#DailyDevotion The Father Was Once Inaccessible To Us

Heb. 9 The first covenant had its regulations for worship and the earthly holy place. ²A tabernacle was set up. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the bread laid before God; this is called the holy place. ³Behind the second curtain was the part of the tabernacle called the most holy place ⁴with the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, completely covered with gold. In the ark were the gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that had budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was written. ⁵Above it were the angels of glory overshadowing the “atonement cover” on which the blood was sprinkled. I can’t tell about these in detail now. ⁶But that is how it was arranged. The priests are always going into the first part of the tabernacle to serve God, ⁷but only the high priest goes into the second part once a year with blood he offers for himself and for the sins the people have done in ignorance. ⁸And so the Holy Spirit clearly tells us that the way into the real holy place had not yet been shown as long as the outer part of the tabernacle was still standing.

There’s a lot here, at least as far as number of words. We could try to spiritualize every little detail here. I’m going to try to not do that here. But I do think we can remember the previous verses in which we are reminded that the earthly Temple is a model, a shadow of the heavenly Temple above.

We are reminded of the regulations of the first covenant for worship. Now I think we can say that the lampstand is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. It is His works in this world to be light and life for us. He is accessible to us as much as He makes Himself accessible through the prophets.

We have the show bread in this area as well. I think we can say this is symbolic of our LORD Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life. He gave of Himself to the Israelites in the wilderness in the form of manna. Jesus feeds us with His body and blood in the sacrament He instituted that our eternal life may be maintained.

Behind the curtain stood the Ark of the Covenant upon which sat the mercy seat of God. This is symbolic of the Father who is inaccessible to all which is common, unclean, and unholy. Only the High Priest once a year could enter behind the curtain having first cleansed himself of his sins by the required sacrifices. The gold incense altar represents our prayers which ascend before Him continually. The gold symbolizes the majesty of the Father and calls us to be in awe of it. Aaron’s rod which budded and the tablets of the covenant were in the ark to remind both God and the Israelites of their promises to each other.

Now the priest could go into the first part but not the second part. Only the High Priest could enter that second part. As long as the first part was in operation, the second part was inaccessible to us. But, as we shall see later, Jesus Christ, our High Priest, has opened the way for us with a sacrifice better than those offered in the first covenant. Having torn the curtain that separated us from God the Father upon His death, we now have access to God our Father. Jesus Himself being our only Mediator between God and man. By the blood He poured upon the mercy seat of God, we can boldly and confidently call God Father to the glory of Jesus Christ. He has opened the way to us which our sins prevented us from entering.

O LORD Jesus Christ, we give You thank and praise for opening for us the throne-room of the mercy seat of the Father by Your blood. Grant us faith always in Your blood that we may boldly with a clear conscience approach Your Father. In Your precious name we pray. Amen.