A New and Living Way

“Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

Hebrews 10:19–23

The story of Scripture carries a holy tension: God’s desire to dwell with His people and the sin that keeps us apart. Under the old covenant, every sacrifice was a reminder that sin still stood in the way. Priests entered behind the curtain year after year, offering sacrifices that could only purify ceremonially but never transform the heart. Access to God’s presence was both a mercy and a warning. Mercy because a holy God longed for fellowship with sinful people. A warning because sinful people could not stand before a holy God.

Then came Jesus, the High Priest who did not bring blood from another but His own. The One who entered not an earthly tabernacle but heaven itself. In that moment, the separation was ended. The curtain tore. The law written on stone became a law written on hearts. Forgiveness was no longer a repeated ritual but a once-for-all cleansing that opened the way for continual fellowship with God.

Hebrews calls this a better covenant, not because God’s standards changed, but because His promise was fulfilled. What the law demanded, Christ supplied. What the sacrifices could only foreshadow, He accomplished. Once for all.

And because that is true, the author pleads with us to live as people who understand what has been done. The sacrifice that opened the way also defines how we walk in it. To receive such grace is to abandon the path of sin that grace empowers us to overcome. To continue willfully in rebellion after receiving the knowledge of this truth is to reject the very mercy that saves.

Yet the author’s warning is not meant to crush but to awaken, to call us back to the hope that anchors us. Those who are made clean are also invited to draw near with confidence and to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

The Christian life, then, is not waiting outside the veil in fear, but living within God’s presence in reverent, love-filled obedience. Forgiveness does not relax holiness; it restores it. Grace is not freedom to sin, but power to remain steadfast when faith is tested.

So let the awe of Jesus steady you and gratitude strengthen you. Access to God does not depend on your perfection—it rests on His finished work. The way is open, and it will never close.

Reflection Questions

• What does it look like for you to live within access rather than striving for it?

• How might remembering the cost of access change how you respond to temptation?

Further Reflection
📖 Hebrews 8–10
📖 Leviticus 16:15–16
📖 Matthew 27:50–51
📖 Romans 5:1–2
📖 1 Peter 3:18