THE HOLIEST
[p. 225] THE HOLIEST
Hebrews 9: 1-5; Hebrews 10:1-22
The tabernacle was a figure of that vast scene in which God’s glory is displayed in Christ, and I understand the holiest to be what is peculiar to Christianity. The holiest is that part of the system with which we are particularly connected. It is there we learn the mind and ways of God so as to be qualified for the service of God. The holiest is a spiritual sphere where the mind and ways of God are known. We enter the holiest individually, and we need to be exercised about taking up our privilege of entrance into such a blessed sphere. The Spirit of God was concerned that the saints should know what it was to be apart from the religious man after the flesh and to be in the circle of God’s thoughts.
The things in the holy place were connected with Israel; a time is coming when Israel will be in the light of Christ, and the glory of the Lord will be seen upon her. Israel will arise and shine as the candlestick, and will have a place before God on the ground of Christ which is set forth in the twelve loaves, but Israel will never enter the holiest.
To enter the holiest is to come into a spiritual region where man in the flesh has no place, and where all things are of God. In order to reach that spot we have to go the way that has been opened up. In this connection there are two things — the blood of Jesus and the new and living way. The blood of Jesus speaks of the ending of man in the flesh; the rending of the veil was typically the ending even of Christ after the flesh; but the new and living way speaks of the revelation of God in love. In the same wondrous moment man was removed and God was revealed, and now there is a way paved with divine love over which our souls may travel into most holy things. We travel that road in affection; all that the Spirit does is through the affections. By the Spirit we may be free from hindrances and disturbing elements, and in the consciousness of the love of God may reach a spot where we realise that everything that is of God and for God is established in Christ glorified.
The golden censer suggests reconciliation, for it conveys the thought of a scene pervaded by the fragrance of Christ. When the priest went in with the golden censer the holiest was filled with the odour of the incense. There is that now [p. 226] before God which is perfectly suitable to Him and delightful to His heart. We get the light of this in the ministry of reconciliation, but the consciousness of it in the holiest. It is a wonderful thing to enter in spirit a scene filled with the fragrance of Christ; it is absolute rest and joy to the heart to enter into what Christ is under the eye of God. Entering the holiest is not the same as entering into God’s rest, but in the holiest we are in presence of all that will characterise the rest of God. The rest of God is typified by Canaan, not by the holiest; it looks on to the accomplishment of all His counsels in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Reconciliation is the first thought from the divine side — that is, all must be for God’s complacency. But the gospel tells what God is for man, and we must learn this first. The golden censer sets forth what man is for God, and the ark of the covenant what God is for man. If there is reconciliation Godward there is the covenant manward. All that in which God has engaged Himself to bless man is fully secured in Christ. From the very first God engaged Himself to bless man; every promise was an engagement on God’s part to bring in blessing for man. Now Christ is the Ark of the covenant; everything is secured in Him. An ark preserves what is put in it; Noah was preserved in an ark, and so was Moses. Every thought of gracious blessing which was in the heart of God for man is secured in Christ, nothing can fail. “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us”. All are now taken up in Christ by the saints’ intelligence and affections, and God gets the praise of it all in the assembly. The assembly is the vessel of divine glory; she takes up intelligently and in praise all that is to the glory of God. There is glory to God in the assembly throughout all ages.
Then in the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod we have divine resource for the wilderness and in relation to the sanctuary. Manna is for the wilderness, and all resource for the wilderness is now treasured in a heavenly Christ. It is in the holiest we become conscious of the wonderful resources we have for the wilderness. Manna is the heavenly grace in which Christ went through this scene; we trace in Him ‘a life divine below’, a perfect, gracious, holy life in contact with all the present circumstances of earth. As we contemplate Him the desire is awakened to follow Him, and we need the manna for [p. 227] that. Manna is not that we may get through with comfort to ourselves, but that we may go through as He went through.
Priesthood is in relation to the sanctuary, that we may not be hindered in the service of God. The priest has to do with the service of God and the holy vessels. We are qualified for the service of God by entering the holiest, and apart from the Priest we should never go that way. We go up from the wilderness to the sanctuary leaning upon our Beloved (Song of Songs 8: 5). The Priest sympathises and succours on our side that we may go to His side; He sups with us that we may sup with Him. What attraction there is to approach! “Let us approach with a true heart”. A true heart is one that responds to divine Persons and divine love; it is illustrated in the woman who anointed Him in Matthew 26. The rod that budded was a figure of Christ as risen “after the power of an endless life”. He ever lives to make intercession for us; there is every divine resource in Him whether for the wilderness or for approach to God.
The tables of the covenant are connected with the will of God. “I come ... to do thy will, O God: yea, thy law is within my heart”. Christ came to give effect to all the will and counsel of God. It is no question now, as of old, of what is required of man; the whole pleasure of God is brought to pass. Christ came out of heaven, and has brought about a heavenly order of things; He has secured a company of many sons for God’s pleasure.
Then the mercy-seat is the great central thing in the holiest. The cherubim may be connected with the attributes of God, and it is very blessed to know that every attribute of God maintains and safeguards His mercy. The mercy-seat is the centre of the moral universe, and the universe of bliss will stand in mercy, and hence there is no possibility of breakdown or failure. Sin having come into this universe and spoilt everything, the only ground on which things can be recovered and maintained for God is mercy. God has exercised the rights of His mercy in all His ways with man, and the universe will be held in abiding suitability to God by His mercy.