Replies

What I mean is that I can say that we are to have a one on one relationship with God according to Biblical support. (The curtain in the Holy of Holies was rent, thus showing that the sacrifice of Christ gave us direct access to the Lord, no more going through the high priests for forgiveness).

One slight correction. The veil in the temple being rent in two shows that God provides for our relationship with Him and those things which are good for nothingness are removed from righteousness. The veil was part of the temple, or the place where God resided. He was known to be present in the Shekinah glory in the temple.

Today, He still has a temple. That temple today is in each and every believer, forming the body of Christ, the Church.

We are able to have fellowship with Him through Christ who is God and our intercessor to the Father (Heb 7:24-25). The significance is that when we pray, we pray to the Father, but it is communicated through the High Priest, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus and is communicated by God the Holy Spirit in inexpressible groanings (Rom 8:26-27).

1stJohn provides a tremendous study in discerning the differences between propitiation and forgiveness. The legal penalty for sin has been paid. Forgiveness is a relational term, not a legal perspective. We all have had our sins paid for by Christ on the Cross, but we are only forgiven when we return to Him through faith in Him. This happens for all presalvation sin when we first become believers and it occurs for postsalvation sin upon our turning back to Him and confessing all known and unknown sins to Him through faith in Christ in prayer (our thinking towards Him).

"One slight correction. The veil in the temple being rent in two shows that God provides for our relationship with Him and those things which are good for nothingness are removed from righteousness. The veil was part of the temple, or the place where God resided. He was known to be present in the Shekinah glory in the temple."

Thank you, but I'm not so sure that my comment needed correction. The curtain was more than just a part of the Temple, it was the physical barrier that seperated the holy place of the Temple from the Holy of Holies (Ex 26:31-35). This Holy of Holies, which held the covenant of God and the mercy seat was only entered once a year, on the Day of Atonement, by the High Priest (Lev. 16, 23:26-32). All of the sins of Isreal were forgiven on this day, the only day that anyone (that someone being the High Priest) could enter into the presence of the Lord, which was behind the veil blocking the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world.

As I said, this was not just a part of the Temple, this was the barrier between everyone and the one place in the Temple where God resided. This veil was not "good for nothingness" it was made to seperate the Glory of God from the sinfulness of His people.

The sacrifice of Jesus changed that. When He died He did so as the most perfect and holy sacrifice for all sins. When the curtain was rent it signified that God's presence was now open to all, in a new and living way... in a way that we can have confidence to enter into the presence of God by the blood sacrifice of Jesus atoning for our sins, our hearts sprinkled clean (like the altar) from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (like the High Priest's requirement to enter into the Holy of Holies), giving us a full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:11-22).