Miracles are very much a part of Lent. The death of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross was preceded by the miraculous darkness. And of what followed His death, we read: “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
This evening, I would like to spend these next few minutes focusing on the miraculous tearing of the Temple curtain.
The Temple was one of the largest and most magnificent buildings of ancient times, a building that included probably hundreds of rooms, and the curtain formed a separation between the two main rooms in the Temple. The room that was by far the one with the greatest significance was the Most Holy Place, sometimes called the Holy of Holies. This room was regarded as the very dwelling place of the true and living God in all of His holiness.
This was no ordinary curtain like you might use in your home. The cloth of the Temple curtain was woven six inches thick; it stood 60 feet high and was approximately 30 feet wide. It is estimated that it weighed between 8,000 pounds and 12,000 pounds – and even though it’s impossible to know exactly how heavy it was, we do know that it took the combined efforts of 300 priests to lift it into place.
But far more important than its size is what the curtain represented. This curtain formed a separation that reminded the people of Isaiah 59:2, which reads: “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you.” This curtain was not the only form of separation in the Temple by any means. Around the Temple were walls, smaller curtains, and courts, all of which separated the people in their sins from God in His purity and holiness.
On the other side of the curtain was the Holy Place. It was the room, along with the Court of the Priests, where the priests carried out their priestly functions. The priests were part of the separation, but they were also the go-between. The men who provided the animals for sacrifice could bring them into the Court of the Priests, and there the priests would lay their hands on the animal to be sacrificed. This symbolically transferred their sins to the animal, which was sacrificed and burnt on the great altar. The Lord God of Israel instructed His priests to then bless the people who stood forgiven before Him.
This separation, of course, meant that the people had no access to God. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, going through the curtain, only once a year on the Day of Atonement with the blood of a bull or goat that had been sacrificed. The other priests had no access to the Most Holy Place. The people had no access to the Most Holy Place or Holy Place and only on occasion were allowed to enter the Court of the Priests. Jewish men generally stood in an area known as the Israel Court that faced the Court of the Priests. Women could go as far as the Court of the Women and no further. The Gentiles could go into the Court of the Gentiles, but could go no further, for if they did they might receive a death sentence.
All of this was a part of the Old Testament Ceremonial Law. Along with the Moral and Civil Law, it had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai after the Israelites had left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land.
We speak of various features of the priesthood that foreshadowed the role and purpose of the Messiah. The high priest going into the Most Holy Place foreshadowed the reality that was what we refer to as Christ in His Priestly Office. The sacrifices in the temple and the blood of the animals foreshadowed Calvary’s cross and the blood that was shed for our salvation. The Day of Atonement foreshadowed the reconciliation between us in our sin with the Father in all of His holiness, which we have through faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
The moment that Christ died, all separation came to an end. This incredible curtain was torn from top to bottom. Imagine the power that ripped this curtain – six inches thick and 60 feet tall – as easily as we might rip a rotted, threadbare piece of cloth. One artist painted a picture that portrays the Holy Place at the moment of Christ’s death. It shows the Holy Place as being in shambles. The curtain was being torn. The appointed furniture was toppled over and out of place. The priests were in a state of confusion and fright. What the artist was trying to convey is the truth that the Ceremonial Law – with its foreshadowing sacrifices, separation, and lack of access to God – had come to an end. It had been replaced with the reality of Christ crucified through whom we now have access to the Father.
The inspired writer to the Hebrews wrote of many of these things, as well as of the access to God that we are now privileged to enjoy through Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 10:19–23 we read:
“Brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened up for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
St. Paul often mentioned this new-found access that the Christian has to God through Jesus. In Romans 5:1-2 we read: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” In Ephesians chapter three we read: “In Christ Jesus our Lord … we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.” And the disciple Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ also suffered, once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.”
We are reminded of this access, of the torn Temple curtain, of our reconciliation to God, every time we come to church. There is not a Court of the Priests to go through before we get to the church building. When we get to the door, we don’t have a Levitical priest telling us that we are not allowed to enter. Nor do we have a curtain separating the chancel from the nave of the church.
The tearing of the curtain in the Temple is a miraculous sign of the heavenly Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice made on the cross by His beloved Son. The curtain is torn, and the separation between God and mankind that was caused by sin has been forever brought to an end. Our sins are forgiven, and through the faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit we have access to eternal life. The separation is over; God is with us, and we are with God.
This sermon is freely adapted from a series entitled “The Miracles of Lent,” published by Concordia Publishing House.
Return to Pastor page
