“because of the blood of Jesus we can now confidently go
into the holy place”
(Heb 10:19, GW)
In these teachings we have repeatedly explained the prototypical value of the old covenant temple. It is however of great importance to remember that although the cross of Jesus is situated in the outer court (represented by the symbol of the bronze altar – pictured above), the blood of Jesus also signifies as our entry point to both the holy and the most holy place.
If you have reached the first dimension, the outer court of faith, you have grabbed onto the blood of Jesus as the means which brought about your redemption. You must have faith that his blood can save, “(you must have) faith in his blood” (Rom 3:25, DRB); you cannot be saved without it. Now that we have been justified through his blood we are also saved by Him from the wrath of God (Rom 5:9). In the first dimension you are then converted and saved.
But to move from the first dimension to the second dimension we have to pass through the curtain that separates the two. This curtain prototypically symbolizes a two-fold process, called baptisms (Heb 6:2 – see the plural) – the baptism with water and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is clear that the baptisms do not take place before conversion. The baptism of water is closely linked to the blood of Jesus – “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death” (Rom 6:3 & 4a).
In Matt 3:11 John the Baptist prophesies the following – “indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
The second curtain, the baptism of fire (Mal 3:2) is closely associated with the blood of Jesus. Every year the high priest entered the holy of holies on the great day of atonement, taking along a container with blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat (Lev 16:15) to thereby bring about reconciliation between God and man (Rom 3:25).
We know that the veil also symbolized Jesus’ flesh, and that He had to break through it (as the veil tears – Luke 23:45) to prepare the way, “a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Heb 10:20). As the Scripture quoted earlier states – it is the blood of Jesus which drips onto us when we move through his torn body into the most holy place, which gives us the confidence to move further, into the third dimension. This dimension, the dimension where the Bride of Jesus is baptized, has a prerequisite – we need to die unto ourselves. To die unto oneself is much more than an intellectual concept. Prayerfully read this Scripture from Rom 6:5-9 – “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”
- Sela: Read Rom 6:5-9 prayerfully.
- Read: Num 3; Zech 12; Ezek 4
- Memorize: Zech 12:10
- For a deeper understanding: Read Watchman Nee’s Back to the cross.
