Daily Bread - DEC/17/07

Exodus 26:33 - And you shall place the veil under the loops and you shall bring into the veil the Ark of the Testimony to house there. The veil shall be between the holy and the holy of Holies.

There are divisions of sacredness taught to us in the design of the tabernacle. The innermost room where the Ark of the Testimony was placed would be where God would visit the people of Israel. It was a place cut off from the rest of the world and its sin and corruption. Through the purification that was made by faith in the blood of the coming redeemer it had become the place where God would meet with man (Exodus 25:22; 29:42-43).

The holy place outside the veil, but still within the sanctuary, was where the priests were allowed to do the service of God's house. It was a place where they had to receive a special calling and consecration from God in order to be permitted to even be there. Knowing that the sanctuary was a sketch of the heavenly sanctuary we can grasp the idea that this was actually a heavenly ministry that they were engaged in as they took care of the table of the bread, the menorah, and the golden altar of incense (Exodus 25:40; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5). To walk around in this sanctuary of God they had to be holy unto the Lord - which God made possible through the blood (representing the blood and life of God) being applied to them (Exodus 29:20-21; Leviticus 8:23-24, 30). Yet even though they were sanctified having been made holy through the ritual of faith that God had taught Moses, they were still unable to come in behind the veil which was the holiest place of all. It was there that God would be enthroned upon His mercy seat which rested upon the foundation of the law and those whom God had ordained as His priests (Numbers 17:8; Exodus 25:21-22; Numbers 7:89; Hebrews 9:4).

Why was it so holy? Because it was a place consecrated from all of the contamination of sin and iniquity where God could appear and dwell in the midst of His people. The veil was embroidered with figures of cherubim as a reminder that sinful man was not allowed into the presence of God (Genesis 3:24). Fellowship that was once on the level of a walk through the paradise of God's garden was now only possible through a strict mediation of the law and the priest.

When Jesus - whose very life represented that veil - died as the sin offering at Calvary, the veil was split from heaven to earth inviting all mankind to a consecration that would allow them to come into the place where God dwells (Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 9:8). The Holies of Holies was not done away with when Jesus died for us as our sin offering; rather, the separation that barred sinful man from coming into the Holies of Holies was removed. There is no longer the cherubim guarding the way to prohibit our entering into this wonderful and sacred realm. There is no longer the voice of our heavenly Father saying draw not nigh. Now we may come with all boldness into the Holies of Holies having been washed with the blood of the Lamb (Hebrews 10:19). The veil that we walk through now is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ the Savior of the world!

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org