Hebrews 9:24 - No Second Class

Have you had to pick out a seat for flight reservations? When you look at the seating chart, there's one thing the chart doesn't show...

The Curtain.

After the flight takes off, a flight attendant pulls The Curtain between First Class and the Main Cabin, euphemistically called "Economy." It's basically "Second Class."

I've only flown First Class once, when a flight returning from Russia was overbooked and I was bounced up to a wide, cushy, first class seat. Linen napkins. Steak dinner on real china. Real silverware. No chicken on a plastic tray with paper napkins.

Flying back yesterday from Phoenix, my wife and I were sitting near the front of the Main Cabin. The Curtain between us and First Class was a reminder to not wander into the front section of the airplane and definitely not use the First Class lavatory.

In the Old Testament, only specially selected priests were allowed into the Holy of Holies to meet with God once a year. This holiest of places was separated from the rest of the temple by a special curtain. Even for a priest to enter go past that curtain, sacrifices had to be made. Then he could enter the Inner Sanctum and pray for everyone else, asking for God's forgiveness and blessing.

When Jesus died, this curtain was torn from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51) With one, huge rip, the whole temple system was dismantled. Jesus, in taking our guilt on Himself, was temporarily outside the curtain, just like us. But as both the ultimate sacrifice and  the ultimate priest, "He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf." (Hebrews 9:24, New Living Translation, 2015.)

When the curtain was torn, it opened up fellowship with God. It removed any notion of "Second Class." Everyone--Jew or Gentile--was given equal access to God (Ephesians 2:14) 

Sitting just outside of the first class section yesterday reminded me of a stanza from the Negro spiritual, "The Gospel Train." It had meaning for the Underground Railroad, but a deeper meaning for the equality of God's grace.

The fair is cheap
And all can go,
The rich and poor are there.
No second class
Aboard this train,
No difference in the fair.

Seating schematic: American_Airlines_Canadair_CRJ700_V3