Hebrews 10:19–20
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most
Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that
is, his body,
In the temple there was a veil between the
Holy Place and the Holiest of All. At the altar in the court, the blood of the
sacrifice was sprinkled for forgiveness of sins. This gave the priest entrance
into the Holy Place to offer incense to God as part of a holy worship. But into
the Holiest of All, behind the veil, the high priest alone might enter once a
year. This veil was the symbol of sinful human nature; even though it had
received the forgiveness of sin, full access and fellowship with God was impossible.
When Christ died, the veil was torn in two.
Christ dedicated “a new and living way” to God through the torn veil
of His flesh. This new way, by which we now can enter into the Holiest of All,
always passes through the torn veil of the flesh. Every believer has “crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Every step on
the “new and living way” for entering into God’s holy presence
maintains the fellowship with the cross of Christ. The torn veil of the flesh
refers not only to Christ and His sufferings, but also to our experience in the
likeness of His sufferings.
Is this not the reason why many Christians can
never attain close fellowship with God? They have never yielded the flesh as an
accursed thing to the condemnation of the cross. They desire to enter into the
Holiest of All, yet they allow “the flesh with the affections and
lusts” to rule over them. God grant that we may rightly understand, in the
power of the Holy Spirit, that Christ has called us to hate our lives, to lose
our lives, and to be dead with Him to sin so that we may live to God with Him.
There is no way to a full, abiding fellowship
with God except through the torn veil of the flesh, through a life with the
flesh crucified in Christ Jesus. God be praised that the Holy Spirit always
dwells in us to keep the flesh in its place of crucifixion and condemnation,
and to give us the abiding victory over all temptations.
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