Most Holy God! how shall I praise Thee for the liberty to enter into the
Holiest of all, and dwell there? And for the precious Blood, that brings
us nigh? And for the new and living way, through the rent veil of that
flesh which had separated us from Thee, in which my flesh now too has
been crucified? And for the Great Priest over the House of God, our
Living Lord Jesus, with Whom and in Whom we appear before Thee? Glory be
to Thy Holy Name for this wonderful and most complete redemption.
I beseech Thee, O my God! give me, and all Thy children, some right
sense of how really and surely we may live each day, may spend our whole
life, within the veil, in Thine own Immediate Presence. Give us the
spirit of revelation, I pray Thee, that we may see how, through the rent
veil, the glory of Thy Presence streameth forth from the Most Holy into
the holy place; how, in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom
of heaven came to earth, and all who yield themselves to that Spirit may
know that in Christ they are indeed so near, so very near to Thee.
O Blessed Father! let Thy Spirit teach us that this indeed is the holy
life: a life in Christ the Holy One, always in the Light and the
Presence of Thy Holy Majesty.
Most Holy God! I draw nigh. In the power of the Holy Spirit I enter in.
I am now in the Holiest of all. And here I would abide in Jesus, my
Great Priest--here, in the Holiest of all. Amen.
1. To abide in Christ is to dwell in the Holiest of all. Christ is
not only the Sacrifice, and the Way, and the Great Priest, but
also Himself the Temple. 'The Lamb is the Temple.' As the Holy
Spirit reveals my union to Christ more clearly, and heart and
will lose themselves in Him, I dwell in the Holy Presence,
which is the Holiest of all. You are 'holy in Christ'--draw
near, enter in with boldness, and take possession--have no home
but in the Holiest of all.
2. 'Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He
might sanctify it.' _He gave Himself!_ Have you caught the
force of that word? Because He would have no one else do it,
because none could do it; to sanctify His Church, _He gave
Himself_ to do it. And so it is His own special beloved work to
sanctify the Church He loved. Just accept Himself to do it. He
can and will make you holy, that He may present you to
_Himself_ glorious, without spot or wrinkle. Let that word
_Himself_ live in you. The whole life and walk in the House of
God is in His charge. _Having_ a Great Priest, let us draw
near.
3. This entrance into the Holiest of all--an ever fresh and ever
deeper entrance--is, at the same time, an ever blessed resting
in the Father's Presence. Faith in the blood, following in the
way of the rent flesh, and fellowship with the Living Jesus,
are the three chief steps.
4. Enter into the Holiest of all, and dwell there. It will enter
into thee, and transform thee, and dwell in thee. And thy heart
will be the Holiest of all, in which He dwells.
5. Have we not at times been lifted, by an effort of thought and
will, or in the fellowship of the saints, into what seemed the
Holiest of all, and speedily felt that the flesh had entered
there too? It was because we entered not by the new way of
life--the way through death to life--the way of the rent veil
of the flesh. O our crucified Lord! teach us what this means;
give it us; be it Thyself to us.
6. Let me remember that my access into the Holiest is as a Priest.
Let me dwell before the Lord all the day as an Intercessor,
offering, unceasingly, pleadings which are acceptable in
Christ. May God's Church be like her of whom it is written,
'She departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings
and prayers night and day.' It is for this we have access to
the Holiest of all.
[13] So near, so very near to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He.
[14] 'Christ suffered, that He might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit.' 'Forasmuch
then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also
with the same mind.' The flesh and the Spirit are antagonistic:
as the flesh dies, the Spirit lives.
Twenty-ninth Day.