No 27

(The Miracles of Calvary – The Tearing of the Curtain)

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.” Matthew 27:51. It was torn at the precise moment that Jesus Christ died for the redemption of mankind. Nothing else was touched in the temple; it was as if God wanted to convey the message in an indisputable fashion that Judaism was terminated and that a new dispensation began – the dispensation of grace.

For true Christians living on this side of the cross, it is quite evident that the law and all its do’s and don’ts had ceased to be. But can you imagine the reaction of the priests and all the rest of the Jewish elite? The fifteen hundred year secrecy of the Holy of Holies had come to an end and was now open to full view; they were out of a job! From that point on, the Gospels record that many, many Jews became true Christians. The Jews who rejected Jesus Christ had two choices 1) Continue as they were but without the priesthood 2) Integrate some portions of Christianity into Judaism, hence we see on the Passover table in modern-day Judaism many symbols relating to Christianity – see study # 70.

As a result of the tearing of the curtain, the way is now open for man to approach God by faith and in spiritual worship we have access to the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Hebrews 10:19, 20). There is no blazing wrath of God awaiting the true believer but rather we can find our own way into our Father’s loving embrace; our name for Him is now Abba, Father.