In the twenty-sixth chapter of Exodus, we find the specifications for the Tabernacle and the first description of the Holy of Holies (the place where God's presence was most palpable). We read there: "And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place." (Verses 31-34, ESV) This area was restricted to the High Priest (Exodus 28), and he was required to always wear special sacred garments when performing his duties there (Exodus 35:19).
Torah was also very explicit that Aaron and his successors would only be permitted to have access to the holiest place once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). We read there: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering." (Verses 2-5)
Later, when Solomon ascended his father's throne, we are informed that he constructed a permanent Temple at Jerusalem. We read: "So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar. And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold." (I Kings 6:14-22)
In both the Tabernacle and the Temple, the Holy of Holies was the place where God was, and access to it was strictly controlled. In other words, the vast majority of the people did NOT have access to that place - did not have access to God. The High Priest and the Levitical priesthood served as a kind of intermediary between them and their God.
Of course, in the New Testament we read the story of how Jesus Christ reconciled people to God - ending the alienation and separation which their sins had created (Romans 5:10, II Corinthians 5:18, Colossians 1:21). Indeed, when Christ died on the cross, we read that the veil (a kind of curtain) which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was miraculously ripped from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45). However, the text which gives us the most insight into how Jesus related to the Holy of Holies is found in the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews.
In understanding this relationship, that book informs us that Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 3-8). Then, in the ninth chapter, we read: "Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation." (Verses 1-10)
The author of the epistle then went on to make very plain that ALL of this had pointed to Jesus and his work. We read: "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Verses 11-14) Next, the epistle made very clear that Christ's blood and death had inaugurated a New Covenant (verses 15-22). The thought then concluded with this statement: "Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Verses 23-26)
So, according to the author of this epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ has given us access to the Holy of Holies - the Holiest Place - the place where God is. Indeed, this is reiterated in the very next chapter of the book. We read there: "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (10:19-22)
Thus, the Holy of Holies found in the Tabernacle and Temple were symbolic of the place which Christ opened to us. This is made clear at the beginning of this chapter. We read: "For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?" (10:1-2) Once again, we see that Torah pointed to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment and reality of its rituals and commandments.
This is why Paul wrote to the saints at Colosse that "you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him." (Colossians 1:21-22) Christ has reconciled those who were alienated from God to God. Through him we have access to the Holy of Holies and understand that place in a way that the children of Israel NEVER did. Now, that's New Covenant Torah!
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