Read: Mark 15:33-39
The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (v. 38)
During the Covid-19 pandemic, as an American living in Canada, I could not go home. The border was closed. After several years of being unable to travel, I was finally able to visit my family in the United States. Emotions flooded me as I went through customs. The barrier was gone and I could finally go home.
Jesus made a way where there was no way. The temple curtain was a barrier between God and his people. When God gave directions to build the tabernacle (and later the temple), he commanded there be a curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Only once a year could one person, the high priest, enter the Most Holy Place where the Lord dwelled. Even then, the high priest had to be purified by sacrifices. Ritually and spiritually impure, the people could not come into the presence of a holy God.
At the death of Jesus Christ, that curtain was torn in two. Through his crucifixion, as the perfect sacrifice once for all, Jesus opened “a new and living way” for us into the presence of God (Heb. 10:19-20). God’s holiness does not change, but we’re now enabled, by the saving blood of Christ, to enter into God’s presence. He has broken down the barrier by his shed blood. Significantly, the curtain was torn “from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38). God has torn the curtain. He has made the way. Jesus has God making a way for us into the Father’s presence.
As you pray, thank Jesus for making a way for us into God’s presence.
About the Author
Stephen Shaffer is the pastor at Bethel Reformed Church in Brantford, Ontario.
