Who Can Enter The Holy Place

Should we conform to the Biblical Standards to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God

Who Can Enter The Holy Place?

Many Christians readily accept that all who confess the name of Jesus can rightfully lay claim to His body. In other words,Guest Posting all Christians can share in the fellowship of the assembly. Is this assumption correct? Are we Christians indeed entitled to partake of the blessings emanating from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ or are there conditions laid down which ,unless we conform thereto, preclude such blessings and privileges even though we proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ?In order to differentiate between TRUE discipleship and FEIGNED discipleship (that is verbally laying claim to salvation but failing to conform to the prescribed scriptural code) it would be appropriate to refer to Jesus’ parable of the sower (Mark 4): part of the seed fell in good soil rendering an excellent crop: part fell on rocky ground where the seed sprouted but the plants soon withered when the sun came up as the roots had not grown deep enough: a third portion fell among thorn bushes which grew up and choked the plants and a fourth portion fell along the path and the birds cam e and ate it up. This parable serves as an example that not all Christians can lay claim to salvation.

Salvation transcends this temporal world and therefore does not imply participating in the blessings of Christ for this life only. In other words some Christians maintain that, in order to be successful in this life, sharing in the blessings contained in the Word, they only have to confess the name of Jesus , yet Paul says: “If for this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable.” ( 1Cor15.19) Fact is, if we desire abundant life in Christ Jesus (containing not only God’s blessings but participating also in His glory (having our names written down in the book of the living – Rev 20.12

We have to follow Jesus Christ and this of course entails much more than merely confessing His name and claiming to be reborn.

ARE THERE CONDITIONS PRESCRIBED FOR ENTERING THE HOLY PLACE?

Access to the Holy Place signifies participation in the body of Christ. Before the Holy Place could be entered, it was necessary for the priest to pass through the courtyard and conform to the ceremonial laws. In the Old Testament (the shadow of the New Covenant Heb. 9) Moses was instructed to erect a Tabernacle according to God’s pattern, His plan. The Tabernacle stands as a sign of God’s presence in Israel. It further serves to unite God’s people and was therefore the central place of worship where Israel not only obtained atonement for their sins but also participated in the blessings of the Living God: spiritually, physically and personally. It was the general meeting place and the courtyard contained the bronze basin (ex 30.

17-21). The priests had to cleanse their hands and feet before they could bring their burnt offerings. The courtyard further contained the altar of burnt offering (Ex 27) where Israel’s offerings to the Lord were received and done. This bronze altar was equipped with 5 articles enabling the priest to offer the course in miracles  : pots, shovels, bowls, forks and fire-pans all made of bronze. In order to understand the meaning of the courtyard and its equipment, we must realize that it is in the courtyard where both Israelites and foreigners could meet (Lev 22.18 Lev 17.7-9). Yet in the Holy Place only the priests and the Levites were permitted.

We receive the gospel in the courtyard where we must conform to certain prescriptions. We have to be cleansed in the wash basin (epitomizing regenerating in Christ). Jesus says to Nicodemus: “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3.6).

Therefore every Christian laying claim to fellowship with Jesus Christ (entering the Holy Place) must first and foremost conform to this prescription: we need to be reborn and baptized (Acts 2.38; Col 3.17)

Also by our offering: we must lay our sacrifice on the altar. AS Jesus (the altar of the New Covenant) was sacrificed for us, likewise must we kneel at the cross, confess our sins, and die to ourselves. Notice carefully hoe the sacrifice were prescribed (Lev 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Notice also in the case of the burnt offering (Lev 1), how the offering was done. The inner-parts and the legs had to be washed and the head with the fat were then placed on the altar and burned (verse 12-13). This gives us the idea that we must sacrifice as a pleasing offering to God (Rom 12) as Paul rightly instruct the early Christians and us too.

We cannot reserve something for ourselves if we want to follow Jesus Christ desiring to become part of His body. We need to go all the way and become a Holy Priesthood unto God acquiring most of all the fruits of the Spirit so that we can be living, holy temples for our God (Gal. 5 and 1 Cor. 3.16).

THE HOLY PLACE WHERE THE TRUE FAMILY OF GOD GATHERS

The Holy Place contained the table of shew bread which was overlaid in gold, the incense altar, also overlaid in gold and the golden lamp stand made of pure gold.

We must realize that these concrete articles were God’s way out of the abstract into the commonplace. The God of Israel revealed His existence through rituals, ceremonies and concrete articles which were rich in symbolic meaning and served as evidence of His interaction with His people. We will notice that the priest entered and served in the Holy Place and that only those belonging to the priesthood could partake of the shew bread. Women also served in the Tabernacle and were responsible for the preparation of the bread and the tailoring of the ecclesiastical clothes. This gives us the idea that in the Lord we are one. Here in the Holy Place there is only one condition: We must be part of the tribe o Levi, forming a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2.9) before we can lay claim to before we can lay claim to be able to enter the Holy Place. We must have passed through the courtyard (the sacrifice on the altar and the washbasin) before we can enter here. The shew bread depicts Jesus Christ as the bread that came from heaven (John 6) and all those who obey His commands can partake thereof (Luk 22.20). Notice the stringent prescriptions for the priesthood (Lev. 8) and realize that although Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law (math. 5.17), we Christians must conform to the commands of holiness before we may have access to the Holy Place. The golden lampstand symbolizes Jesus Christ as light of the world in whose presence we enter once we stand in the Holy Place. The shew bread is the Holy Communion: therefore served on a table overlaid in gold which stands for purity. There are four articles used at the table of shew bread (all made of pure gold). This also contains a symbolic meaning pointing to those gifts of the Holy Spirit in which only the initiates (those who have brought their offering having been washed in the basin (Lev. 8.6) can participate.

We must further realize that only those who conform to God’s written laws (the prescriptions laid down for us in God’s Word before we can lay claim to fellowship with Jesus Christ) can enter the Holy Place (Eph. 2.14). Likewise it is not, since the death of Jesus on the cross, to ritually adhere to the Law of Moses, but we who have been set free by grace (Gal.3.11) must internalize those laws in our hearts. What we therefore have to understand is that those who do not conform to the prescriptions laid down in God’s Word, are in actual fact transgressors and as such do not belong there! Why? Such persons have not stopped at the altar and the wash basin to conform to the prescribed order and are therefore not part of a holy priesthood. They are, as Jesus depicted in His parable (John 10.