Connecting Point: Is the Devil in the Details?

Are you into details? Maybe you know an aproned tart whose apple pie recipe is to die for? A mechanic so honest he loves making old cars hum? A cabinet builder whose biggest thrill: seeing the happiness in the

customer’s eyes when first she sees the new kitchen? Then there are those artists who paint with breathtaking precision. I’m married to a woman who is an aficionado perfecto; organization is her cup of tea.

Are you familiar with the old proverb “The devil is in the details?” After some research, I discovered that Gary Martin points out that the meaning should be understood as “The details of a plan, while seeming insignificant, may contain hidden problems that threaten its overall feasibility.”

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Jewish worshipers were trained through centuries into elaborate and complicated worshipers. The Epistle of Hebrews demonstrates this tendency greatly. We find in chapter nine just a brief synopsis under the Old Testament covenant, a tabernacle with two separate places of worship; the first, the Holy Place, and the second, the Most Holy Place. Each was built with specific instructions to the “T”. Priests would enter daily the first part of the tabernacle, performing certain tasks. Only once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place to offer blood sacrifice for his own sins and then for the sins of others. This practice was done in haste, Jewish rabbis wrote about this experience with fear and trepidation. Some high priests would loop around their ankle—in case they died—someone could safely retrieve the cadaver. Clearly, the details mattered, but this Old Covenant practice was weak, having only provided temporary atonement. To me It was contradictory I don’t think of God as a human invention.

Enter Jesus as the high priest forever: through his death and resurrection, one final act of atonement was accomplished. All the details of

previous centuries were no longer needed. “But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once and for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our

consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:11-14).

Under the Old Covenant God had a purpose for detailed worship practices until the literal resurrection of Jesus, this event is possibly the most important day in human history. I feel this. And it brings me to a close.

As stated in Hebrews 4:16 we can “…approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” God is in the details and through Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to have a wholesome relationship that is not based on fear, but on respect and loving mercy. In Christ, you and I can serve God unashamedly.