Jesus…opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…

It was like this every year at this time. Day of Atonement: a day of fasting … national confession of sin…. Everything had to be exactly perfect — the sacrifices, the altar, the clothing, the bathing, the rituals — everything. One mistake and that’s it! The least little lapse or oversight could be fatal. Remember Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-2)? They knew the proper order of things, but they deviated from it and died … both of them! You just don’t approach God flippantly or casually. After all, he is holy and we are not.

That’s why each year the high priest’s hands would sweat; his heart would pound as he approached the curtain, first in the Tabernacle, then in the Temple. His mind raced through this day’s ritual — the bath in the morning, dressing in clothes in the right order, preparing the altar for the sacrifices, obtaining the right kind of animals, having the incense ready, then offering the sacrifice in the right order. Did he miss something? Was anything left out? It was so nerve-racking, especially after Nadab and Abihu died, that the custom developed of tying a rope around the priest’s left ankle in case something had been omitted, so he could be dragged out if he died behind the curtain, too! Such is the holiness of God.

The curtain… People understood it more for what it didn’t do than what it did. In both the Tabernacle and the Temple the curtain didn’t permit people behind it. It didn’t let God’s glory show beyond it. It also didn’t allow for man’s sinfulness to enter behind it — the area known as “the Most Holy Place” (Ex. 26:33). Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, could the high priest enter, with the blood of a young bull, to atone for his sin first. Then a second time with the blood of a goat for the whole nation of Israel. If all went well, he survived and Israel’s sins were atoned, or covered, for another year before God’s judgment fell.

That curtain represented something else, too — access! Access to God. Under the Old Testament it was totally forbidden unless multiple rules and rituals were followed. Even then, only one man had access into God’s presence only once a year. And it was frightening entering the Most Holy Place. Maybe the average Jew wondered what it was like to be in God’s presence, but he never thought he could ever have his own private access to God. Never in a million years, and never with a million sacrifices!

But it took neither a million years nor a million sacrifices. It came in much shorter time and required only one sacrifice — that of Jesus’ body. Notice the emphasis of his body in Hebrews 10: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me…” (v. 5); “And by [God’s] will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10); “…because by one sacrifice [i.e., of his body] he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (v. 14). This sacrifice was so brutal, so complete, that “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness…” (Isa. 52:14). It is in this sacrificial use of his body that Jesus becomes our access: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Indeed, the literal curtain of the Temple was torn “from top to bottom” when Jesus died (Matt. 27:51). Now access to God’s personal presence is available. What no Jew would ever dream of having is what God graciously and freely gave through His Son. Both were torn so that we might have fellowship with Almighty God!

Paul mentions this access several times. In Romans 5:2 he says it is through Christ that we “have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Imagine…standing in grace in God’s presence behind the curtain (Heb. 6:19)! In Eph. 3:12 he adds, “In [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence”… in the Most Holy Place! Amazing!

Talk about forgiveness! Talk about acceptance…and peace…and anything else you need! We have it here, in the Most Holy Place, the place where we all belong. His body opened up the curtain. Do you spend quality time there in His presence? Do you enjoy the intimate fellowship with Him behind the curtain? Do you use your access or pass up this incredible benefit that came at such cost?