“…by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…”

The explanation of ‘therefore’ continues. The blood of Jesus opened the way to the holy places for us, and it was a new way. The old way had been by the blood of animal sacrifices offered continually by the old way’s priests. That old way was involved in an annual sacrifice with a scapegoat on the Day of Atonement. The old way was a dead way, not offering eternal entrance through the veil that separated the holy places.

Jesus brought a better way, a new way, and a living way. The way through the curtain that divided the holy places was changed from a material cloth to a physical body. The body of Jesus became the way to the holy places. You’ll recall that when He died on the cross, the temple curtain was rent in two. That was from a covenant point of view, the end of temple worship in Jerusalem. To make sure that was understood, a few years later, the entire temple was torn down stone by stone.

Task for Today: Understand that you are the new temple. You have replaced the building of dead stones and have become a building made with living stones. You are God’s new covenant temple, and God now makes His home in you. As a child of God and His temple, you are made into a holy place for God to dwell. That will take some thought today.