Certain things in life are irreversible. For example, a sunrise cannot be replicated. A shattered vase cannot be restored. A word cannot be revoked.
And a curtain torn in two is forever separated.
I am thanking the Lord for that with all my heart this Easter season. Jesus Christ, the Promised Messiah and Savior of the world, died on a cross to pay the wages of sin and reunite indebted sinners to God the Father. Unjustly beaten, unfairly mocked, unlawfully crucified, He breathed His last and altered the eternal state of heaven and earth.
“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” And having said this He breathed His last.” – Luke 23:44-46
That curtain was the intricately woven fabric that hung so carefully in the sanctuary of God. Patterned after the divine instruction originally provided Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness for the traveling dwelling place of God, known as the Tabernacle, the drapery separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
A consecrated priest could enter the Holy of Holies but once a year to atone for sin and appear before the very Mercy Seat of God on behalf of the people. That throne room, as it were, was isolated from laymen and bystanders, who were tainted by iniquity and therefore denied access to a perfect God.
I envision myself there, a lonely wanderer in the wasteland of sin. Cut off from fellowship with God because of my own rebellion against Him. Hopeless without a sacrifice acceptable to Him. Lost without a righteousness credited to my account.
But Jesus.
The One who crossed the chasm, bridged the breach, healed the hole.
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:3-6
The curtain put in place because of sin was once for all ripped down the middle to grant the one who believes entry into God’s presence and acceptance into His fellowship. Christ alone has broken down the dividing wall of hostility and reconciled sinners to God.
Abby
