Verses: 1 Kings 5-7, John 1:14, Leviticus 26: 11-13
Fun Fact: The park protects nearly 5,000 archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings.
Favorite Hike: Cliff Palace and Balcony House Loop trails
Mesa Verde National Park is in the far southwest corner of Colorado, not far from the four corners where Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico meet. It was established as a national park in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt to preserve the works of man; it is the only national park created to protect cultural and historical sites rather than natural features. There are more than 4,000 unique archaeological sites and 600 cliff dwellings within the park’s boundaries. The area was historically occupied by the Anasazi, a Navajo word that translates to “the ancient ones,” now known as the Ancestral Pueblo people. Archaeologists debate the Anasazi’s motives for moving into the cliffs but speculate that it was for defense or protection. Taking advantage of the geography around them, they built their dwellings under the overhanging cliffs, constructing them mostly out of sandstone, wooden beams, and mortar. Thanks in large part to the national park designation, the structures remain mostly intact for visitors to tour.
The Cliff Palace is probably the most well-known and impressive of all the cliff dwellings (it’s the largest in the United States). It has 150 rooms and 23 kivas and is thought to have supported a population of about 100 people. Kiva means “ceremonial room;” they were traditionally used for ritual purposes and ceremonies, and they may have also been used as gathering places for social or political meetings.
As you walk through the rooms and explore Cliff Palace and other dwellings, you cannot help but be amazed by the labor and ingenuity required to complete such a project. We see examples across the world of astonishing buildings and architecture, many of which were constructed by religious motives, but it’s not often you experience this within one of the national parks (there are many other impressive archeological sites within the National Park Service).
Reflecting on this, I’m reminded of the temple, the most prominent religious building project for most Christians, certainly for Solomon and the Hebrew people of the Old Testament. You have probably heard the temple referred to as the House of the Lord, the significance of both the tabernacle (see Exodus 25) and the later temple is the presence of the Lord, the place where the Lord met his people. The word tabernacle means “dwelling place,” a place for God to dwell among the people of Israel.
11 Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. Leviticus 26:11-13
In 1 Kings 5-7 and the parallel verses in 2 Chronicles 2-7, we find the narrative of the temple Solomon built following his father David’s death. These verses describe the meticulous detail in which the temple was constructed: the dimensions, the resources of cedar, gold and precious stones, and the manpower that went into it. Within the temple was the Court of Priests, which contained the Holy Place and the inner sanctuary of the Holy of Holies (the Most Holy Place) where God met with his people. This is where the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Laws of Moses, was kept. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, one man, the High Priest, would enter the Holy of Holies to sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat in order to satisfy the Lord’s wrath and to offer sacrifices for the peoples’ sins. This was extremely ceremonial, as you can see the details in Leviticus 16.
All of the ritual and ceremony of this day was to make atonement for the sins of Israel, to appease a holy and just God. But friends, not one offering through all of history within the Old Testament (and there were a lot) paid the price for a single sin and satisfied God’s wrath. This all points to the one sacrifice that could. Jesus is the ultimate atoning sacrifice for our sins. In John, we see this same word, dwell, used to describe the incarnation of Christ.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Christ came, fully God and fully man to be among his people, to fulfill all the temple and tabernacle represented. The Holy of Holies was not accessible to anyone, only one person, once a year, but Christ tore the veil (Matthew 27:51); He made a way for us to approach Him. He made the ultimate sacrifice with His death on the cross.
I pray as you visit ruins, monuments, and other ancient sites within Mesa Verde and across the NPS, country, or world, you marvel at what hands have built and the commitment to religious ritual and that you find Jesus there. I pray you are reminded of the glorious truth that Jesus Christ is the only true atoning sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world. The true and better tabernacle.
But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here...
Matthew 12:6
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