The First Veil separated the Outer Court from the tribes of Israel as they encamped round about the Tabernacle. You could only enter the Outer Court by one veil or curtain. You could only access the Brazen Altar of Sacrifice and the Brazen Laver of Water by entering through this one veil. You had to have your sacrifice ready for the priest to inspect, slay and offer on the Altar, after he heard your confession of sin.
The First Veil forces one to acknowledge that one is a sinner, yet somewhere we have been taught that we only need to repent one time before we are baptized in water. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that even after we have been baptized as professed believers in Christ, we are still very much sinners. We continue to sin each and every day with the need to repent each and every day. The Veil of our Self needs crucified each day in order for us to even desire to read God’s Word and do the things that please our Lord.
The Second Veil separated the Outer Court from the Holy Place. The Holy Place contained the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Candlestick, and the Altar of Incense. The fire for the Altar of Incense and for the Candlestick had to come from the sacrificial fire from the Brazen Altar of Sacrifice in the Outer Court. No fire, no illumination of the Word of God as the Shewbread, and no worship or incense before the Third Veil hiding the very Presence of Almighty God.
Christians today are stuck standing just inside the holy Place giving speeches, singing as a form of entertainment, saying, and doing all the right things before the social group, yet always leaving without their spirit stirred to grow deeper with their Lord. I believe this is due to lack of daily acknowledgement that we are still sinners and still need daily forgiveness.
Inside the Third Veil
The Ark of the Covenant was kept inside the third veil. This is where the Law of Moses, the Rod of Aaron, and the Manna from heaven was stored as a testimony to what God had done for Israel. Two Cherubims watched over the Ark with its golden Mercy Seat. Between the two Cherubims dwelt the Shekinah shining Glory of God.
The curtains over the Holy of Holies, and around the Holy of Holies, and the third veil itself all had cherubims embroidered into the fine linen of blue, purple and scarlet. Everywhere the High priest looked, he was reminded of the Throne of God surrounded by His angels guarding God’s Holy Presence. He also was reminded of his own sinfulness, resulting in a holy fear of how close he was to death if he failed to follow God’s directions fully.
On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the High Priest was allowed to enter the third veil. He had to wash, wear special clothes, have blood from the Brazen Altar, have burning incense, as he approached the Ark of the Covenant. If he failed to follow all the regulations, he would die.
The whole purpose was to show how sinful man is and how Holy God is, and that sinful man cannot approach a Holy God without having his sinful self consumed.
“But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?” Habakkuk 1:13
Remember God gave the Tabernacle as place where He could dwell temporarily with the Nation of Israel. Only through their daily and yearly sacrifices could the blood of innocent animals cause God to turn His wrath away from their sins, and make it possible for Him to dwell in their midst.
Atonement required us to draw near to God with an appropriate confession, obedience and sacrifice. The Hebrew word for drawing near is the same as making a sacrifice. We make a sacrifice so that we are not vaporized by the very holiness of God’s Presence as we approach Him.
God-Reverence or Self-Reverence?
Christians today seem to be stuck in the Holy Place due to lack of daily confession of their daily sins. They experience a measure of God through His Word, obeying by-laws, and a form of worship, yet lack the powerful experience of actually entering beyond the third veil into the very Presence of God in the Holy of Holies.
I believe this is because we are an entitlement society who feel we are owed answers to our prayers because we have tried to keep all the rules for x number of years. God owes us.
Yet this is not the picture of the Holy of Holies in the Bible, nor the experience of the High Priest as He prepared to enter into God’s very throne room on the Day of Atonement.
The High Priest experiences Fear
The Hebrew word for ‘fear’ is mowra’ and it means “fear, reverence, and terror”. This physical, fearful terror causes trembling and it appears in the KJV Bible 400 times.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom! This word means more than being afraid of God, yet we should have a healthy fear of the Judge of all flesh who is a consuming fire. Fear of and for God means respect as in reverence, or revering God for His holiness and power as our personal creator.
Instead of approaching God with total honesty about our sinfulness, we shrug off anything that convicts our conscience with guilt, and approach God anyway.
Instead of approaching God with total sincerity in prayer, study of His Word, and worship, we approach with the knowledge of people watching us, and of what they will think of us if they see us in pious positions of spiritual activity.
Instead of respectfully deferring our will to His, we approach with an attitude of you promised, you owe me, don’t you see what I have done for you?
Visitors come to our services, but leave unchanged. They have seen the skills and talents of the preacher and his sheep, but they have not felt anything within their hearts to cause them to desire to change the world for Christ. If they are looking for social club to join, they may be back; if not they search elsewhere to fill the void inside their hearts.
The platform used to be a sacred place in the church. People used to dress up for church. Preachers used to wear their best suits. Modesty dominated all who walked onto the platform. A quiet reverent hush met all who entered the sanctuary, while saints knelt at their pews to pray quietly for the service. What happened? We have more reverence for self today then we do for the very house of God. Yet, we still expect God to forgive our lack of respect, and also to answer our prayers and supplications!
We need to realize who we are and how undeserving we are when we approach a Holy God of Fire. God has Times of Refreshing, Fulness of Times, Times of Visitation, Times and Seasons, Times of Restitution, Times Appointed, Latter Times, and His Times in which He deals with individual men, women and children. He had the one day per year for the Nation of Israel; The Day of Atonement to wash away their sins for another year. He also has a time for when He will visit you and when He will answer your requests!
While it is true that Jesus had rent the veil of His flesh on the cross and at the same time the veil of the Most Holy Place of the temple, thus making a way for all of us who confess our sins to Him as our High Priest to come to Him boldly in time of need; we still have to come with respectful fear of His power, and a knowledge of our own sinfulness.
We have to submit our will to His will daily allowing Him to choose when He decides to heal us, when He decides to save our loved ones, and when He decides to give us the direction we are seeking. He is God and is a consuming fire. We are just mortal sinful flesh, no matter how modestly we try to cover it, and no matter how holy we try to make it behave. It is only His Grace and Mercy that saves us by Faith in Him alone.