CHAPTER SIX

IN THE HOLIEST PLACE, LIVE WITHIN THE VEIL

Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:19-20; 4:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Thes. 5:23

Prayer: O Lord, we worship You that You have gathered us before You, and we believe that You are with us. How good it is that we can be here around Your word, and by this we can draw near to You and contact You as the Spirit! O Lord, we really thank You that, as our Savior, You died on the cross for our sins, You bore all our offenses, You were judged by God for us, and You were raised from the dead. O Lord, cleanse us with Your precious blood. By this blood we have the boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies. Lord, we have no fear within us because our conscience has been purified by being sprinkled with the precious blood. Having peace and boldness before You, we can hear Your speaking.

Lord, we pray that You reach every one of us and visit each one. Come into us to touch our heart again, and open up our spirit and the understanding of our mind that we may have the wisdom to understand Your word and may also have the revelation to see Your vision. O Lord, cause us all to be moved by You in our spirit to receive Your grace. Cause us all to know You as the true and living God and as the all-inclusive Spirit, who is in our mouth and in our heart for us to contact at any time.

Lord, we believe that Your Spirit is with us. We praise You that You have made us Your temple; we are Your dwelling place. We and You as two spirits have become one spirit. We pray that You bless us for us to have You as our life, even abundantly. Lord, grant us the utterance and give us the fresh and clear word to meet the need of the people. We also pray that Your word, bringing with it Your authority, Your power, and Yourself, would come to people to subdue them that they may repent to You, turn back to You, and see the corruption of the world and the vanity of human life. O Lord, we also ask You to shine upon us so that we may truly know You. Even more, we ask You to bestow Your blessing upon us that we may all have life and may have it abundantly. Amen.

THE HOLIEST PLACE, THE VEIL, AND THE THRONE OF GRACE

The title of this message is In the Holiest Place, Live within the Veil. This is taken from a line of the second stanza of Hymn #557 in the Chinese Hymns. The Bible speaks of the Holiest Place and the veil. However, Christians in general probably do not know the meaning of the phrase the Holiest Place. In addition, they explain the word veil merely as a curtain used to separate spaces or things, and they know even less what within the veil refers to.

After I was saved, I was puzzled about what the Holiest Place was and what within the veil meant. I felt that it was not too hard to understand these two words—Holiest and grace. But Holiest plus place equaling the Holiest Place referred to a location. What kind of place was this? Furthermore, grace plus throne equaled the throne of grace. What kind of throne was this? On earth there is a great mess everywhere. Where is the Holiest Place? And where can the throne of grace be? It seemed that it was not easy to find them. Therefore, I concluded that the Holiest Place and the throne of grace must be in the “heavenly hall.” Thus, “In the Holiest Place, touch the throne of grace” must refer to our entering into the “heavenly hall.” Moreover, the expression heavenly hall is definitely found in Hebrews 9:24 in the Chinese Union Version, but in reality, heavenly hall, which is altogether a Buddhist term borrowed by the Chinese Bible translators, does not correspond with the teaching of the Scriptures. The term heavenly hall does not exist either in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament or in the Greek text of the New Testament.

In order to understand the meaning of these terms—the Holiest Place, the throne of grace, and within the veil—I went to many places to listen to sermons for many years. However, it was not easy to hear messages concerning these things in the common Christian meetings. It was not until one day when I went to the meetings of a Brethren Assembly that I heard an explanation of what the Holiest Place is, what the throne of grace is, and what it is to be within the veil. At that time, they had prayer meetings every Tuesday night. During the meeting, the whole congregation would kneel down and pray with loud groanings. They said that this is to “enter the Holy of Holies” and “come forward to the throne of grace.” Afterward I found out that these phrases were quoted from Hebrews 10:19-20 and 4:16. I received a great deal of help from them. After I had had a considerable amount of experience, I gradually understood the real meaning of “entering the Holy of Holies” and “coming forward to the throne of grace.”

THE TYPES OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

In the Old Testament, when the Israelites came out of Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness, God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle for Him so that He could be with the children of Israel. Outside of this tabernacle was the outer court, which was one hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and enclosed with the fine linen as the curtains. The tabernacle itself was thirty cubits in length, ten cubits in width, and ten cubits in height. It was divided into two parts: the Holy Place and the Holiest Place. The Holy Place was twenty cubits in length and the Holiest Place was ten cubits in length. This tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among His redeemed people at that time on the earth. It was also the precursor of the temple; first there was the tabernacle, and then it became the temple. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. After they entered into the good land, Canaan, and settled down there, they built a fixed tabernacle of stones, and that was the holy temple. The contents of the temple were the same as that of the tabernacle, having three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holiest Place.

To enter the Holy of Holies, the priests had to first pass through the gate of the outer court which was on the east toward the sunrise. Then they passed through the outer court into the Holy Place and then finally into the Holiest Place. At the entrance of the tabernacle in the outer court there was the altar of burnt offering, where they offered sacrifices to God. In between the Holy Place and the Holiest Place, there was a very thick veil separating the two. The common people could enter the outer court but not the Holy Place. Only the priests were qualified to enter the Holy Place. As to the Holiest Place, only the high priest, who had the highest office among the priests, was allowed to enter it once a year.

In the Holiest Place was the ark, within which were the Ten Commandments which God had established with His people. Upon the ark was a cover of pure gold with two cherubim expressing God’s glory. This cover was the throne of grace. When the high priest entered the Holiest Place, the first thing he did was to sprinkle on this cover the propitiating blood from the altar to make propitiation before God for the sins of the people. It was on this cover that God forgave the sins of the people; it was also here that God fellowshipped and spoke with the high priest. Because this cover was sprinkled with the propitiating blood and had there the cherubim as God’s expression and was the place where God spoke to the high priest, it was called the throne of grace, the place for God to give grace to man.

Therefore, we can see that the Holiest Place was the innermost part of the tabernacle, and its main content was the throne of grace, where God met with His redeemed people, forgave His people, and spoke to His people. It was here that God gave grace to people. Hence, this was truly a great matter. In this vast universe there is a small earth. On this earth there was a place called the outer court. Within the outer court there was a tabernacle, the outer part of which was the Holy Place and the inner part of which was the Holiest Place. Furthermore, within the Holiest Place there was an ark. Upon this ark there was a cover where God gave grace to man; hence, it was called the throne of grace. The throne of grace was the center of the Holiest Place.

THE FULFILLMENT AND REALITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

In Hebrews 9 the apostle Paul indicates that the first tabernacle, the Holy Place, signifies the old covenant and that the second tabernacle, the Holy of Holies or the Holiest Place, signifies the new covenant (vv. 8-10). He also indicates that the Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (vv. 12, 24). How then can we enter into the Holy of Holies in heaven while we are still on earth? The secret is our spirit, referred to in Hebrews 4:12. The very Christ who is now in heaven is also at the same time in our spirit (Rom. 8:34, 10; 2 Tim. 4:22). As the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51) He joins our spirit to heaven and brings heaven into our spirit. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies. There we meet with God, who is on the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

The veil which closed off the Holy of Holies typifies the flesh of Christ. When Christ’s flesh was crucified, this veil was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51), thus opening a new and living way (Heb. 10:19-20) for those of us who were alienated from God, who is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 3:22-24), to enter into the Holy of Holies—into our spirit—to contact and enjoy God as our life and life supply.

The first stanza of Hymn #770 says, “In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow.” This is what Revelation 22:1 says: There is “a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” That throne of God is the throne of grace. Whenever we come to the throne of grace, the grace of God is like a river flowing to us.

DWELLING IN THE HOLIEST PLACE AND LIVING WITHIN THE VEIL

Hymns, #551 is a Pentecostal hymn. In the last century, a group of Christians felt that Christianity was too dead and deadening and that it had fallen into rituals and letters and was short of the Spirit and life. From their study of the Word they saw that at the apostles’ time, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon people. Therefore, a group of Christians in England began to pray and seek for the Holy Spirit. They testified that they prayed to such an extent that they also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the start of the Pentecostal movement.

The Pentecostal movement developed and spread to the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century. It first prevailed in Massachusetts and then continued on to the West until it reached the Los Angeles area. At the same time, a group of Christians in a certain place in Pennsylvania on the East Coast claimed that they had received the so-called gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus, based on the account in Exodus 15, they called the place where they were Elim (v. 27), indicating that they were not dry but rather full of the living water. Those who met there wrote this hymn. Then in 1934 this song spread to China and reached our hands. In October of the same year, Brother Watchman Nee had an Overcomers’ Conference in Hangchow. Because this hymn could stir up our spirit very much, he asked me to translate the chorus into Chinese, and we sang it in the meetings.

In 1963 and 1964, when we were preparing the English hymnal, we selected the entire hymn. Then in 1966 and 1967, when we were recompiling the Chinese hymnal, we translated the entire hymn into Chinese. The first stanza of this hymn says,

I’ve believed the true report,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the outer court,
O glory be to God!
I am all on Jesus’ side,
On the altar sanctified,
To the world and sin I’ve died,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The third stanza says,

I have passed the outer veil,
Hallelujah to the Lamb! Which did once God’s light conceal,
O glory be to God!
But the blood has brought me in
To God’s holiness so clean,
Where there’s death to self and sin,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The outer court here typifies the world. Here it says that we should forsake the world instead of remaining in it. We need to be sanctified on the altar so that we can pass from the outer court through the first veil into the Holy Place, where there is the showbread table as our divine and all-inclusive supply.

The fourth stanza says,

I’m within the holiest pale,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the inner veil,
O glory be to God!
I am sanctified to God
By the power of the blood,
Now the Lord is my abode,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The inner veil typifies our self, the fallen man, and the flesh of sin put on by the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:3). When the Lord Jesus was crucified and died, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). This indicates that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, our fallen man, our natural man, was also crucified there. This abolished our self, which is what separates us from God, in order that we may have an open way into the Holy of Holies to contact and enjoy God. Thus, not only God dwells in the Holy of Holies, but we also dwell in the Holy of Holies.

Stanza two says,

I’m a king and priest to God,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
By the cleansing of the blood,
O glory be to God!
By the Spirit’s pow’r and light,
I am living day and night,
In the holiest place so bright,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

This is a description of “dwelling in the Holiest Place and living within the veil.”

According to our Christian experience, the Holy of Holies today refers to our spirit. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Today we are God’s temple. The temple of God has three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. First Thessalonians 5:23 says that as the temple of God we also have three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The body, which is the outward appearance, typifies the outer court; the soul, which is within the body, typifies the Holy Place; and the spirit, which is enveloped by the soul, typifies the Holy of Holies.

Only the saved ones can be the temple of God, because the temple of God is the dwelling place of God, the place in which God dwells. The unsaved ones do not have God dwelling in them; hence, they are not the temple of God. We all have God’s indwelling. Today He is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit. In the Old Testament God dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the temple. In the New Testament God also dwells in the Holy of Holies—our spirit. Therefore, Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” This proves that God dwells in our spirit.

Today this God who is above all dwells in our spirit! This is tremendous. If the President wanted to come and stay in our home, we would all be surprised to receive such a great honor and would treat him as a distinguished guest. How much greater God is than the President, yet He comes to dwell in our spirit! How wonderful this is! When God dwells in us, our spirit becomes the Holy of Holies. Because the presence of God is in the Holy of Holies, the throne of grace is there. The throne of grace indicates the presence of God, which is God Himself. God comes into our spirit to give grace to us.

ABIDING IN THE LORD AND ENJOYING HIS LIFE BY ENTERING INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES TO TOUCH THE THRONE OF GRACE

What does it mean to abide in the Lord and enjoy His life? First, we must know where this Lord is whom we want to enjoy. Today the Lord is in our spirit. When I was young, I felt that this matter of abiding in the Lord was very abstract. Every time I prayed, I would kneel down in a definite and sincere way. While I prayed, I would think that the Lord must be sitting high above in heaven, and hopefully my prayers would be able to reach that high. I believed the Lord could bring my prayers from the earth to heaven far above. But sometimes I did not have the assurance that my prayer would reach heaven and be heard by God. That was my condition sixty years ago.

Praise the Lord, we who are in the church today are blessed! We all know that the Lord as the Spirit comes into our spirit when we believe into Him. The Lord, who is the God who created the universe, became flesh to be a man named Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. For our redemption He went to the cross to die and bear our sins, and as the last Adam He resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. Now He is everywhere just like the air. Romans 10 says that while we are preaching the gospel, this Spirit is with us reaching the listeners to be in their mouth and even to get into their heart. If anyone would open his heart and call, “O Lord Jesus!” the Lord as the Spirit will enter into him.

Once the Lord comes into us, He will never leave us. Sometimes we feel that it is good to believe in the Lord, but sometimes it is troublesome, since many things become inconvenient because of the Lord. However, the salvation of the Lord is truly wonderful. He not only redeems us but also comes into our spirit. Regretfully, today many Christians do not know the mystery of the salvation they have received. How blessed we are that we can know this mystery! Our Lord, who is the Lord of the universe, was undefinable and hard to find. However, because of His mercy, He became flesh and was crucified for us. Then He resurrected to become the Spirit to dwell in the spirit of those who believe in Him, and He takes up His residence in them.

To know is one thing, but to enjoy is another. This phrase, enjoying Christ, was used first by us. The way to enjoy Christ is, “In the Holiest Place, live within the veil.” We have already pointed out that the outer court signifies our body, the Holy Place signifies our soul, and the Holiest Place signifies our spirit. To enjoy Christ, instead of living in our soul or our body we should enter into our spirit and live in our spirit.

For example, if you get angry and quarrel with others, your body, in particular your mouth, becomes a venting organ. If you shut your mouth, you become “deflated” and your anger dissipates. However, if you continue to open your mouth, the result is that the quarreling becomes more and more serious. The more you speak, the more you feel in your soul that you are right, and eventually you even act in your flesh. At this time, instead of living in the Holy Place, you are living in the outer court.

When you live in the outer court, you must be warned by this hymn, “I’ve believed the true report, / Hallelujah to the Lamb! / I have passed the outer court, / O glory be to God!” You should not quarrel any more, because your flesh has been crucified with Christ. Perhaps you feel that if you do not quarrel and give vent to your anger, your heart will not be at ease and your stomach will also hurt. However, we all need to be reminded that it is best not to use our body, which is the outer court, as the instrument for quarreling and getting angry. Sometimes we have passed the outer court—not using our body as an instrument of the flesh—yet our soul, including our mind, emotion, and will, which is the part that employs our body as an instrument, is still very active and is constantly instigating us to go out again to the outer court. As a result, although we exercise control of ourselves to not live in our flesh, we are altogether living in our soul. We try to restrain ourselves from living in the flesh, but the result is that we live completely in our soul, and we become so active that we are unable to calm down.

It may be that at times like this the Lord has mercy on us and comes to remind us, saying, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19). We belong to the Lord, and the Lord lives in us. If we receive the reminder and turn from our soul to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies. Once we enter into the Holy of Holies, we enter into a refuge and reach a safe region. In this way we are preserved.

We all have this kind of experience. Every time we turn to our spirit, we repent and confess to the Lord, admitting that we live so much in the flesh and in the soul. The more we ask for the Lord’s forgiveness and pray to fellowship with the Lord, the more we receive grace. Grace begins to flow to us like a river. This means that we have touched the throne of grace. If we do this, the living water saturates us and fills us until it overflows so that we are completely in grace.

At the same time, the glory of God shines through our whole being so that we have no place to hide. This leads us to see our filthiness, to see that we have wronged our spouse and our relatives and that we are wrong in many different things. Then we beat our chest, weep, and repent. In this way of confessing we receive grace immensely. This is to pass through the outer court and the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies to touch the throne of grace. The more we touch the throne of grace, the more we have the presence of God. The more we touch the throne of grace, the more we have the riches of God. Moreover, we are able to enjoy the hidden manna within the ark and have a deeper experience of Christ as the life supply. In this way we abide in the Lord and enjoy Him as our life.