"Access to the Heavenly Sanctuary Through Jesus’ Blood"
When we think about what Jesus is doing for us in the heavenly sanctuary, Hebrews 10:19-20 lets us know that we have access to that same heavenly sanctuary - not as mere clients of Jesus, waiting outside the sanctuary on earth, but as those who are welcomed into the heavenly sanctuary itself. But did you know that this very same passage tells us how and in what way we have access to Jesus' presence in the heavenly sanctuary? Hebrews 10:19-20 says, "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" (NIV).
There are two emphases for us to notice in this passage, one about Jesus and the other about us. First, Hebrews 10:19-20 indicates that the humanity of Jesus opens the way for our access to God. Verse 19 talks about how Jesus' blood gives us access into the Most Holy Place and verse 20 talks about how Jesus' body serves as the true veil or curtain into the heavenly sanctuary. The point that Hebrews 10:19-20 is making about Jesus is that every hindrance we may have had to God has now been removed by the body and blood of Jesus, because Jesus' humanity is what opens the way for us to approach God unimpeded.
Second, Hebrews 10:19-20 claims that WE go with Jesus into the Most Holy Place. The literal translation of verse 19 says this: "Therefore, brothers and sisters, having boldness/confidence into the entrance of the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus." Did you notice where we show up in this verse? We're in Jesus' blood! The preposition used for the blood of Jesus could signify instrumentality - basically, that we have access into the Most Holy Place "by" or "with" the blood of Jesus. However, the usual meaning of that preposition is "in" - as in, contained in it.
Hebrews 10:19-20 takes Old Testament imagery about the high priest carrying the sacrificial blood with him into the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, and uses it to portray Jesus carrying us in his own blood into the heavenly sanctuary. Jesus so intimately unites us with himself that he first covers us in his blood, then carries us with himself, in his own blood, into the presence of God for us!
Friends, make no mistake: Jesus' humanity is not just a way for him to be present to us, it's also his way of bringing us into God's presence.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
