Who Tore the Curtain?
This subtle detail in the crucifixion story holds great and wonderful significance for your relationship with God.
Two years ago, I wrote an Easter post discussing Good Friday. In that article, I mentioned the curtain in the temple being torn. Today, we’ll look at that and the huge significance it holds for Christians.
Back the to Beginning
This story starts way back in the Old Testament.
Specifically, it starts with the Tabernacle, the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant before the creation of Solomon’s Temple. The Tabernacle was a sort of mobile temple that God first ordered created when the Jews were wandering in the desert, after the exodus from Egypt. It continued to be used even after Israel conquered Caanan, before Solomon built the first permanent temple.
Exodus chapters 25 through 31 record God’s very specific instructions for how to construct the Tabernacle.
Roughly, the Tabernacle was enclosed by a high fence made of fabric that created a courtyard. Inside the courtyard was the altar, where sacrifices would be made according to the Law.
Also inside the courtyard was the Tent of Meeting, and within it the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (also known as the Holy of Holies). Only the priests could enter the Tent of Meeting, never the normal people of Israel. And only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and even then only after performing a ceremonial cleansing, wearing special clothes, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement.
And in Exodus 26, we find the following description of the veil, or curtain.
Exodus 26:31–35 (ESV)
31 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. 32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. 35 And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side.
You can see that God was extremely detailed and thorough in his directions. Everything associated with the Tabernacle had a reason for being there, a deep symbolism that ultimately points us to Jesus. And the Israelites couldn’t just set up the Tabernacle any old place, in any old way. You had to set it up in a very specific way, even as you traveled. It had to be oriented correctly, with the door and items in certain cardinal directions (north, south, east, west).
So, the Holy of Holies was where the Ark of the Covenant was placed and where God’s spirit was. And the veil mentioned in Exodus 26:31 was the barrier between the Holy of Holies and the rest of the tent of meeting. It marked the boundary of the Holy of Holies and acted as a sort of safety mechanism as well.
Anyone who was not a priest who entered the Tent of Meeting would die. Anybody who entered the Holy of Holies who was not the High Priest would die, and even the High Priest if he had not done so properly (been cleansed, wearing the right clothes, on the right day). It is said that a rope was tied around the waist of the High Priest when he would enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement so that if he died, they could pull the body back out without having to send anybody else in.
The message of the Tabernacle is clear: God is supremely Holy and separate from the people. Only the priests can enter the Tent of Meeting. Only the High Priest can be with God for a limited time in the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the people. Humans are sinful and God must be separated from them.
Now, when Solomon built the first permanent temple, everything was again modeled on the Tabernacle that preceded it. Again, we have a courtyard with an inner building, mimicking the Tent of Meeting, and inside the Holy of Holies where the Ark was placed, again with a curtain separating it from everything. This time, the walls were stone, not fabric, but otherwise a copy of the original.
Now, remember that Israel is God’s chosen nation whom he deeply loves. So, prior to Jesus, that’s the best relationship you could have had with God. You would make your sacrifices and the priests would make atonement for the people. As a normal Israelite, even the King, you would never see the inside of the Holy of Holies. It was off limits.
Everything Changes
But then, Jesus changed all that.
Mark 15 records the end of the crucifixion:
Mark 15:33–39 (ESV)
The Death of Jesus
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Notice verses 37 and 38. In verse 37, Jesus dies. And immediately afterward, in verse 38, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
Why does Mark record this? It’s such an odd detail that it seems out of place.
But what seems like a random sentence holds a huge amount of significance and symbolism for you and me as Christians.
Remember, the curtain in the tabernacle separated God from the people. Now the curtain is “torn in two,” meaning completely torn. It now provides no separation. God and humans can be reunited through Christ Jesus and Jesus’s final atonement on the cross.
And did you notice that Mark even specifies how the curtain was torn? “From top to bottom.” That’s also very symbolic. Being torn from top to bottom implies that God was the one who did the tearing, not a human. We, sinners, were unable to tear the curtain, but God had a plan. And so, it was torn from heaven to earth.
But wait, it gets even better! (Honestly, this starts to feel like an infomercial. But wait, there’s MORE!)
The book of Hebrews says that Jesus has been made our new, eternal High Priest.
Hebrews 5:8–10 (ESV)
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is the one who goes before God and atones for our sins like the Jewish High Priest used to do for Israel.
Further, 1 Peter says that Christians are the new priests of God.
1 Peter 2:4–5 (ESV)
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
And 1 Corinthians says that the bodies of Christians are in fact temples of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
And finally remember Jesus’s promise to Christians who walk in obedience with his commands in John 14:
John 14:15–27 (ESV)
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Jesus promises that if we love him and demonstrate that love through our obedience, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will come and live in us.
Conclusion
So, a supremely holy God, once separated from his people by the work of sin, provided the ultimate reconciliation through the death of his son. He tore the curtain from top to bottom immediately after Jesus’s death, signifying that we are no longer separate. Not only is Jesus the King of Kings, but he’s our High Priest who intercedes for us before God. And every Christian is himself or herself a priest as well, one who makes offerings through Jesus. And our bodies are the new temple, the new tabernacle, where the very spirit of God resides now here on earth. Ultimately, we are ourselves the Holy of Holies.
Stop and think about that. That’s huge. That’s the hugest.
Happy Easter! He is risen!
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That was such a Blessing to read and take in. So deep, so powerful, so inspiring. Thank you. 💕💕🙏🙏
Thank you David. Happy Easter. ✝️