Lesson 11: God's Holiness Generates a Reminder, part 4

The fifth clue reminding us that we need Jesus to get to God is in the Veil and the Ark of the Covenant.

Exodus 26:31, 33; 25:10, 18, 22 - "And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it…And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy…They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height…And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat…There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel."

According to these verses the last thing you encountered before leaving the Holy Place and entering the Holy of Holies was a veil and the ark of God. The veil was a huge, massive curtain that served as a final protective barrier from the actual presence of God, which was represented by the ark of God. In fact, when the ark was moved, the priests would walk in backwards and cover it with a cloth so they would not look at it and die. Each year, only once a year, the High Priest and only the High Priest entered to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the ark to obtain God's forgiveness for the people. Legend has it that just in case the sacrifice was not accepted, or the Priest did something wrong and got killed by God, they tied a rope to his ankle so they could pull him out!


Where are unholy creatures going to find a High Priest to go through the veil, let alone offer blood so God can forgive us today? Jesus is our High Priest, as we see in these verses: Matthew 27:51, Hebrews 10:19, 21-22: "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split…Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

God is Holy and we are not, but Jesus is our High Priest Who takes us right into the presence of God.

You might wonder what all this Tabernacle presentation has to do with you today, since you attend a church that is built of brick or stone or wood. We will talk more about this in our next lesson.

* Memorize Hebrews 10:21-22 - “…and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”