With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. – Mark 15:37-38

This is the moment when all of history changed for eternity. The covenant of the Old Testament was rewritten. The covenant of the New Testament had come to be.

We hear pastors talk about that, and every now and then there’s a Sunday School lesson on it, but what does it really mean? There’s a deep, detailed theological answer (or ten) for what that means, and it’s worth getting into if you have time and are so inclined, but for our everyday life, it’s pretty simple.

No longer do we need an intercessor to get to God. The heavy curtain in the temple separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, which was also known as the Holy of Holies, where the priests would enter into the immediate presence of God. Priests were only allowed into the Holy of Holies once a year, and they had to be blameless at that time, having confessed their sins and offered sacrifices and followed strict rituals.

Not only was that curtain extremely heavy, it was extremely symbolic. Some schools of thought say that when it tore, it symbolized that we now may enter into God’s immediate presence at any time. In addition, it is believed by some that this upended the church as it was known at the time. Suddenly, the Jewish temple was no longer the center of worship — God’s holiness had been set free into the world. The heart of worship is now the heart.

The traditions, the sacrifices, the rituals and so many of the rules that had corrupted the church were now defunct. As followers of God, this was no longer a game of going through the motions to serve a distant Father. Now we can walk boldly into the throne room and call him Dad.

The other thing I think is just God’s sense of humor or irony or justice is that the witnesses to this event would have been the leaders of the church at the time. The very men who sent Jesus to His death watched the beginning of the downfall of the punitive systems they had used as a method of control, and that had so dishonored God in the end.

In the ultimate act of sacrifice, Jesus flipped the script. As we talked about yesterday, God is no longer looking for blood sacrifice, nor a third-party relationship with His people. The law is no longer sacrifice. It is the other half of Jesus’ death to save His people from eternal agony: Mercy.

The curtain is torn. He is here with you. You have DIRECT ACCESS to the God of the Universe, and not only does He love you, He has shown you the ultimate mercy.

Why is it so hard for us to do the same for others? ❤