Day 6 | Approaching God Without Fear

As we have been pondering this week about having a hunger for more of God’s presence in our lives, I was reminded of a quote I read in one of my favorite books. In the third chapter of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, he says, “The church waits for the tender voice of a saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God.”

I remember back in Bible college studying Old Testament worship. As you look at worship in the Old Testament, you see that it revolved around a place. The physical presence of God resided in the Tabernacle and then later in the Temple. Furthermore, the temple was divided up into the outer courts, the inner courts, and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was where the very presence of God resided and it was separated by a large, thick veil because no one was allowed to enter except the high priest, who entered once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

But something amazing happened when Jesus died on the cross. Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45 tell us that when Jesus died, the veil separating the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, signifying that God’s presence was now accessible to all. Because Jesus had paid the debt for all sin, we can now approach God without fear. We no longer need a high priest as our mediator. We can now bask in the beauty, wonder, and awe of the divine presence of God. Nothing prevents us from entering in.

Unfortunately, for many of us, we have attempted to reconstruct the veil. I’m not speaking about a physical veil. These are fleshly veils of pride, shame, fear, unforgiveness, and unconfessed sin. Veils in our hearts that hide the face of God from us. Or worse … there are many who have convinced themselves that they are content to remain in the outer courts never experiencing the presence of God for themselves.  

Tozer goes on to say, “God waits to show Himself in ravishing fulness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.” But first, we must tear down our patchwork veils that we have constructed in our hearts. We must press in with determination until we reach the place where we are looking upon His majesty. We must allow the work of the cross to do a work in us.  To put to death the things of the flesh that keep us from entering in.  

I will leave you with the quote I started with.  “The church waits for the tender voice of a saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God.”

Pastor Greg Carr