Heb. 9:11-14. There are good things to come that we must enter into. By following our Master, we learn to comprehend matters that are not of this world, matters we previously had no understanding of.

It was the Father’s task to lead the Son into the good things to come. The Son could do nothing of Himself. Now we seek to be as much as possible like Jesus Christ, because we love Him. He who acts out of love will not cause his brother to stumble. 1 John 2:10. We cannot do anything of ourselves either. Whatever the Father did, the Son did in like manner. He was driven by love. The Egyptian magicians tried to imitate Moses because they wanted to be just as good and great as him. However, our desire is to imitate Jesus because we love Him, and because we understand that this is a life that is worth living. Jesus only sought His Father’s honor, whereas the magicians sought their own honor. Anyone who does something of himself in order to be esteemed does not seek God’s will and honor. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And He has life in Himself in order to make us alive, for He makes alive whoever He wills.

Life draws near to us through chastening; therefore take careful heed to it, for it is your life. The Word judges and chastens, exhorts and makes alive. Therefore, let us sit and listen with open hearts and ears!

So the aim is to get life within yourself. How did the Son get life in Himself? By going down in self-acknowledgment about the human nature He had taken upon Himself for our sake. This led Him into death, and then life came forth. He was put to death in the flesh and was made alive in the Spirit. The Son of Man took up the battle against His own flesh and thus condemned sin in the flesh. Rom. 8:3. He went the way of the cross, and on this way we also win victory. Satan’s will was not accomplished in Jesus’ flesh, and now He has given His flesh for the life of the world so that Satan also loses his dominion over our flesh.

In Jesus’ time, only few wanted to follow Him. The flesh that seeks its own would not let go of its prey. When Jesus testified about letting go of everything in this world, people were outraged and demanded that Barabbas be released.

To follow Jesus on the way that He has opened means living a crucified life, right through the flesh and directly against all self-will. This was not tolerated in those days, and it is not tolerated now.

In the first covenant, the tabernacle had two parts. The first part contained the lampstand, the table, and the showbread. This is called the sanctuary. God had commanded Moses to do according to what was shown to him on the mountain. As the law is a shadow of the good things to come, we discover in reality the sanctuary and also the Holiest of All, both the first part of the tabernacle and the second veil. Anyone who becomes content in the first part of the tabernacle and does not press ahead with force will never enter the second part, the Holiest of All. He remains in the ministry of the tabernacle, the forgiveness of sins, the lampstand, and the showbread.

The second veil is a crucified life. Jesus opened the way through this veil by cross and death over the soulish man. There is a golden censer behind the second veil, as well as the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

Men baked the showbread that was in the first part of the tabernacle, but the manna in the second part was from heaven. This signifies that there is a voice from the earth and a voice from heaven. In the first part of the tabernacle we are not yet dead to the lusts in the flesh, but by pressing in behind the second veil, Jesus’ death becomes active in our mortal flesh. Aaron’s rod that budded is there. That is where our guidance comes from. The tablets of the covenant, God’s Word, are there. The new covenant leads us into the Most Holy Place, and Jesus is the Mediator for this covenant. We have a great High Priest of the good things to come, and we are gradually being born into the world to come. Satan wants to hinder us, but by God’s power we manage to press forward. By faith we crush our lusts, and thereby Satan, under our feet. If you do not have victory, it is because deceiving spirits still have a point of contact in your heart. He who confesses Christ manifested in the flesh is of God because he has God’s knowledge of the way through the flesh, and he understands the reconciliation in the body of His flesh through death. For the same reason we enter into rest by faith. There are inner commandments that must be believed and kept in order to go through the veil into a deeper rest.