Entering the Holy of Holies
A holy God cannot allow sin to be in His presence. The God of the Old Testament required His people to use a designated mediator (high priest) on their behalf to obtain forgiveness of sins from God through offering sacrifices on the once-a-year Day of Atonement. Only the designated high priest could approach God and only on that one day.
Further, the high priest had to follow a ceremonial cleansing ritual before entering the presence of God to symbolically be clean when seeking God’s forgiveness. If the high priest did not follow God’s prescribed cleansing ritual, he could die!
God dwelt among His people within the “Holy of Holies” in the Ark of the Covenant. Once the permanent temple was built, the Holy of Holies was the innermost part of the temple, separated by a large woven curtain called a veil. It served to keep the “unworthy” — those who were not ceremoniously “clean” — from entering God’s symbolic presence in which only the high priest could enter.
That requirement changed when Jesus died on the cross for man’s sin. The Bible states that when Jesus cried out, “It is finished” and died, the veil tore from top to bottom, exposing the Holy of Holies and giving all believers direct access to God. The Bible teaches that believers of Jesus are no longer separated from God, but as children of God, can come before God. Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection on man’s behalf gives anyone who believes that Jesus became the perfect sin sacrifice, paid the penalty of death for sin for which man was condemned, and now lives again as man’s mediator — the High Priest, as it were — direct access to God Himself.
Because of Jesus, a believer can enter the Holy of Holies and kneel before God, making his petitions known directly to Him without the need of a human high priest to intervene. Jesus, as God, is now man’s mediator. God no longer sees a believer as a condemned, sinful person required to offer an imperfect sacrifice. He sees the believer now through Jesus’ righteousness. It states that Jesus, as the perfect sacrifice, imputes (to charge, to credit, to set to the account of) His perfect righteousness onto the believer. Yes, God now sees believers as being as righteous as Jesus Himself!
As a believer, you have direct access to the very throne of God Himself. That signifies the privilege of a believer to access God directly and the position of a believer with God — no longer condemned to face His judgment or required to follow a ceremonial ritual of cleansing to access the throne, as God now sees the believer as clean and righteous. Jesus is the believer’s high priest so human intervention is no longer required nor beneficial as Jesus made the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. Man’s attempt at reaching God’s standard apart from Jesus is futile.
My challenge to you (and me) — have we as believers taken that access for granted? Knowing who God is, do we prepare ourselves by confessing known sin before we approach God? The Bible says we can boldly approach God’s throne to make our requests known to Him. We cannot, however, lose sight of who God is, of His unchanging holy nature, so we need to be “clean” when standing before Him.
The Apostle Paul writing to the Romans asks, “can we continue to sin so that [God’s] grace may abound? God forbid!” God provides direct access to His throne. We cannot take our position and privilege for granted. We can come before God boldly with a clean heart!
