When is the last time you entered the Holiest place? You may have raised your eyebrows wondering what I mean (church, perhaps?). No, I mean the Holiest place. When is the last time you entered it? The Holiest place is the most special place that we can go. We have never seen it (and there is no geographical map that can get us there), but we should go there often.
In the Old Testament, we get to read about the earthly example of the Holiest place. It was in the Tabernacle and it is called the Holy of Holies (or the Most Holy Place). The Holy of Holies was so special that only the high priest could enter it. Not only was it limited to who could enter it, but also when he could enter it. The high priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year. He had to wear special garments and could not walk in empty-handed. He had to bring blood from an animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. Why were the requirements of this place so strict? It is where the manifested presence of God dwelt among the Israelites.
And the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother [the high priest] not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. “Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on…And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” (Leviticus 16:2-4 [added], Exodus 30:10)
You may be thinking that the Tabernacle and two Temples have been destroyed. How can we enter into the Holiest place now? We have an eternal High Priest in Jesus Christ, who entered into the true Holiest place (in heaven). He brought His blood to offer as the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sin. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. (Hebrews 9:24-25, 28a)
He has now made way for us to go into the Holiest place when we pray. We get the privilege of what was once reserved for one man, one time a year, to go daily where the presence of God dwells. We are cleansed from our sin by His blood. Our special garment is His righteousness. The sacrifice that we can offer is the fruit of our lips of adoration and praise to Him. If you are not praying, you are missing the greatest privilege of our salvation: to enter the presence of God. When is the last time you entered the Holiest place?
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Copyright 2020 T.L. Lockley. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
THIS: THE BEST PARAGRAPH and BEST NEWS: “He has now made way for us to go into the Holiest place when we pray. We get the privilege of what was once reserved for one man, one time a year, to go daily where the presence of God dwells. We are cleansed from our sin by His blood. Our special garment is His righteousness. The sacrifice that we can offer is the fruit of our lips of adoration and praise to Him. If you are not praying, you are missing the greatest privilege of our salvation: to enter the presence of God. When is the last time you entered the Holiest place?
THANK YOU, T.L. for breaking it down so clearly for us how we are able to be welcomed into HIS presence, through HIS sacrifice and covering, and that our sacrifice is to bring HIM praise. To relate that to the sacrifices they had to make in the OT brings a whole new meaning to the scripture song “We bring a sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord, (repeat) and we offer up to you, our sacrifices of Thanksgiving, and we offer up to you, our sacrifices of praise”.
Mary Caroline,
Oftentimes, we don’t take advantage of our privileges as Christians because we don’t fully understand. We can truly rejoice that we are able to go into the presence of God and spend time with Him, anytime and anywhere.
Blessings,
T.L.