"Behind the second curtain [in the tabernacle] was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people." -Hebrews 9:3–7
The Hebrew people were in the desert after God had saved them from bondage in Egypt. Despite everyone's repeated disloyalty, God served as a merciful and loving provider time and time again. He rained down food, parted the Red Sea, guided them with a pillar of light, and gave them the Ten Commandments. Clearly, the God of Israel was not a distant one. So why would His dwelling place, the Most Holy Place, be so protected, so curtained off, so separated from everyone and everything? The curtain protected the sinful people from the holiness and glory of God...but what changed between then and now? Why is there no longer a curtain draped between God and man?
To answer this, let's look at the only person who could enter this place- the high priest. Every year, the priest would enter the Most Holy Place with a sacrifice to offer God to atone for his own sins, and to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the Israelites. This day was called the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, and the priest had to follow strict protocol in order to enter, including taking blood with him.
The priest's job was to intercede on behalf of his people to God, but he was just as imperfect as who he was atoning for. To quote what Paul says below,"the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests".
We need a greater high priest, who could mediate out of a place of holiness and innocence. We need one who could save us to the uttermost.
"The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever." -Hebrews 7:23–28
Jesus is the final High Priest. He doesn't need to offer a sacrifice for His own sins because He Himself is "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens".
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." -Hebrews 9:11–14
Calvary looked a lot like a temple. The High Priest had returned to make a sacrifice on behalf of the people, but this time the blood wasn't being poured on a golden ark, but instead, a wooden cross. There was no goat or calf, either. The sacrifice was the Priest Himself. He entered once for all into the holy places by his own blood, as an unblemished and perfect sacrifice. That day was our final Day of Atonement, and the final sacrifice secured eternal redemption, not just redemption for the year.
Maybe you're asking, what happened to the curtain? Do we still need it after Jesus' final sacrifice? Wasn't He, as our intercessor, able to rid of that separation? After all, how else would His Spirit be able to dwell within us?
Wow! Great question, and it's one we're given an answer to immediately following Jesus' death on the cross.
"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split." -Matthew 27:50–51
He has created a new path before us- and it leads us through a split curtain and straight into God's presence. His holy, sacred presence, that we would never be able to enter without our High Priest.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." -Hebrews 10:19–22
Let us draw near to our Father with true, thankful, purified hearts. Let us enter the living way Jesus, our High Priest, has opened for us through the curtain.
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