For the people of Ancient Israel to meet with God, a dedicated space was created. This space was called the Temple. However, the space itself was divided up. The courts were for the people to come and pray. Inside the Temple building itself was reserved for the priests who served there. But one more sacred layer remained, the Holy of Holies. This room originally held the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments. This inner room was only entered once a year by the high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Each move further in became more restricted.

As Jesus prepared to meet with His Father on the night before His death, something similar played out. He called His disciples to go to a garden where He regularly prayed, the olive grove at Gethsemane. He gathered the 11 remaining disciples (Judas was off betraying Him) in the garden to pray, asking them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Then He asked only three to go a little deeper within. These, He asked to pray as well, but He left them behind and continued further in alone. Jesus, like the high priests on the Day of Atonement, was entering into a most sacred and intimate place, a place only He could go.

One of the strange and beautiful roles of being a pastor is that I am regularly invited into some sacred and intimate places. At weddings, the bride and groom are surrounded by their closest family and friends… and a pastor. When children are born, when there is deep pain and angst in a marriage, and when loved ones die, I am often invited into people’s most intimate experiences. I have grown to really cherish and respect what a privilege that is.

The holiest place was off-limits for the people of God. The people could not get that close to God. In a similar way, Jesus alone could pray the prayers He prayed that night in Gethsemane. Only He could bear the weight of what He would face the next day. Even His closest disciples were kept at a distance. But the prayers and sufferings of Jesus over the next 24 hours would change things forever. Jesus offered up the prayers for Himself and for all of us as our high priest (Hebrews 5:7-10). As a result, the Holy of Holies in heaven is now open to all of us. In our dark hours, in our sacred and intimate spaces, we may now “approach God’s 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). Take a moment today to thank Jesus for making a way for us to come to the Father. Approach God today with the confidence that you are welcome in that sacred space. He hears you. He welcomes you in. All because of Jesus.