That Christ entered the holy of holies at his ascension seems clearly proved from the Epistle to the Hebrews. In Heb. 6:19, 20, we have the following statement concerning Christ:
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”
This Scripture says plainly that at the time the Hebrew letter was written, Christ had entered “within the veil.” Now, to which of the two apartments does this term refer? It will be noticed that the apostle refers to this place “within the veil” as if it were a place perfectly familiar to the readers. He does not stop to define it, but passes on, taking it for granted that the term is familiar to them; just as Matthew in his gospel refers to “the Sabbath” in Chap. 12:1. He does not stop to define which day is “the Sabbath,” although there were other days in the Jewish system to which the term “Sabbath” was applied; he takes it for granted that when he uses the term “the Sabbath day,” all will understand from their previous knowledge of the Old Testament that he is referring to the seventh day. Again, in the second chapter of Acts, the writer speaks of the “Day of Pentecost;” he does not stop to explain what day that is, but assumes that the reader, from his knowledge of the Old Testament, will know which day the “Day of Pentecost” is.
THE FIRST VEIL
The only Scripture in all the Bible that is used to prove that the term “within the veil” refers to the first apartment, or within the curtain which formed the door of the tabernacle, is the Scripture found in Heb. 9:3. Paul, here, in describing the Mosaic temple says: “And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all.”
“There” said my teachers, “that proves that the first curtain was a veil.” Yes, it does; but it also proves that the first curtain was the first veil. It will not do to demand that the logic of Paul’s statement makes the first curtain “a veil,” and then shrink from accepting the full result of that same logic which makes it the first veil. Here, therefore, we have the Apostle Paul calling the second curtain the “second veil” and the first curtain the “first veil.” Now, if the Scripture in Heb. 6:19 had said that Christ had entered the “first veil,” then the question would be settled; but he simply says that Christ has entered “within the veil.” Now, inasmuch as he uses the term without explaining it, taking it for granted that his readers understand to what place he refers, the all-important question arises: To which place within the first veil, or within the second veil-would the reader understand the term “within the veil” to apply? If the term “within the veil” applies to the first apartment, then we would expect that it had been thus applied so universally in the Old Testament Scriptures, that the reader would not hesitate in applying it to the first apartment. But when I came to study the matter carefully I found that the term “within the veil,” in the Old Testament never applied to the place within the door of the tabernacle, or the first apartment, but always to the holy of holies, within the veil which separated the holy from the most holy. I found that the Hebrew Scriptures never call the curtain at the door of the tabernacle “a veil,” much less “the veil.” On the other hand, the term “veil” is applied to the curtain separating the holy from the most holy; and the term “within the veil” applies only to the holy of holies.
THE VEIL IN THE HEBREW
For the benefit of the reader, every passage in the Hebrew Scriptures which mentions “the veil” is here quoted. The Hebrew term for “veil,” when referring to the sanctuary is Pah-roh-cheth. It occurs just twenty-five times. in every case it is applied to the “second veil,” or the curtain between the holy and the most holy. The reader is also asked to note carefully that the name which the Scriptures give to the first curtain all through the Old Testament is “door of the tabernacle,” with its modifications.
1. “And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twisted linen of cunning work; with cherubims shall it be made:
“And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark wood overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.
2,3,4. “And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy and the most holy.
“And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
5. “And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
“And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, wrought with needlework.” Ex. 26:31-36.
Note how the first curtain is called in verse 36 “the door of the tent,” in contrast to the “veil.”
“And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.
6. “In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony.” Ex. 27:20,21.
“And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.”
7. “And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.” Ex. 30:1,6.
Note again how the Lord calls the first curtain the “door of the tabernacle,” in the forty-second verse of the previous chapter, in contrast to the term “veil,” which is again applied to the second curtain.
8. “The ark, and the staves thereof, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering.
“And the incense altar, and his staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entering of the tabernacle.” Ex. 35:12,15.
Again, the second curtain is called “the veil of the covering” while the curtain at he door of the tabernacle is called “the hanging for the door at the entering in of the tabernacle.”
9. “And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work.
“And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue~and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework.” Ex. 36:35,37.
The reader is asked to notice once more that the Lord calls the curtain between the holy and the most holy, “a veil,” and in distinction, calls the first curtain “a hanging for the tabernacle door;”
10. “And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.
“And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Ex. 38:27,30.
The first curtain is called “the door of the tabernacle,” here as elsewhere, in contrast to “the veil.”
11. “And the covering of ram’s skins dyed red, and the covering of badger’s skins, and the veil of the covering.
“And the golden altar, and the annointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door.” Ex. 39:34,38.
Once more the curtain at the door of the tabernacle is called “the hanging for the tabernacle door,” in contrast to “the veil”.
12. “And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony and cover the ark with the veil.
“And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle.” Ex. 45:3,5.
Again the Lord carefully distinguishes the two curtains, calling the first curtain “the door.”
13. “And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; and as the Lord commanded Moses.
14. “And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil.
15. “And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil.
“And he set up the hanging of the door of the tabernacle.” Ex. 40:21,22,26,28.
The reader must by this time be deeply impressed with the careful distinction which the Lord universally makes in discriminating between the two curtains. Here again the curtain between the holy and the most holy is three times called “the veil”; and in contrast to this, the first curtain is called “the hanging at the door of the tabernacle.”
We have now examined fifteen out of the twenty-five instances where “the veil” is referred to in the Old Testament. Every one of these fifteen instances refers unmistakably to the curtain separating the holy from the most holy. The term “the veil” thus far is the name which the Holy Spirit gives to the second curtain, and to that curtain only; while “the door of the tabernacle” is the name which the same Spirit gives to the first curtain.
THE VEIL IN THE LEVITICAL LAW
We are now about to pass to the Book of Leviticus. In this book we have the law of God regulating the sacrificial system. The terms used in the book are legal terms. They must be definite, for they are for the information of the priests who were to offer the sacrifices. The names given by this Levitical law to the two curtains are as rigid and binding as is the name “Sabbath,” as applied by the ten commandments to the seventh day. It will not be denied for a moment that the first curtain, or the curtain at the door of the tabernacle was a veil, both as to its construction and its use; but the question we are now examining is – does the Lord apply the term “within the veil” so universally to the space within the first curtain that when one reads in Heb. 6:19 that Christ has entered “within the veil,” he will have no hesitation in applying it to the first apartment?
Thus far in our study the terms “the veil” and “within the veil” are applied rigidly to the second curtain, and the holy of holies; and now that we have come to the book that gives the legal names to the sanctuary and its offerings, let us see what names are given to these two curtains by the Levitical law.
In Lev. 1:5, we read, concerning the burnt offerings:
“And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord, and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar, that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
Here, the Levitical law names the first curtain, not “the veil,” but the “door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
“And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary.
“And the priest shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Lev. 4:6,7.
Here, the Levitical law gives the legal name of “veil” of the sanctuary to the curtain between the holy and the most holy; and the legal name of “door of the tabernacle” to the first curtain.
17. “And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the veil.
“And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Lev. 4:17,18.
Here again, the Lord designates the curtain between the two apartments as “the veil,” and the first curtain as “the door of the tabernacle.”
18. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place, within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”
“And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
19. “And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.
20. “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil.” Lev. 16:2,7,12,13.
Here, as always, the Levitical law makes a rigid distinction between the two curtains, calling the one separating the two apartments “the veil,” and the first one “the door of the tabernacle.”
21. “Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish.” Lev. 21:23.
“Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.
22. “Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute forever in your generations.” Lev. 24:2,3.
23. “And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of the testimony with it.”
“And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers’ skins that is above it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Num. 4:5,25.
Again we have the two curtains carefully distinguished.
24. “Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for everything of the altar, and within the veil.” Num. 18:7.
25. “And he made the veil of blue, and purple,and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.” 2 Chr. 3:14.
These are the twenty-five instances in the Hebrew Scriptures where the term “veil” appears, and the reader must recognize that the Lord invariably applies the term to the curtain separating the holy from the most holy. Never has he called the first curtain “the veil” in the Hebrew Scriptures. Bear in mind, it is not denied that the first curtain was a veil, both as to its construction and use; but the Lord was careful, in naming the two curtains, to give the first one the name of “the door of the tabernacle,” and the second one the name of “the veil.”
THE VEIL IN THE SEPTUAGINT.
An effort has been made to weaken the force of this rigid distinction which the Hebrew Scriptures make between the two curtains, by referring to the Septuagint, which as all my brethren know, is a translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew into the Greek. It is claimed that in the Septuagint the first curtain is sometimes called a veil. This is true. And that the first curtain was a veil, both as to construction and use has never been denied. But I have contended that God had so clearly distinguished between the two curtains that when he uses the term “within the veil” in the book of Hebrews, the reader is compelled to apply it to the holy of holies in the heavenly sanctuary. Never in the Septuagint is the first curtain called a veil except in the directions for the making and moving of the tabernacle and then only when the connection plainly shows to which curtain it is applied. To illustrate: In Ex 28:16 we have “the veil of the gate of the court” and in Ex. 37:5 we have “the veil of the door of the tabernacle.” Whenever the term veil appears in the Septuagint without qualification it refers to the veil separating the holy from the most holy.
Never in the Septuagint is the first curtain called a veil in the book of Leviticus, which contains the law governing the sacrificial system.
Never in the Septuagint is the term “within the veil” applied to any other than the holy of holies. Lev. 16:3,12,15.
Never in the Septuagint are the terms “before the veil” and “without the veil” applied to any other than the first apartment. Lev. 24:3.
In the Septuagint the first curtain is referred to twenty-two times in the hook of Leviticus, and every time it is called the door of the tabernacle, in distinction from the second curtain which in every instance (seven times) is referred to as the veil in such expressions as “the veil,” “the veil of the sanctuary,” “within the veil” and “outside the veil.”
“WITHIN THE VEIL”
And now let us examine every instance where the term “within the veil” is used, and see how invariably it is applied to the most holy place.
The first use of the term is found in Ex. 26:33:
“And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”
The next three instances are found in Lev. 16:2,12,15, which verses read as follows:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat… And he shall take a censer full of burning coals from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil… Then, shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat.”
The next and last instance of its use in the Old Testament is found in Num. 18:7:
“Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for everything of the altar, and within the veil.”
Thus again it is made plain that the term “within the veil,” in the mind of the student of the Hebrew Scriptures, meant in the holy of holies, and not in the first apartment.
“WITHOUT THE VEIL.”
It must be evident to the reader that if the term “within the veil” refers to the first apartment instead of the second then the terms “without the veil” and “before the veil” would necessarily mean outside the first apartment, or outside the door of the tabernacle, where the altar of burnt offering was located. And now let us read all the references that use the terms in the Hebrew Scriptures, and see that they always refer to the place before the veil of the sanctuary, and not before the door of the tabernacle.
The first is in Ex. 26:35.
“And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and thou shalt put the table on the north side.”
The next use of the term is in Ex. 27:20, 21:
“And thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always in the tabernacle of the congregation, without the veil, which is before the testimony.”
The next instance is found in connection with the erection of the sanctuary. Ex. 40:22,26:
“And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the north side of the tabernacle without the veil and he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil.”
The next two occurrences of the term are found in Lev. 4:6,17:
“And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil.”
“And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the veil.”
The next and last instance is found in Lev. 24:1-3:
“And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually without the veil, of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation.”
Thus it is again made plain that the term “within the veil” must apply to the second apartment, or holy of holies, inasmuch as every time the terms “without the veil” or “before the veil” are used, they invariably apply to the holy place, or first apartment, and not outside the sanctuary, as it would of necessity be, if the term “within the veil” applied to the first apartment, as the denomination teaches.
Reader, it is for believing that “without the veil” and “before the veil” always refers to the first apartment of the sanctuary, and the term “within the veil” always refers to the second apartment, that I have been cast out of the church and declared an enemy of God and man. But I appeal to your honest convictions, have I a “thus saith the Lord” for my belief or have I not?
THE VEIL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Passing from the Old Testament into the New, we find the Holy Spirit, still referring to the curtain between the holy and the most holy as “the veil.” The Greek word translated “veil” is katapetasma, and it appears six times in the New Testament. The first reference is in Matt. 27:50-52:
“And Jesus when he had cried with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost; and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.”
The next instance of the use of the term “veil” in the New Testament, as applied to the sanctuary, appears in Mark 15:37,38:
“And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the Ghost: And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”
The third instance occurs in Luke 23 :44,45:
“And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”
The reader will notice that the Holy Spirit in all these three instances calls the veil between the holy and the most holy places “the veil of the temple.”
An effort is made to break the overwhelming force of this argument by saying that the reason why the Spirit of God was not more accurate, and did not say “second veil,” was because there was only one veil in the temple at the time of Christ’s crucifixion; but this is not borne out by the facts. Coneybear Howson’s “Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” p. 581, states that in the temple of Herod there was a veil at the door of the first apartment as well as a veil between the holy and the most holy. Josephus, in his “Antiquities of the Jews,” book XV, chapter 11, par. 3, speaks of the veils that adorned the doors of the temple. This objection loses its force also when we consider that at the time when there were two curtains, only one of them, and that one between the holy and the most holy, was called “the veil of the sanctuary.”
“And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary.” Lev. 4,6,7.
The Holy Spirit did not call the veil between the holy and the most holy “the veil of the temple” because there was but one veil, but because that was one name of the curtain separating the holy from the most holy.
There are but three more instances where this Greek word appears in the New Testament, and all of these three instances are to be found in the book of Hebrews. And can we suppose for a moment that the Holy Spirit in the hook of Hebrews would contradict the whole testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, and its own previous testimony in the New, with this overwhelming evidence, both from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, that the term “veil” when used without qualification applies invariably to the curtain between the holy and the most holy, and the term “within the veil” applies just as invariably to the most holy place, let us now read again the Scripture in Heb. 6:19:
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither our forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”
I appeal again to the reader: How can I, in the face the testimony of Scripture, teach that this term refers to the FIRST APARTMENT?
The next reference is in Heb. 9:3:
“And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all.” Here, as before stated, we have the Lord calling the second curtain the “second veil,” and by implication calling the first curtain “the first veil.”
And now from our study of the Old and New Testaments, which one of these veils does the Lord refer to when he uses the term “within the veil”? Unquestionably, the SECOND.
AN ILLUSTRATION
An illustration will help to impress this thought. A builder in a cold climate often has two doors at the entrance of his home. The first one is called “the storm door,” and the second one “the door.” To distinguish them, he writes these names with chalk upon the doors. He afterwards speaks of “the door” as “the second door,” which would make the storm door the “first door.” Now, if be tells his painter to go and paint “the door,” which one of the doors would the painter paint? Surely not the storm door, for the storm door is not named “the door.” It is the second door that is called “the door.” So it is with these two curtains. God calls the first curtain “the door of the tabernacle,” and the second curtain “the veil”; but in one instance only he refers to “the veil” as “the second veil,” and by implication calls the first curtain the “first veil.” Then when in the same epistle he speaks of “the veil,” surely he cannot possibly be referring to the first curtain, because that is not the name of the first curtain, but the name of the second.
The last reference is found in Heb. 10:19,20. After proving that the Lord had, at the time of Paul’s writing, offered the offering which was typified by the offering made by the high priest every year at the mercy seat, within the holy of holies, and after declaring that there is “no more offering for sin,” the apostle continues:
“Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.”
The high priest of the Mosaic sanctuary made his yearly offering, (which typified the offering of Christ), within the veil, at the mercy seat, and since Christ has made the one offering for sin, which that offering typified, it follows, inevitably, that Christ made that offering upon the mercy seat, “within the veil,” or in the most holy place. How very fitting, then, it is for the apostle to encourage us to follow our great High Priest “within the veil.”
AN APPEAL TO THE READER
And now I appeal to the reader: When the Holy Spirit in Heb. 6:19 tells us that Christ, our forerunner, has entered “within the veil,” which department am I to understand is referred to by this term? Let me again call attention to the fact that the term “within the veil” is used in Heb. 6:19 without qualification, it being taken for granted that the reader is familiar with the term, and will know without explanation to which apartment it refers. Never for a moment would the student of the Hebrew Scriptures think of applying that term to the first apartment. When we go to the Old Testament to see which apartment is referred to by the expression “within the veil,” we find the term applied invariably to the holy of holies. How dare I, then, in the face of this overwhelming testimony of Scripture, apply the term “within the veil,” to the first apartment, a place to which the Spirit of God never applied it?
If I should teach that “within the veil” applies to the first apartment, the Word of God would condemn me. When I teach that it refers to the second apartment my church condemns me. May the Lord have mercy upon me and sustain me in the trial!
“Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he will appear to your joy, and they will be ashamed.” Isa. 66:5.
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