What about the Torn Veil?
If you ask your average churchgoer, regardless of denomination, they’ll be able to tell you what happened on Good Friday. They’ll tell you of the condemnation of an innocent man at the hands of the religious elites and their followers, the flogging and the beating at the hands of the Romans, and the long march Jesus endured to Golgotha.
They’ll tell you the story of the repentant sinner on the cross next to Him and the arrogant zealot on the other. They’ll recall how Jesus prayed to His Father that He forgive them all of this sin for “they know not what they do”. Finally, they’ll tell the heart-wrenching story of how Jesus “gave up the Ghost”.
The Veil of the Temple
For most people, the story picks up back again on Sunday morning at that tomb with the women and the Angel. And understandably so, after all, this is the one day on which our whole belief system is based upon: our belief isn’t simply that Jesus was able to raise others from the dead, but that He was able to resurrect Himself from the dead.
Read: Talkers and Doers
But in all my years of church attendance, I’ve seldom heard anyone mention what happened in between Jesus’ death on the Cross and His glorious resurrection; if only just in passing. I’m talking about the veil of the temple, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, a scarlet linen tapestry sixty feet long by 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick.
Scripture tells us that,
“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook the rocks split” (Matthew 27:51, NIV)
My question, for so many years, has been: how did the Jews miss that? What did they do with that? What did they say when they could all see into the holiest place and none of them died? How did they explain that to themselves, to each other? What apologetic contortionism did Jews of those days have to practice to get themselves over the fact that now literally anyone and everyone could see directly into the Throneroom of God?
The Message of the Torn Veil
As Born-Again, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing Christians, it is our High Calling to bring this message of the torn Veil to our brethren…and to the world! The torn veil forces the Jewish believer in a very difficult position; either what he previously believed about the Holy of Holies is false, their God is false, or…..Jesus is Lord! Nothing else!
No arguing over Scripture, debating over what Jesus believed about Himself, no splitting hairs about what can and can’t be done on the Sabbath. Nothing of the sort, just a very sneaky catch-22: either everything you believed is false or Jesus Reigns. So let us take this beautiful, simple, elegant Truth to the world!
As Kingdom Men, we are to proclaim this Truth, as Stephen did, with loving boldness to His people, and let the Spirit do the rest. Let’s not forget that this man of God, Stephen, like all the apostles and many of the first believers, were, first and foremost, Jews. Perhaps the “Sadducees” and “Pharisees” of our day are a bit different.
Our calling now not only includes religious and non-religious Jews alike but we are also asked to contend with atheists and agnostics and materialists and relativists and evolutionists and a myriad of other “ists” and “isms”; but wherever the Lord leads you and whomever you are called to preach to, just remember, the veil is torn, the tomb is empty, Jesus is alive and he is coming back soon; so strengthen each other with these words.
Bondservant to Jesus Christ, Married to Michele, Dad to Madelyn, Claudia, and Joseph and educator by trade, apologist by calling and saved by Grace. Antonio loves to read, write, and discuss all-things-apologetics. He has many passions in life including reaching, teaching, and keeping men for Jesus Christ. Waiting on God’s big reveal: Antonio knows He has something beautiful in mind.
