THE RENDING OF THE VEIL

LIBERTY AND LOVE #43

When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). This is known as the “rending of the veil.” What is this “veil”? It was a curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:31-37). Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies—once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people—because that is where God symbolically dwelt. The veil was sixty feet high from the ceiling to the floor.

The rending of the veil signified that each believer now can have personal access to God (Hebrews 10:19-23). The veil was torn from top to bottom. The barrier between God and man was torn by the only one who could reach it—God. The gulf of separation was bridged from God’s side because we could not bridge it ourselves. Imagine if someone were to say to you, “I’m building a ladder to heaven.” You would know that is crazy. No one can do that. No one except Jesus. The true ladder to heaven is the cross of Jesus Christ!

The blood that Christ shed at the cross was all about reconciliation, bringing God and mankind together again. Sin separated us from God (Isa. 59:2). The cross reconciled us back to God. “And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2:16). We were separated from God because of sin, yet because of the cross we can be saved. “Since we have now been justified by Jeaus’ blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Rom 5:9). “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13).

Anyone who wants to be a friend of God’s can be. All you have to do is trust in the death of Jesus to bring you back to God.