Part VII—The New and Living Way
“Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the sanctuary [Holy of Holies] by
the blood of Jesus, which He initiated for us—a new and living way—through the
veil, that is, His flesh, and having a Great Priest over the house of God, let
us come near with a true heart in a fulfilled faith, we who have our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the confession of our expectation unwavering, for He is faithful who
promised” (Hebrews
There
is no more pivotal idea in all the Bible than the expression—“Let us come
near.” In the Old Testament, for the most part, God guided His people from
afar. There was little personal interaction between the individuals and God.
There was, of course, the total national identity as the “people of God.” He
cared for them; loved them (in a paternalistic way) and established for them a
process of redemption that would ultimately bind them to Him forever.
In
the New Testament, however, the ultimate intention of God is fulfilled—to imbue
His people with His own Spirit—to bring them so near to Him as to dwell within
them. Hence, the name of Jesus announced by the angel to Joseph—Emmanuel, “God
with us.” His creatures, once very far away through the ravages of sin are now
very near through the sacrifice of Christ. And thus the heart of Jesus’
message—“Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn
of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew
Boldness to enter into the Holy of
Holies by the blood of Jesus . . .
The Greek word translated “boldness” does not mean “audacious” or “brazenly.”
It really means “freely” or “openly.” There is nothing in the word of the
common misconception of a mandate. There is a certain segment of Christendom
that encourages mandates to the Deity—“You have to do this because you
promised.” Using “leverage” on the Deity, a common custom among humans—is
completely out of order. We must always come before God with humility—“Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus”—because “It is of His
mercy that we are not consumed.” He doesn’t have to do anything—much less
respond to insistent demands from the creatures of earth. The Greek word means
literally “beyond speech.” It implies a kind of freedom and openness that goes
beyond the capacity of human articulation.
A new and living way . . . Never before was access to God totally available to each
one of His creatures. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the general
favor of God was obtained by appropriate sacrifices and mediated by a priest.
And, as a matter of fact, entrance into the “Holy of Holies” was only available
to the high priest, and that once a year, who must bring the blood to the mercy
seat, once a year, on the day of atonement and offer it for the sins of the
people.
Christ
came with His own blood, demolished the veil, and made the way into the holiest
of all accessible to everyone. Not only was it a new way, but it was a living
way. The worshiper comes not to a “bench”—an altar of wood—but to a person. The
“Mercy Seat” dwells within us. The touch with the Shekinah glory of God is ceaseless. It is not a yearly encounter,
but a moment by moment reality within us.
Let us come near . . . The Greek word “to come” involves a preposition which is
part of the word “face.” The preposition is used in John 1:1 where the Logos is said to be “with God.” The
implication is a nearness that is a “face to face” encounter. Added to the verb
form—“to come”—it means to come so near as to be “face to face.”
With a true heart . . . The Greek word for “true” is alhqinh (alethine)—from
a Greek word which means “genuine” or “real.” When Jesus said (as recorded in
John)—“I am the Truth,” He was
expressing the same thought. He was saying, “I am the reality of the universe.”
“I am all that is genuine and real.” The idea of the “true” heart really means
the inner being identified with all that is real in the world. It expresses an
inner being that has come to grips with the essence of the universe. This is
because Christ, The Truth—The Reality—dwells within.
A fulfilled faith. The translation, “full assurance (A.V.)” is not adequate.
The word has nothing to do with the human feelings of “assurance.” Human
feelings of confidence or trust are totally inadequate to handle divine
realities. The energy of faith is a gift of God, the power of which is resident
within Himself and can never be a characteristic of the human mind. The Greek
word—plhroforew (plerophoreo)
means “carry through to fulfillment.” The human mind can never possess that
kind of ultimate faith. What most people think of as “faith” is a very
unreliable expression of the human mind—a vacillating emotion of confidence or
trust. It comes and goes with the ebb and flow of the tide of human emotion.
What the Scripture means by “faith” is the energy of God flowing through the
human spirit and maintaining a constancy that is not possible in the human
brain as such. It is the basis upon which our identity remains stable and
secure. It is not affected by human emotion. It maintains our ties with God and
guarantees the ultimate fulfillment of God’s purpose in us.
Sprinkled from an evil conscience .
. . washed with pure water.
The phrase “evil conscience” has to do with that accumulation of human thoughts
and actions which reflect the satanic process of evil in the world (though not
always assumed to be demonic), and the misconceptions of God that have plagued
humanity from the Fall. The blood of Christ covers these human perversions of
truth and the river of divine grace washes away the pollutants that have
inevitably evolved.
Let us hold fast the confession of
our expectations . . . It is not
“expectations”, but the expression of them that is in question. The substance
of our faith and our expectations is in Christ. It is in the expression of
these expectations—in the human mental process—that the trouble comes. The
Greek word elpiV (elpis) is
better translated by “expectation” than “hope.” Hope implies uncertainty in its
major English usage. The confession of our expectation is what we can express
in our grasp of the meaning of God’s faith. This expression is often affected
by the circumstances of life. It is not God’s faith per se that is the problem, but our expression of it. The writer of
the Epistle to the Hebrews is encouraging the Jewish believers not to give up
their expectations of God. He will come through in the end.
He is faithful that promised . . . The word faithful is better translated by “full of
faith.” God is the Author of the energy of faith and will sustain this energy
throughout the process of human life on the earth. Ultimately it is this energy
of faith that will bring all of His people to glory and to the eternal identity
with Himself.
David
Morsey
April
1990
Next month “Part VIII—The Living Way
and the Believer”