bible commentators say that he stood at the entrance, and God supernaturally took him to the other side. Well, I don't know but how did he get there? Anyway, it was right there at the far end.
Let me read you some other translations so that it is clear to you. The New Living Translation says: “He partitioned an inner sanctuary, the most holy place, at the far end of the temple.”
Verse ten says: “He prepared the inner sanctuary at the far end of the temple.”
The English Standard Version says: “The inner sanctuary He prepared in the innermost part of the house to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”
The New Living Translation tells us more what it was like in that Holy of Holies. In those days, we couldn't go in. Even in the days of the temple, we couldn't go in. No one but the High Priest once a year went into that place. In the tabernacle, it was a 15-foot cube, but in the temple, it was bigger. It was a 30-foot cube, 30 feet high, wide, deep, in every way. The Bible tells us that it was all made with cypress but overlaid in pure gold. Now the Living Bible brings that amount to a more modern standard and says that in the Holy of Holies, there would have been—wait for it, ladies—23 tons of gold! Can you even imagine it? Even the nails were made of 20 ounces of gold, each nail.
Now, in the Holy of Holies, there was also the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold and then the cherubims, with a 30 foot wing span, seven and a half feet each wing, reaching from wall to wall because that was a 30 foot cube, all overlaid with gold. That amount of gold would be enough to dazzle your eyes but that was inconsequential to the fact that in this place dwelt the glory, the presence, of God.
It was a little picture of heaven. God also made this to be at the very recesses.
Now ladies, I'm getting to something pretty amazing. We've talked about Heaven. We've talked about the Holy of Holies. What is the next H? It is the HOME. Did you know that God uses this same word, yerekah, about our home? This is amazing. I want you to get this today.
Let's go to that beautiful Scripture in Psalm 128:3, a wonderful family Psalm. It says: “Thy wife shall be like a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.” There's that phrase again. Did you hear it again? “By the sides of thine house.” It's that Hebrew word, yerekah. What does it mean? “In the recesses, in the very heart, in the hidden place, in the uttermost part.”
What is this Scripture saying? We can read it in a couple other translations.
The New English translation says: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms in your house. Your children will be like olive branches as they sit all around your table.”
The New King James Version says: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house.”
The Amplified Version says: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house.”
You see, they are translating correctly that Hebrew word, yerekah, which is “the recesses, the far end, the uttermost part.” Now, ladies, this is the picture God gives of the home. He pictures the wife in her home, not on the outskirts of her home, not on the periphery. No, she's in the very heart of her home. Yes, she spends a lot of time in her kitchen. That is the heart of the home, isn't it? In fact, it was always considered the heart of the home where the mother was cooking back in the old days. Of course, she had the wood stove that kept the house warm, and she would be cooking bread in it and cooking big soups and cooking her meals, and there was always something simmering on that stove.
Of course, it was warm in that kitchen and drew everyone to the warmth. It was also where there was the food, and of course, everybody is drawn to food. It was where the mother was mainly, and everyone was drawn to her. The husband was drawn into the home by his wife. The children were drawn around the mother. This is the picture of the home.
The table is there, and what does the Bible say? There the children are all around your table (Psalm 128:3). They are not off everywhere, going here and going there, eating their meal in front of the TV, off in their bedroom. No, no, no. God paints the picture of the family togetherness, sitting around the table. I'm not making this up, ladies. This is the Scripture. This is the picture God paints and this is where He says He has placed the mother.
Now ladies, we've got to get something. We have to know the truth. The truth is, Satan hates motherhood. Satan knows the power of motherhood. Satan knows that a woman who knows who she is, that God has created her for the blessing and privilege to bring forth children. They are not just children, it's more than that, eternal souls. Children for eternity, and children who will bring forth the image of God in this world. Satan knows it.
Sometimes we don't know it, but Satan knows it. He knows the power of a woman who understands it and comes to the home and will embrace the godly seed and raise them to be mighty in God's truth and filled richly with the Word of God and trained to be mighty sons and daughters for God to impact the land and many countries of the world. He's scared of mothers like that. They are dangerous to him because they upset his purposes, and he does not want the godly seed to come into this world. He does not want godly children in this world, and he does not want godly mothers in the home raising godly children. He wants the mothers out of the home, so he can get his hands on the children.
We are living in a day of humanism and feminism and socialism and materialism and me-ism and all these “isms” which are blinding our eyes to the glorious truth, the truth of God's Word.
Dear ladies, are you getting the similarity? Are you getting the fact that these three things all have one thing in common, Heaven, the Holy of Holies and the Home? Your home is aligned with Heaven. Your home is aligned with the Holy of Holies.
Dear ladies, it's only these three things where God uses that word to describe the position, Heaven in the recesses, the Holy of Holies in the recesses, and the home and the mother in the heart of the home, in the recesses, in this very, very powerful place.
It may be a hidden place. Yes, it is hidden, but Heaven is hidden. It's the most glorious place, but there's no place on earth that is like Heaven. There is no place ever in the world like Heaven, but it's hidden at the moment.
The Holy of Holies, there was no more glorious place where God filled, and God dwelt in the midst of His people, but He was there in the Holy of Holies. His glory came out from that Holy of Holies and by day, the cloud covered them to protect them and by night, the pillar of fire came up from the Holy of Holies, and it warmed them, and they knew that God was in the midst.
But then God says the mother, another powerful place may be hidden, but she is doing the most powerful career in this nation.
God says to you, precious mother today, “You may be hidden in your home but know this is the place that I have chosen for you. It is not an insignificant place. It is not a place of no worth. It is a place that I have chosen. It is a place that I want you to fill with My presence. I want you to raise your children in this heart of the home. I want you to fill them daily with My Word. I want you to show them My ways. I want you to raise them to be great and mighty children, daughters and sons of God, who will be ready one day to go out into this world, not unprepared but prepared, strengthened, filled with God, filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with the Word, filled with truth, who will be able to stand against the wiles and the deceptions of the enemy.”
We are now living in a world that is filled with deceptions more than any other time. We have such evil that our children are facing now. We have children and young people out in our colleges today being filled with such demonic stuff, with transgenderism, thinking that they can change to another gender. It's becoming the norm.
We are raising children who are going to go out into this world. We don't raise them to keep them forever. No, we raise them to go out and influence society. It happens, not out there in the school system, no, it happens in the hidden place of the home. I want to say these few statements as we close our pod today.
Heaven is where God is.
The Holy of Holies was where God dwelt,
and the Home, dear mother, is also where God wants to dwell.
He wants to come into your home, into the heart of your home, even into your kitchen, with your children, where you are cooking day after day, where you think, “what am I doing here?”
Oh no, there's more, dear ladies. Think about it again.
Heaven is filled with the glory of God.
The Holy of Holies was filled with the glory of God,
and God wants to fill your Home with His glory.
He is glory, and He's a dwelling God. He not only wants to fill Heaven; He not only wants to fill our lives; He wants to fill your home with His glory. That's going to happen in the recesses, in the heart of your home. When you're rushing about, here, there, and everywhere, going here, going there, you're running your home from the periphery, there's no time to be filled with the glory. There's not even time to fill your children with the revelation of God and His truth.
Sometimes, in our fast-paced world, we've got to slow down a bit. What do we want? Do we just want this run-about-life, or do we truly want to be this picture painted in His Word? He wants to be a reality in our lives, where the mother is in the heart of the home, filling it with the glory of God. Living in the glory of God because, precious ladies, these are the three places where God has something in common with them all, Heaven in the recesses. The Holy of Holies was in the recesses, and the mother in the home. He too is in the recesses in the heart of the home. This is where you will find your glory. Can I pray for you?
“Dear Father, I have to admit that we are awed . The revelation of Your Word is so amazing. Lord God, too many mothers have been duped, deceived, and short-changed. Lord God, they have been robbed and stolen from because the enemy does not want them in their home.
But I pray that by Your Holy Spirit, Your truth will come to them today. It will come to their minds. It will come into their very hearts and spirits and will become a reality, and they will know that in their home, they are in Your perfect will, where You have placed them. It's Your very plan from the beginning of the ages, when You placed the first woman in her home. She woke up in her home where You placed her, and she was in her glory.
Lord God, this is where we will glorify You on earth. This is where we will bring forth glory into this earth as we raise sons and daughters for You. I pray that You will give them such a joy and such an understanding and revelation of their power in their role in the home. Lord God, I ask it in the name of Jesus, and I pray that You will pour out Your Holy Spirit upon them. I come against any negativity and the lies that have filled their minds and have duped them, O God and have tried to woo them out of the home.
Every day, things happen that try to woo us out and take us away. Lord, I pray that You'll bring them back in. Lord, that they'll find their joy and glory and fullness and wholeness and healing and everything in the place where You have planned for them, where You want them planted and where You want them to raise Your precious children. I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.