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         Testimonies for the Church Volume 8
      
      
        “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the
      
      
        place whereon thou standest is holy ground.... And Moses hid his face;
      
      
        for he was afraid to look upon God.”
      
      
         Exodus 3:5, 6
      
      
        .
      
      
        “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted
      
      
        up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a Man over against
      
      
        him with His sword drawn in His hand: and Joshua went unto Him,
      
      
        and said unto Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He
      
      
        said, Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And
      
      
        Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto
      
      
        Him, What saith my Lord unto His servant? And the Captain of the
      
      
        Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for
      
      
        the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”
      
      
         Joshua
      
      
        5:13-15
      
      
        .
      
      
        In the sanctuary and the temple, that were the earthly symbols
      
      
        of God’s dwelling place, one apartment was sacred to His presence.
      
      
        The veil inwrought with cherubim at its entrance was not to be lifted
      
      
        by any hand save one. To lift that veil and intrude unbidden into the
      
      
        sacred mystery of the most holy place was death. For above the mercy
      
      
        seat and the bowed, worshiping angels dwelt the glory of the Holiest,
      
      
        glory upon which no man might look and live. On the one day of
      
      
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        the year appointed for ministry in the most holy place, the high priest
      
      
        with trembling entered God’s presence, while clouds of incense veiled
      
      
        the glory from his sight. Throughout the courts of the temple every
      
      
        sound was hushed. No priests ministered at the altars. The hosts
      
      
        of worshipers, bowed in silent awe, sent up their petitions for God’s
      
      
        mercy.
      
      
        “These things happened unto them by way of example; and they
      
      
        were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are
      
      
        come.”
      
      
         1 Corinthians 10:11
      
      
        , A. R. V.
      
      
        “The Lord is in His holy temple:
      
      
        Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
      
      
        Habakkuk 2:20
      
      
        .