I call your attention to a single verse in Hebrews chapter nine for the foundation of this message. Please look with me at verse 12 where we read: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
You will note in our text the reference to the holy place. It is of great importance to understand the truth communicated by God to mankind by the establishment of the holy place.
Let me pause here to interject that God raised up the nation of Israel to reveal himself to the world. As you may know, God established a covenant with Israel. Under the old covenant God ordered the worship of His people in a way designed to reveal His holiness and to picture the necessity of atonement for sin.
In fact, through the Old Testament sacrificial system of worship God made it abundantly clear no one could approach Him apart from an atonement for sin. The Scripture emphatically says: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul” (Lev.17:11).
Please understand the Lord gave the blood upon the altar for an atonement, that is, a covering for sin. From the beginning of history, this is the means by which the Lord provided a covering for sin in His sight. The first recorded death in the history of the world occurred in the garden of Eden when God sacrificed the life of at least two animals to provide coats of skin to cover both Adam and Eve.
Adam’s effort to cover himself was insufficient. He needed God’s provision for his nakedness. This speaks of more than mere physical nakedness. Adam needed a covering for his spiritual nakedness in the sight of God. The clear lesson to be learned from the very beginning is this: only God can provide a sufficient covering for sin that delivers mankind from guilt in His sight. That provision lies in the death of an innocent sacrifice that dies in the place of the guilty.
So it was all the faithful in the Old Testament approached God through the shedding of blood, including Adam’s sons Abel and Seth and those that followed—like Enoch and Noah. Following the global flood of Noah’s day Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped with sacrifices long before the giving of the Law of Moses. However, the basic truth of blood atonement practiced by the faithful before the giving of the Law found its full expression in God’s revelation of the Old Covenant.
Under the Old Covenant God proceeded to establish the worship of the nation of Israel around the tabernacle. The description, size, and furniture of the tabernacle, along with the manner of worship in the tabernacle are laid out in precise detail in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Therein we learn the tabernacle consisted as a rectangle 150 feet long and 45 feet wide with the outer walls enclosing the area of the tabernacle standing at a height of 7 ½ feet. On the east end of the tabernacle a gate 30 feet wide existed providing the priests entry to perform their duties.
Once inside the tabernacle the general area encompassed by the walls was known as the outer court. The brazen altar and the laver existed in the eastern end of the outer court. Beyond the brazen altar and the laver, the priests came to a tent 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. This tent was divided consisting of two distinct sections. The first section was called the Holy Place and the second section was called the Holy of Holies.
Furthermore, a heavy veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. No one could enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest once a year, and only as God prescribed.
At this point, I need to compel you to think deeply about the picture the Old Testament tabernacle paints for us. The descriptive language describing the two inner sections of the tabernacle as the holy place and the holy of holies reveals the most prominent attribute of our Creator, namely that He is holy.
In fact, holiness is the attribute by which God wanted to be known in Old Testament times. For example, in 11:44 the Lord says, “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”
Again, the Lord says in the book of Isaiah, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” The Lord is called the “Holy One” some thirty times in the book of Isaiah.
Then in Psalm 47 we read, “God reigneth over the (nations): God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness” (Psalm 47:8). Indeed, He is on the throne today ruling over all the creation. No wonder Moses said, “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11). And David declares in Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
Now, let me ask you: do you understand God is holy? Look again at the tabernacle. Do you understand no man could walk into the holy of holies? The Holy Spirit thus signifying the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest.
I hasten to say what is pictured here is not only God’s holiness, but mankind’s uncleanness.
The chasm between the holiness of God and man’s sinful condition is illustrated by the veil which no man dare go beyond.
In order to meet with the God who dwells beyond the veil men must be made clean. Unholy men, sinners by nature, have no access beyond the veil. We dare not try to climb up to the God of Sinai, nor even touch the mount lest we die. We cannot come into His presence as sinners. We are found out to be altogether unclean and unable to enter His presence.
My friends, the message pictured by the tabernacle is this: the enmity of sin, the offense of God’s holy nature, constructed a veil separating us from the Father. He is holy, but we are not. Thus, we are forbidden access to His presence. There must be a means provided by which a holy God can rend the veil and accept us into His holy presence.
Next, please remember only the High Priest could enter beyond the veil. He could only do so after he offered a sacrifice to cover his sin. Then he proceeded beyond the veil to make an atonement for the people in the holy of holies. However, the veil remained and the Old Testament sacrifices that lacked the power to once for all deal with sin persisted until Christ came.
Now Christ has become a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
And how is it that he entered heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us? He entered as our text says, by his own blood. At the cross the Lord Jesus Christ put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of himself. He was offered to bear the sins of the world in his body on the tree. And thus, by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.
You will recall that upon completing his redemptive work on the cross our Lord cried out in triumph, “It is finished!” Matthew says upon crying out with a loud voice Jesus yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom.
My friends, Jesus went beyond the veil for us. As our great High Priest, he has carried his own blood beyond the veil. He has met with the Father at the mercy seat where his own precious blood has fully propitiated God. The veil is now rent in two and the way is made into the holy of holies. The blood of Christ has atoned for our sin and covered our guilt in the sight of a holy God.
Now all may come boldly to the throne of grace having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We can draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We are now accepted in the Beloved. The unclean is made clean and the unholy is made holy by the power of the blood of Christ. Let us hold fast therefore the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised. Amen!
You will note in our text the reference to the holy place. It is of great importance to understand the truth communicated by God to mankind by the establishment of the holy place.
Let me pause here to interject that God raised up the nation of Israel to reveal himself to the world. As you may know, God established a covenant with Israel. Under the old covenant God ordered the worship of His people in a way designed to reveal His holiness and to picture the necessity of atonement for sin.
In fact, through the Old Testament sacrificial system of worship God made it abundantly clear no one could approach Him apart from an atonement for sin. The Scripture emphatically says: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul” (Lev.17:11).
Please understand the Lord gave the blood upon the altar for an atonement, that is, a covering for sin. From the beginning of history, this is the means by which the Lord provided a covering for sin in His sight. The first recorded death in the history of the world occurred in the garden of Eden when God sacrificed the life of at least two animals to provide coats of skin to cover both Adam and Eve.
Adam’s effort to cover himself was insufficient. He needed God’s provision for his nakedness. This speaks of more than mere physical nakedness. Adam needed a covering for his spiritual nakedness in the sight of God. The clear lesson to be learned from the very beginning is this: only God can provide a sufficient covering for sin that delivers mankind from guilt in His sight. That provision lies in the death of an innocent sacrifice that dies in the place of the guilty.
So it was all the faithful in the Old Testament approached God through the shedding of blood, including Adam’s sons Abel and Seth and those that followed—like Enoch and Noah. Following the global flood of Noah’s day Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped with sacrifices long before the giving of the Law of Moses. However, the basic truth of blood atonement practiced by the faithful before the giving of the Law found its full expression in God’s revelation of the Old Covenant.
Under the Old Covenant God proceeded to establish the worship of the nation of Israel around the tabernacle. The description, size, and furniture of the tabernacle, along with the manner of worship in the tabernacle are laid out in precise detail in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Therein we learn the tabernacle consisted as a rectangle 150 feet long and 45 feet wide with the outer walls enclosing the area of the tabernacle standing at a height of 7 ½ feet. On the east end of the tabernacle a gate 30 feet wide existed providing the priests entry to perform their duties.
Once inside the tabernacle the general area encompassed by the walls was known as the outer court. The brazen altar and the laver existed in the eastern end of the outer court. Beyond the brazen altar and the laver, the priests came to a tent 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. This tent was divided consisting of two distinct sections. The first section was called the Holy Place and the second section was called the Holy of Holies.
Furthermore, a heavy veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. No one could enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest once a year, and only as God prescribed.
At this point, I need to compel you to think deeply about the picture the Old Testament tabernacle paints for us. The descriptive language describing the two inner sections of the tabernacle as the holy place and the holy of holies reveals the most prominent attribute of our Creator, namely that He is holy.
In fact, holiness is the attribute by which God wanted to be known in Old Testament times. For example, in 11:44 the Lord says, “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”
Again, the Lord says in the book of Isaiah, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” The Lord is called the “Holy One” some thirty times in the book of Isaiah.
Then in Psalm 47 we read, “God reigneth over the (nations): God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness” (Psalm 47:8). Indeed, He is on the throne today ruling over all the creation. No wonder Moses said, “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11). And David declares in Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
Now, let me ask you: do you understand God is holy? Look again at the tabernacle. Do you understand no man could walk into the holy of holies? The Holy Spirit thus signifying the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest.
I hasten to say what is pictured here is not only God’s holiness, but mankind’s uncleanness.
The chasm between the holiness of God and man’s sinful condition is illustrated by the veil which no man dare go beyond.
In order to meet with the God who dwells beyond the veil men must be made clean. Unholy men, sinners by nature, have no access beyond the veil. We dare not try to climb up to the God of Sinai, nor even touch the mount lest we die. We cannot come into His presence as sinners. We are found out to be altogether unclean and unable to enter His presence.
My friends, the message pictured by the tabernacle is this: the enmity of sin, the offense of God’s holy nature, constructed a veil separating us from the Father. He is holy, but we are not. Thus, we are forbidden access to His presence. There must be a means provided by which a holy God can rend the veil and accept us into His holy presence.
Next, please remember only the High Priest could enter beyond the veil. He could only do so after he offered a sacrifice to cover his sin. Then he proceeded beyond the veil to make an atonement for the people in the holy of holies. However, the veil remained and the Old Testament sacrifices that lacked the power to once for all deal with sin persisted until Christ came.
Now Christ has become a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
And how is it that he entered heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us? He entered as our text says, by his own blood. At the cross the Lord Jesus Christ put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of himself. He was offered to bear the sins of the world in his body on the tree. And thus, by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.
You will recall that upon completing his redemptive work on the cross our Lord cried out in triumph, “It is finished!” Matthew says upon crying out with a loud voice Jesus yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom.
My friends, Jesus went beyond the veil for us. As our great High Priest, he has carried his own blood beyond the veil. He has met with the Father at the mercy seat where his own precious blood has fully propitiated God. The veil is now rent in two and the way is made into the holy of holies. The blood of Christ has atoned for our sin and covered our guilt in the sight of a holy God.
Now all may come boldly to the throne of grace having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We can draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We are now accepted in the Beloved. The unclean is made clean and the unholy is made holy by the power of the blood of Christ. Let us hold fast therefore the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised. Amen!
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