This wraps up the series from July. Why was the high priest the only person
allowed in the holy of holies? We will
be discussing this. There was a first veil
in the temple, and in order to enter you had to bring an offering. To go through the veil into the holy of
holies you had to be the high priest.
Mark 15:37 shows that Jesus’ death ripped the veil (from top
to bottom is important because this couldn’t have been done by man). The veil was the separation between God and
man, not just a representation of it.
When Jesus died, this separation was taken away immediately. Romans 8:38 reiterates this from the
perspective of a Jew who understood the depth of this change. Nothing has the authority to separate us from
God, but we can allow things to separate us from God. Hebrews 10:19 paints a picture of what went on
in the holies. There are 4 things we
must do to enter the holy of holies in our life:
1) We must enter into God’s presence of your own will.
2) We have to submit to the high priest. The high priest would come into God’s
presence and receive a Word from God for the people. The people would then have to trust them and
submit to that Word.
3) We have to draw near to God.
4) We have to cleanse our hearts.
We will visit this later once we understand what happened in
the holy of holies.
What was the veil like? The curtain was made of a type of yarn
and a fine linen. You’ll find many of
these things have deeper significance than the original people who implemented
them based on God’s instructions knew, since they were before Jesus. The colors were blue, purple, and scarlet,
interwoven with a gold thread. Blue
related to faithfulness. (side note on
the priest’s garments: The priest put on
a white tunic first symbolizing a cleansing or purity, but then his “upper robe,”
the first part of the robe, was blue.
Everything was built on a foundation of the faithfulness of God. The priest also wore an ephod. The front side represented the old Abrahamic
covenant, and the back side represented the new covenant that had not been
revealed yet. Connecting the two pieces
were gold pieces on the shoulders. It
reminds me of the passage in Isaiah about the government being “upon His
shoulders.” On these were large onyx
stones engraved with the 12 tribes of Israel. The people of Israel were on His shoulders as it
would be for Christ later.) Purple
represents royalty, and scarlet represents the blood of Christ. The gold represents God’s power. The veil is believed to have been as much as 6
inches thick. Only God’s power could rip
fabric that thick.
What did the holy of holies look like? Inside the holy of holy of holies was the ark
of the covenant, which was made of wood and overlaid with gold. Everything in the tabernacle was either made
of wood or wood overlaid with gold. Wood
symbolized man and our impurity. The
things are covered with gold to show that God takes something plain and common
like wood and makes it precious by His covenant. The top of the ark was made out of solid gold
and was called the mercy seat (it doesn’t look like a chair). On it, made from solid chunks of gold, were 2
cherubim with wings outspread, looking down at the center, the mercy seat. The reason it is called the mercy seat has to
do with the contents of the ark. Inside
the ark were the stone tablets with the ten commandments on them (the second
set since there was a mishap with the first set). Also inside was a gold canister full of the
manna, a symbol of God’s provision. The
third thing inside the ark was the budded rod of Aaron. It was a symbol of God’s power.
The mercy seat was there to shield and protect people from
the law (which was inside the ark in the form of the tablets). 1 Samuel 6 tells a story about how the
Philistines stole the ark, and many people (either 70 or 50,000 based on the
version) died by looking directly at the ark without the mercy seat on it. The law brought about death and signified
death. The mercy seat was pure gold
because mercy is ALL GOD.
What actually happened in the holy of holies? Leviticus 16:11-22 describes the process of
what would happen at the day of atonement.
This was a single day during the year when atonement would happen. This yearly event would cover up their sin
and protect them from the result of their sin.
Aaron was told to:
1) He sacrificed a bull for he and his family and sprinkled
blood from the bull on the index finger of his right hand. He then sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat
seven times.
2) He brought in 2 goats for the people’s sin.
3) When he burnt the offering for the people, he was told to
bring in the hot coals from the fire in order to start burning the
incense. The picture for us is that the
sacrifice we received through Christ makes our prayers effective. We need the power of what happened at the cross
for the prayer to work.
4) He burnt a ram (one for himself and one for the people).
We’re going to focus on the goats first. They bring 2 goats and cast lots to determine
which goat to sacrifice. The blood from
that sacrifice is taken into the holy of holies again on his right index finger
and is sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat.
The number 7 in the Word is a number of perfection or completion. The other goat (the one that didn’t get
sacrificed) is prayed over to symbolically put their sin on that goat (it’s
called a scapegoat). They are told to
lead it out far into the wilderness to never be seen again. At the time, they were living in the
wilderness because they had chosen to spend more time there than they needed
to. We are told that our sin is put as
far as the east is from the west, and into the sea of forgetfulness, so taking
it a long distance away is significant in that way. When Jesus died, He became
both of the goats.
Remember that the only person allowed inside the holy of
holies was the high priest. Hebrews 10:19
was pretty earth-shattering for the Jewish people, since before that only the
high priest could enter in. The veil was
our sin. Jesus on the cross had all our
sin on Him. This is where the sprinkling
comes in, cleansing us from sin and a guilty conscience. God would also manifest to the high priest in
a cloud above the mercy seat. To enter
into God’s presence, we have to cleanse ourselves of the guilty conscience we
have. The sin is gone because of Jesus,
but our guilty conscience will keep us separated from God. Romans 8:28 says nothing can separate us from
God. We aren’t supposed to be going in
and out of God’s presence but always in God’s presence.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
