The Veil Is Torn

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split,” (Matthew 27:51).

What does it mean that the curtain of the temple was torn?

The purpose of the curtain was to create a separation of the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence, from the rest of the temple. Nobody except the High Priest was able to enter that space, and he entered it only once a year on the day of atonement. If his sins had not been atoned for properly, God would strike him dead in that space. He even wore a cord tied around him so that the other priests could pull him out and retrieve his body in case he died while he was there! It was a serious thing to enter into God’s presence with sin.

It still is. And that is why we need a Redeemer. Like that curtain, our sin separates us from God. And coming to Him in repentance is the only way we can approach Him in a way that He hears us.

“But your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear,” Isaiah 59:2.

Many people understand that, and the enemy capitalizes on that bit of knowledge. He convinces us that we need to get our lives straightened out before coming to God. I counsel many young women who will agree with the truth of the gospel but stop short of repentance. Why? They want to continue in their sin for a while. They figure they will come to Jesus later, after they have finished their season of rebellion. They mistakenly think they need to wait until they have “cleaned up their life” before coming to Him. They don’t understand that they can’t clean up their lives without Jesus.

I had that same thought as a teenager when I first understood the gospel. I told my Young Life leader that I didn’t think I could be a Christian. That I didn’t think I could do it because I had tried and failed. You know what she told me? She said, “You’re right. You can’t be a Christian. You can’t live like He wants you to in order to know Him. You have to know Him in order to live like He wants you to. He is the one that gives you the strength and knowledge of how to live as a Christian.”

In the beginning, my journey with Him was a wobbly unsteady journey of trembling faith. But that faith grew as I felt His presence and His empowerment in facing obstacles in my life. I had not understood what my Young Life leader meant at first. But I approached God in faith anyway. And now I understand.

That curtain of separation between me and God had been torn by the cross. The tearing of that curtain in my heart brought salvation, freedom, peace, and the very presence of God into my life. But it brought something else that I needed— the thing that I had mistakenly thought that I needed to have first in order to follow Christ. It brought the desire to live for Him in a way that I didn’t have before. It brought the presence of God to me through the Holy Spirit “riches of his glorious inheritance…and his incomparably great power for us who believe,” (Ephesians 1:18,19). That great power that raised Jesus from the dead was now living in me, giving me the power to walk in obedience!

The veil is torn, inviting all who would repent to come into His presence. Come and see!

Happy Resurrection Day!