Day 6: By a new and living way
Since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water... (Hebrews 10:21-22).
Oh Father, today we enter Your gates with thanksgiving and Your courts with praise; [we] give thanks to You and praise Your name (Psalm 100:4). We come, by Your amazing invitation, into the presence of greatness, power, glory splendor, and majesty— to God who is exalted as head over all, Ruler of everything (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).
Lord, we cannot overstate the privilege and the honor You have extended to us, nor can we overlook what this precious gift cost Another. We come by the way opened for us, when, as Jesus breathed His last, the veil [curtain] of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:38).
It was Your mighty hand, Lord, that tore the massive veil— made to Your specifications— physically separating the Most Holy Place, and symbolically representing human separation from God (Exodus 26:1-13, 31-33). Only the designated representative, the High Priest could enter Your inner sanctuary on behalf of the people, and only once a year following strict observances, for no one may see God and live (Exodus 33:20).
You Yourself tore the veil from top to bottom, demonstrating that human hands could not erase the separation of man from God. But as the body of Your Son was flailed, torn, and ripped on a Roman cross, You Yourself ended forever the gulf between a holy God and corrupt humanity: By the blood of Jesus... a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body (Hebrews 10:19-20).
What's more, He is our great High Priest who has ascended into heaven (Hebrews 4:14). For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands... He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year... But He has appeared once for all... to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself... (Hebrews 9:24-27).
And on this basis, Lord, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, for You invite us to draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings (Hebrews 10:22). How can we thank You, merciful God? You have made us holy, cleansing us by the washing with water through the word... (Ephesians 5:26)— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God (1 Peter 3:21).
Help us to hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Help us to love and support each other in fellowship and community, encouraging one another— and all the more as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).
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