Access To God

Access to God

The Torn Curtain

Read: Exodus 26:31-33; Mark 15:37-38

The woman stared at the pile of rubble where the concrete wall had once stood, topped with barbed wire and guarded by watchtowers. All her life, the Berlin Wall had cut through her city, separating East from West. After seeing the television images of the barrier coming down, she had wanted to see it for herself. She didn’t fully understand all the ramifications of the wall’s removal, yet she felt a surge of excitement.

A barrier also went down more than two thousand years ago. As Jesus took his last breath on a cross outside Jerusalem, the thick curtain in the Temple ripped in half from top to bottom. How did the Jewish women feel when they heard about this bizarre event? They knew that God had given instructions for the curtain to be hung in front of the Most Holy Place as a symbol of the separation between the people and his presence. They knew that only the high priest could pass through the curtain, and then only on the annual Day of Atonement. As Jesus’ followers grasped the meaning of the torn curtain, their minds must have filled with awe that the barrier between them and God had been removed.

Although the New Testament explains the relationship between Jesus’ death and the ripping of the Temple curtain (see Hebrews 10:19-22), it is still hard for us to grasp the significance of the event. We’re all affected by the barrier that went up between God and every human being at the moment when sin entered the world. But since we haven’t lived with that constant visual reminder, it’s difficult for us to fully comprehend its removal. Jesus’ perfect sacrifice opened up access to God and provided a way for sinful men and women to be united with their heavenly Father. Like the Berlin Wall, the barrier has been removed; now we are free to enter God’s presence.

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

Hebrews 10:20