Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Through His shed blood believers have confident free access to enter God's very presence in the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle where they draw near in faith. When Christ died the temple veil was rent from top to bottom by God's hand, exposing the most holy place, ending the system of animal sacrifices, and opening a new and living way through His flesh for all without an earthly priest. This rests on His offering of His body once for all, perfecting forever those sanctified, under the new covenant where God writes His laws in hearts and remembers sins no more. From His death onward He officiates as Priest and Advocate in heaven, first in the holy place and since 1844 in the Most Holy Place to make final atonement, and by faith believers enter beyond the veil where He has gone as Forerunner. Therefore they are to draw near with a true heart in full assurance, hold fast their profession without wavering, and come themselves directly to the Father with no human mediator, bringing every sin, perplexity and request to be cleansed and answered through Christ alone.
Meaning of Key Words
Boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus means confident, free access to enter God's presence, opened because Christ gave Himself for believers and now stands in the presence of God as their High Priest. Through His once-for-all sacrifice sins can be perfectly forgiven, so dependence rests not in what man can do but in what God can do through Christ. When the soul surrenders wholly to God and fully believes, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin and frees the conscience from condemnation, so all can be made perfect in Christ Jesus, claim sanctification, and enjoy the favor of God. Such boldness does not come from anxiety about what Christ and God think of us but from what God thinks of Christ our Substitute, for the repenting, believing one is accepted in the Beloved, and Christ accepts the surrender of the soul to mold and fashion it after His own likeness.
The holiest is the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle not made with hands, where believers draw near to God in faith. Not only through Him may they enter this hallowed temple, but with Him they may enter, for He is their Head and they are His beloved household. By faith they enter beyond the veil where Christ has gone before them as Forerunner, and His intercession in heaven continues the work begun by His death on the cross. Through His mediation those who come in faith can bring their sincere desires before the Father.
By the blood means by Christ's atoning sacrifice, which cleanses from sin, consecrates the way, and grounds pardon and acceptance. Sin can be confessed and pardoned through that sacrifice, and through faith every sin may be brought into God's light, confessed, and receive pardon. Through that blood petitions reach the throne and find acceptance with God, for following Christ in faith and obedience is walking this consecrated way.
The new and living way was consecrated through the veil, that is His flesh, opening a once-for-all access to God. His once-for-all sacrifice opened this way, and walking it in faith and obedience leads to growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ, not to reliance on one's own righteousness but to completeness in Christ and His righteousness. Appropriating this is spiritual life to the soul for sound experience and growth.
Because there is a High Priest over the house of God, believers as His household may enter with Him and draw near in full assurance of faith. As their High Priest who continues to intercede for them, He opens bold access with consciences cleansed, so salvation and every good work depend on Christ and His grace. Through Christ as Advocate with the Father they can open their hearts to God and converse with Him.
Death That Opened Way
When Christ bowed His head and died at the hour of the evening sacrifice, the veil of the temple that hid God's glory from Israel was rent in twain from top to bottom by God's unseen hand, by the Almighty's own hand and not by any priest. It was God Himself who tore the gorgeous veil when Christ cried It is finished, and the same hand that wrote Belshazzar's doom and the end of the Babylonian kingdom pronounced the Jewish nation unchurched. Through Christ the hidden glory of the holy of holies stands revealed, and the mercy seat upon which the glory of God rested in the holiest of all is opened to all who accept Christ as the propitiation for sin, bringing them into fellowship with God.
The rending exposed the most holy place that had been entered by human feet only once a year, and showed the barrier to God's presence removed. God's presence would no longer overshadow the earthly mercy-seat, and its once-yearly earthly service was no longer the way to approach God. The earthly sanctuary's most holy place was no longer closed to the people, for Christ's death opened the way into God's presence by His own blood whereby He obtained eternal redemption.
The torn veil marked the end of the sacrificial system, because the lamb and the other offerings had pointed to Christ and His death fulfilled their purpose and completed the whole Jewish economy of types and shadows. From that death onward the blood of beasts offered for sin became valueless, because the Lamb of God had died for the sins of the world. By His death for every man the sons of men become the sons of God, and believers with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
By His blood a new and living way was opened for all, both Jew and Gentile, high and low, rich and poor, without a veil and without waiting for an earthly high priest to enter once a year on their behalf. By His death as Sin-bearer He entered upon His priestly office forever as High Priest for the whole world, and from that time the Saviour officiates as Priest and Advocate in the heaven of heavens. The rent veil means partition walls broken down and the handwriting of ordinances canceled, and by virtue of His blood the enmity is abolished, so that through faith in Christ Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread.
God did not lessen His claim upon men in order to save them, but through the merits of Christ liberty is given to all to go directly to God through a personal Saviour. Because the veil has been rent believers have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and men can draw nigh to God directly and need not depend on priest or ceremonial sacrifice, on earthly priest or ruler, on sacrificial offerings or the service of a human priest. Christ serves forever as priest after the order of Melchizedek, having completed His covenant when as a sinless offering He bowed His head and died.
Sacrifice and Covenant Basis
Jesus came to do God's will and offered His body once for all, ending the repeated sacrifices that could never take away sins. Having offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool, perfecting forever by that one offering those who are sanctified. This boldness to enter the holiest by His blood rests on the new covenant in which God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more, so that where remission is there is no more offering for sin. His once-for-all sacrifice opened a new and living way to God in the heavenly sanctuary, and as High Priest He continues to intercede, so believers draw near in full assurance of faith with consciences cleansed, since salvation and every good work depend on Christ and His grace.
Christ opened the way by offering Himself as a perfect and sinless sacrifice equal to the demand of the divine law, surpassing the symbolic Jewish priesthood and its offerings, giving guilty sinners access to God through His mediation and not by their own merit. After Adam and Eve's transgression brought sin whose consequence is death, man forfeited all right to God's favor and was cut off from Him, and Christ stepped between fallen man and the Father and paid the penalty for sin. He laid aside His royal robes for a world marred with sin and became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, coming not with force of arms or kingly power but with lowliness of heart on the side of the oppressed, and by that sacrifice opened communication between man and God. Making Himself a martyr and giving Himself as substitute and surety for man, He is accepted as the Beloved, and with His human arm encircling the human race while His divine arm grasps the Infinite He brings man back into harmony with God.
Heaven, which was shut after transgression when man was separated from God by breaking His law, is opened to the sons and daughters of Adam, to the fallen race. By His conflict, suffering, victory that annihilates the power of the first rebel, and ascension bearing His bruises and scars as trophies, Christ secured redemption and the gates of heaven were thrown open. Through His death life and immortality have been purchased for condemned sinners, and all who cease rebellion and return to loyalty and allegiance and obedience to the law and commandments of God may receive another probation and the opportunity for eternal life, saved as sons and daughters of the Most High with free access to the Father left ajar to all who avail themselves of the offered mercy.
Heavenly Priesthood and Sanctuary
From His death onward the Saviour officiates as Priest and Advocate in the heaven of heavens, and the blood of beasts offered for sin became valueless because the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world. By that death a new and living way into the holiest was opened by the blood of Jesus for both Jew and Gentile. His death began the saving work, and after His resurrection He entered heaven to complete it as humanity's Intercessor, so that those who come to God in faith may bring their sincere desires before the Father. Crucified to take away sins and risen from the dead, He stands in God's presence as Intercessor, chosen and appointed Advocate, Substitute and Surety, in whom humanity and divinity are combined and all sufficiency is provided for every soul, fitting the follower for every work and every trial.
By faith believers enter beyond the veil where Christ has gone before them as Forerunner, and His intercession in heaven continues the work begun by His death on the cross. Because He gave Himself for them and now stands in God's presence as their High Priest, they have boldness to enter into the holiest by His blood, not only through Him into the true tabernacle not made with hands, but with Him into that hallowed temple, for He is their Head and they are His beloved household. As their High Priest and Advocate with the Father they may draw near as a household, open their hearts to Him, and converse with Him through Christ. By that same blood which washes sinners and makes them clean they may enter the holy of holies by faith and commune with God the Father and Jesus their Redeemer and Saviour.
After bursting the bands of the tomb He ascended to minister for man, first entering the holy place where by virtue of His own sacrifice He made an offering for sins and with intercession presented the prayers and repentance and faith of His people before God purified by the incense of His own merits. Then entering the Most Holy Place to make an atonement for sins and to cleanse the sanctuary, His work as High Priest completes the divine plan of redemption by the final atonement for sin. The heavenly sanctuary with its ministrations in the holy place and the Most Holy was already partly known, and the significance of the typical service in the earthly sanctuary is made light and clear by the reflection of Christ upon the types and symbols.
In the time when a view of the heavenly sanctuary would be given to God's people, the veil would be parted and by faith they would enter within the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. The clear light given about the heavenly sanctuary, especially the Most Holy Place where God revealed Himself to His appointed ones, belongs to the people's experience since 1844, and they are to keep moving forward without denying it. Through Christ, whose life of perfect freedom from sin prepared the way and made manifest the entrance into the Holiest of all, the way stands open to believers. As Advocate with the Father He sympathizes with every soul, and to those who receive Him as Saviour He gives power to become sons and daughters of God.
Exhortations Surrounding the Verse
Because boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus is given by a new and living way consecrated through the veil with a High Priest over the house of God, believers are to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water. That drawing near means coming with sincere faith and a cleansed conscience, with hearts and lives made clean. It belongs to those who have repented of sin and believed in Christ, who are washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.
They are then to hold fast the profession of faith and hope without wavering, because He who promised is faithful. They are to consider one another to provoke to love and good works, to stir up love and encourage one another to it. This is done by not forsaking assembling together but by meeting together in exhortation, exhorting one another all the more as the day approaches.
Appropriating these words is spiritual life to the soul, giving sound Christian experience and growth in grace. It sustains daily conversion to simple obedience and a consecrated life spent seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies.
Personal Experience and Application
Christ’s death tore the veil and opened the way into the Holiest, so that all may approach God by a new and living way without waiting for an earthly high priest to enter once a year on their behalf. This is direct personal access to Christ and the Father at the footstool of Jehovah, with no human mediator and no need for lengthy resolutions or preliminary forms. Believers come themselves and speak their requests with their own lips as children to a parent, believing the heavenly Father listens to every word because they are invited to an audience with the Majesty of heaven. The way to the temple above stands open to those who submit their hearts to God to be purified, and no one can bar their access to His presence.
Jesus Himself is that way into the holy of holies, the way without a screen, and the sinner comes to God through Him as Mediator. There is no atoning efficacy apart from the provision He made; human rites and methods have no atoning power and are of no avail, and anything but Christ alone is nothingness. Helpless sinners must hang their helpless souls upon Him, coming to God in and through Him and Him alone, where the sinner is humbled and the Saviour is exalted as all and in all. This access is the believer’s only hope and refuge, held fast by lifting the cross of Calvary and bearing the cross after Jesus, following in His consecrated, self-denying footsteps.
Through His blood Christians may enter God’s presence with sanctified boldness, and this is the privilege of true Christians experienced through intimate relationship with God cultivated by prayer and Scripture study. It brings heavenly light and glory, and refines and ennobles those who draw near. The open access lays the great plan of redemption before them, revealing wonder after wonder of the mystery of godliness, attracting them so that by beholding they become changed into His image.
Christ’s death began His saving work, and after His resurrection He entered heaven to complete it as humanity’s Intercessor, so those who come to God in faith may bring their sincere desires before the Father. Believers may approach with full assurance through Jesus, whose own blood consecrated the way and secured their access, and as His purchased possession they can bring every perplexity and request to Him without doubting. They may approach in prayer and intercede for others, while by faith seeing Jesus their High Priest pleading for sinners. His sacrifice makes it possible to plead the atoning blood so petitions reach the throne, and through that blood sinners find acceptance with God. In heaven His merits are treasured as incense to be offered with the prayers of His people, and as sincere humble prayers ascend He mingles with them His life of perfect obedience to make them fragrant, and the Father always hears His Son, so prayer is to be without ceasing with a sure answer.
Boldness to enter the holiest rests on the sacrifice by which sins can be perfectly forgiven, and dependence is not in what man can do but in what God can do through Christ. When the soul surrenders wholly to God and fully believes, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin and frees the conscience from condemnation, so all can be made perfect in Christ Jesus and can claim sanctification and enjoy the favor of God. Boldness does not come from anxiety about what Christ and God think of us but from what God thinks of Christ our Substitute; the repenting, believing one is accepted in the Beloved, and Christ accepts the surrender of the soul to mold and fashion it after His own likeness. Guilty sinners gain access not by their own merit, for Christ opened the way by offering Himself a perfect sinless sacrifice equal to the demand of the divine law, surpassing the symbolic priesthood and its offerings. In Him humanity and divinity are combined and all sufficiency is provided for every soul, so the follower of Christ is fitted for every work and every trial, with daily conversion divinely adapted to meet all obstacles of daily experience.
Sin can be confessed and pardoned through that sacrifice, and believers can draw near with full assurance of faith because Christ is their High Priest. Through faith they may bring every sin into God’s light, confess it, and receive pardon, for Christ’s priesthood over God’s household grounds the call to draw near. The blood testifies that a sinner has accepted Christ as personal Saviour, and those without this assurance have no guarantee of safety in this life or the next. By faith in His blood the soul is cleansed from moral defilement, and full and free salvation is offered to everyone who falls on the Rock and is broken, casting himself just as he is upon God’s mercy and compassion and laying hold of Him by faith. Entering means putting away selfishness, covetousness and all sin, surrendering the soul, ceasing from sin and cooperating with God to overcome, in contrast to saying Lord, Lord while trusting self-righteousness and practicing sin as evil leaven. Christ fills the office of personal Intercessor, Substitute and Surety, praying the Father for suppliants, looking with pity on every soul who realizes he cannot save himself, raising up every trembling suppliant, imputing His own righteousness, and employing in their behalf His infinite fund of moral power and inexhaustible treasure of perfect obedience from His self-denial and self-sacrifice.
Entering is day by day talking with God and following on to know the Lord, laying hold on the hope set before us. Reaching heaven requires binding the soul to the Mediator, becoming partakers of the divine nature, leaning on Christ with life hid with Christ in God, led by His Spirit in genuine faith. It involves believing fully in the efficacy of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and trusting in His merits while working out salvation with fear and trembling as God works in the heart to will and to do, becoming laborers together with God. Always keeping hold of Christ brings nearer and nearer to God and is to be kept always prominent. It is by linking the soul to Christ, holding fast to Christ the Mediator, leaning incessantly upon Him, keeping the eye ever upward without looking back, mounting up line by line, and cutting loose from the world and its follies and enchantments. It does not come through indulgence, folly, amusement, and selfishness, but only by constant watchfulness, unceasing prayer, believing, working, watching, and waiting in cooperation with heavenly intelligences, with individual vigilance as the price of safety and not swerving a single inch to Satan’s side.
This upward way is how the mansions for the blessed are obtained, by fastening to Christ and holding fast while ascending step by step, round above round, by His merits, in perfect obedience to all the commandments, straining every nerve to leave the world behind and laboring to diminish by successive steps the distance from God. It is being in Christ and yet led by Christ, believing and working upon the plan of addition and constantly mounting upward with striving and progress at every step, since to let go is to cease to climb and to fall and perish, with fearful peril in relaxing diligence for a moment while hanging between heaven and earth. Access joined to holding fast to Christ as Mediator and progressing in obedience, with each step depending on His merits, calls for continued faith and effort rather than letting go, sharing in the divine nature and escaping worldly corruption. Entering calls for a heart softened and subdued, ready to listen to God, laying aside every previous idea, taking the Word in its simplicity, and renouncing every sinful practice.
Walking this new and living way in faith and obedience leads to growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ, not to reliance on one’s own righteousness, but to completeness in Christ and His righteousness. His death and resurrection are the ground of hope, and the way He opened is the way of salvation; disciples in every age are to look to Him as their only hope and obey God’s law. Through Christ life and immortality have been purchased, and fallen condemned sinners who return to loyalty may receive another probation and eternal life, finding pardon and living in harmony with God through obedience to His commandments. Through Christ the hidden glory of the holy of holies stands revealed, and the mercy seat is opened to all who accept Him as propitiation, bringing them into fellowship with God, so that with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image from glory to glory, with partition walls broken down and enmity abolished so Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread. The upward progress culminates in love for God and others and entrance into God’s kingdom.
Free access to the atoning blood is the most precious privilege and greatest blessing ever granted to sinful people. That blood is a deep, wide, continuous stream open to every soul thirsting after holiness, bringing repose, rest, the quickening influence of the Holy Spirit, a holy happy peaceful walk, and precious communion with Christ. The believing soul washed and cleansed claims that love and by its virtues stands before the throne pardoned, justified, and sanctified. Experimental knowledge of its cleansing efficacy gives strength and vigor to faith, power to prayer, happiness in cheerful obedience, and success in presenting truth to others, and it is to be talked, prayed, and sung.
This access is for every soul and all believers, not ministers only, and salvation through Christ is full, free, and simple, not depending on temple services or sacrifices, opening a new direct way for everyone who will to approach God and receive full comfort and hope. Those who enter through Christ are to carry the gospel to the unsaved and offer them its remedy, and the Lord honors His servants who carry the message of mercy to the world. Even when Satan has cut people away and made Christ seem distant, He is not far off; the gates of heaven stand open by the blood of Jesus, and His glory will shine on all who trust Him. This open access is received by faith in infinite love, bringing true conversion and partaking of the divine nature.
Through His shed blood believers have confident free access to enter God's very presence in the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle where they draw near in faith. When Christ died the temple veil was rent from top to bottom by God's hand, exposing the most holy place, ending the system of animal sacrifices, and opening a new and living way through His flesh for all without an earthly priest. This rests on His offering of His body once for all, perfecting forever those sanctified, under the new covenant where God writes His laws in hearts and remembers sins no more. From His death onward He officiates as Priest and Advocate in heaven, first in the holy place and since 1844 in the Most Holy Place to make final atonement, and by faith believers enter beyond the veil where He has gone as Forerunner. Therefore they are to draw near with a true heart in full assurance, hold fast their profession without wavering, and come themselves directly to the Father with no human mediator, bringing every sin, perplexity and request to be cleansed and answered through Christ alone.
Meaning of Key Words
Boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus means confident, free access to enter God's presence, opened because Christ gave Himself for believers and now stands in the presence of God as their High Priest. Through His once-for-all sacrifice sins can be perfectly forgiven, so dependence rests not in what man can do but in what God can do through Christ. When the soul surrenders wholly to God and fully believes, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin and frees the conscience from condemnation, so all can be made perfect in Christ Jesus, claim sanctification, and enjoy the favor of God. Such boldness does not come from anxiety about what Christ and God think of us but from what God thinks of Christ our Substitute, for the repenting, believing one is accepted in the Beloved, and Christ accepts the surrender of the soul to mold and fashion it after His own likeness.
The holiest is the heavenly sanctuary, the true tabernacle not made with hands, where believers draw near to God in faith. Not only through Him may they enter this hallowed temple, but with Him they may enter, for He is their Head and they are His beloved household. By faith they enter beyond the veil where Christ has gone before them as Forerunner, and His intercession in heaven continues the work begun by His death on the cross. Through His mediation those who come in faith can bring their sincere desires before the Father.
By the blood means by Christ's atoning sacrifice, which cleanses from sin, consecrates the way, and grounds pardon and acceptance. Sin can be confessed and pardoned through that sacrifice, and through faith every sin may be brought into God's light, confessed, and receive pardon. Through that blood petitions reach the throne and find acceptance with God, for following Christ in faith and obedience is walking this consecrated way.
The new and living way was consecrated through the veil, that is His flesh, opening a once-for-all access to God. His once-for-all sacrifice opened this way, and walking it in faith and obedience leads to growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ, not to reliance on one's own righteousness but to completeness in Christ and His righteousness. Appropriating this is spiritual life to the soul for sound experience and growth.
Because there is a High Priest over the house of God, believers as His household may enter with Him and draw near in full assurance of faith. As their High Priest who continues to intercede for them, He opens bold access with consciences cleansed, so salvation and every good work depend on Christ and His grace. Through Christ as Advocate with the Father they can open their hearts to God and converse with Him.
Death That Opened Way
When Christ bowed His head and died at the hour of the evening sacrifice, the veil of the temple that hid God's glory from Israel was rent in twain from top to bottom by God's unseen hand, by the Almighty's own hand and not by any priest. It was God Himself who tore the gorgeous veil when Christ cried It is finished, and the same hand that wrote Belshazzar's doom and the end of the Babylonian kingdom pronounced the Jewish nation unchurched. Through Christ the hidden glory of the holy of holies stands revealed, and the mercy seat upon which the glory of God rested in the holiest of all is opened to all who accept Christ as the propitiation for sin, bringing them into fellowship with God.
The rending exposed the most holy place that had been entered by human feet only once a year, and showed the barrier to God's presence removed. God's presence would no longer overshadow the earthly mercy-seat, and its once-yearly earthly service was no longer the way to approach God. The earthly sanctuary's most holy place was no longer closed to the people, for Christ's death opened the way into God's presence by His own blood whereby He obtained eternal redemption.
The torn veil marked the end of the sacrificial system, because the lamb and the other offerings had pointed to Christ and His death fulfilled their purpose and completed the whole Jewish economy of types and shadows. From that death onward the blood of beasts offered for sin became valueless, because the Lamb of God had died for the sins of the world. By His death for every man the sons of men become the sons of God, and believers with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
By His blood a new and living way was opened for all, both Jew and Gentile, high and low, rich and poor, without a veil and without waiting for an earthly high priest to enter once a year on their behalf. By His death as Sin-bearer He entered upon His priestly office forever as High Priest for the whole world, and from that time the Saviour officiates as Priest and Advocate in the heaven of heavens. The rent veil means partition walls broken down and the handwriting of ordinances canceled, and by virtue of His blood the enmity is abolished, so that through faith in Christ Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread.
God did not lessen His claim upon men in order to save them, but through the merits of Christ liberty is given to all to go directly to God through a personal Saviour. Because the veil has been rent believers have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and men can draw nigh to God directly and need not depend on priest or ceremonial sacrifice, on earthly priest or ruler, on sacrificial offerings or the service of a human priest. Christ serves forever as priest after the order of Melchizedek, having completed His covenant when as a sinless offering He bowed His head and died.
Sacrifice and Covenant Basis
Jesus came to do God's will and offered His body once for all, ending the repeated sacrifices that could never take away sins. Having offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool, perfecting forever by that one offering those who are sanctified. This boldness to enter the holiest by His blood rests on the new covenant in which God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more, so that where remission is there is no more offering for sin. His once-for-all sacrifice opened a new and living way to God in the heavenly sanctuary, and as High Priest He continues to intercede, so believers draw near in full assurance of faith with consciences cleansed, since salvation and every good work depend on Christ and His grace.
Christ opened the way by offering Himself as a perfect and sinless sacrifice equal to the demand of the divine law, surpassing the symbolic Jewish priesthood and its offerings, giving guilty sinners access to God through His mediation and not by their own merit. After Adam and Eve's transgression brought sin whose consequence is death, man forfeited all right to God's favor and was cut off from Him, and Christ stepped between fallen man and the Father and paid the penalty for sin. He laid aside His royal robes for a world marred with sin and became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, coming not with force of arms or kingly power but with lowliness of heart on the side of the oppressed, and by that sacrifice opened communication between man and God. Making Himself a martyr and giving Himself as substitute and surety for man, He is accepted as the Beloved, and with His human arm encircling the human race while His divine arm grasps the Infinite He brings man back into harmony with God.
Heaven, which was shut after transgression when man was separated from God by breaking His law, is opened to the sons and daughters of Adam, to the fallen race. By His conflict, suffering, victory that annihilates the power of the first rebel, and ascension bearing His bruises and scars as trophies, Christ secured redemption and the gates of heaven were thrown open. Through His death life and immortality have been purchased for condemned sinners, and all who cease rebellion and return to loyalty and allegiance and obedience to the law and commandments of God may receive another probation and the opportunity for eternal life, saved as sons and daughters of the Most High with free access to the Father left ajar to all who avail themselves of the offered mercy.
Heavenly Priesthood and Sanctuary
From His death onward the Saviour officiates as Priest and Advocate in the heaven of heavens, and the blood of beasts offered for sin became valueless because the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world. By that death a new and living way into the holiest was opened by the blood of Jesus for both Jew and Gentile. His death began the saving work, and after His resurrection He entered heaven to complete it as humanity's Intercessor, so that those who come to God in faith may bring their sincere desires before the Father. Crucified to take away sins and risen from the dead, He stands in God's presence as Intercessor, chosen and appointed Advocate, Substitute and Surety, in whom humanity and divinity are combined and all sufficiency is provided for every soul, fitting the follower for every work and every trial.
By faith believers enter beyond the veil where Christ has gone before them as Forerunner, and His intercession in heaven continues the work begun by His death on the cross. Because He gave Himself for them and now stands in God's presence as their High Priest, they have boldness to enter into the holiest by His blood, not only through Him into the true tabernacle not made with hands, but with Him into that hallowed temple, for He is their Head and they are His beloved household. As their High Priest and Advocate with the Father they may draw near as a household, open their hearts to Him, and converse with Him through Christ. By that same blood which washes sinners and makes them clean they may enter the holy of holies by faith and commune with God the Father and Jesus their Redeemer and Saviour.
After bursting the bands of the tomb He ascended to minister for man, first entering the holy place where by virtue of His own sacrifice He made an offering for sins and with intercession presented the prayers and repentance and faith of His people before God purified by the incense of His own merits. Then entering the Most Holy Place to make an atonement for sins and to cleanse the sanctuary, His work as High Priest completes the divine plan of redemption by the final atonement for sin. The heavenly sanctuary with its ministrations in the holy place and the Most Holy was already partly known, and the significance of the typical service in the earthly sanctuary is made light and clear by the reflection of Christ upon the types and symbols.
In the time when a view of the heavenly sanctuary would be given to God's people, the veil would be parted and by faith they would enter within the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. The clear light given about the heavenly sanctuary, especially the Most Holy Place where God revealed Himself to His appointed ones, belongs to the people's experience since 1844, and they are to keep moving forward without denying it. Through Christ, whose life of perfect freedom from sin prepared the way and made manifest the entrance into the Holiest of all, the way stands open to believers. As Advocate with the Father He sympathizes with every soul, and to those who receive Him as Saviour He gives power to become sons and daughters of God.
Exhortations Surrounding the Verse
Because boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus is given by a new and living way consecrated through the veil with a High Priest over the house of God, believers are to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water. That drawing near means coming with sincere faith and a cleansed conscience, with hearts and lives made clean. It belongs to those who have repented of sin and believed in Christ, who are washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.
They are then to hold fast the profession of faith and hope without wavering, because He who promised is faithful. They are to consider one another to provoke to love and good works, to stir up love and encourage one another to it. This is done by not forsaking assembling together but by meeting together in exhortation, exhorting one another all the more as the day approaches.
Appropriating these words is spiritual life to the soul, giving sound Christian experience and growth in grace. It sustains daily conversion to simple obedience and a consecrated life spent seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies.
Personal Experience and Application
Christ’s death tore the veil and opened the way into the Holiest, so that all may approach God by a new and living way without waiting for an earthly high priest to enter once a year on their behalf. This is direct personal access to Christ and the Father at the footstool of Jehovah, with no human mediator and no need for lengthy resolutions or preliminary forms. Believers come themselves and speak their requests with their own lips as children to a parent, believing the heavenly Father listens to every word because they are invited to an audience with the Majesty of heaven. The way to the temple above stands open to those who submit their hearts to God to be purified, and no one can bar their access to His presence.
Jesus Himself is that way into the holy of holies, the way without a screen, and the sinner comes to God through Him as Mediator. There is no atoning efficacy apart from the provision He made; human rites and methods have no atoning power and are of no avail, and anything but Christ alone is nothingness. Helpless sinners must hang their helpless souls upon Him, coming to God in and through Him and Him alone, where the sinner is humbled and the Saviour is exalted as all and in all. This access is the believer’s only hope and refuge, held fast by lifting the cross of Calvary and bearing the cross after Jesus, following in His consecrated, self-denying footsteps.
Through His blood Christians may enter God’s presence with sanctified boldness, and this is the privilege of true Christians experienced through intimate relationship with God cultivated by prayer and Scripture study. It brings heavenly light and glory, and refines and ennobles those who draw near. The open access lays the great plan of redemption before them, revealing wonder after wonder of the mystery of godliness, attracting them so that by beholding they become changed into His image.
Christ’s death began His saving work, and after His resurrection He entered heaven to complete it as humanity’s Intercessor, so those who come to God in faith may bring their sincere desires before the Father. Believers may approach with full assurance through Jesus, whose own blood consecrated the way and secured their access, and as His purchased possession they can bring every perplexity and request to Him without doubting. They may approach in prayer and intercede for others, while by faith seeing Jesus their High Priest pleading for sinners. His sacrifice makes it possible to plead the atoning blood so petitions reach the throne, and through that blood sinners find acceptance with God. In heaven His merits are treasured as incense to be offered with the prayers of His people, and as sincere humble prayers ascend He mingles with them His life of perfect obedience to make them fragrant, and the Father always hears His Son, so prayer is to be without ceasing with a sure answer.
Boldness to enter the holiest rests on the sacrifice by which sins can be perfectly forgiven, and dependence is not in what man can do but in what God can do through Christ. When the soul surrenders wholly to God and fully believes, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin and frees the conscience from condemnation, so all can be made perfect in Christ Jesus and can claim sanctification and enjoy the favor of God. Boldness does not come from anxiety about what Christ and God think of us but from what God thinks of Christ our Substitute; the repenting, believing one is accepted in the Beloved, and Christ accepts the surrender of the soul to mold and fashion it after His own likeness. Guilty sinners gain access not by their own merit, for Christ opened the way by offering Himself a perfect sinless sacrifice equal to the demand of the divine law, surpassing the symbolic priesthood and its offerings. In Him humanity and divinity are combined and all sufficiency is provided for every soul, so the follower of Christ is fitted for every work and every trial, with daily conversion divinely adapted to meet all obstacles of daily experience.
Sin can be confessed and pardoned through that sacrifice, and believers can draw near with full assurance of faith because Christ is their High Priest. Through faith they may bring every sin into God’s light, confess it, and receive pardon, for Christ’s priesthood over God’s household grounds the call to draw near. The blood testifies that a sinner has accepted Christ as personal Saviour, and those without this assurance have no guarantee of safety in this life or the next. By faith in His blood the soul is cleansed from moral defilement, and full and free salvation is offered to everyone who falls on the Rock and is broken, casting himself just as he is upon God’s mercy and compassion and laying hold of Him by faith. Entering means putting away selfishness, covetousness and all sin, surrendering the soul, ceasing from sin and cooperating with God to overcome, in contrast to saying Lord, Lord while trusting self-righteousness and practicing sin as evil leaven. Christ fills the office of personal Intercessor, Substitute and Surety, praying the Father for suppliants, looking with pity on every soul who realizes he cannot save himself, raising up every trembling suppliant, imputing His own righteousness, and employing in their behalf His infinite fund of moral power and inexhaustible treasure of perfect obedience from His self-denial and self-sacrifice.
Entering is day by day talking with God and following on to know the Lord, laying hold on the hope set before us. Reaching heaven requires binding the soul to the Mediator, becoming partakers of the divine nature, leaning on Christ with life hid with Christ in God, led by His Spirit in genuine faith. It involves believing fully in the efficacy of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and trusting in His merits while working out salvation with fear and trembling as God works in the heart to will and to do, becoming laborers together with God. Always keeping hold of Christ brings nearer and nearer to God and is to be kept always prominent. It is by linking the soul to Christ, holding fast to Christ the Mediator, leaning incessantly upon Him, keeping the eye ever upward without looking back, mounting up line by line, and cutting loose from the world and its follies and enchantments. It does not come through indulgence, folly, amusement, and selfishness, but only by constant watchfulness, unceasing prayer, believing, working, watching, and waiting in cooperation with heavenly intelligences, with individual vigilance as the price of safety and not swerving a single inch to Satan’s side.
This upward way is how the mansions for the blessed are obtained, by fastening to Christ and holding fast while ascending step by step, round above round, by His merits, in perfect obedience to all the commandments, straining every nerve to leave the world behind and laboring to diminish by successive steps the distance from God. It is being in Christ and yet led by Christ, believing and working upon the plan of addition and constantly mounting upward with striving and progress at every step, since to let go is to cease to climb and to fall and perish, with fearful peril in relaxing diligence for a moment while hanging between heaven and earth. Access joined to holding fast to Christ as Mediator and progressing in obedience, with each step depending on His merits, calls for continued faith and effort rather than letting go, sharing in the divine nature and escaping worldly corruption. Entering calls for a heart softened and subdued, ready to listen to God, laying aside every previous idea, taking the Word in its simplicity, and renouncing every sinful practice.
Walking this new and living way in faith and obedience leads to growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ, not to reliance on one’s own righteousness, but to completeness in Christ and His righteousness. His death and resurrection are the ground of hope, and the way He opened is the way of salvation; disciples in every age are to look to Him as their only hope and obey God’s law. Through Christ life and immortality have been purchased, and fallen condemned sinners who return to loyalty may receive another probation and eternal life, finding pardon and living in harmony with God through obedience to His commandments. Through Christ the hidden glory of the holy of holies stands revealed, and the mercy seat is opened to all who accept Him as propitiation, bringing them into fellowship with God, so that with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image from glory to glory, with partition walls broken down and enmity abolished so Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread. The upward progress culminates in love for God and others and entrance into God’s kingdom.
Free access to the atoning blood is the most precious privilege and greatest blessing ever granted to sinful people. That blood is a deep, wide, continuous stream open to every soul thirsting after holiness, bringing repose, rest, the quickening influence of the Holy Spirit, a holy happy peaceful walk, and precious communion with Christ. The believing soul washed and cleansed claims that love and by its virtues stands before the throne pardoned, justified, and sanctified. Experimental knowledge of its cleansing efficacy gives strength and vigor to faith, power to prayer, happiness in cheerful obedience, and success in presenting truth to others, and it is to be talked, prayed, and sung.
This access is for every soul and all believers, not ministers only, and salvation through Christ is full, free, and simple, not depending on temple services or sacrifices, opening a new direct way for everyone who will to approach God and receive full comfort and hope. Those who enter through Christ are to carry the gospel to the unsaved and offer them its remedy, and the Lord honors His servants who carry the message of mercy to the world. Even when Satan has cut people away and made Christ seem distant, He is not far off; the gates of heaven stand open by the blood of Jesus, and His glory will shine on all who trust Him. This open access is received by faith in infinite love, bringing true conversion and partaking of the divine nature.