The Torn Veil
We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.
Hebrews 10:19-20
It was a dark and somber day in the outskirts of Jerusalem. On a hill just outside the city walls, a Man who’d been attracting crowds of eager followers for the past three years hung in disgrace and pain on a rough wooden cross. Mourners wept and wailed in sorrow. The light of the sun no longer brightened the afternoon sky. And the intense suffering of the Man on the cross ended when He cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished” (Matthew 27:50; John 19:30).
At that very moment, another sound came from the great temple across town—the sound of ripping fabric. Miraculously, without human intervention, the huge, thick veil that separated the outer temple from the holy of holies tore in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51).
That torn curtain symbolized the reality of the cross: a new way was now open to God! Jesus, the Man on the cross, had shed His blood as the last sacrifice—the one true and sufficient sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10)—which allows all who believe in Him to enjoy forgiveness and enter into a relationship with God (Romans 5:6-11).
—Dave Branon
REFLECT & PRAY
Amidst the darkness of that original Good Friday, we received the best news ever—Jesus opened a way for us to be saved from our sins and to experience fellowship with God forever (Hebrews 10:19-22). Thank God for the message of the torn veil! —Dave Branon
How has the reality of what happened on Good Friday brought you from darkness to light? What does it mean for you to experience a relationship with God?
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INSIGHT
Jesus’s ministry as priest in Hebrews is prominent, first referenced in Hebrews 1:3: “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Chapter 13 also includes this theme: “The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering . . . . And so Jesus also suffered . . . to make the people holy through his own blood” (vv. 11-12). Arthur Jackson
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