Exodus 26:33
“And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”
When God gave Moses the guidelines for the building of the tabernacle, He made it clear that there was to be a separation between the holy place and the holy of holies. He shows what divided these rooms in the verse above when He says, “…and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.” Only the high priest was to go past this vail, and he could only do it once a year. Behind this vail was the ark of the covenant upon which was the mercy seat. It was this mercy seat where the blood was to be sprinkled to atone for the sins of the people.
Jesus Christ ended this separation when He died on the cross. It says in Matthew 27:51 about Jesus’ death, “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;” Notice, “…the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom…” The vail that separated the people from going to the mercy seat, the vail that only the high priest could go past once a year, this vail was “rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” Jesus Christ, our High Priest, ended this separation when He made the final atonement for sin with His life and blood. The vail that once kept the people from talking directly to God now is no longer there.
Christian, with this vail, removed that means you have direct access to God at any time. This is why Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Because the vail has been removed, every Christian can go directly to God in prayer with their needs. No longer do we need an intermediary to go for us, because Jesus became the ultimate intercessor for us when He removed the vail. There are a couple of things this act should cause you to do.
First, it should stir you to live a holy life. Just because the vail has been rent doesn’t give you a right to live any way you want to live. When you look at how carefully the high priest was to prepare themselves to go into the holy of holies, it should cause the Christian to be just as careful to live their life in a holy manner realizing that their body is the temple where the Holy Spirit lives. Don’t abuse the right to be able to go to God at any time by living an unholy life, but let the opportunity to be able to approach Him motivate you to live in such a manner that when you do approach Him, your life has not been tainted with worldly living and thoughts.
Second, because the vail of separation has been removed, it should cause you to avail yourself regularly to the very throne to where others before the cross could not go. Friend, you have access to God through prayer at any moment because the vail has been removed. When is the last time you availed yourself of this great opportunity? I don’t know what your needs are today, but God commands you to come boldly to His throne with those needs. Don’t ever get too busy to go to the throne of grace in prayer. Daily take advantage of this great opportunity to go to the LORD directly in prayer with your needs and with the needs of others. Let me encourage you to make your presence at God’s throne a regular occurrence.