A New Way

When I was 27, I picked up a book from my husband’s bookshelf and it changed my life. I finished the book and set out to read it again. I still have this treasured book on my bookshelf, though the pages are falling out. The book is The Letter to the Romans: The Daily Study Bible, by William Barclay. He was a Scottish preacher and professor who started out his ministry with sermons that were way above the heads of his congregation. He toned down his preaching with the determination to take his scholarly understanding of the Bible and make it available to the average reader. His 27 books on the New Testament have been bestsellers through many years.

What I realized was that I did not have to live with guilt. My relationship to God was not based on my goodness. I had grown up always wanting to please everyone, saying yes to whatever was asked of me. Barclay’s verse by verse explanation of the Apostle Paul’s writing opened my eyes to a new place in my relationship with God.

I heard a recent teaching that had a profound effect on me, and I thought of Paul who urged his readers in the book of Romans “to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

In the Old Testament the Jewish people had the presence of God in a structure called the Tabernacle, or, my favorite title, “The Tent of Meeting.” God wanted to be present with the children of Israel, for them to feel His presence and so He gave Moses the details of how they would build the Tabernacle and how they could approach Him.

One section of the Tabernacle was called the Holy of Holies, where the priest went once a year, on behalf of the people to offer a blood sacrifice to receive forgiveness for their sins. There was a heavy curtain, sewn according to specific directions, that covered the opening to the Holy of Holies. In other words, the people couldn’t just walk into God’s presence. Only the priest, once a year, had this privilege.

Now, fast forward to the time we have just celebrated, Easter, to the part of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion in which He said, “It is finished.” The Apostle John says: “With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” Matthew adds this: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”

When Jesus took His last breath, the curtain was torn—and in an unusual way—from top to bottom.

Jesus had given His life as the sacrifice. There was no longer a reason to offer sacrifices. When Jesus died, the curtain that kept us out of the Holy of Holies was torn.

We can now walk into God’s Presence and talk to Him, anytime, when we accept Jesus as the one who was the sacrifice for our sins.

We are told that we can have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place.”