The bible says in Exodus 20 right after the ten commandments were given “Moses ****drew near**** 
unto the thick darkness where God was.” (Exo 20:21) We are told that the rest of the people “stood afar off”. (Exo 20:21)
How did Moses “Draw nigh” unto God? The bible tells us that it is only “by the blood of Jesus.” This is also called “The new and living way”.
Hebrews 10:19-22 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest ***by the blood of Jesus***, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us ****draw near**** with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Notice the implication of the following words. It is taught that Moses was given another “way” other than the “new and living way”. One person said that “…now we are not cleansed by rites, rules, ceremonies, and penalties we are cleansed by receiving the NEW Spirit, the ANOTHER comforter the Born again experience. The victorious human experience…prior to Ad31 Christ himself did not possess that Experience which means He did NOT have it to give!”
The implications of this comment are that we were cleansed by rites and rules before since we are “now…not cleansed by rites, rules, etc.” Another implication is that the children could not be born again. This means that there was “another gospel” according to this commentator.
What were we cleansed from before? The power of the blood to cleanse from all unrighteousness was apparently not available according to this writer. But let’s read a little more from Hebrews and see if the people who lived before 31AD were ever cleansed of unrighteousness. We are told:
Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was ****righteous****,
Abel was righteous. So how was he righteous? Was it by the blood of animal? the blood of bulls and goats? Was this the “more excellent” or “better sacrifice”?
Heb 10:4. 1 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins…never…can…those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Since those sacrifices could not cleanse of sin, what blood did cleanse Abel of all unrighteousness, and all sin?
1Jn 1:7, 9…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin…he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Only this sacrifice could cleanse. So therefore, it was not just a promise that Abel would be made righteous, it was a living reality, and he had to accept the power in the blood of the “lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). We’ll look at how much power was in the promise in a moment. But first also consider:
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Abel was cleansed of unrighteousness by a “more excellent sacrifice” the “better sacrifice”.
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Abel was cleansed by the “better” or “more excellent sacrifice”.
It is only “by the blood of Jesus” that Moses could “draw nigh” unto God. I’ve been told many times that before 31AD this blood, the cross, and the resurrected life of Jesus were not available to those in OT times. That they were to come to God through the rituals and sacrifices. And that by doing these they could earn salvation.
Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we ****draw nigh**** unto God.
So Moses could “draw nigh unto God”, it was not by the law. Was it by the blood of goats, or the blood of Jesus that Moses drew nigh? The blood of Jesus right? And this is called “the blood of the New Covenant” (Matt 26:28, Heb 9:20, Heb 12:24, 13:20)
Moses “drew near” unto God by the “new and living way”, because that is the only way. There is no other way. All other ways are death. We need the way of life. There is no other way but “the new and living way” Did Moses draw nigh by works of the law? No flesh can. (Gal 2:16, 21)
Moses drew near by the better hope. The hope of the resurrection, here is what we are told about this promise and this HOPE.
Heb 6:17-19 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon ****the hope**** set before us: ****Which hope**** we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
This hope we have is the “better hope…by which we ****draw nigh” or “enter within the veil”. It is the hope of the resurrection at the second coming. The same hope that Abraham was “promised” (Heb 6:13). And when he received the promise, it was from a God of whom “it was impossible…to lie” (Heb 6:18) Therefore when Christ the seed was promised that he would die and resurrect, it was impossible for God to lie about it, and Abraham could have complete confidence in the promise.
So Abraham could actually believe the promise that Christ would die, and resurrect without actually visibly seeing it come to pass 2000 years later. But there are some today saying that it was possible for God to lie, that Abraham could not take courage in the promise, that the promise didn’t have power in it, that there was a potential that God’s promise could fail, and that God wouldn’t come through for Abraham. There are some who believe that it was possible for God to lie to Blessed Abraham and his Blessed seed. Those who have taken this stance have yet to recognize the power in the word.
Joh_20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Remember Thomas said “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25)
Is that the way that Christians such as Abraham were supposed to live before 31Ad? Could Abraham have been blessed if he had to see it to believe it? Could they believe that God’s word had the power to cleanse them by the blood even before that time? Yes they could.
I saw a message once where the minister said that Enoch could not relax in heaven until 31AD when he finally saw the crucifixion. Then after that time he could finally put his feet up knowing that God’s promise was good. If that was true, then Enoch was no different than doubting Thomas, but yet in heaven already. An unbeliever who made it to the Kingdom of God.
They Couldn’t See the Cross from Sinai
The bible says that the Israelites couldn’t see something. They were like doubting Thomas. Faith is not “the evidence of things seen” (Heb 11:1)
2Co 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
What was abolished that they could not see?
2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
Ephesians 2:13-16 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. … Having abolished in his flesh the enmity …that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,having slain the enmity thereby:
He abolished death by the cross, and this is how we “draw nigh” “by the blood of Christ”, “the blood of the new testament” (Matt 26: 28) The same blood by which Moses “Drew nigh” (Exo 20:21)
Continuing in 2 Corinthians 3, seeing that Christ “abolished death” in verse 13 and the Israelites could not see the cross, the light of the gospel was hid to them. What more does Paul say when the law of Moses is read?
2 Corinthians 3:14-15 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Their minds were blinded to seeing that Christ had purged them, cleansed them and made them righteous by his blood. Their minds were blinded to the gospel and to having everything that the blood could give us today. Their minds were blinded from accepting righteousness by faith. Unlike Moses who “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Heb 11:27) His mind wasn’t blinded, Moses could see the invisible. Moses was no doubting Thomas.
But the Israelites were blinded to seeing him who was invisible? They like doubting Thomas could not believe God until they saw the prints in the hand.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The God of this world blinded the minds of Israel, and even to this day when people read the books of Moses, their minds are blinded from seeing that death was abolished by a God who made a promise and could not lie. Their minds are blinded to seeing the glorious gospel of Christ when reading the books of Moses. They have come to see God in a ritualistic way and sadly they think that God desired you to earn salvation back in that day by works. And if worshipping a God that was like that, then you can imagine that by “beholding” they are “changed into the same image” (2 Cor 3:18)
God help us when opening the Old Testament, never to see our Father as some have come to see, making arbitrary demands, asking us to achieve something by working at it, rather than accepting the free gift, and the power that was in the blood, let us look and see him who is invisible, entering beyond the veil, drawing nigh, just as Moses who drew nigh unto God by the new and living way, the only way, the blood of Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.
