Near to All, Holy Among Us
Subtitle: When the God Beyond Temples Trains a People Through Fire
Date: March 29, 2026
New Testament: Acts 17:22–28
Old Testament: Leviticus 6:1–6
“THE GOD WHO CANNOT BE CONTAINED STILL FORMS A PEOPLE WHO MUST LEARN HOW TO LIVE IN HIS NEARNESS.”
New Testament
Acts 17:22-28
All Peoples Are Kin
22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Old Testament
Vayikra (Leviticus) Chapter 6
1 God spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the regulation regarding the ascent-offering; it remains the same, valid ascent-offering as long as it was placed on the fire pile atop the Altar anytime during the entire night, until morning, inasmuch as the fire of the Altar will be burning on it throughout the night.
3 Every morning, the priest must don his linen tunic, and he must don his linen trousers on his flesh. He must remove the ashes remaining after the fire will consume the daily afternoon ascent-offering upon the Altar, and deposit them next to the Altar.
4 He should remove his garments and put on other garments, and he must take the ashes out to a ritually undefiled place outside the camp.
5 The fire burning on the Altar must not be allowed to go out. The priest must kindle wood upon it every morning, and he must arrange the cut-up pieces of the morning daily ascent-offering upon it. He must burn up the fats of the peace-offerings upon it.
6 The fire used to kindle the lamps of the Candelabrum, which must be lit regularly, must burn upon the Altar. The fire on the Altar must not go out.
CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
Leviticus 6:1–6
A — Command to Aaron and sons
B — Offering remains through the night
C — Priest dresses and removes ashes
D — Ashes taken to a clean place
C’ — Garments changed, work continues
B’ — Fire kindled every morning
A’ — Fire must not go out
Center: The daily handling of what remains
Acts 17:22–28
A — Many altars, unknown God
B — God as Creator of all
C — Not contained, not dependent
D — Gives life, breath, all things
C’ — Orders nations and boundaries
B’ — Calls all to seek Him
A’ — God near to all; we are His offspring
Center: God is the source of life and being
PARDES REFLECTION
פשט (Peshat) — Plain Meaning
Acts teaches that God is Creator, not confined to temples, and near to all people.
Leviticus teaches that the altar fire must be maintained daily by the priest.
Together: God is near, and life must be lived with order and care.
רמז (Remez) — Hint
The fire hints at something beyond ritual:
a continual awareness of God’s presence.
Acts hints that this awareness extends beyond Israel to all humanity.
דרש (Drash) — Teaching
A life without discipline becomes careless.
A life without awareness becomes empty.
The balance is this:
God is near—so live like it.
סוד (Sod) — Mystery
The fire never sustains God.
It sustains the memory of His presence within the people.
The deeper truth:
what is continually tended shapes what is continually known.
Engaging Questions
If God truly needs nothing, why does He still command structured obedience?
Follow-up: What does that reveal about us more than about Him?Where do we confuse God’s nearness with permission to be casual?
Follow-up: What habits would change if we lived like God was actually near?What are the “ashes” in our lives that need to be handled, not ignored?
Follow-up: What happens when yesterday is left unattended?What does it look like to “keep the fire” in a modern life?
Follow-up: Is your spiritual life occasional—or continual?
Closing Reflection
Acts tells us God is near.
Leviticus teaches us how not to forget.
One expands our vision.
The other disciplines our life.
The fire must not go out,
not because God will disappear,
but because we will drift.
And a people who forget how to tend the fire
will slowly forget how to recognize the presence.
CALL AND RESPONSE
Leader: Who gives life and breath to all?
People: The Lord, who is near to every one of us.
Leader: Does God depend on human hands?
People: No, He is the source of all.
Leader: Then why do we labor in His presence?
People: That we may be formed, attentive, and faithful.
Leader: What must not go out among us?
People: The fire of holy remembrance.
Leader: And how shall we live?
People: As a people aware, ordered, and near to God.
All: Amen
Word Study
אֵשׁ (Esh) – Fire
Not just flame. Symbol of presence, purification, and attention.
תָּמִיד (Tamid) – Continual
Regular, ongoing, not occasional.
A life patterned, not sporadic.
מִזְבֵּחַ (Mizbeach) – Altar
A place of ordered offering.
Where life is brought into alignment.
כָּבוֹד (Kavod) – Weight/Glory
The weight of God’s presence.
Requires a people who do not treat it lightly.
יָד (Yad) – Hand
The instrument of obedience.
Where theology becomes practice.
