WE NOW HAVE FREE ACCESS TO THE HOLY OF HOLIES
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Ons het nou vrye toegang tot die Allerheiligste”
Someone wrote to me and I summarize his question to me as follows:
"We know that the Ark has been moved around a number of times and does not know if there is evidence of where he was or was last."
According to what I read in the Word, we read the last time, so to speak, of Moses' ark in 2 Chronicles 35.
2CHR 35:3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
As I understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His New Covenant, it really does not matter where the ark was, or where it is now, or if it is still somewhere.
What does matter, to put it this way, is that the Veil ripped from top to bottom and that we now have access to the Holy of Holies ourselves and can speak to our Lord about our sin and all our other circumstances:
MAT 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
MAT 27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Now we can, because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us at Calvary:
1COR 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
1COR 5:8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Now we have JESUS CHRIST our High Priest who intercedes for us with the Father:
HEB 4:14-16
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Now – and let me just say it again; it doesn't matter where Moses' ark is, if it is still somewhere.
Christ is in me and I am, so to speak, clothed with Him.
Therefore, inside and out, I am equipped to go to my God in the Most Holy Place.
From inside:
GAL 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
From the outside:
GAL 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Unfortunately, many people say to Jesus: "Lord, Lord" – But the veil of the Old Covenant has not yet ripped from the top to the bottom in their hearts, and therefore they do not spiritually enter the Holy of Holies and in that manner personally communicate with our Lord .
They are still searching for this and are still looking for that and are still clinging on to things from the Old Covenant and are finally not very steadfast and secure in their spiritual lives and in their personal relationship with our Lord.
As of those it can be said – and that is the reason it is inscribed for us as an example in the New Testament:
2 COR 3:14 -17
14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Now, of course, I'm not saying someone will go to hell if they're looking for the ark, Moses or Noah's, or anything else, or want to go and see what's already found.
I just mention, that none of the disciples ever, for example:
Encouraging people to look at Jesus' tomb, or send around the Communion cup that Jesus used, and yes not even encourage people to go to Calvary or for that matter sending Jesus' grave cloth around – simply because it is not part of the way in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be preached.
I encourage people to preach the Gospel as we have received it from Jesus Himself and through His apostles:
MAT 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
MAT 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."ACT 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
According to how I understand the Word, the criteria to be used is:
The Word, just the Word and nothing but the Word and what is prescribed in the Word for us, as His followers:
It is the rich man in hell who speaks here first – and take note that it is Jesus who shares this event with us:
LUK 16: 27-31
27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house–
28 for I have five brothers–so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; (this was the Bible for the people of the Old Testament) let them hear them.'
30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, (Wow! What a great miracle sign) they will repent.'
31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, (the Bible in those times at their disposal) neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
Jesus says here:
If you were at someone's funeral yesterday and he comes to you today and says he has come back from the dead to tell you to repent – and you do not believe what you read in the Word, you will not truly repent.
You may be stunned.
You may even go around and tell people what you have experienced and tell them with great zeal that they must repent – but according to Jesus it will all be just for a time, which may take years but according to Jesus, you will not truly repent.
Because:
Only the Word, nothing but the Word – for it is our Lord's own words with which He brings His Gospel to us – will lead you to repentance.
My hero Paul highlight this way of preaching Christ’s Gospel:
1COR 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. (Nor the wisdom of all kinds of tricks or gimmicks)
1COR 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (His Word, only His Word and nothing but His Word and what He prescribes for us in His Word )
Come you and I proclaim His Word in this way. While by our words and our lives, I almost wrote, especially through our lives, let us jubilant declare:
ROM 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Greetings,
Sakkie