Prayer Within the Veil
David W Palmer
(Hebrews 10:19–22 NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. {20} By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain (veil) into the Most Holy Place. {21} And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, {22} let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. {Parenthesis added}
This passage describes a profound privilege that is ours in Christ; God has given us access to him in his most holy place for communion, conversation, revelation, empowerment, and answered prayer. This privilege is not a general invitation for everyone; it is only available to God’s born again children in Jesus. It is built on Father’s initiative, love, and action; and it is founded upon the indescribable suffering of our Lord Jesus on our behalf.
We can enter God’s most holy place only because of “the blood of Jesus”—which speaks of the shedding of his perfectly innocent blood in a wrongful execution at the hands of the demonically inspired world. But, in the ultimate twist, his death was for us—not for him, as he had committed no sin.
“By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain (veil) into the Most Holy Place.” What was this “veil” that blocked our way prior to this? To understand this, let’s go back to the Old Testament where the earthly “type” of heaven’s holy place was built at God’s command and according to his design:
(Exodus 26:31, 33 NLT) “For the inside of the Tabernacle, make a special curtain (veil) of finely woven linen. Decorate it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. ... {33} Hang the inner curtain from clasps, and put the Ark of the Covenant in the room behind it. This curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.” {Parenthesis added}
God told Moses to build a tabernacle (tent), and he gave him the exact dimensions and full building instructions, including materials and furnishings. It had an outer—open-air—courtyard, and a structure with two rooms: the first was called the holy place, and the second was an inner room called the holy of holies or the holiest place. God instructed Moses to make and hang a veil between the two rooms. Here is the instruction again from a different Bible translation:
(Exodus 26:31, 33 NKJV) “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim. ... {33} And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.”
In this instruction, God said the veil was to be “woven with an artistic design of cherubim.” Without doubt, this speaks of heaven; the tabernacle with its holy place and holy of holies represents heaven’s inner sanctum.
God further said that the inner holy of holies was to contain the ark of the testimony—the arc of the covenant. It contained three very important items:
Together, they formed the inner foundation of the golden box upon which God’s cherubim were located. God spoke to Moses face-to-face from between the cherubim. This speaks of us having a relationship with Father in which he speaks to us face-to-face in our holy place with him. We can only do this because of the written word of God, the Living Word of God and using authority as directed from God.
