The Curtain
Background Story: After three years of ministry, Jesus stands before Pilate and the people to accomplish the purpose for which He came.
Read Matthew 27:22-51
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Big Idea: We have full access to God through Jesus’ blood.
There was a thick curtain that hung in the temple and tabernacle separating all from the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the most sacred place containing the atonement cover and the ark of the covenant (Exodus 26:31-34). This holy and sacred place was somewhere only the High Priest could enter once a year after undergoing a long process of sanctification and purification. Before going past the curtain, we read in Leviticus 16, the High Priest would bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He would bathe to cleanse himself and put on the sacred linens. He would first make atonement for his own sin and his family’s sin before making atonement for the sin of Israel. He would bring burning incense so the smoke would conceal the atonement cover. He would then take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it seven times before the atonement cover and on the horn of the altar. Then the High Priest would take a live goat, lay his hands on it confessing all the sins of the Israelites and then “send the goat away into the wilderness” where the goat “will carry on itself all their sins.” This was the process, year after year, to enter behind the curtain to receive forgiveness of sin.
When Jesus came, offering Himself as the sinless lamb shedding His own blood for the forgiveness of the world, verse 51 says that the “the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” It didn’t rip a little so we could peak through a hole getting a glimpse. It was divided into two giving full access to the inner sanctuary of God. And this access is no longer for select people, but for ordinary people like you and me. Hebrews 9 goes deep into these amazing truths and I encourage you to take time to read it. Jesus is our perfect lamb and perfect High Priest who, “did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Praise be to Him who has provided us forgiveness of sin and access to the Father through His precious blood!
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