“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20 ESV).
The contributions made by the following sources provide us with some valuable insight into the passage quoted above. As we conclude our brief look at Hebrews 10:19-20, we will dedicate this portion of our study to the observations made by a few select authors who help advance our understanding of these important verses…
“The first exhortation urges the Christian to take full advantage of the privilege of worship -of drawing near… Here ‘confidence’ (Gk. parrhesia, lit. ‘outspokenness’, ‘openness’) conveys the idea of an exulting boldness, a vivid sense of freedom from all fear when it comes to entering the sacred area of God’s presence.” (1)
“On this earth, most of us do not have immediate access to a president or monarch. But through Christ’s blood, we have perpetual access to God Himself.” (2)
“Jesus is the High Priest over God’s house in the heavens. As we have seen so often, the function of the priest was to build a bridge between man and God. This means that Jesus not only shows us the way to God but also when we get there introduces us to his very presence. A man might be able to direct an enquirer to Buckingham Palace and yet be very far from having the right to take him into the presence of the Queen; but Jesus can take us the whole way.” (3)
“God has no special place where only a special caste of men may approach Him. Instead, all believers may come into His presence by faith at any time and from any place on earth.” (4)
“We do not just come into God’s presence as strangers, visitors, or laypersons but as priests- as people who belong in the temple and have a right and even a duty to be in the most sacred places in the temple. Using imagery from the ceremony for ordination of priests (see Ex. 29:4, 21), the author of Hebrews pictures all believers as having been ordained as priests to God and thus able to enter into his presence, for he says that we draw near ‘with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water'” (Heb. 10:22 ; cf. 1 Peter 2:9). (5)
(1) New International Bible Commentary general editor G. C. D. Howley, consulting editors F. F. Bruce, H. L. Ellison. Copyright© 1979 by Pickering & Inglis Ltd [pg. 1525].
(2) Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 1651). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.
(3) Barclay, William. William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible, “The Meaning Of Christ For Us (Heb_10:19-25).”
(4) William Macdonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary Edited by Arthur Farstad, Thomas Nelson Publishers (Hebrews 10:19-39).
(5) Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, Ml: Zondervan Academic, 2020) [pg 870].