The Veil (1)

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…”(Matthew 27:50 - 51a)

“And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” ”

(Mark 15:37 - 39)

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” ” (Luke 23:44 - 46)

It will soon be Holy Week, and the Friday of Holy Week is, of course, Good Friday - a Friday which appeared to be anything but good to the observer on the hill called Golgotha some 2,000 years ago. What good can be said about the excruciating and shameful tortuous death by crucifixion? What good can be said by the observer about a Man who is not only the object and focus of the anger and hatred of mankind, but Who is also the object of God’s wrath as He takes our sins, and our sinful selves, upon Himself? It is only with the advantage of Easter that we can call this particular Friday Good. Let there be no misunderstanding, you and I both forged the nails that were driven into the body of Jesus Christ - and yet, inexplicably, with each strike of the hammer driving the nails into His flesh, God in Jesus Christ was saying to us, “I love you.” And so the Apostle John, a witness to the crucifixion, later writes, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son…”

In the crucifixion accounts of three of the four Gospel writers it is recorded that the veil of the Temple was torn in two, with Matthew and Mark noting that it was torn from top to bottom. Why is  the rending of the veil significant? What does it mean in our lives? Does it matter? Does it make a difference to us?

(As I pondered why John did not record the rending of the veil in his Gospel, it occurred to me that he showed, demonstrated, and explained the results of the tearing of the veil in chapters 13 - 17 of his Gospel, chapters in which Jesus leads us from the Outer Court of washing into the Holy of Holies, into deep union with the Trinity).

May I ask, what are the images or ideas of God that you’ve had throughout your life? What was it as a child? Through adulthood? What is it now? If it has changed, why has it changed?

As you have thought of God (or imagined Him) over the years, have you thought of Him as Someone near to you or far off? What kind of images have you had of His nearness or His distance?  

My own image of God has changed over the years, from someone akin to Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial - someone BIG and distant, sitting on a BIG throne and looking down at little me; to a Person who was a distant Judge and who demanded that I measure up - it was a contingent relationship, if it can be called a relationship. The idea that God has given me the Spirit of Sonship (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6) was foreign to me, the thought and sense that He is accessible, more than accessible, that He is with me and in me...and the joy and security that brings...well that was simply not in my thinking or experience. So those are some of my images, what are yours?

Back to the veil being torn in two from top to bottom; what is this communicating?

The Temple in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus Christ was different in many ways from the Temple that Solomon built, and different in even more ways from the Tabernacle that Moses constructed; but in one significant way it was the same, it’s most inner recess was called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place, and it had a veil (curtain) that separated it from the rest of the Tabernacle/Temple. The Holy of Holies represented that Place where the Presence of the Holy God dwelt, and into that Place, into that Presence, only the High Priest could go once a year, on the Day of Atonement, what we also call Yom Kippur. To get an idea of the solemnity and holy ritual surrounding the Day of Atonement we can read Leviticus Chapter 16. To learn about the Tabernacle of Moses we can read Exodus chapters 25 - 40. To learn about the Temple of Solomon we can read 2 Chronicles chapters 2 - 7.

I think it is fair to say that for the average ancient Israelite that God was relatively inaccessible; in fact, for the average priest He was likely perceived as inaccessible - after all, the veil was a barrier to His Presence.

In Exodus 26:31 we read concerning the veil, ““You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.” Cherubim are prominent in the Tabernacle, not only do they appear on the veil at the Holy of Holies, they appear in other curtains (Exodus 26:1) and they appear on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10 - 22) which is within the Holy of Holies. To enter the Holy of Holies the High Priest on the Day of Atonement must pass through the veil with its cherubim, the priest must go through the cherubim.

Why cherubim?

In Genesis 3:22 - 24 we read, “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”

As long as the cherubim remained, the way to the Tree of Life was guarded. As long as the cherubim remained on the veil, the way into the Holy of Holies, into the intimate Presence of God, was barred.

What is our image of God? Where are we living? Within or without the veil?

To be continued...