It’s so exciting to continue with our exciting series on the review of the Old and New
Covenants. In our previous Episodes we have considered the major differences
between the two Covenants, the purpose of the Old Covenant and also the fulfillment of
prophesies and promises of the Old Covenant by the New Covenant.
In this Episode we shall consider the special privilege granted to the children of God
under the New Covenant to have unrestricted access to the presence of God.
Under the Old Covenant system of worship, only the priests and high priests could
approach the presence of God. In fact, the priests could only enter into the outer part of
the Tabernacle called the Holy Place and not the Holy of Holies which was separated
from the Holy Place by thick curtaina. Only the high priest could enter into the Holy of
Holies where the Ark of the Lord which symbolized the presence of God was kept. The
High Priest went into the Holy Place once in a year to offer sacrifices for the sins of the
people
The separation of the Holy of Holies from mankind was so strict that a rope had to be
tied on the waist of the High Priest so that if he died while performing the sacrifice, he
could be pulled out.
But at the moment of Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross, that curtain that separated the
Holy place from the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn into two from top to bottom.
Mark 15:38-39 states
“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in
two from top to bottom.
Because Jesus Christ had taken the punishment for our sins, God no longer needed to
put a distance between us and Himself so the separation between God and man ended.
The tearing of the curtain signified the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the
new Covenant.
No wonder the writer of Hebrews declares:
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. Hebrews 4:16
Under the NC, we do not need any intermediaries between us and God except Jesus
Christ who is our only mediator according to 1 Timothy 2:5.
We can come into the presence of God with confidence and boldness to receive His
Grace and mercy for our needs.
Flowing from the privilege of having unrestricted access to God is the fact that God has
now placed us in a special position where we can be intimate with Him and have
personal relationships with Him. He has elevated our position to a place where he now
calls us citizens of Heaven. 1 Peter 2:9 proclaims that He has made us a chosen

people, a royal priesthood; a holy nation; God’s special possession; that we may
declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.
And Revelation 1:6 says that God has made us a kingdom of priests to serve His God
and Father. So God declares that you are royalty! You are a priest. So you can
approach God directly anytime and anywhere. You have direct access into the Holy of
Holies to perform your sacrifice of declaring the praises of Him who called us out of
darkness into His wonderful light”.
I don’t know if you are appreciating the spectacular transformation in our relationship
with God from the OC to the NC. Now God opens His hands and beckons on us to
come to Him. He says in Revelation 3:20 that He stands at the door of our hearts and
knocks and waits on us to open the door to Him. But during the OC era, He put a veil
between Him and the people; He kept at a distance from them. Now He is the one that
initiates relationship by asking us to draw near because He desires intimacy and
fellowship with us. This is revolutionary. It is profound; and we should never take this
privilege and completely different approach to relationship for granted.
Sadly many Christians under the NC don’t feel confident to approach God’s presence
and to relate with Him personally. This may be because we feel we are not good
enough, we feel condemned because of things we have done or we have heard
someone teach that we cannot enter into the presence of God if we are not perfect. I
would like to let us understand that such feelings have their origin in the OC teaching
and mentality. Yes I said so. This is one of the teachings Religion has taught us but
from what we have learnt so far it is an OC mentality. Relationship with God under the
OC was conditional on 100% perfection, which we have seen no one could achieve
anyway. But relationship with God under the NC is dependent on the performance of
Jesus at Calvary. Sin separated the old Covenant people and still separates the
Unbelievers from the presence of God but Jesus Christ has dealt with the sin of
Believers. Remember He says we should draw near to receive mercy and Grace. Grace
means to receive what we do not deserve while mercy is not to receive what we
deserve. So He is telling us to come to Him to receive forgiveness and favours. If you
put the veil back and separate yourself from God, out of fear and guilt, how will you
receive the forgiveness He is offering? NC teaching is that we are not saved or
established in Christ because we deserve it or because of our good works but because
of our faith in what Christ accomplished for us at Calvary. Ephesians 2:8. NC teaching is
that God’s love for us is unconditional and that nothing can separate us from the love of
God for us-Romans 8:38-39. NC position is that there is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1.
So we approach His presence by our faith in His blood, not because we deserve it. As
we read in Hebrew 10:19-We have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood
of Jesus and with full assurance of faith.
And Paul sums it up in Ephesians 3:12-In Him and through faith in Him we may
approach God with freedom and confidence.

The truth is that we can never meet up to God’s standard of holiness and would always
remain disqualified due to our inadequacies. So you can only enter in boldly on the
basis of what God has done. As long as you depend on your actions, your conscience
will always condemn you and you will lack the boldness to draw near.
Brethren the veil has been torn. The barrier has been removed. We have unrestricted
access to the presence of God. God craves an intimate relationship with you which the
people of the OC could never have. Do not worship God from a distance of your own
making. Do not keep yourself under an imaginary veil because of an OC mentality.