The Way into the Holiest.
'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into _the Holiest_
by _the blood_ of Jesus, by _the way_ which He dedicated, a new
and living way, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh: and
having a _great Priest_ over the house of God; let us draw near
with a true heart, in fulness of faith.'--Heb. x. 19-22.
When the High Priest once a year entered into the second tabernacle
within the veil, it was, we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'the
Holy Ghost signifying that the way into _the Holiest of all_ was not yet
made manifest.' When Christ died, the veil was rent; all who were
serving in the holy place had free access at once into the Most Holy;
the way into the Holiest of all was opened up. When the Epistle passes
over to its practical application (x. 19), all its teaching is summed up
in the words: 'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into _the
Holiest_, let us draw near.' Christ's redemption has opened the way to
the Holiest of all: our acceptance of it must lead to nothing less than
our drawing near and entering in. The words of our text suggest to us
four very precious thoughts in regard to the place of access, the right
of access, the way of access, the power of access.
_The place of access._ Whither are we invited to draw nigh? 'Having
boldness to enter into _the Holiest_.' The priests in Israel might enter
the holy place, but were always kept excluded from the Holiest, God's
immediate presence. The rent veil proclaimed liberty of access into that
Presence. It is there that believers as a royal priesthood are now to
live and walk. Within the veil, in the very Holiest of all, in the same
place, the heavenlies, in which God dwells, in God's very Presence, is
to be our abode--our home. Some speak as if the, 'Let us draw near,'
meant prayer, and that in our special approach to God in acts of worship
we enter the Holiest. No; great as this privilege is, God has meant
something for us infinitely greater. We are to draw near, and dwell
always, to live our life and do our work within the sphere, the
atmosphere, of the inner sanctuary. It is God's Presence makes holy
ground; God's immediate Presence in Christ makes any place the Holiest
of all: and this is it into which we are to draw nigh, and in which we
are to abide. There is not a single moment of the day, there is not a
circumstance or surrounding, in which the believer may not be kept
dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. As by faith he enters
into the completeness of his reconciliation with God, and the reality
of his oneness with Christ, as he thus, abiding in Christ, yields to the
Holy Spirit to reveal within the Presence of the Holy One, the Holiest
of all is around him, he is indeed in it. With an uninterrupted access
he draws near.[13]
_The right of access._ The thought comes up, and the question is asked:
Is this not simply an ideal? can it be a reality, an experience in daily
life to those who know how sinful their nature is? Blessed be God! it is
meant to be. It is possible, because our right of access rests not in
what we are, but in the blood of Jesus. 'Having _boldness_ to enter into
the Holiest _by the blood_ of Jesus, let us draw near.' In the Passover
we saw how redemption, and the holiness it aimed at, were dependent on
the blood. In the sanctuary, God's dwelling, we know how in each part,
the court, the holy place, the Most Holy, the sprinkling of blood was
what alone secured access to God. And now that the blood of Jesus has
been shed--oh! in what Divine power, what intense reality, what
everlasting efficacy, we now have access into the Holiest of all, the
Most Holy of God's heart and His love! We are indeed brought nigh by the
blood. We have boldness to enter by the blood. 'The worshippers, being
once cleansed, have no more conscience of sins.' Walking in the light,
the blood of Jesus cleanses in the power of an endless life, with a
cleansing that never ceases. No consciousness of unworthiness or
remaining sinfulness need hinder the boldness of access: the liberty to
draw near rests in the never-failing, ever-acting, ever-living efficacy
of the Precious Blood. It is possible for a believer to dwell in the
Holiest of all.
_The way of access._ It is often thought that what is said of _the new
and living way_, dedicated for us by Jesus, means nothing different from
the boldness through His blood. This is not the case. The words mean a
great deal more. 'Having boldness _by the blood_ of Jesus, let us draw
near _by the way_ which He dedicated for us.' That is, He opened for us
a way to walk in, as He walked in it, 'a new and living way, through the
veil, that is to say, His flesh.' The way in which Christ walked when He
gave His blood, is the very same in which we must walk too. That way is
the way of the Cross. There must not only be faith in Christ's
sacrifice, but fellowship with Him in it. That way led to the rending of
the veil of the flesh, and so through the rent veil of the flesh, in to
God. And was the veil of Christ's holy flesh rent that the veil of our
sinful flesh might be spared? Verily, no. He meant us to walk in the
very same way in which He did, following closely after Himself. He
dedicated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is, His
flesh. As we go in through the rent veil of _His flesh_, we find in it
at once the need and the power for our flesh being rent too: following
Jesus ever means conformity to Jesus. It is Jesus with the rent flesh,
in whom we are, in whom we walk.[14] There is no way to God but through
the rending of the flesh. In acceptance of Christ's life and death by
faith as the power that works in us, in the power of the Spirit which
makes us truly one with Christ, we all follow Christ as He passes on
through the rent veil, that is, His flesh, and become partakers with Him
of His crucifixion and death. The way of the cross, 'by which I have
been crucified,' is the way through the rent veil. Man's destiny,
fellowship with God in the power of the Holy Spirit, is only reached
through the sacrifice of the flesh.
And here we find now the solution of a great mystery--why so many
Christians remain standing afar off, and never enter this Holiest of
all; why the holiness of God's Presence is so little seen on them. They
thought that it was only in Christ that the flesh needed to be rent, not
in themselves. They thought that the liberty they had in the blood was
the new and living way. They knew not that the way into true and full
holiness, into the Holiest of all, that the full entrance into the
fellowship of the holiness of the Great High Priest, was only to be
reached through the rent veil of the flesh, through conformity to the
death of Jesus. This is in very deed the way He dedicated for us. He is
Himself the way; into His self-denial, His self-sacrifice, His
crucifixion, He takes up all who long to be holy with His Holiness, holy
as He is holy.
_The power of access._ Does any one shrink back from entering the very
Holiest for fear of this rending of the flesh, because he doubts whether
he could bear it, whether he could indeed walk in such a path? Let him
listen once more. Hear what follows: 'And _having a Great Priest_ over
the House of God, let us draw near.' We have not only the Holiest of all
inviting us, and the blood giving us boldness, and the way through the
rent veil consecrated for us, but the Great Priest over the House of
God, the Blessed Living Saviour, to draw, to help, and to welcome us. He
is our Aaron. On His heart we see our name, because He only lives to
think of us, and pray for us. On His forehead we see God's name, 'Holy
to the Lord,' because in His Holiness the sins of our holy things are
covered. _In Him_ we are accepted and sanctified; God receives us as
holy ones. In the power of His love and His Spirit, in the power of Him
the Holy One, in the joy of drawing nearer to Him and being drawn by
Him, we gladly accept the way He has dedicated, and walk in His holy
footsteps of self-denial and self-sacrifice. We see how the flesh is the
thick veil that separates from the Holy One who is a Spirit, and it
becomes an unceasing and most fervent prayer, that the crucifixion of
the flesh may, in the power of the Holy Spirit, be in us a blessed
reality. With the glory of the Holiest of all shining out on us through
the opened veil, and the Precious Blood speaking so loudly of boldness
of access, and the Great Priest beckoning us with His loving Presence to
draw near and be blessed,--with all this, we dare no longer fear, but
choose the way of the rent veil as the path we love to tread, and give
ourselves to enter in and dwell within the veil, in the very Holiest of
all.
And so our life here will be the earnest of the glory that is to come,
as it is written--note how we have the four great thoughts of our text
over again--'These are they which came out of great tribulation,' that
is, by the way of the rent flesh; 'and they washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb,' their boldness through the blood;
'therefore are they before the throne of God,' their dwelling in the
Holiest of all; 'the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall be
their Shepherd,' the Great Priest still the Shepherd, Jesus Himself
their all in all.
Brother! do you see what holiness is, and how it is to be found? It is
not something wrought in yourself. It is not something put on you from
without. Holiness is the Presence of God resting on you. Holiness comes
as you consciously abide in that Presence, doing all your work, and
living all your life as a sacrifice to Him, acceptable through Jesus
Christ, sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Oh, be no longer fearful, as if
this life were not for you! Look to Jesus; having a Great Priest over
the House of God, let us draw near. Be occupied with Jesus. Our Brother
has charge of the Temple; He has liberty to show us all, to lead us into
the secret of the Father's presence. The entire management of the Temple
has been given into His hands with this very purpose, that all the
feeble and doubting ones might come with confidence. Only trust yourself
to Jesus, to His leading and keeping. Only trust Jesus, God's Holy One,
your Holy One; it is His delight to reveal to you what He has purchased
with His blood. Trust Him to teach you the ordinances of the sanctuary.
'That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House
of God,' He has been given. _Having a Great Priest_, let us enter in,
let us dwell in the Holiest of all. In the power of the blood, in the
power of the new and living way, in the power of the Living Jesus, let
the Holiest of all, the Presence of God, be the home of our soul. You
are 'Holy in Christ;' in Christ you are in God's Holy Presence and Love;
just stay there.