“The Tearing of the Veil of the Temple” (Ready to Worship S8E12)

December 14, 2018

Ready to Worship Season 8, Episode 12 for Friday, December 14, 2018

This season on Ready to Worship we are surveying the wondrous cross. It is my hope that examining the cross will enrich our worship.

Many powerful and peculiar things happened in connection with the cross. The noonday sun was darkened, the earth quaked, the saints came out of their graves, and the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. It is this last occurrence that I want to focus on in this lesson. Matthew records, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Mt. 27:50-53). Often, the tearing of the temple veil gets little or no attention. Yet, it is very significant. As you likely know, the temple veil separated the holy place from the most holy place in the temple. The high priest was the only one who could go behind the veil; and, he could only do so once a year. Tradition says that a rope was tied about the high priest’s waist so that he could be pulled out if something happened to him while he was behind the veil. The veil or the curtain of the temple was sixty feet high and thirty feet wide. According to Jewish tradition, it was as thick as a man’s hand (one inch) and took three hundred priests to move it. This curtain wasn’t easily torn. When and how it was torn are significant. The fact that it was torn from the top rather than from the bottom indicates that it was torn by God and not man. The fact that it was torn immediately after Christ gave up the ghost reveals that the Savior through His death had opened up the way to the Father. The debt of sin had finally been paid. Today, because of Christ’s sacrifice we are able to draw near in a way that was before impossible. In Hebrews, we read, “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” (Heb. 10:19-22).

As we get ready to worship this week, let’s remember the tearing of the veil. Let’s thank God for the access that we now have to Him through Christ.