Scripture Daily

Context No. 1654 of 4322 · Hebrews

Context · Reflection

Hebrews 9:1-5: in context

1Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary. 2For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread, which is called the Holy Place. 3After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.

The writer to the Hebrews recalls the layout of the earthly tabernacle. In the first room, the Holy Place, stood the lampstand and the table with the showbread. But behind a second veil lay the inner room, the Holy of Holies, containing the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat and the cherubim of glory. Into that innermost place, where God's presence dwelt, access was closed off by the veil; only the high priest could enter, and only once a year.

The detail the writer is drawing our attention to is the veil, and what it signified: that access to the immediate presence of God was restricted. Behind the veil was the Holy of Holies, where God met his people; and the veil kept them out. Only one man, the high priest, could pass through it, and only on one day of the year, and never without blood. The message of the arrangement was sobering: the way into God's presence was not open; a barrier stood between a holy God and a sinful people. This is the background against which the good news the letter goes on to declare stands out. For the whole point the writer is building toward is that what the veil kept closed, Christ has opened. By his own blood, once for all, he has passed through into the true holy place and opened for us a new and living way through the veil, so that we who were shut out may now draw near with confidence to the very presence of God. The barrier that stood for centuries has been removed; the access that was restricted to one man on one day is now open to all who come through Christ. It is worth pausing over what we have been given. Under the old covenant, the presence of God lay behind a veil, closed; in Christ, the veil is opened, and we are invited in. The right response is not to take such access lightly but to use it, to draw near with confidence through the way Christ has opened, into a presence that was once closed to us.

Do I take for granted the access to God that was once shut behind a veil and is now opened for me in Christ, or do I draw near with confidence and gratitude, using the new and living way he opened at such cost, into a presence that was closed to all but one man on one day?

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