The Third Day
Chapter Two
THE VEIL
It is obvious that the veil in the
Tabernacle and Temple, represent for us a VEIL OF IGNORANCE. Physically,
the veil was simply a heavy curtain and from a strength point of view, could easily
be brushed aside by any man. For this reason, the veil itself had no power to
restrict entry to the Most Holy Place where God dwelt. If we wanted to keep
people out of a place we would use a very strong barrier of wood or even steel
and stronger locks to make the barrier impregnable.
Could it be that God never had any
real desire to exclude man from his presence at all? After all, I am sure God
could have devised a far better barrier if this was indeed his purpose. What
then does this VEIL actually represent for us in the pattern of the Tabernacle.
Under the Old Covenant, the High Priest was the only man who was given the
right to enter into the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year. Therefore we
know that God's presence was not designed to be a total exclusion zone for man.
Now the High Priest of the Old Testament was himself a TYPE of one that was to
come, which is Jesus Christ. Every year on the Day of Atonement, there had to
be a sacrifice made for the sins of the people as well as for the High Priest,
before he could enter into the Most Holy Place.
BUT THIS MAN, Jesus Christ, after he
had made one sacrifice for sins forever, not only entered into the Most Holy
Place, BUT HE SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD!! Heb 10:12-13. This is a most instructive statement and we need to understand
what the Spirit is saying to us today. For the first time God allowed someone
to share the secret place of his divine presence. Not just as a fleeting visit,
but to remain there on a permanent basis, in a relationship which was not even
for shadowed under the Old Covenant. To sit in the presence of God implies an
equality with God that was never before revealed. On the "RIGHT
HAND" of God, suggests the place of authority, and so the scripture
adds, "From that time there is an expectation that all enemies of the
seated one will become subjected to him." Heb 10:13.
Now we are discovering the reality of
this THIRD DAY into which we are moving. For some 6000 years of history man has
believed he had been evicted from the Garden of Eden and thus from the presence
of God. However 2000 years ago there came a MAN born of a woman who declared he
came down from HEAVEN. He said, "No man has ascended up to heaven but he
that came down from heaven, even the SON OF MAN WHICH IS IN HEAVEN." Jn
3:13. His name is JESUS.
He confounded the people of his day by
claiming that he existed BEFORE ABRAHAM. Such a concept today still causes
consternation, when ever it is mentioned that ALL mankind has existed since the
day God said, "Let us make MAN in our image and after our likeness."
No, I am not suggesting we existed in the form we have today, for having come
out of GOD we must originally have been SPIRIT. Now if you have ears to hear
listen to what the spirit is saying to us today.
God only created ONE SON, not two or a
thousand, ONLY ONE, and he is referred to as the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.
Then where did all the other sons come from, for are we not called, "THE
SONS OF GOD?" 1 Jn 3:2. The answer is that every other SON was created IN
THAT ONE SON. Paul declares this truth in Eph 2:10. "We were CREATED IN
CHRIST JESUS." Beloved you were IN CHRIST in the very beginning, as SPIRIT
waiting for the moment of our manifestation as the dwelling place of God on the
earth.
Christ who was called the WORD or
LOGOS by John, was in the beginning with GOD and WAS GOD. Just think about it
for a moment, we began existence IN CHRIST who is the same substance as the
FATHER, who IS SPIRIT. This is the THIRD DAY beloved, the day of RESURRECTION,
when the CHRIST came forth triumphant over hell and death. He could say,
"I am he that LIVETH and was dead, and behold I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE,
AMEN, and have the keys of hell and death." Rev 1:18. This is the THIRD
DAY for us also, who WERE RAISED IN HIM ON THAT RESURRECTION DAY.
Now this only begotten Son was told he
had dominion over all the works of God’s hands, and there is no mention of any
ENEMY. But let us pursue this amazing truth a little further. God said to him, "Be
fruitful and replenish or fill the earth." Now most Christians today
believe this simply involved Adam and Eve having children and they then have
children etc etc. So we have these childish questions about where Cain’s wife
came from? I want to tell you, God’s plan and purpose went far beyond any
natural conception. Here is the TRUTH behind this plan of God to FILL THE
EARTH. James tells us,
"Of his
own will begat he us with the WORD OF TRUTH, that we should be a kind of
FIRST-FRUITS of his creatures, or of the HIMSELF KIND." Jas 1:18.
Take careful notice of what James is
saying. He says we have been BEGOTTEN BY THE
WORD OF TRUTH! It was TRUTH beloved, that birthed us
IN CHRIST. The darkness of our ignorance was swallowed up in the knowledge or
LIGHT of the TRUTH, birthing us into a new understanding of our identity IN
CHRIST. These "IN CHRIST" people are the ones God has purposed to
use to fill the earth. Not a sinner saved by grace, or those who repent of
their sin and ask Christ into their hearts, this is not what God had in mind.
It is those who do not look back to Adam the man of dust as being their origin,
but to the CHRIST OF GOD in whom they were created and begotten.
Paul tells us quite plainly,
"
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST. According as he has
CHOSEN US IN CHRIST before the disruption of the world, that we should be HOLY
AND WITHOUT BLAME before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF according to the good pleasure of his
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us ACCEPTED
IN THE BELOVED." Eph 1:3-6.
The TRUTH is, that we were CREATED IN
CHRIST, BLESSED IN CHRIST, and CHOSEN IN CHRIST, and made totally acceptable to
God IN CHRIST. That little phrase "IN CHRIST" is the key to
the whole purpose and plan of God in this age and in the ages to come. Paul
presents the GOSPEL quite differently to Peter who ministered to the
CIRCUMCISION which is ISRAEL. Paul ministered to the GENTILES or the
UNCIRCUMCISION, who were not at Mt Sinai when the LAW was given to Israel.
Speaking about redemption or Salvation he simply says, "IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST HE IS A NEW CREATION." 2 Cor
5:17. He says, "IN ADAM all DIE, but IN CHRIST shall ALL BE MADE ALIVE.
I want you to notice carefully that it is not BECAUSE of Christ or THROUGH
CHRIST, but I-N C-H-R-I-S-T. Here we have the contrast between two different
ideas concerning our ORIGIN and IDENTITY.
We have been taught right from Sunday
School days, that we came from Adam the man of DUST, who sinned in the garden. Romans 5:12
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned." The problem is that Bible teachers interpret S-I-N as being
transgression of the Law. But the Greek word for sin is HARMATIA, which has
nothing to do with LAW, but is a sporting term which means, MISSING THE MARK.
If an archer shoots an arrow and misses the bulls eye, you do not call him a
criminal as having broken some LAW. He failed to hit the mark. However under
the Hebrew concept of the LAW GOD in the Old Testament many sins were
punishable by death, and this concept has infiltrated the so called "Gospel"
many Churches preach.
The TRUE concept of Sin as revealed in
the New Testament under the NEW COVENANT is MISSING THE MARK. The
"Mark" is the MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF CHRIST. Any thought, word or
deed that does not meet the standard of CHRIST is called MISSING THE MARK. It
is not a legal question but one of maturity. When a child spills food we do not
treat it as a federal offence, but help them to try again and we encourage them
to do better. Here is the attitude of Jesus towards the woman taken in adultery.
Jn 8.