The Veil Was Torn
Only the high priest goes into the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, and always with blood, which he offers to God to cover his own sins and the sins the people have committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the Most Holy Place was not open to the people. Hebrews 9:7-8
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In the Old Testament, people couldn’t just walk into the Holy Place to ask for God’s help or mercy. The priests ministered there daily, but only the High Priest—and only on the Day of Atonement—could go into God’s presence in the Most Holy Place, to offer a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s sins and intercede for them. Even then, he had a rope tied around his foot so that if God struck him dead, the other priests could pull his body out.
When Jesus was crucified, he entered the Most Holy Place once and for all by shedding his own blood as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. When he died, the thick veil separating the people from the Most Holy Place was torn. Think of it! Because of Jesus, we have unlimited access to the Lord. We don’t have to wait for a once-a-year meeting with God. We don’t have to ask someone else to go to the Lord on our behalf. We can enter his throne room anytime night or day. Go freely into God’s presence and thank him for his great gift of Jesus and this wonderful accessibility through prayer.
Prayers:
With all my heart I thank you, Jesus, for being the perfect sacrifice for my sins and the sins of the whole world. When your blood was presented on the heavenly mercy seat and you offered up your Spirit, the veil of the temple was forever rent, providing me access into the very presence of the Father. How I thank you. Lord, I come, I come. . . .
Quotes:
God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation—a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth. On and on from fact divine he advances, until at length in his Son Jesus he unveils his very face.
George Macdonald (1824–1905)
The One Year Bible Readings for today are: Ezekiel 18:1–19:14; Hebrews 9:1-10; Psalm 106:32-48 and Proverbs 27:10.
