ENTERING THE HOLIEST IS TRULY LIVING THE NEW COVENANT

MF Blume
January 8, 2012

Numbers 17:2-5 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the
congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

(Romans 6:13 KJV) Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness  to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

(Hebrews 10:18, 19 KJV) (We studied how the PRIESTHOOD of Aaron was vindicated by the ROD that RESURRECTED in the holiest of holies.)

God proved the priesthood by the very means we are to depend upon for our ministries for Him in this world.
Our spirituality affects all the rest of our lifestyle.

And while we look so much to our status with other PEOPLE, this causes us to also have to learn to concern ourselves with our status with God.

Church can be dancing all around these issues and never really deal with them.
Hebrews teaches that there was a fault with the Old Covenant.
The New Testament teaches that the Old covenant was weak and unprofitable.
Hebrews 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Hebrews 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

Galatians 3:21: Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

Hebrews 9 talks about the first covenant with worldly ordinances and an earthly sanctuary, and then uses the Tabernacle of Moses as a model to illustrate something vital.
Hebrews 9:1-5 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

The first room had the candlesticks, table and showbread.
"The reason of these two vails may be seen in the account Maimonides gives of this matter {u}: ``in the first temple there was a wall which divided between the holy, and holy of holies, the thickness of a cubit; but when they built the second temple, it was doubted by them, whether the thickness of the wall was of the measure of the holy place, or of the measure of the holy of holies; wherefore they made the holy of holies twenty cubits complete, and the holy place forty cubits complete, and they left the space of a cubit between the holy, and the holy of holies; and they did not build a wall in the second temple, but they made twkwrp ytv, "two vails", one on the side of the holy of holies, and the other on the side of the holy place, and between them a cubit answerable to the thickness of the wall, which was in the first temple; but in the first temple there was but one vail only, as it is said, Ex 26:33 and the vail shall divide unto you, &c.'' And to this account other Jewish writers {w} agree; and the space between the two vails is called by them Nyoqrj {x}, taraxiv, from
the trouble and perplexity this affair gave them".
 
The reason we read of the golden censer when the altar of incense was outside the holiest is because the censer was used inside.
It did not say the altar was inside, just the censer.
Hebrews 9:6-8 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 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:

Just as the average person could not enter the second tabernacle called the holiest while priests ministered in the holy place the first tabernacle, the second covenant was not opened up to the world while the first one was in operation.
Hebrews 9:9, 10 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Before the cross, fleshly washings could not purge the conscience, so man was unable to enter the second tabernacle.
Hebrews 9:11-14 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Christ's sacrifice does purge the conscience.
 Look at the language used that relates the idea of weakness and inferiority.

Hebrews 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

And it was not animal blood but Christ's own blood that is offered in the New sacrifice.
 To really serve God we need our consciences purged. So, after he says the first tabernacle represented the first covenant, and the second tabernacle the second covenant... We then read...

Hebrews 10:14-19 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

We need boldness to enter the holiest.
How many people struggle with I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH?
I wondered how BOLD and CONFIDENT I was, and how much I depended upon these things in order to truly enter this absolute holiest place with God.
We need to realize that hesitancy to picture ourselves in the closest place with God is HESITANCY TO EVEN LIVE THE NEW TESTAMENT LIFE.

We need to grab hold of this issue with a death grip and ensure we stop hesitating about ourselves and truly get some faith worked up by
hearing the word until we are CONFIDENT that Christ's cross puts us in right standing with God.

We have to lay to rest this uncertainty by gripping firmly to the very thing the bible says impresses God until we stop this silly up and
down and down and out confidence.
Deep inside of us we know nothing is more.
The fact is that God is pleased with things we do not think he is pleased with.
You need to hear these truths.
Recall what we read from Isaiah 53:

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11 KJV)

We become so conscious of HOW WE DRESS, of all things, for example, in churches that stress outward appearance, that we become conscious of what the OTHER BELIEVERS SEE, or what the PASTOR SEES.
Or we look at all kinds of reasons that make us unsure of ourselves and discontent in our consciences so we hold off from really entering into second covenant life.

All the while Hebrews 10 is telling is to look to the cross of Jesus that provided such a perfect sacrifice that true awareness of that will purge our consciences.

This is trying to relate to us that this is touching upon the very thing that will bring rest to our lives, -- it deals with what God knows is the source of all our anxieties and discontentment with ourselves.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Hebrews 10:17-19 KJV)

Romans 6 was trying to say the same thing, when it told us HE THAT IS DEAD IS FREED FROM SIN.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13 KJV)