They approach God in the person of the Cohen Gadol, the Great or High Priest. Their first steps lead them to the altar of sacrifice outside the Tent of Meeting. Inside the first room of the Tent, their way is illuminated by the menorah, the seven-armed lampstand. On the right or north side is a table with twelve loaves of bread. In the middle of the end of the room, in front of the veil, is a small altar for burning incense.
Behind that veil is the ark of the covenant, upon which are two facing keruvim whose extended wings form a symbolic seat for God to sit upon. His feet rest on the lid of the ark. This lid or kipporet is where the Cohen Gadol drops blood to expunge or wash away the sins of his people and his own.
In the NT, Yeshua of Nazareth is depicted as both the Great Priest and as the Mishkan, in whom God dwells. The NT also lays out the same principle, as in Tanakh, that people are invited to approach God for redemption and fellowship: in this case, through the Messiah, who is Yeshua.
| Reference |
Text (Modified NASB) |
| Rom 1:8 | I thank my God through Yeshua Messiah for you all.
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| Rom 5:1-2 | We have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua Messiah, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.
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| Rom 5:10 | We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.
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| Rom 5:11 | We also exult in God through our Lord Yeshua Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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| Rom 7:25 | Thanks be to God through Yeshua Messiah our Lord!
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| Rom 16:27 | To the only wise God, through Yeshua Messiah, be the glory forever. Amen.
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| 2 Cor 3:4 | Such confidence we have through Messiah toward God.
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| 2 Cor 5:18 | Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Messiah.
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| Eph 1:5 | He predestined us to adoption as sons through Yeshua Messiah to himself, according to the kind intention of his will.
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| Eph 2:18 | Through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
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| Eph 5:20 | . . . always giving thanks . . . in the name of our Lord Yeshua Messiah to God, even the Father.
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| Col 1:19-20 | For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself.
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| Col 3:17 | Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
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| Heb 7:25 | He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
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| Heb 13:15 | Through him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.
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| 1 Pet 1:21 | He . . . has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God.
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| 1 Pet 2:5 | You also . . . are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah.
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| 1 Pet 4:11b | So that in all things God may be glorified through Yeshua Messiah.
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| Judah 25 | To the only God our Savior, through Yeshua Messiah our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
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| Reference |
Text (Modified NASB) — High Priest |
| Heb 4:14 | We have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua, the Son of God.
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| Rom 8:34 | Messiah Yeshua is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
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| 1 Jn 2:1 | If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Yeshua Messiah the Tzaddik.
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