| The Way Into the Holiest |
| by David A. DePra |
| The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all |
| was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet |
| standing: |
| Here, in the book of Hebrews, God is contrasting the Old |
| Covenant with the New. As He does throughout the epistle, He is |
| showing that all of the aspects of the Old Covenant were merely |
| types and shadows of the reality Jesus Christ came to reveal. |
| As a continuation of that, at the beginning of this ninth |
| chapter of Hebrews, we read an amazing statement. It says that |
| "the way into the holiest" was "not yet made manifest" -- why? |
| "As the first tabernacle was yet standing." What does that mean? |
| The "first tabernacle" was the outer area of the tabernacle. All |
| the priests could go in there and accomplish the various services |
| associated with the Old Covenant. But only the High Priest could |
| enter the "holiest," and that once a year. So when Hebrews says, |
| "the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest as the first |
| tabernacle was yet standing," it is saying that the way into the |
| Holy of Holies was not yet made manifest as long as that outer |
| area -- i.e., what it represented -- was still in place. |
| The Holies of Holies stands for the presence of God. Thus, |
| we are being told that the way into the presence of God -- for |
| fellowship and oneness with Him -- could not be known as |
| long as the old covenant, represented by the outer part of the |
| tabernacle, was still standing. All that was given in the New |
| Covenant could not be realized until the Old was torn down. |
| The message which echoes through the book of Hebrews is |
| NOT that the New Covenant is merely build upon the Old. No. |
| The Old must be torn down -- not in the sense of saying it was |
| wrong, or in the sense of doing away with God's moral law. But |
| it must be torn down in the sense of saying that it has served it's |
| purpose. It was but a type and a shadow. An earthly |
| representation of something REAL. When Jesus Christ came, He |
| brought a NEW covenant. He brought the REAL. He WAS the |
| real. The Old had to be torn down. |
| Time to Move On |
| Here we see a fundamental principle. The Old Covenant, and |
| the things being described in this passage, were given of God. |
| They were holy, just, and good. But then the time came when |
| God said, "This has served it's purpose. It's time to move on to |
| a better Covenant." In fact, God is telling us here that as long as |
| the first Covenant remained in effect, and as long as the physical |
| tabernacle was standing, God's people could NOT move on. |
| Only if we leave behind the shadow can we have the reality. |
| It is a principle in the kingdom of God: The way into the |
| holiest cannot be made manifest as long as the first tabernacle is |
| still standing. There comes a time to move on. There comes a |
| time when the good things which God ordained and used have |
| served their purpose. They were never, of themselves, "IT." HE |
| was "IT." We must now discard those things and go on with HIM. |
| This principle was applicable to the Old Covenant as the |
| ultimate example. But it is applicable to all that concerns us in |
| our walk with Jesus Christ. There comes a time when the old |
| has served it's purpose. Now, it's time to move one with God. |
| Now, if we DON'T move on, but cling to what has served a |
| purpose, the way into an even greater place in the Lord will not |
| be made manifest to us. But not because GOD will hide it. No. |
| We won't see it because we will have no eyes and ears for it. Our |
| vision and focus will continue to be occupied by those things |
| which have long served their purpose in our lives. |
| This is dangerous. If we continually cling to the thing which |
| God once ordained for us, but now which He wants us to |
| discard, it will actually become a terrible hinderance to us. But |
| notice. It is not so much the "thing" which is the problem. It is |
| US -- it is our insistance that we remain in our comfort zone. It |
| is our refusal to move one. That unbelief is the real danger. It is |
| what blinds us to the Truth and reality of Jesus Christ. |
| Shaping An Icon |
| This principle is applicable on so many levels. Many |
| Christians, having had certain experiences and leadings of God, |
| have turned these things into a shrines or icons. They have |
| taken a particular ministry or calling and built it into an earthly |
| tabernacle. And in time, it has become more important to them |
| than the God it was supposed to glorify. |
| We see this with many churches. The ORGANIZATION, it's |
| membership, it's finances -- THAT is what has become |
| important. Keeping THAT going is the focus. Keeping THIS or |
| THAT ministry alive and kicking has become the key. And once |
| that is the focus, we are no longer talking about a work of the |
| Holy Spirit. We are talking about religious flesh trying to maintain |
| what may -- or may not -- have been started by the Holy |
| Spirit. |
| If my religious flesh tries to maintain a tabernacle which God |
| once used, but now wants to tear down, I will develope a terrible |
| blindness. The "way into the holiest will not be made manifest." |
| It can't be. I will not be able to see it. My eyes will focus upon |
| MY ministry, and upon what I am doing. I'll never even know |
| what I'm missing. |
| The problem here, is, of course, spiritual pride. That is always |
| what is behind religious flesh. Religious flesh tries to accomplish |
| MY will under the guise of the will of God. And it is nothing more |
| than wanting my own way in the things of God. And once I want |
| my own way, my unbelief will cause a moral blindness to the way |
| into the Holiest. |
| The Veil of Flesh |
| When the tabernacle I've built "for God" becomes my focus, |
| and blurs my heart to the reality of Jesus Christ, I'm living under |
| an Old Covenant type of mentality. I'm "serving God" in the outer |
| part of the physical tabernacle. And the way into the Holiest is |
| something I will never see. |
| This happens to Christians a lot. We get caught up in what |
| we are doing for God. We focus upon the vehicles God uses in |
| our lives, and end up losing sight of HIM. |
| There is, however, an even deeper level to this principle. The |
| deeper level to which this is applicable has to do with the spiritual |
| condition of the believer. |
| Liken the first tabernacle to our old nature in Adam. Liken it to |
| God's original design for man, which became entrenched in sin |
| and darkness. God is saying to us that as long as THAT is still |
| standing, the way into the Holiest Place cannot be made |
| manifest. No. It must be torn down and replaced by the NEW |
| tabernacle, in Jesus Christ. |
| The way into the holiest was made possible by Jesus Christ. |
| When He died on the Cross, the veil standing between us and |
| the Holiest place was rent assunder. All that was of the flesh -- |
| which was in Adam -- was torn apart in the body of Jesus |
| Christ. It no longer could stand between us and God. It no |
| longer could hinder us from walking into His presense. The way |
| into fellowship with God was now open to all. |
| Nothing will ever be able to again close that veil. Not our |
| unbelief, nor our sin. Not even our refusal to move on. But if we |
| will not move on, we aren't going to see the way into the most |
| Holy Place. If we will not allow OUR "first tabernacle' -- the one |
| which died in Christ -- to be torn down, then we will never see |
| the rent veil. Our eyes will not recognize what Jesus has done |
| because we will not believe. |