The Opened Veil and the Promised Experience with God
The Opened Veil and
the Promised Experience with God
March 5, 2022
Larry R Evans
Introduction
The Prayer of Moses
If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” . . . Now show me your glory. …
And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. (Ex. 33:13-16,18, 19, )
What Moses was to learn was that seeing God meant more than he could grasp at the moment. God’s glory is bound up with his nature or character. For mortal man, to see God is to know Him by his past doing and acts. In Exodus 23:20-22, God’s name is a reference to His presence in the form of an angel that had been sent ahead of the Israelites to guard them on their journey. Being in the presence of God, as we shall see, was the assurance that God was acting on their behalf. This is an important insight to remember when we read of Jesus prayer in John 17:11,
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
In 1994 a book by Henry Blackaby and Claude King was published entitled “Experiencing God: How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God.” A central theme of the book was that we would do better if we directed the spiritual focus of our life more on asking God to show us how to work with Him rather than asking him to bless the plans that we devise. In other words, if knowing God is to acknowledge his actions on our behalf whatever they might be, then our “work” is to do whatever we can to cooperate with his plans and actions.
Most of the time conventional wisdom misses the point. When God calls us, it is not to get us to do what He wants to be done. Rather, it is about telling us what He is about to do for us. Out of that awareness our lives, our actions are then formed.
After the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles were anxious for the kingdom of Israel to be restored. When asked when that might be, He said, “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4).
A true story is told of a Catholic priest who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz for providing shelter to Jewish refugees. When a prisoner in his barracks vanished, the SS picked ten prisoners to be starved to death in reprisal. One of the selected men cried out, “Oh, my poor wife, my poor children. I shall never see them again.” At that point, the priest offered himself in the man’s place. He asked that he be the one to starve rather than the distraught family man. The surprised SS officer agreed, and the priest joined the others while the other man survived.
Our study this week has focused on what it means for Jesus’ sacrifice to open the way through the veil. We need to ask ourselves, what does that mean to me, to the widow, to the refugee? What are the practical implications for this ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary? Going beyond the veil means what? Jesus has already given His life. What more can He do besides coming and taking us to be home with Him?
The Need for the Veil and Our Need for an Opened Veil
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD. The LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. (Leviticus 16:1,2)
The veil or curtain served as a protection for the Levitical priests as they ministered before a holy God. Remember the episode with of the golden calf? When that happened God told Moses that He would not accompany them in the way to the Promised Land lest His holiness consume them because they were a “stiff-necked people” (Ex. 33:3, NKJV).
Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey. But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way.”(NLT)
The natures of God’s holiness and the people’s sinfulness would not mix and God knew that. Out of love God chose to protect them. He established several measures to protect the people as He dwelled among them.
Sin causes separation from God. Satan had tempted and persuaded Adam and Eve to shift their center of trust and loyalty away from God and directed it to themselves. They decided that they were the ones to decide what was good and what the source of wisdom should be. From that time on man has been the center of his world. We have all inherited from Adam this alienation from God and the outcome is death.
God’s Intervention
The good news is that God chose not to leave us in our lost condition. His plan to save us, however, would be costly to Himself. “For God so loved that He gave His only begotten (unique) Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) That simple Bible text summarizes a master plan. Like a magnet, where there is a lost sinner there is Jesus. In the Levitical earthly sanctuary services, animals were sacrificed. They had no choice. Christ voluntarily “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8).
The Levitical sacrifices were never complete but were repeated day after day, year after year. Christ, however, died but once.
The Opened Veil
The entire ministry of the earthly sanctuary was marked by distance from God. The veil separated the holy from the most holy part of the sanctuary where God’s special presence was. This could only happen once a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The common priest never got beyond the veil in the holy place while the common worshipper never got past the courtyard. The point of Hebrews is that Christ is our High Priest and He
“has entered, not only the sanctuary made by men’s hands which is only a symbol of the reality, but heaven itself, to appear now before God on our behalf” (Heb. 9:24, NEB).
In Christ, the believer is invited to come boldly to the throne of Grace! In Him “we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Eph. 3:12). So, the veil has been opened and Christ has entered on our behalf into the presence of the Father.
QUESTIONS: What does that mean to us? As we face sufferings, wars, and a variety of hardships what practical meaning does have, or are we only talking about the forgiveness of sins?
Yes, Christ presents to the Father His own life of perfect obedience to the law. This is no little offer. But what does that mean? Forgiveness? Yes, but there is more.
The priestly ministry of Jesus now that the veil has been opened through His sacrifice at the cross continues. Now His ministry builds on that past event. Jesus applies that redeeming action through His intercessory ministry.
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.(Hebrews 7:25)
Jesus is also our advocate. He does not plead our innocence! No! We are not innocent. Edward Heppenstal puts it this way,
Christ is never absent from His priestly ministry. The believer knows where He can be found. He is ever at the right hand of the Father, waiting for His children to call upon Himn. Thus they may rely on Him with perfect confidence. When they sn and repent He will plead for pardon. When they are accused He will proclaim their indication. When they ar tempted He will pray that their faith fail not. He is a merciful and faithful HighOrest In Him all the love of God flows out to men.He is the same in the heavenly sanctuary as He was upon the earth. (Our High Priest, pp. 56-57)
The Invitation
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and 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.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19-25)
In the Name of Jesus
Soon after my conversion as a teenager, I felt a strange conviction. Little did I know that it was a conviction that would lead me to becoming something that I once said I would never be and that is a minister. The conviction at that time was to become a colporteur. In our training, we were given a little book. During my preparation for this class, I once again looked in that little book called Colporteur Ministry. I remembered, many years later, a statement that meant much to me as I visited door-to-door selling Christian literature. I found the statement and yes, it was underlined.
God will impress those whose hearts are open to truth, and who longing for guidance. He will say to His human agent, ‘Speak to this one or to that one of the love of Jesus.’ No sooner is the name of Jesus mentioned in love and tenderness than angels of God draw near, to soften and subdue the heart. – Colporteur Ministry, pp. 111-112
Yes, we can go boldly to the throne of grace but it need not be only for our good, for our assurance, for our guidance but for others as well. The words of the song, “In the Name of Jesus”, says it well.
In the Name of Jesus
In the name of Jesus, I have victory.
When I call the name I have authority.
There's no power on earth that can conquer me.
In the name of Jesus I am free.
In the name of Jesus, I have victory.
When I call the name I have authority.
There's no power on earth that can conquer me.
In the name of Jesus I am free.
There have been times in my life.
When I felt so all alone, like all my hope was gone.
He always reminded me,
That the battle is not mine, but it’s the lords'.
In the name (In the name of Jesus.)
In the name of Jesus! (In the name of Jesus.)
I call Your name(In the name of Jesus.)
Ohhh (In the name of Jesus.)
In the name(In the name of Jesus.)
In the name of Jesus(In the name of Jesus.)
We have the victory!
In the name of - Jesus!
In the name of - Jesus!
In the name of Jesus!
We have the victory.
I'm so glad i have surrendered my life to you
I want you to take it, use it, do what you want to do!
I don't care if it's sunshine or rain, I’m walking in victory-
Victory!
In the name of Jesus we have victory
In the name of Jesus victory
In the name of Jesus we have victory
In the name of Jesus – victory.
We will live with Jesus for eternity
We will live with Him eternally
We will live with Jesus for eternity
We will live with Him eternally
Glory Hallelujah, we have victory!
Glory Hallelujah, we are free!
Glory Hallelujah, we have victory!
Glory Hallelujah, we are free!
Glory Hallelujah, we have victory!
Glory Hallelujah, we are free!
Glory Hallelujah, we have victory!
Glory Hallelujah, we are free!
Glory Hallelujah, we are free!
Glory hallelujah, we are free!
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