Creator, Father, King #231

By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

HISTORY’S GREATEST SACRIFICE WAS nearly complete. Atonement for sins—something we could never achieve—was at hand. The sinless Son of God had fulfilled his redemptive purpose. All that remained was for Jesus to release his final, dying breath.

Six hours into his agonizing crucifixion, Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46, ESV). Then he declared, “It is finished,” bowed his head, and gave up his spirit (John 19:30).

God’s Son, the Savior of the world, was dead.

Suddenly, a chain reaction of supernatural events rocked Jerusalem. A great earthquake shook the city. Tombs opened, and dead saints returned to life. (Kind of cool . . . kind of creepy!)

Most significantly, “the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two” (Matthew 27:51). Maybe that doesn’t sound as remarkable as a bunch of corpses rising from the dead, but it was!

What’s It Mean?

The Temple curtain was the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place—the latter being the inner sanctuary that represented God’s unique presence. Only the Jewish high priest could pass through the veil—and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement—to offer sacrifices for the nation (see the April 1 devotion).

The massive curtain visually represented the separation between a holy God and his sinful people. Under the old covenant, sinners’ access to God was heavily restricted and required an approved mediator.

But when Jesus died, God himself supernaturally ripped the Temple curtain in half, symbolically providing glorious, unfettered entry into his heavenly throne room for all believers!

Are you overjoyed by this? You should be! The Lord God Almighty has opened up his heavenly throne room to you. He is not aloof. He is a loving heavenly Father who, under the new covenant, now makes the hearts of redeemed sinners his Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Amazing! As today’s verse says, Jesus, our new and better mediator, “opened a new and life-giving way” to God.

The restrictive curtain is gone. Access to God—all day, every day—is possible for believers in Christ!

Now What?

Come before the Lord daily through prayer and Scripture, asking the Spirit to guide your time with him. This is how we actively access God’s presence.

Did You Know?

The Temple curtain was sixty feet high and thirty feet wide, and it was torn top to bottom—not vice versa—at the moment Jesus died. No human could have done this!