By Mary Carothers

God sure went to a lot of trouble to convince the Israelites to revere Him as holy. For example, when they were in the desert, He instructed Moses in great detail about how to build the tabernacle. He wanted the people to understand the difference between what was holy and what was common.

At the very onset, the entire courtyard around the Holy place was fenced off from the common people (that’s us). When an Israelite needed to sacrifice an animal to atone for his sins, he could come only to the entrance, no further. There, at the entrance, he placed his hands on the animal’s head, sort of transferring his sins onto the animal. When the animal was then killed, it’s blood made atonement for the person’s sin. Do you see how this was foretelling the Savior who was to come?

Inside the courtyard only the priests and the Levites were allowed. They had been set aside – or sanctified – by God to minister to Him. He made a difference between His holiness (and those He had cleansed and made holy) and the common people. Even among the priests and Levites God made a separation. The Levites were there to assist the priests. But they could not enter the Holy place to perform duties such as burning incense to the Lord. Only the priests could do that.

How about the most holy place, the Holy of Holies? Here was still another separation between God and His people. Only the high priest could enter there, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. He had better be sure that he had properly bathed and put on the special clothes used for that particular occasion. He had to burn incense while in the Holy of Holies. At the same time, he sprinkled blood on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people. The incense, which produced a cloud, kept the high priest from clearly seeing the presence of God who dwelled above the mercy seat. It also protected him from being seen by the awesome and holy God. The Bible tells us that God cannot look on sin, and the high priest was just as human and sinful as the rest of us. That’s why we all so desperately need the Savior, Jesus, who provided eternal atonement for our sins.

Between the holy place in the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies was a curtain. A very thick and heavy curtain, which was the last separation between a holy God and His unholy people.

To show that God the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross He tore that curtain in two – from top to bottom (see Luke 23:45).

When Jesus died on the cross, He was the last and final sacrifice, for all time. Jesus took the sins of the world – the sins of all mankind – and suffered separation from the Father in our place. Because of all that Jesus has done for us, we can come fearlessly, right into God’s presence (see Eph.3:12). No longer is there a great separation between God and us. Now we are priests to the Lord. In fact, we are a royal priesthood (see I Peter 2:9). Way back in Exodus 19, God had told Moses that He wanted the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests. But they didn’t want to be close to God. They were too afraid of Him. They said “No, you talk to God and tell us what He says.” It’s exciting to read in Revelation 5 where God tells us that we will one day be an everlasting kingdom of priests – to worship and serve Him. I can hardly wait! (Reprint from May 2008)