They had questioned Him and beaten Him. They made a mockery of Him, crushing a crown of thorns onto His head. He carried His cross until He could bear it no more, and a bystander in the crowd was forced to pick up the heavy tree and carry it the rest of the way. They nailed His hands and feet to the cross. They mocked him, spit on him, and in the end, stabbed a spear in His side to make sure He was dead. This is where we pick up the story.
Suddenly, Jesus dies. And the world goes black. (Side note: there are historical accounts of this phenomenon outside of the Gospel writings)
As if that wasn't enough to make you stop and consider the man that had just died, the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
The curtain that is spoken of was in the Jewish temple, the temple was built to house God's presence. God gave specific instructions to the Israelites, after he led them out of Egypt, on how this temple was to be constructed, down to the color of the yarn used to make the curtain and robes of the priests. This was not just some conception of man on how to house God. God himself was the 'contractor' of the temple. The area behind the curtain was called the Holy of Holies, and in this place and this place alone could you approach the presence of God. Today, we are able to stroll into church without even a second thought of how sacred of a place we are approaching. This was not a place you could just walk inside whenever you felt the need. Only once a year, one priest was chosen to approach the Holy of Holies. He had to undergo vigorous rituals of cleansing, purification, and sacrifice before entering 'God's presence'. They even tied a rope around his waist in case he was struck dead by the presence of God, so that they could pull his body out. This was serious stuff. And with the death of Jesus, the veil separating God's presence from man was torn.
As I reflect today, Good Friday, on the death of my savior, I marvel yet again at the perfection of God's plan. Through hundreds of prophecies, over thousands of years, by many different authors in the Old Testament, the coming of the Messiah was predicted by the Jewish people. Psalm 22 starts off: 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?' and continues with 'they have pierced my hands and feet.....they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots'. (All things that happened at Jesus's crucifixion) It was prophesied that none of his bones would be broken. As the guards came to break Jesus's legs (to speed up the process of death), they found he was already dead and stabbed Him, just to be sure, thus preventing the necessity of breaking any bones. Jesus left no prophecy unfulfilled, leaving us no room for doubt that he was the Messiah, God's son. And then the veil was torn.
On this day, I thank God for his abounding love, in sending His only son to die for my sins, and rise again from the dead, to bridge the gap to this day, between my God and I. In no other way could I, in my uncleanliness, be presented before a clean and holy God. Only through the sacrifice of the perfect, spotless lamb who took my place, am I able to approach the Holy of Holies. I thank Him for tearing the veil that separates man from God.
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