Beyond the Veil

INTRO:

Let’s read our text for today. We will be reading and you probably will want to put your finger in as well. The author of Hebrews wrote,

(CSB) — We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner…

This passage clearly defines what the anchor is. It is hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain and the hope that entered in is Jesus, Himself. Jesus is our hope that has gone behind the curtain. First, he has gone as a forerunner—that means he went there and we will go there also. And he went on our behalf—that means that his going beyond the curtain occurred so that in some way, we don’t have to go there. We’ll unpack that as we go through the text.

This passage clearly defines what the anchor is. It is hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain and the hope that entered in is Jesus, Himself. Jesus is our hope that has gone behind the curtain. First, he has gone as a forerunner—that means he went there and we will go there also. And he went on our behalf—that means that his going beyond the curtain occurred so that in some way, we don’t have to go there. We’ll unpack that as we go through the text.

So, the first question we need to ask about this text is, where is there? Where did Jesus go? And where is it that this passage suggests we will go?

Well it simply says that Jesus entered behind the curtain. And it’s fairly obvious that the author of Hebrews is predicting that his listeners will know what that means.

Most preachers will rightly go to the Old Testament to talk about the curtain. In the Lord’s temple in Israel, there was a heavy curtain that guarded the holy of holies, the most holy place, where it was believed that the essence of God would descend from the heavens to commune with God’s people. The high priest would enter in behind the curtain once a year on behalf of all of the people to commune with God. It’s interesting, though, because—bear with me here—Jesus did not go to the temple and go behind the curtain. That’s not the curtain the author of Hebrews is talking about.

Not exactly, anyway. See, the physical curtain was a representation of the spiritual curtain that they believed existed behind it. In Hebrew thought, it was as if there was a soft spot between the natural and supernatural worlds that existed behind the curtain and it was important to keep that off limits to the people of Israel so that they would not be exposed to the full glory of God when His presence transcended realms.

It was as if there was a soft spot between the natural and supernatural worlds that existed behind the curtain and it was important to keep that off limits to the people of Israel so that they would not be exposed to the full glory of God when His presence transcended the realms.

By the way, I’m choosing my language carefully and I’m intentionally using language that sounds like science fiction. Why? Because, as King Solomon notes, there’s nothing new under the sun! This is weird stuff and it should sound weird. All of the bizarre ideas in the sci-fi stuff comes from somewhere. I’m not saying it’s all true. I’m just saying people didn’t make all that up. Ancient people believed in portals to the netherworlds. And the ancient Jews really did see the holy of holies that existed beyond the veil as a portal into the spiritual realm that God occupies.

If we could call up an ancient Jew today and ask them questions about the curtain in the holy of holies, they wouldn’t talk about the curtain as a metaphor for the differences between the natural and supernatural worlds. They would more likely describe something that sounds like it came right out of a sci-fi movie. That’s how they thought about things.

If you haven’t seen the show, the Upside Down is actually the dark side of the spirit world where chaos and decay reign. In the town that the show takes place in, things have gone on that caused a thin spot, if you will, in the veil, where people either slip into the upside down or where the darkness can slip into the world.

Train station in the matrix

Now, some translations don’t say, ‘behind the curtain,’ like mine does. They actually say ‘behind the veil.’ I think for a number of reasons veil is a little easier for us to understand today. The idea of a curtain conjures images like that of the Wizard of Oz, who was a fake, a fraud. Curtains are used to hide things that you don’t want exposed. It’s why you have curtains on your bedroom windows. You’re keeping private things out of public view. But, that’s not what this curtain is about. God isn’t modest.

Some translations don’t say, ‘behind the curtain,’ they say ‘behind the veil.’ I think for a number of reasons veil is a little easier for us to understand today. The idea of a curtain conjures images like that of the Wizard of Oz, who was a fake, a fraud. Curtains are used to hide things that you don’t want exposed. It’s why you have curtains on your bedroom windows. You’re keeping private things out of public view. But, that’s not what this curtain is about.

So, a curtain may not be the best analogy. Instead a veil is about mystery and the mixing of two worlds.

When a bride comes down the isle she where’s a veil as a symbol of her virginity. The groom has known his wife to be, but—in a ideal situation, at least—he has not fully known her; he has not been intimate with her. When the veil is lifted at the end of the ceremony, it’s a symbol that the time of mystery is over and the time of intimacy has begun.

And that’s what happens with this veil that the author of Hebrews mentions. Jesus went behind the veil. He went beyond the mystery. He entered into the presence of the Father. The intimacy that the Father, Son, and Spirit had before creation came back into perfect unity when Jesus stepped beyond the veil. Jesus entered into a perfect, intimate, and unified relationship with the Father. The tearing of the veil is about unmasking the mysterious.

PAUSE

In many ways, is all about this veil. John recounted Jesus’s prayer on behalf of the church before He died, rose, and ascended into heaven—before He went beyond the veil. He prayed in verse 5,

(CSB) — Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus recognized that He previously had glory in the presence of the Father before the world existed. But, read , He gave up that glory in order to come to earth as man. He condescended the veil. Jesus continued in verse 11,

(CSB) — I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

Jesus is no longer in the world, because he is going to the Father, but we—the disciples—are still in the world. So, he prayed that we are protected in His absence for the purpose that we might be one, that we might be unified with Christ. Jesus said that He is one with the Father and that he wants us to be one with them also.

Jesus reiterates this idea in verse 21.

(CSB) — May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

Jesus prayed that just as He is one with the Father, that we might be one with them as well. In other words, Jesus rose to heaven, he transcended the veil, in order to become one with the Father. But it wasn’t just so he could be one, because he also prays for us. Jesus transcended the veil as a forerunner so that we too might transcend the veil to be one with Jesus and the Father. That is what is meant by forerunner. He went before us to the place that we are eventually going.

But, there is something interesting in this John passage. Jesus prayed that we would be one with the Father so that the world may believe that Jesus was sent to earth by God. And that doesn’t connect well. If we go to heaven like Jesus did, then how will that help the world believe in Jesus? Our time to help the world believe in Jesus is now while we are here on this earth.

So, in Jesus’s mind our oneness with God doesn’t come when we actually transcend the veil, when we physically enter into the presence of God. If it did, then how could the world observe in us that Jesus went to be with the Father?

Do you see that? Even though Jesus physically crossed the veil, we remain physically here and yet somehow we also “cross the veil.”

How is that? Why does Jesus cross the veil to become one with the Father and somehow we are able to remain here and be one with Jesus and the Father from this side of the veil? Hmmmm.....

The author of Hebrews actually answers that peculiar question. Let’s read our passage again.

(ESV) — We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain [veil], where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf…

See, Jesus didn’t just go before us—as a forerunner—but Jesus also went on our behalf. Let’s chew on that for a moment. What does it mean to do something on behalf of someone else?

When you have children you often have to sign forms on behalf of your children. You take them to a doctor and need to sign a release. They’re going on a school field trip. Whatever it is, you sign for them. You sign on their behalf. The reason parents do that is because our laws don’t recognize a person as being capable of making decisions on their own until they are adults. So, the parent has to do that for them.

So, when the parent signs the form, they do something the child cannot do, and then the child reaps the benefits of the parent’s actions. The parent signs the permission slip for the school trip, but the child gets to go on the trip not the parent.

So, Jesus crossed the veil into the presence of the Father on our behalf. He went to the Father, so He gets to be one with the Father. But, he also went on our behalf so that we don’t have to cross the veil in order to reap the benefits of crossing the veil. Because he went on our behalf, we get to be one with God on this side of the veil. That’s what Jesus prayed would happen in and that is what the author of Hebrews told us has in fact occured.

Our relationship with God is just as if we were physically in the presence of God, but we are still here on the earth. Why would Jesus do it that way?

, “…so that the world may believe…”

Jesus made us one with God, but left us here so that the world might believe through us.

This is what we often refer to as the already-but-not-yet. There are many spiritual realities that are already present, but have not yet occured in their fulness. This is one of them. We are already one with God even though we have not yet entered into God’s presence.

The Sci-fi Veil

Jesus has crossed the veil into the presence of God on our behalf so that through us, the world might believe.

So, that is kind of a weird text. And I hope you have a pretty firm understanding of it.

For the rest of our time, let’s talk about some implications of this. How does it affect us that we are one with God and Christ on this side of the veil, on this side of eternity?

1. We have hope of entering God’s presence for eternity, because we are already in God’s presence now. (Anchor)

This is our anchor. This is what holds you down when the floodwaters of life try to pull you away from Christ.

Every expression of the presence of God in your life is meant to remind you of the greater presence of God you will experience for eternity.

Just as Jesus has already entered fully and perfectly into the presence of God, crossing over the veil, when we experience our oneness with God and Christ on this side of the veil, it reminds us that we will one day cross over the veil to be with Christ forever.

OK, so how do we experience God’s presence?

That’s the question. Where is God present on this earth?

Many people will say that they were alone and praying or asleep and they had a vision or something like that and say that the Lord’s supernatural presence was with them. Or maybe you feel the presence of God while singing songs and maybe that’s the presence. Still others pray for miracles, whether healing or other signs, in hopes that they might experience the supernatural presence of God.

But, I could only come up with one place in the New Testament that God has promised to be present. Jesus said,

(CSB) — For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

When Jesus said this he was talking about a group of believers discerning sin. But, he made an appeal to a universal principle to do so. He says that when two or more people gather in the name of Jesus, then he is there with us. In other words, the presence of God is evident when believers gather. It’s part of the oneness that Jesus said we have with Him and each other. We gather and Jesus shows up.

But, it’s not as if we can gather casually, because Jesus specifically said that he is present when we gather in His name. There is a formality to it. Certainly, we gather to worship on Sundays in the name of the Lord. But, the promise is that any group of believers can gather in the name of Jesus and in so doing invoke His presence. Invite someone over for a time of prayer. Invite someone over for a Bible study. Invite someone over to read the Bible together. Invite a friend to go with you to share Jesus with a friend or family member. Invite someone to do other kinds of mission work—praying for people who are sick or in the hospital, making meals for people, and so on. In other words, get together to do Jesus stuff and when you do, Jesus is there with you.

So, the question is, how does that remind you of eternity? How does what we are doing right now remind you of eternity?

Because heaven is about oneness with God and oneness with God’s people. Eternity isn’t just you and Jesus. It’s you and Jesus and the rest of the church. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is the best part of eternity. But, you’re going to do a lot of living your eternal life with your church family.

And I hope that excites you, honestly. Because, there’s a problem somewhere if you just aren’t excited about being around God’s people. When you don’t want to be around God’s people, it probably means that there’s a problem somewhere in your life. How can I say that so confidently? Well, because I don’t think it is the presence of the Christian that makes you uncomfortable. It’s the presence of Jesus that makes you uncomfortable.

Look, when your kids are up to something—you know this is true—you can tell because you don’t see them and you don’t hear them. It’s like the whole house gets super quiet and for like a second, you just bask in the silence, and then all of the sudden, you’re like, hold up, “What are they up to!?”

Cause, listen, when your kids are doing something you don’t want them to do, they are not going to do it right in front of you.

And so, if you are doing something you know God doesn’t approve of, you are not going to bring it to church with you. You’re gonna want to stay home. It’s not that you don’t get along with Christians and all their politics and drama; in all likelihood if you’re not getting to church regularly, it’s because you aren’t getting along with Jesus.

And you all know that’s true. And so you all know that it is through your oneness with other Christians that you experience God. So, I hope that now, when you gather with other Christians—if you have never thought this way before—I pray you are blessed by them and I pray you recognize them as the presence of Christ, and I pray the presence of Christ warms your heart and you are reminded of the day when you go to be with Jesus for eternity.

We have a hope of entering God’s presence for eternity, because we experience Christ’s presence now.

A second implication is this.

2. God is Patient with Humanity

Have you ever been so broken that you truly cried out to God to bring you home, to end your life, and bring you into eternity?

I never have. But, I believe on a couple of occasions I have heard others—I’m thinking of two different people right now—who have broken down in my presence and I believe truly confessed that they were done with this life and they wanted to go be with Jesus. Like, they probably were not going to take their own lives, but they would have been grateful if someone else did it for them. Just completely bare and broken.

Well, both of those people I was thinking of are still alive today. And they are still walking with Jesus today. And neither of them are begging for death today.

Why does God do that? Why does He leave us here when it’s so clear that it is better for us to be in His presence? It would be better if we could just cross over the veil now, wouldn’t it?

Here’s what Peter had to say about that. Don’t miss the compassion in his voice as he writes,

(CSB) — Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

Why does God delay? Why can’t we go be with Jesus now? What is He waiting for?

Peter responds, well, He isn’t. God isn’t delaying. You just don’t conceive of time like God does. God will bring about the end at the exact time He intends to, not a moment longer and not a moment sooner. He has conceived of the precise time to bring about the end, to bring us into His presence beyond the veil. And some would say that God is waiting for all to come to repentance. That’s what He is waiting for. But, that’s not what the text says. It says that God is waiting for you. “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you.” That’s what Peter said.

So, what is God patiently waiting for you to do?

Well, Peter said, God, “is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” Let that soak in a second.

Jesus is patiently waiting for you to bring people to repentance so that they will not perish.

Jesus why do you delay? Why don’t you bring me home? Why don’t you put an end to the chaos of this world?

And He responds, well I am waiting for you to bring these people to repentance so that they can be one with me as I am one with my Father and I am one with you.

I want you to hear this warning from the Author of Hebrews. Turn over to in your Bible’s and let’s see if you can see what I see. He wrote,

—we will enter fully when the time comes. (cf. )

3.

(CSB) — Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short.

This is the greatest wisdom. He’s like, Let’s look on the bright side. Jesus isn’t coming back yet. So, let’s just take this time to examine our lives and make sure that all of us who claim to know Jesus really do know Jesus and none of us fall short of what Jesus requires. Since we’re all here, let’s do some heart exploration.

He continues,

2 For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.

Are we good here? Hearing the Gospel is not enough. You have receive it by faith and be united to the body of believers, the church. There are no rogue Christians. And there are no faithless Christians. You have to hear it and believe it and it must bear fruit, you must receive some benefit from it as evidence you have in fact recieved it. Going on…

3 For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what he has said, So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest,” even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works. 5 Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.

He’s referencing the faithless Israelites who perished in the wilderness when they fled Egypt. They heard about the Lord, but refused to believe and he says because of their disbelief, their lack of faith, they will not cross the veil, they will not enter God’s rest.

The end of the passage,

6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, 7 he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

He is so clear here. Those who recieved the good news did not enter God’s rest because of their disobedience. Therefore, God has given us a new day—today!—and he implores you, ‘Do not harden your heart!’

Stranger things, upside down

Give the biblical precedent for veil between the natural and supernatural worlds. POINT: Jesus went behind that veil when He was seated at the right hand of the Father.

You see, there is a tie between the validity of your faith in Jesus and the fruit that is produced by your life. The Israelites perished, not because they didn’t know the Gospel, and not because of a failure to believe in the Lord God. They believed in Him. But, they didn’t live their lives for Him. There was no fruit and thus they didn’t enter the rest.

The Humanity of Jesus

So, the author of Hebrews is saying, let’s just take this moment, right now, since we haven’t crossed over the veil yet and just make sure we’re all sure what’s going to happen when we do. Since the promise of entering God’s presence is still future let’s take a look at ourselves so that none of us will be found lacking when the day finally does come.

He goes ‘on our behalf’ as a forerunner because He is human.

Listen, I’ve been a Christian a long time. And I know what it feels like to hear a message like this and there’s part of your life, it’s probably an area of sin, that you just won’t give over to God. You just aren’t going to do it. And you’re getting angry right now, because you just want me to stop talking so you can go about your day.

The Divinity of Jesus

But, I’m calling you to let this be the day that you soften your heart. Don’t harden your heart. If you hear what I’m saying right now, do not harden your heart. But, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, so that you can have this confidence, so that you can have this anchor in your life, that is the hope of entering into God’s presence. No more doubting. No more wondering if you’re good enough for God to accept you. I’ll give you a clue—you’re not. But, Jesus is. And people who believe in Jesus have heard the Gospel and they’ve softened their hearts, humbled their hearts, and they’ve repented of sins, and as a result, they have this anchor, this assurance, that even though the winds still blow and the waves still crash and the world seems like it’s coming in over them, they can hold their heads up high. You know who your God is and you know where He has gone and you know He is waiting for you. You know that you have entered into His rest.

Jesus always was (), but Jesus set aside His divine nature in order to become human (). But, Jesus was re-divinized (if you will) when he became high priest on our behalf. He is re-divinized so that we can be divinized (tomorrows message). (19)(The historicity of Jesus [preeminence, life, death, resurrection unto glory] who "has gone before us as a forerunner.”)

PRAY

APP:

The patience of God. c.f. . Enter His rest.