Over the past couple of months we’ve been trying hard not to get too close, haven’t we! Outside our homes we’ve been distancing ourselves from other people by 2 metres to make sure we don’t catch or pass on germs.
In our story today the Israelites are told ‘Don’t get too close!’ too, but not to each other, to the Ark of the Covenant. This was because the big gold covered box represented the presence of God, so was very, very holy (special and good). Usually the ark rested in a tent and only the priests ever went past the thick curtain that separated off the area, called the ‘holy of holies’, where it was kept.
In today’s story, the ark is carried in front of the people, and they are told to wash and pray before going in sight of it, and then to only go within 900 metres of it. (Take 9 BIG strides and then look back at how far that is. 10 times that is 900 metres.) They really had to treat God’s presence with RESPECT.
We still need to treat God with respect - lots of it. But the good news is, we don’t have to think to ourselves, “Don’t get too close”, anymore. We can come as close to God as we want - he loves it when we do!
Why? Because 2000 years ago, Jesus made a way for us. Look up this bible passage, to find out what he did: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+27+%3A+45-56&version=MSG
Did you spot it in v 51? Jesus got rid of that thick curtain that was keeping the people away! Now anyone can come into God’s presence - even us!
Wordsearch: https://sundayschoolzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/god_stopped_the_jordan_river_word_search.pdf
Spot the difference: https://sundayschoolzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/god_stopped_the_jordan_river_spot_the_differences.pdf