What do we mean when we speak of drawing near through the veil? It goes back to the old Law worship. Only the priests of God could draw near to God in His dwelling place. Only a priest could draw near to serve at the altar or in the tabernacle outer room (the holy place) and only the high priest could draw near to God in the inner room, the “Most Holy Place”. That inner room was most holy because it was God’s dwelling place, the place where the Ark of the Covenant sat and where He was enthroned. When the high priest entered through the inner veil (the veil that separated the inner room from the outer room) with atonement blood (on the Day of Atonement), he was to show proper respect for having come into the presence of God. He was not allowed to see God’s face when he went in because death was the penalty for any man to see God. Imperfect man will never be allowed to see the face of God. Man must be made perfect if he is to see God.
This book has been written to show how man’s attempts to draw near to God under the old covenant foretold God’s new covenant plan of salvation that brings man into the presence of God in His heavenly home. The old way (under the old Law) could not remove man’s sins and make him perfect to draw near to God, but God changed that under the new covenant.
The Hebrew writer speaks of the old Law limitations and says, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1). The old Law only had the shadow and those sacrifices could not atone for sins and make those priests perfect to draw near to God. Only the reality found in the perfect new covenant sacrifice of Jesus can do that. As that writer says a few verses later, "By one offering, He perfected for all time those who are sanctified".
If we look closely at what the New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, we can see how the old shadow tells us about our new covenant reality. The worship of that old Law was foretelling what was to come. Before we look at what the Hebrew writer has to say, we will look back at that old Law worship.
Have you ever thought about what was really taking place under that old covenant Hebrew worship? God's Law demanded that all sacrifices be slain and offered at the doorway of the tent of meeting. It was to be before the house where the ark sat and where the LORD was enthroned above the cherubim (where His name is called - 1 Chronicles 13:6). That was before the wilderness tabernacle but it applied to the temple in Jerusalem after it was built. Sacrificial worship was only accepted by God before the temple doorway after that house was dedicated.
If we had never been given God's old covenant word and never knew what had happened in their worship and if we saw it later, we might think those priests were cult worshippers. We would question whether our loving and reasonable God could have been the author of such worship as was being performed under that covenant. Tens of thousands of animals were offered there every year. The blood of each animal (in some cases, birds) was to be taken and sprinkled, placed or poured at different places, depending on the reason for the sacrifice. In some instances sin offering blood was to be taken into the temple and sprinkled seven times before the veil leading to the inner room (Holy of Holies). One day each year (the Day of Atonement), atonement blood was to be brought through the veil and sprinkled on and before the ark.
Why all of those bloody details. We can understand some of the sin offerings (even though the New Testament tells us those sacrifices could never remove sin), but why all of those strange sacrificial and blood handling procedures. Why give exact blood handling details for each type of sacrifice? Why, also, did God require them to slaughter the animals and offer them before His temple doorway? Why not select a place for animal slaughter behind the temple or outside the city? What an awful thing to be doing at the doorway of God's house on earth.
Let us try to get a picture of sacrificial worship before the temple. Every day, scores of animals are being slaughtered. Bulls and goats are crying out, animals are thrashing about and blood is splashing everywhere. It's an outdoor slaughterhouse and it is taking place at the front door of God's house, the most beautiful structure on earth.
God required that all of their sacrificial gifts and offerings be offered before His house. The altar fire is burning continuously and the smell of burning flesh is awful. On some days, the smoke-filled temple courtyard is difficult to endure. Every day, blood was being sprinkled around on the altar and it is being poured out at the base of the altar. Considering that blood is poured out on the floor, at the base of the altar of burnt offering, in front of the entrance to the temple, you can use your own imagination as to the bloody mess being created there. One would need to have a strong stomach to be able to slaughter his sacrifice and stand before that altar as his worship requirements are being carried out by that old covenant priesthood. He would also need to wear a different kind of worship attire; one that would wear well with splattered blood. And that was worship before Jehovah God!!
Think about the worship requirements that we read about in the New Testament for Christian worship and the drastic change from what God required under the old covenant. Christian worship is not like that and neither is modern Jewish worship. Today's Jewish worship can't compare to that old Hebrew worship. I doubt that most modern Jews would want to give up their clean and dignified worship to go back to that bloody sacrificial worship.
Not long ago, I asked an older Jewish Rabbi if he knew why God gave the ancient Hebrew nation all of those detailed procedures with regard to the blood handling of those animal sacrifices. The only good answer he could give me was that no one really knows why God required those procedures be done. I believe that he was correct with regard to the ancient Hebrews who were told to perform those ceremonies. They knew that sprinkled blood was a requirement for cleansing from sin but I truly believe that the old priesthood had no idea what the purpose was for most of those, seemingly, way-out procedures except that God was truly awesome, holy and unexplainable. I can see those priests as they went about sprinkling and pouring blood here and there wondering what it was all about. They could not have known the answer but the Christian world can know if we will only listen to the New Testament scriptures as they speak about it.
Hebrews 10:3-4, tells us there was a reminder of sins year by year in those sacrifices and it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Was God having them spend fifteen centuries doing that bloody worship just to remind them of their sin? If it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, then millions of those animals were slain and offered and not one drop of that blood ever did anything to atone for the sins of God's people.
Why did God require those useless sacrifices? It seems unreasonable for God to have required those sacrifices of His people if it did them no good. Our God is a reasonable God, so why did He mandate all of those sacrifices and those way-out blood handling requirements? The answer is found in Jesus. The answer is in the spiritual verses the earthly.
When the woman at the well asked Jesus about the requirement for worship in Jerusalem , Jesus told her that the time had come for worship to change (John, chapter 4). He told her that "an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father". Then He told her "an hour is coming, and now is "to worship in spirit and truth".
The old covenant was for an earthly people and an earthly land. The new covenant is for a spiritual people and a spiritual land. The covenant for the earthly people had an earthly worship at the earthly temple. The covenant for the spiritual people has spiritual worship with a spiritual temple. The earthly was an earthly copy of the spiritual. That is why God specified that everything be done as He commanded it. They had to show the copy.
The Hebrew writer (New Testament) spoke of the old worship and its priesthood and how it was replaced with a new worship under a new High Priest. After speaking of Jesus being the perfect High Priest (in chapter 7) the writer begins chapter 8, speaking of His priesthood.
Our High Priest serves in the true tabernacle:
Hebrews 8
1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. - - - -
The writer stresses the main point. Jesus is the true High Priest but not in that old earthly tabernacle. He is minister in the true tabernacle pitched by the Lord. If Jesus is now serving in the true tabernacle, then that old tabernacle was not the true tabernacle. It was only the copy.
In verse 24 of chapter 9, that writer will say, "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us". The old earthly holy place in an earthly tabernacle was "a mere copy"; it was not the real thing. Jesus is the true and perfect High Priest who has taken His place at the right hand of the Father in the true tabernacle. In the old earthly copy God was enthroned beyond the inner veil in the Holy of Holies. There, God sat enthroned above the cherubim. Remember, only the high priest was given worship responsibilities within that room. After speaking of our High Priest being a minister in the true tabernacle (He is in the true Holy of Holies), the Hebrew writer speaks of that old priesthood earthly worship.
Their worship was a copy and shadow worship:
Hebrews 8
5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things , just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, "SEE," He says, "THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN." - - - -
The old Law and its priesthood ended at the cross and it was replaced with the new Law and its real priesthood. The earthly foretold how our true High Priest and His priesthood would worship at the true tabernacle. Remember, the time had come to worship God in spirit and truth. Worship before the wilderness tabernacle and the temple in Jerusalem was only an earthly copy and shadow of the true spiritual worship that was coming under the new covenant. Moses made the earthly tabernacle according to the heavenly pattern. The earthly copy and shadow worship was just a dark reflection of Jesus serving the heavenly. Jesus and His priesthood worship are the reality.
Our inner room (Holy of Holies) is just beyond the true veil. Our inner room is in heaven, where God is enthroned and where our High Priest is now seated. The old priesthood served daily in their outer room. What about the outer room of the true tabernacle? Where is the outer room. The writer speaks of both rooms in chapter 9.
In chapter 9, the Hebrew writer tells of the two rooms in that old tabernacle structure and the worship furnishings that were included. Describing the old covenant worship, the writer said those priests had worship responsibilities that they performed continually (daily) in the outer room. It was a copy of our worship in the outer room of God's spiritual tabernacle. The true tabernacle outer room is the church on earth. Christians are the outer room (we make up the church) and we are the priesthood that is to be serving daily in the outer room. Peter tells us that we are, “A royal PRIESTHOOD” (1 Peter 2:9), and he says that we are living stones in a spiritual house and a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). The church is the outer room holy place of God’s house and we are the priesthood serving in that room. The old priests with that earthly worship were doing an earthly copy of our spiritual worship.
The old outer room worship included tending the lamps and watching over the table of unleavened bread and offering incense on the incense altar. Our new priesthood (all Christians) must serve daily tending the unleavened bread of His body (the brethren - 1 Corinthians 5:7) and tending the lights (again, the brethren - “You are the light of the world” – Matthew 5:14) and offering spiritual incense (our prayers - "the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" - Revelation 5:8).
On the Day of Atonement, the old covenant high priest was to enter through the veil and draw near to God to offer atonement blood for God's people. That act of drawing near through the veil was the highlight of their worship for the year. Man was being allowed to draw very near to God. Neither that priest nor his blood offering were perfect and he was never allowed to stay and minister there. The writer tells us that the Holy Spirit was signifying that "the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing" (Hebrews 9:8).
They never knew the true way to draw near to God under that old covenant worship. Now we know that the old way was only the earthly copy showing us how we can draw near to God in His true tabernacle and into His heavenly home. The Holy Spirit tells us that what the old high priest was doing was a copy and shadow of what Jesus would do and it was brought about to instruct us regarding entrance through the true veil. He says that old requirement for drawing near through their holy place is a, "symbol for the present time".
After saying that the old worship showed a symbol of how to draw near into the holy place, he said that "when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation". Our High Priest went through the more perfect tabernacle built by God. The tabernacle that Moses made was a "mere copy" of the real tabernacle holy place.
Just as the old high priest went into the earthly holy place to offer atoning blood for his people, Jesus drew near with His blood offering for our atonement. Unlike what took place under that old covenant worship, He could draw near to God in an acceptable condition, because He was perfect and His offering was perfect.
The Hebrew writer tells us that the old covenant was faulty (Hebrews 8:7) and the Law (of Moses) was weak and useless (Hebrews 7:18). It was a weak and useless Law from a faulty covenant because it could not make man perfect. Drawing near to our God requires perfection and the old Law was powerless to provide a way to atone for man's sin and make man perfect. The Law demanded blood from perfect sacrifices ("Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer" - Leviticus 22:20) but they had none. In addition, only perfect priests were to offer those sacrifices. A priest with a defect, "he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries" (Leviticus 21:23).
Remember, they could never comply because (as we read previously), "the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near" (Hebrews 10:1). When an imperfect priest drew near, he was profaning God's sanctuary and he was not welcome. Each time that imperfect high priest drew near with his imperfect blood offering, he was unacceptable in God's sanctuary and he was required to be out before the day ended. Having the perfection necessary to draw near to our perfect God would require a better way. God provided the way through Christ. We can now draw near to God through Christ because, "By one offering, He perfected for all time those who are sanctified".
The old way was brought about by God as an earthly copy of how we can draw near through the spiritual veil into the true "Holy of Holies". In other words, it shows how we can get to that heavenly home through the body of Christ, the true veil leading to that most holy place.
The true veil through which we can enter is Jesus:
Hebrews 10
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
With a perfect priest and perfect blood, we can draw near through the spiritual veil of His flesh. After telling us how the flesh of Jesus is the true veil leading to God's holy place dwelling and how we can enter through that veil, he tells us that we can draw near, "with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (verse 21). In chapter 6, he tells us that God does not lie. He has given us promises and we have a hope before us to enter through the veil. He wrote, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us" (verses 19-20).
We have received everything from God who has "reconciled us to Himself through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:18). Jesus has entered through the spiritual veil of His body as our forerunner meaning we can follow Him into that heavenly home of God by going through Him. Under our covenant we can go through His body, the church and the veil. We can go through but we must go through "in Him" because only the high priest is allowed to enter. It meant death for anyone else to try.
The old way was never meant to work as a way for imperfect man to draw near to God in His dwelling place. It was for our instruction to show us the way to our heavenly home. Only by going in by way of His sprinkled blood can we enter. We can draw near to God by going through the holy place outer room of His body and through the veil of His flesh.
Peter tells us that when the prophets spoke of the cross to come, "the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow" (1 Peter 1:11). The old covenant worship was given through the prophet, Moses. God gave him exact details for that worship and Moses did everything, "just as the LORD commanded". As Moses was being given the instructions for that old covenant worship, the Spirit of Jesus was speaking through him telling of His cross to come and it was copied in their worship. God caused that worship to come about for our instruction, not for that high priest to be able to draw near to Him acceptably. Everything that they did in that old worship copied what is spiritual for us. That high priest was doing the copy and shadow of what Jesus would do.
When the high priest entered through the veil, he was required to sprinkle atonement blood on the ark cover and sprinkle it seven times down before the ark (Leviticus, chapter 16). When that high priest did those worship requirements, he did the copy of what Jesus would do when He sprinkled His blood on His own body, the true ark of God, and when He sprinkled it down before His body on the cross.
The old ark contained the Law of God written on tablets of stone. God spoke through the prophet, Jeremiah, to tell His people how the "days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Jeremiah, chapter 31). It would not be like the covenant that was given to the fathers but it would be a covenant where, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it". Paul will later speak of a letter of Christ having been written on our hearts and not on tablets of stone when he writes, "you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3).
The true covenant Law is not written on stone. It is written on the hearts of God's people and His people are in the body of Jesus. Jesus sprinkled His blood on the true ark of His body and when we are in His spiritual body (now the church), our bodies are in His body and our bodies (and our hearts, on which the law of God has been written) have been sprinkled by His blood. We must be in Christ to enter through the veil because we can only enter if we are carried through in the body of Jesus, the true ark of God.
Just as the old priests placed blood on the four horns of the altar, Jesus placed blood on four protrusions of the cross. He also sprinkled His blood around on the cross, the spiritual altar of burnt offering. He was also the special sin offering where blood was taken into the holy place (the outer room) and sprinkled before the veil. Just as the old sin offering blood was sprinkled before the veil in the outer room of the old tabernacle, His blood was sprinkled before the veil of His flesh leading to the true "Holy of Holies" in heaven.
When we watch the old priest sprinkle that sin offering blood exactly seven times before the veil, it copied what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus suffered on the cross for over six hours (He was crucified at the third hour and at the ninth hour He cried out - then someone brought a sponge of sour wine for Him - Mark 15:34). He suffered on the cross into the seventh hour and all the while that His heart was beating our High Priest was sprinkling His own blood before the veil of His flesh.
After the old high priest sprinkled blood before the veil, he was to exit the outer room holy place and go out to the altar of burnt offering and pour out all of the rest of the blood of that sin offering at the base of the altar. He was foretelling how Jesus would sprinkle His blood before the veil and then He would exit the true holy place (His Spirit left His body). He would then pour out all the rest of the sacrificial blood at the base of the altar (the cross) when that Roman spear pierced His side. Those, seemingly, useless blood sprinkling and pouring procedures were exact earthly copies of what Jesus would do at the cross. That is why God demanded no deviations in the requirements.
Look a little closer at the special sin offering where blood was sprinkled before the veil. It was the sin offering that God required whenever the high priest or the whole congregation of God's people sinned. In either case, a bull was to be brought before the tabernacle doorway and slain before the LORD. We saw where the high priest was to take some of the blood and sprinkle it before the veil and it was a copy of what Jesus would do. The Hebrew writer referred to the body of that sin offering and made a connection to the cross.
He suffered outside the gate:
Hebrews 13
11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
When the writer mentioned Jesus suffering outside the gate, he said that it was connected to the sin offering body being burned outside the camp. He said that the bodies of those sin offering animals whose blood was brought into the holy place by the high priest were to be burned outside the camp, tied with Jesus sanctifying us through His own blood as He suffered outside the gate. For some reason the Holy Spirit wanted us to get the connection so He added the Greek word "dio" or "therefore". "Therefore", Jesus also suffered there. Jesus, therefore, suffered there because the old copy said He would suffer there.
The old Law required that special sin offering body to be burned outside the camp. Scripture tells us that it was to be burned at the clean place for ashes (Leviticus 4:12). That was where ashes from the altar of burnt offering were poured out (Leviticus 6:11). Jesus was the true sin offering. Jesus lived in perfect compliance with the Law. If He had not been in perfect obedience, He would not have been our perfect sacrifice and His blood could not have made us perfect. The Law did not end until He died (at that moment the old temple veil was torn apart - Matthew 27:51). While He was offering His sacrifice, the Law was still in effect and the earthly temple was still God's house on earth. The Law demanded that all burnt offerings, sin offerings and other sacrifices be slain at the doorway of God's house and that the body of that special sin offering be burned outside the camp. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the true sin offering for Israel (spiritual Israel). Did Jesus not remain perfect and comply with the Law on each count?
Man has tried for centuries to find the location of the cross by combining what the Hebrew writer said about the cross being outside the gate with what John wrote about the cross being near the city and there being a garden and new tomb there. What we may have missed is what else the scriptures said about the cross through the old worship.
Paul spoke of the cross and said that, "He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). The one who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven once spoke of the Law, saying, "not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished" and "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:18-19). He was perfected by His obedience at the cross ("to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings" - Hebrews 2:10). He was obedient to God's requirement that His sacrifice be made and He was obedient to the Law in effect as it took place. He was obedient to the point of death.
Did the Spirit guide those early priests to a convenient clean place for ashes (from the altar) outside the city, near the future east gate not far from the altar? Did the Spirit also guide those Roman soldiers to that same place one thousand years later? Was the cross located at the clean place for ashes where the Law required the sin offering body to burn? Did it stand outside the east gate and east of the temple doorway?
If the Law demanded that He offer His sacrifice before the doorway of the tent of meeting, He did. If the Law demanded that His body burn on the ash heap outside the camp, you can be sure that He met the Law requirement. Did He not obey the Law and burn before the doorway of the temple? Was that ash heap located there at the drop-off into the Kidron valley? Jeremiah said of that valley, "the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD" (Jeremiah 31:40).
The west side of that valley, below the Horse Gate (another east gate), was holy to the LORD. What would make a valley of ancient graves (it was a valley of graveyards) holy to the LORD? Did those sacrificial ashes make it holy? Did those ashes wash down among the bodies (the graves)? Did those ashes make the west side of the valley holy to the LORD or was it the blood of Jesus? Did His blood wash down to the brook Kidron (by later rains) and make it holy to the LORD?
Before the temple was built David said of that temple mountaintop (after he was commanded to offer sacrifices at the threshing floor there), "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel" (1 Chronicles 22:1). What is the true altar of burnt offering for Israel and what is the true house of God? They are not found in an earthly altar and in a structure that was a "mere copy". They can only be found in Jesus and the cross. Did God demand the blood of the old sacrifices be sprinkled on that mountaintop because that was where He would sprinkle the true sacrificial blood?
David bought that mountain (Mount Moriah) after God commanded that he offer sacrifices there. It had been the site of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (1 Chronicles, chapter 21). Solomon would later build the temple on that mountaintop and place the altar before it but it may also be telling us something else. The Law required an offering from the land, saying, "Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up" (Numbers 15:20).
Jesus is the bread of that new land (the bread of heaven). He tells us, "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (John 6:51). To have eternal life in that everlasting land requires that we eat of the bread of that land. The Law also requires that bread to be lifted up as an offering of the threshing floor. The true bread of heaven was lifted up as an offering. Was it an offering of the threshing floor? Was the cross lifted up on the mountaintop where that threshing floor had been?
One of the things that Ezekiel saw in his temple vision was the glory of the LORD filling the house (Ezekiel 43:5). He had just mentioned how the glory came in saying, "And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east". God spoke to him, saying, "this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever" (verse 7).
Ezekiel was not seeing another earthly temple that will come about. God will never dwell forever in an earthly temple. He is seeing the spiritual house of God, found in the body of Jesus. That is the only house where God will dwell with the spiritual sons of Israel forever. There is nothing forever in the old structure that was a "mere copy". He is really seeing Jesus being glorified by His work on the cross. Remember, just before the cross Jesus said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (John 12:23). The body of Jesus is the only true house of God. The glory of God came into the house by way of the east gate.
The cross was the most important event of all time. No other event can compare with our God giving His life for us. It was so important that God had those old covenant priests do the earthly copy for fifteen hundred years to show the sacrifice that God would make to fulfill His covenant promise to Abraham (the promise of an everlasting Canaan). Was not Jesus the true Lamb that God provided as our perfect sacrifice and was it not so much more important than everything else that has ever happened that He made the other "seemingly" important things just copies to show us the cross?
Were the earthly copy things not caused to happen at the same place where the most important event of all time would occur? If the shadow of the true sacrifice was shown there, was not the reality at the same place? God put together every detail of the old Law worship as a copy of His sacrifice (they were serving a copy and shadow of heavenly things - Hebrews 8:5). That is why that old covenant worship was a detailed and bloody worship. It was a bloody worship but it could never approach the awful, bloody worship that Jesus did for us at the cross. Without the cross, those old requirements would be forever shrouded in mystery but in Jesus it shows God's wisdom.
The sacrifice of Jesus was such a painful event for both the Father and the Son that God wanted us to see the copy and shadow. Every blood sprinkling and placing requirement, under that old Law worship was just an earthly copy of what happened at the cross. They spent centuries on the copy and God had it written for our instruction. Was the Hebrew writer not telling us that very thing when he spoke of the old holy place being a mere copy, for a copy and shadow worship?
The place where He died is the most holy spot of ground on earth. It appears that His blood offering is what made that mountaintop holy, not the blood of tens of thousands of useless animal sacrifices and certainly not an earthly house that was a, "mere copy". Knowing where the cross was located has no bearing on our salvation but seeing it clearly pointed out in their old covenant worship helps us to know that, "JESUS IS LORD".
We can only know that He is Lord by faith and that comes through the Word. Remember, Jesus is the Word made flesh (John, chapter 1). We need to listen to Jesus as He speaks of the cross through the prophets of old. We need to hear Him as He instructs Moses about how those Israelites were to carry out their worship responsibilities because they were doing the earthly copy of what applies to us. The more we listen to Jesus, the stronger our faith becomes.
Hebrews, chapter 10, tells us how we can enter through the veil having our hearts sprinkled clean and our bodies washed with pure water. We have seen how our hearts are sprinkled by His blood if we are "in Jesus", the true ark of God. Speaking of the old high priest entering through the veil, God told Moses, "He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on" (Leviticus 16:4). The old high priest was not to enter through the veil unless he first washed his body and put on his high priestly garments.
Jesus is the true High Priest. The body of Jesus is both His personal body and His church body. His personal body has entered through the veil. His church body will enter on that last day. Are we to be washed and properly clothed before entrance? Paul is speaking of our High Priestly garment when he says that, "you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27).
We must put on our High Priestly garment of Jesus to enter because only the High Priest enters through the veil. The old worship copy tells us that. It meant death for anyone else to try. Is the old copy not telling us that we must bathe our bodies in water and put on our priestly garment of Jesus before we can enter? If Jesus is the only one who will enter, we must be "in Him" if we are to also enter.
In those verses Paul tells us how we all (whether male or female) are sons of God by faith "in Christ" and that, by belonging to Him, we are descendants of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. Only the sons of God are heirs and will be allowed to draw near to God. We are sons of God through faith in Christ when we hear His words and believe Him when He gives us instructions regarding how we are to enter and draw near through Him. We must be in Christ to enter into the outer tabernacle room of the church and we must be in Christ to enter through the veil. We must hear Jesus tell us, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). We can only enter by drawing near through Him.
We can only draw near through Him but we must, however, follow His instructions when we do come near because of what the old copy tells us. When two of His old covenant priests drew near (with their worship) without following His instructions, they were consumed in fire. The Lord spoke through Moses of that event to tell us, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored" (Leviticus 10:3). If we come near without following His instructions we will not be treating Him as holy and we will not be showing honor for His word. Remember, Jesus is the Word. We must honor Him with our obedience.
There are those who will say that they don't attend church because of the flawed people who attend there. They don't like church and they don't like preachers but many of them will tell us how much they love Jesus and say that they believe in Him. They believe they can get to heaven without going through the church. That is not possible. One cannot enter through the veil if he (or she) has not been serving in the outer room before the veil. Only the priests of God (all Christians) who are faithfully serving in the outer room of the church are allowed to come near the veil. Only those who are wearing the garment of the high priest will enter through the veil.
The details that God has hidden in the old covenant worship copies tell us many things about the cross that we may have never seen before. Some of those details we may not have wanted to see but we need to see them anyway. We need to see how awful the cross really was. Only then can we understand the pain that God was willing to endure for us and the love that brought it about. To think that the God whose hands created a universe of ten thousand billion, billion stars was willing to allow those hands to become flesh so that He could open them to the nails for you and I, defies earthly logic and it defies our understanding. In the eyes of earthly man, it sounds like foolishness. Only those redeemed by His blood can understand. That is why Paul will write about the foolishness of God and tell us how it is only foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is only foolish to outsiders, not for those who realize what God demands for drawing near to Him acceptably. We must be made perfect to enter and only by His perfect sacrifice could that ever happen.
What we have seen in this introduction is just a part of what the scriptures tell us about that old earthly copy. We will see many more worship parallels in the book. Receiving that heavenly home (drawing near through the veil), requires that we listen to Jesus as He instructs us through the words of the prophet, Moses, telling us how we can draw near to the Father. We will only be allowed to behold the Father's face if we draw near, through the veil, in a perfect condition. We must go through His perfect sprinkled blood, having been clothed in Him.
As a covenant and Law the old was faulty, weak and useless. As a shadow and copy, it is the greatest story ever told because it is the gospel story in earthly form. Jesus is instructing us just as He did when He walked on earth. He used earthly stories to teach spiritual truth. The parables that He used were fictional stories but the old worship story really happened. It was an earthly copy that God caused to happen for our instruction.
If God had them do the copy for more than a thousand years for our instruction, we need to listen to His instructions. We need to hear the Holy Spirit speak through Paul telling us (Romans 15:4), "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope". We can have that hope to draw near if we will listen to what was written and follow God's instructions. There are no new commandments from what we can read about in the New Testament scriptures but it is sometimes difficult to understand the spiritual. He has given us the earthly copy to confirm the spiritual.
The scriptures really do mean what they say. The procedures for entering through the veil and drawing near to the Father really were a "symbol" for the present time. We will look a little closer at what that really means in the book.
I am not from one of the schools of theology. I am a retired engineer and have been a Christian for over fifty years. With over a half-century of Bible study, some of it is just beginning to sink in. I have always said that we must believe the Bible. I thought I believed the Bible but now I know that on some things I was not really listening. One thing that I was not hearing was how God caused the old covenant worship to come about as an earthly copy of what applies to us. It tells us how we can follow Jesus and draw near through the veil.
You will notice that I have used the New American Standard translation for the copied scriptures in this book. You may wish to also read the same scriptures from the translation that you normally use.
Johnny Rogers 8/26/02
Revised 2/21/08
Image of the cross is from FreeFoto.com
Link For cross - http://www.freefoto.com/preview/05-08-10?ffid=05-08-10&k=Cross+at+Sunset