The Veil Was Torn
The life, ministry, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made a dramatic change in our access to God and in our salvation and righteousness before God. The moment Jesus Christ breathed His last breath and yielded up His spirit, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. At that moment, the price for our transgressions and sins was paid in full and access to God was changed.
Under the old covenant, access to God was limited. God had instructed Moses and the Levitical Priesthood how to gain access into God’s presence and the Most Holy Place. Once a year, the High Priest would offer sacrifices and would come with the blood of goats and calves into the Most Holy Place of the Temple behind the veil. If the sacrifice was accepted, mercy and grace was given to make atonement for the people. When the veil was torn, a new and living way into God’s presence was opened through Christ’s blood and sacrifice.
Hebrews 9:11 NLT So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.
Hebrews 9:12 NLT With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
Under the old covenant God was represented as dwelling apart from the people. He was within the veil. The veil was a four-inch thick tapestry that hung before the most holy place which concealed the light and glory of the presence of God. Jehovah God told Moses that He would speak with them above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, (Exodus 25:22). God remain hidden behind the veil in that sacred and holy place where only one man could enter once a year. Sin had caused a great division between God and man. God had given promise that there was a way for the high priest to pass into the presence of God and receive mercy, grace and atonement for sin.
364 days a year there was no admission to God.
One day out of the year, on the Day of Atonement, a way was provided for the High Priest to enter.
Christ has now entered into a greater and more perfect Tabernacle in heaven with His own blood.
Jesus Christ brought a radical change in the way that you and I can come before God. In the Law, access was only through the sacrifice of bulls and goats and the blood of sprinkling. The Messiah changed everything and has entered the Most Holy Place in heaven once for all time to secure our redemption forever. Now grace and truth have come to us by Jesus Christ.
You remember the message of the angels when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
With loud hosannas the angels sang, “Joy to the world the Lord is come.” Jesus the Christ came into this world to make a radical change.
He is the High Priest of good things to come. His coming to this world brought about the radical change that was finished when He breathed His last breath and yielded up His spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The Lord Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection have brought good things to those who believe in Him.
Under the old covenant, the only way to find mercy and grace to be cleansed and redeemed was through the ministry of the high priest beyond the veil. When Immanuel was born in Bethlehem, a day of hope and salvation arrived. While our Lord was here, He was compared to the earthly High Priest. We never read of Christ entering the holy place made by hands. He stood outside the veil which is the place for sinful men. The Holy Son of God stood outside the veil. The scripture says “He suffered outside the gate…”
The veil hung thick between Him and God until the sacrifice was accepted.
While He suffered on the cross and cried out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” our High Priest was outside of the veil. After He presented His sacrifice… and it had been offered up, He passed within the veil and rose to the throne of God. Jesus the Christ, our High Priest has entered into heaven itself with His own blood. In that holy place He has obtained eternal redemption once for all.
In Leviticus 16, the High Priest entered into the Holy Place with blood.
The lamb was slain and the blood was collected to provide entrance to the mercy seat. Without the blood from the sacrifice, there was no entrance and access to God’s mercy.
Our Savior, standing in the sinners place, could not enter within the veil until the sacrifice was presented.
Even the Son of God could not enter for us without blood. He could not represent sinful humanity without His own blood. The Lord did not come with a sacrifice and offering of the blood of an animal. The body of our Lord was offered up as the singular sacrifice for man. The vicarious substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ was for the penalty of sinful man. His blood would be poured out before God for everyone who trusts in Him. On the cross, our Savior offered Himself to God to bear the tempest of sin’s consequences. Out of His great love, He died for the ungodly on the cross.
Our Lord owed nothing to the justice of God.
He who was without sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He voluntarily offered up His own body and blood as a sacrifice for sinners. The Old Testament set the pattern for what the Lord endured.
When the High Priest went in to make atonement, he had to go before God alone.
Leviticus 16:17 There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.
No one could suffer with Him or have any part in what He did. Even the three who went with Him to Gethsemane could not stand in the garden. Calvary was a place of the greatest darkness where even the sun refused to shine at midday. This was the sacrifice of the Lord. He gave Himself up as a vicarious substitutionary sacrifice for sinners.
After He said “It is finished!” the Lord entered into that Holy Place once for all.
The battle was over and Jesus conquered hell, death and the grave. Our High Priest and Representative before God has entered into heaven itself for every sinner. Jesus entered once for all with the blood of His Sacrifice. The blood of His sacrifice is sufficient to cover and put away our sin. Now no veil hangs between God and His chosen people. We may come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy from our Father.
When Christ entered as our High Priest, he went up to the mercy-seat in heaven.
He drew so near to God that no nearness could be greater. As God and Man, Christ entered into the presence of the Father to be our Mediator. There in the presence and glory of the Father, Jesus Christ has made a way for us to enter. Heaven has been opened and we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus. The access is free and the Father is waiting for you to come into His presence. The Mercy Seat has been covered with the blood of the Lamb of God and you can come to God. There is mercy and grace to help in time of your need.
What did our Lord Jesus Christ do when He entered into heaven within the veil?
- He made atonement for you with His own blood and covered your sins. By His Blood our sins are washed away.
- He entered there to appear before God the Father for us. He is your representative in the courts of heaven before the Father. He is there to justify and sanctify. He is there to plead your case before the Father.
- He is there to perfect us. Our eternal High Priest has entered so that He may set you free from sin. He has entered so that He may present us to God holy and without spot.
- He entered so that He may abide there. Jesus Christ our Lord entered so that we may have access. We can come to God our Father because the blood of Jesus Christ has been applied.
- He is there so that He may admit us into that same nearness with the Father.
- Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed
- Come you heavy laden come to Me and rest
- Come no longer tarry I your load will bear
- Bring your every burden bring your every care.
There is true victory for you in what Jesus Christ has accomplished. There is victory from your burdens of life. Glory is awaiting you. Since the veil has been torn, you can hide yourself in Jesus Christ. He is your Substitute, Covenant, Covering and Representative in the glory land.