Can We Stand in God’s Presence? What Hebrews 10:19-22 Really Means

(Hebrews 10:19-22 – Can We Stand in God’s Presence?)

Can we really stand in the presence of God? For many people, the idea seems impossible. How could anyone who has sinned come before a holy God?

Yet the answer given in Scripture is clear: yes, we can. Because of Jesus Christ, the way into God’s presence has been opened.

As we look into Hebrews 10:19-22, we can see the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The work that God achieved in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection now enable us to come to Him fully. This was not possible before Christ came into the world, but the way has now been opened. All people, including you and I, are now able to stand in God’s presence. So, let us examine this further.

So, yes, we can stand in God’s presence—not because of our own righteousness, but because Jesus has opened the way through His death and resurrection, as explained in Hebrews 10:19–22.

How Christ Opened the Way for us to Enter the Presence of God

When Christ came to live, teach and die for us, He completely altered our relationship to and with God. We see this in the words of this section of scripture in Hebrews 10:19-22. This is what it says:

19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Note that in verse 19 it is by the blood sacrifice of Jesus that we can now enter into the sanctuary where God resides. To understand this, we need to consider the structure and role of the original Jewish Temple. Those rites and rituals have a strong bearing on understanding how the blood of Christ enables us to now enter the presence of God.

How People Approached God Under the Old Covenant

In the Old Testament, the people worshiped God at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was constructed according to a plan given to Moses by God when he received the Ten Commandments.

There were three main sections to that Temple. The outer court, often called the court of the Gentiles, was open to anyone. Gentiles and unclean Israelites could enter that court and worship God.

Then there were the two parts of the Temple that were accessible only to the priests. There was an outer section called the Holy Place and behind a heavy curtain was the Holy of Holies.

The Holy Place was where the priests performed their regular daily ministrations. In this part there were the seven-branched Golden Lamp-stand, a golden altar for the burning of incense, and the table for the show-bread (shewbread), and five other tables along the northern and southern walls.

Behind the curtain was the Holy of Holies. In the original Temple, this contained only the Ark of the Covenant, which held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written by God, a golden urn or flask of the manna from when Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and the rod of Aaron that budded and grew almonds.

God would come into the Holy of Holies to meet with the high priest and the people of Israel recognised the Holy of Holies as the dwelling place of God on earth. Even Jesus referred to it as the dwelling place of God on earth (see Matthew 23:20-21). The High Priest alone was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once each year on the Day of Atonement, which today is referred to as Yom Kippur. The High Priest could then come and stand in the presence of God on behalf of all the people to receive instruction, guidance, and whatever God chose to speak to him. To enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, the High Priest wore only white linen garments rather than the elaborate priestly robes. He entered to burn incense and offer a blood sacrifice to atone for his own sins and those of the people.

The key points to understand in this are:

• The Holy of Holies was separated by a heavy curtain
• No-one was permitted behind the curtain into the presence of God except the High Priest
• Only the high priest could enter and then only once a year
• He had to take a blood sin offering with him

This shows how restricted access to God once was. But Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us that this has now completely changed through Jesus Christ.

How Jesus’ Sacrifice Fulfills the Old Testament System

It is stated in the scripture that the Temple in Jerusalem was patterned on the Temple of God in heaven. (see Acts 7:44, Hebrews 9:23:24). We also note that Jesus became a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was the high priest of God in heaven. (See Hebrews 5:5-6)

So, being a High Priest, Jesus was able to enter the presence of God on our behalf just as the high priests under the Old Covenant worship could enter God’s presence once each year. And when Jesus came into the presence of God in the heavenly Temple after His death, He too had to take a blood sacrifice.

You may wonder why all these blood sacrifices. It all seems a bit gory. But understand it like this.

• It says in Romans 3:23 that, “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
• Furthermore we see in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death” That is, we earn death because we sin. Death is the payment we have to make because we have sinned, and the debt of sin we accumulate over our life is paid off only by our death.

But, God established a process where we could pay the debt without having to die every time we sinned. Through the blood sacrifices offered under the Old Covenant law, sin was atoned for. And on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies to offer a blood sacrifice to atone for the sins of all the people of Israel.

This practice aligns the death of Christ and the offering of His blood, which He took into the presence of God’s heavenly Temple, as the ultimate atonement for the sins of all people, including you and I. And unlike the earthly Temple offerings of the blood of goats and bulls, the blood of Christ was a perfect sacrifice because He had never sinned. His sacrifice was perfect because being without sin, He did not deserve to die since death is the price to be paid for being a sinner.

How We Now Enter God’s Presence Through Jesus Christ

Now, just as God established the atonement for sin through the offering of animal sacrifices, so too He established the better atonement for sin in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus died and took His blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies as a sacrifice for sin. We enter His sacrifice by taking on His death and resurrection as our own through faith. When we are baptised into the death and resurrection, we believe that we die with Him as we go down into the baptismal waters, and we are resurrected with Him as we are lifted out of the baptismal waters.

We see in the scripture in Hebrews 10:20 that Jesus opened the way for us to enter behind the curtain. That is, He opened the way for us to metaphorically enter the place where only the High Priest was allowed to enter. By going “behind the curtain” we are entering the Holy of Holies where we can stand in God’s presence.

We should also note that when Jesus died, one of the things that happened was that the curtain in the Temple was torn in two. (See Matthew 27:51). The curtain was ripped apart from top to bottom. This is important because no man could rip the curtain apart. It was sixty feet high, thirty feet wide and several inches thick, made of fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. By the action of ripping it in two, it indicated that the way was now opened, through Jesus Christ, to be able to stand in God’s presence.

How Faith Allows Us to Draw Near to God

In all of this, God established faith as the means by which we can now enter His presence. And it all hinges on the power of the blood of Christ in His death and resurrection.

The blood of Christ was the perfect sacrifice for sin. But the only way we can receive His sacrifice and the freedom that is offered to be released from sin and death is through faith. It was by the grace of God that this offer was made, but it is by faith that we take up His offer. What we now have by faith is the ability to stand in God’s presence in the spirit. But ultimately what He offers is the opportunity to physically stand and live in His presence into eternity.

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