The purpose of the veil in the tabernacle
was to protect
the priests from the "shekinah" glory of the Lord.
No-one can see God's glory and stay alive.
"I will not let you see my
face, because no one can see me and stay alive." (Exo
33:20)
The high
priest and only the high priest was allowed to enter through the
veil once a year.
He was to present the blood of the sacrifice to the Lord. To
protect himself from seeing God's presence he had to fill the Most
Holy Place of the tabernacle with smoke from burning
incense.
"He shall take a fire pan
full of burning coals from the altar and two handfuls of fine
incense and
bring them into the Most Holy Place. There in the LORD's
presence he shall put the incense on the fire, and the smoke of the
incense will hide the lid of the Covenant Box so that he will not
see it and die. He shall take some of the bull's blood and with his
finger sprinkle it on the front of the lid and then sprinkle some
of it seven times in front of the Covenant Box." (Lev
16:12-15)
Tradition has it
that whenever the high priest had to enter through the veil of
the tabernacle into the Most Holy Place, a rope was bound to his
one foot
so that he could be pulled out in case he should die in God's
presence.
When Moses was allowed to see God, it was only from
the back and only from the protection of a rock.
"Here is a place beside me
where you can stand on a rock. When the dazzling light (glory) of
my presence passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock and
cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my
hand away, and you will see my back but not my face." (Exo
33:21-23)
This Rock
spoke of Christ.
"All ate the same spiritual
bread and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from
the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ
himself." (1Co 10:3-4)
Just like
Moses was safe in the Rock, we must also
be in Him if we want to approach Father God.
"It is through Christ that
all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to
come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father." (Eph
2:18)
In Christ
we can now enter beyond the veil of the tabernacle of
heaven.
"In union with Christ and
through our faith in him we have the boldness
to go into God's presence with all confidence." (Eph
3:12)
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The
Bible says that Moses spoke to God face to face.
"The LORD would speak with
Moses face-to-face,
just as someone speaks with a friend." (Exo 33:11)
But,
just like the priests that went beyond the veil of the tabernacle,
Moses could not actually see God's face, because God was hidden in
a cloud.
"After Moses had gone in, the
pillar of cloud would come down and stay at
the door of the Tabernacle, and the LORD would speak to Moses from
the cloud."
(Exo 33:9)
Nevertheless, the glory of God so affected Moses
that the people of Israel could not look at him.
"Even though the
brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the
people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him." (2Co
3:7)
Whenever Moses left the
tabernacle, he therefore had to
wear the veil to hide the glory of God from the
people.
"When Moses had finished
speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil. Whenever Moses
went into the Tabernacle of the LORD's presence to speak to the
LORD, he would take the veil off." (Exo 34:33-34)
- Pieter de
Waal
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Because the veil of the temple was torn when Christ
died, we can now all enter into the presence of God
"We have, then, my friends,
complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means
of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way,
through the veil
---that is, through his own body." (Heb
10:19-20)
God now
gives us an even greater glory than what Moses had!
"All of us, then, reflect the
glory of the Lord with uncovered faces;
and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit,
transforms us into
his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory." (2Co
3:18)
We only
have to take the step of faith through the veil of
the tabernacle of heaven and enter the Father's
presence.
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