| YOUR SPIRIT: THE WAY INTO THE HOLIEST Derek Prince HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Sep 25 2009 08:00AM We have traveled through the tabernacle, this triune building representing the triune nature of man. We have likened the three areas of the tabernacle to the three areas of human personality: the outer court, the body; the Holy Place, the soul; and now the Holy of Holies, representing man's spirit. The Second Veil As we leave the Holy Place, we pass through a second veil. Only on the Day of Atonement, on this one day a year, was a priest allowed to go beyond the second veil. He went with the blood from the brazen altar and with a censer filled with burning coals of fire and incense from the golden altar of incense. This is because the way to the holiest is with the blood of the everlasting sacrifice, and with the incense of worship and adoration. Without worship, we have no access beyond the Holy Place. Until we learn true worship, we are confined in the realm of the soul. The only way out is through worship sanctified by the blood. I see this veil as representing Christ's ascension.
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2:4-6) Not merely are we raised from the dead with Him, but Scripture says we have also been raised up to sit with Him in the heavenly places. The first veil typifies resurrection from the dead. This second veil typifies ascension that takes us up into the heavenlies and seats us positionally on the throne with Christ. The Holy of Holies You will remember that within the Holy of Holies there was no light except for the manifest, visible, personal presence of God - the shekinah glory. That is where worship takes place. We don't need any other source of illumination when we are in the presence of God. Here we experience the privilege of direct person-to-Person, spirit-to-Spirit relationship with God. Within the Holy of Holies were two items of furniture that occupied the same space. First, there was the ark of the covenant. And above the ark was the mercy seat with cherubim, one on each end. The three activities of the spirit - worship, fellowship, and revelation - have meaning only in relation to God Himself. Man's spirit is dead unless it is united with God. Your body and soul can operate without direct relationship with God, but the spirit only comes alive in contact with the Creator. When your spirit is separated from God, it is dead, darkened, and blind. So, all activities of the spirit have meaning only in relation to God Himself. The Ark of the Covenant The ark is Christ, revealed to the spirit. Or, Christ revealed within your spirit, since, in our way of interpreting the temple, the Holy of Holies represents man's spirit. An ark in the Bible is always a type of Christ. For instance, the ark of Noah typifies you in Christ. The ark of Moses typifies Christ in you. But both symbolize New Testament relationships. The Ark of the Covenant was of acacia wood, as was all the wood in the tabernacle, and was lined both inside and out with gold. The wood typified the humanity of Jesus; gold typified His divinity. Within the ark were three items: the tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, the golden pot of manna, and the budded rod of Aaron - which we will examine in greater detail. Later, the tabernacle was replaced by another building, which became God's dwelling place in Israel: the temple, built by Solomon. When the ark was brought into Solomon's temple, the contents had changed:
the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims: For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt." II Chronicles 5:7-10) The golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded were taken out when the tabernacle ceased and the temple was built. I believe the tabernacle was a picture of the church in this present age: light, mobile, and impermanent. Everything had poles so that it could be carried. It could all be taken down, moved, and reassembled again. That is the church in this dispensation. I believe the temple of Solomon is the church in the next age: established, permanent, glorified, and reigning in visible power. Now it reigns invisible - spiritually. Two item were taken out of the ark. First, the golden pot of manna, which was the hidden manna - in the next age it will no longer be hidden. And Aaron's rod that budded, symbolizing God's power and authority - in the next age it will be openly displayed. But the tablets of stone always remain in the ark. The Tablets of Stone The two tablets of stone represent God's eternal, righteous law. There is a law in the universe that is the expression of God's own righteousness. It is as unchanging and eternal as God Himself. Psalm 40 tells us about this law in relation to Christ:
law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:7-8) The tablets of stone in the ark signified Christ, with God's law within His heart, never deviating by a hair's breadth from the eternal law of God's righteousness. God offered those tablets of stone to Israel the first time, but by the time Moses came down from the mountain after receiving them, Israel was already breaking the first commandment by idolatry. In anger, Moses cast down the tablets and they were broken. The next time Moses went up the mountain, God said, "Carve out some new tablets, and I'll write on them with my finger." But the second time, Moses was not authorized to display the tablets of stone to Israel. He was commanded to place them inside the ark. Then they were covered with the mercy seat. From then on, it was a sin punishable by death to ever lift the lid from the ark. That was the end of man trying to keep the law by his own efforts. He tried once but failed before the law every got down from the mountain. God decided that was the end of that, and created another way. Now it was not man keeping the law, but it was Christ in man, with the law in His heart - the only way of righteousness. The ark in you, the law in the ark - Christ being the ark. Hebrews unfolds this truth of Christ within us having the law in His heart:
NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH: NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY CONTINUED NOT IN MY COVENANT, AND I REGARDED THEM NOT, SAITH THE LORD." (Hebrews 8:8-9) That covenant was set aside because Israel broke it before it was ever finalized.
SAITH THE LORD; I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MIND, AND WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS: AND I WILL BE TO THEM A GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE TO ME A PEOPLE:" (Hebrews 8:10) That is the condition of being God's people: that you have God's law, not on two tablets of stone hanging on the wall, but written in your hearts. That is what makes you God's people. Paul wrote,
law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law." (I Corinthians 9:20-21) What Paul meant was, "I am in the law in Christ because Christ is the keeper of the law for me. When Christ rules my heart, then God's law rules in my heart, through Christ in my heart. But it is not me keeping the law; it is Christ living out His lawfulnesss in my heart. I am totally dependent on Christ. Christ in me, the hope of glory." (see Colossians 1:27). The Golden Pot of Manna Next, we come to the golden pot of manna, collected from the time when God provided sustenance for His people while they were wandering in the desert. John Tells us about the manna as he quotes Jesus:
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." (John 6:48-50) Very clearly, Christ was saying, "I am the true manna, the true bread that came down from heaven." Later, He said something tremendous:
6:57) In effect, Jesus was saying, "I have life by My union with the Father. And the one who believes in Me will have life by union with Me as I have union with the Father. And in that union with Me, he will feed upon Me. I will be the hidden manna in his heart. And on that manna he will feed, day by day." In Revelation, Jesus speaks to all believers in the church, and He gives us this promise of the hidden manna:
of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Revelation 2:17) That is the manna in the golden pot. We feed on Christ, the manna, by our inner spiritual communion with Him. Feeding on Him, we live by Him as he lives by His union with the Father. This is the inward spiritual union with Christ within, whereby He becomes the hidden manna in our hearts. Aaron's Rod That Budded The third item was the budded rod of Aaron that Moses used to perform God's miracles before Pharaoh and his sorcerers. Eventually, the leaders of the other tribes of Israel challenged Aaron's authority as high priest, and as the only one with the right to enter the Holy of Holies. God said, "We will settle this once and for all. Let the head of every tribe of Israel bring Me his rod." The rod was the symbol of authority for each tribe. Each man wrote his name on his rod. As God instructed, they put all of the rods before God and came back twenty-four hours later. When they returned, eleven of the rods were just as they had left them. But the twelfth rod had budded, bringing forth blossoms and complete almonds in just twenty-four hours. On the rod that budded was written the name Aaron. God had vindicated Aaron's authority (see Numbers 17:1-10). Today, the name on that rod is not Aaron, but Jesus. By the resurrection from the dead, God vindicated the divine claim of Jesus. So the rod is divine attestation and it comes by divine revelation. When you have revelation and attestation, you have authority. Now we have a picture of what was inside the Holy of Holies. The three items within the ark signify the following, and I believe they must be in this order: worship, fellowship, and revelation. Without worship you do not have fellowship. God will not fellowship with somebody who approaches irreverently or hastily. But when you approach with worship, you enter into fellowship. You begin to feed upon the hidden manna in the golden pot. And then out of worship and fellowship comes revelation of the mind and the will and the purpose of God. The shekinah glory illuminates this place. The Mercy Seat Now that we have dealt with the ark, we look at the mercy seat, which covered the ark. As I said before, the ark is Christ. Outside of Christ, there is no mercy, no acceptance, and no life. If you are in the ark, you are under the mercy. Romans use the Greek word for mercy seat, though it isn't translated that way in the English Scripture:
a propitiation [here is the Greek word for mercy seat] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." (Romans 3:24-25) Christ's atonement, His sacrifice, is the mercy seat. It is the place that covers the broken law, the tablets of stone that all of us have been unable to accept or keep. Now the mercy seat becomes a throne:
of need." (Hebrews 4:16) We can go boldly to the throne of grace because God sits on the mercy seat, on Christ's atoning work that covers the broken law. On the ark were two cherubs, two heavenly creatures, in beaten gold, kneeling at each end of the ark, their faces turned inward toward one another, their wings stretched out, with the tips meeting just over the mercy seat. Here again were represented the same three activities: worship, fellowship, and revelation. The bowed wings of the cherubim are worship. Their faces, inward toward one another, are fellowship. God said that where the wings and faces met, He would reveal His glory:
faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 25:20-22) Here, Christ sits as a King and a priest upon His throne. I believe the life inside the ark must precede the life upon the throne. It is the hidden life in the ark that gives you access to the throne. There has to be the inner life of worship, or bowing down, before the eternal law. If you don't submit in prostration before the law of God, you have no access. You have to learn to feed upon the hidden manna. You have to have the rod that buds supernaturally with divine revelation. When we come into the ark, we can step up on the mercy seat and sit on the throne. Jesus wants to share His throne with you, but there is an appointed way, step by step by step. I don't believe you can bypass any of these stages. There is only one way into the holiest. It is like a map; it is sketched out so plainly that an intelligent child of ten can easily understand once God reveals it. Here we have what I would call the "end product" of entering the Holy of Holies. There is worship, an intimate communion, and feeding on God. There is revelation, imparting God's authority. And there is God's eternal law of righteousness stamped upon our consciences. This is the destination of the progression into worship. We start in the outer court with the bronze altar symbolizing Christ's death. We pass through the first veil of Christ's resurrection into the Holy Place where we give God our will, intellect, and emotions. And then we are brought through the second veil, symbolizing Christ's ascension and into the immediate presence of God. Then we have entered into worship. Worship is not essentially an utterance; it is an attitude. It is not primarily praise, although they can be blended together. Worship is the attitude with which you approach. Worship relates to the tablets of stone within the tabernacle. It is total submission to the righteous law of God that doesn't change, doesn't bend, and doesn't deviate. It is complete reverence in approaching God. As you would proceed through the tabernacle, each area would get progressively smaller and smaller the closer you came to God. Finally, in the Holy of Holies, you would be in a perfect cube - ten cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high. There was really nothing to attract you there but God, and that is the way He planned it. There is something within us that grows scared the farther we go in this approach. Most of us come to God for things. We want blessings, we want power, or we want healing. God wants us to come simply for Him. Thus, we don't come into this place until we come to God for God's sake. We approach God as God. We worship; we bow before Him. We feed upon Him; we enjoy Him. Then comes revelation. Source: ENTERING THE PRESENCE OF GOD, by Derek Prince, Copyright 2007, Whitaker House. |
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