Walk Right In!

These days, to get to the person we really want to talk to, it seems like we have to jump through hoops. If you have ever tried calling a company for service or warranty-related issues, you know what I mean. It is just one layer after another of computer-generated instruction. Press 1 for service followed by Press 1 for Internet problems or 2 for TV problems. On and on. Or stay on the line and the next technician will be with you shortly. And finally when we finally do talk to a live person, they are either the wrong person or there is a language problem. I have known business or community leaders who do not have open door policies. Instead, you need to go through their assistant to schedule a meeting. And even then, it was the assistant who actually delivered my message.

It is so often like the “great and powerful” Wizard of Oz – hidden behind the curtain, only heard, never seen. That is until Toto pulled back the curtain.        

Some 2,000 years ago, on what we today call Good Friday, Jesus cried out one last time, dying by crucifixion after being nailed to the Cross. Have you ever been by someone’s side when they died? Picture yourself on that hillside. What is running through your mind as you watch Jesus struggle and then breathe His last breath?

To read the gospel accounts of Jesus’s death – Matthew 27:45-56, Mark 15:33-41, Luke 23:44-49, John 19:28-37.

One passage in the death of Jesus narrative often gets overlooked, and in my opinion, this passage really does change everything. Let’s look at it.

First, here is the context. We read in Exodus chapters 26 and 27 that in the Tabernacle the Most Holy Place (sometimes called the Holy of Holies), the innermost chamber of the temple, was separated from the Holy Place by a curtain (veil). God resided in the Most Holy Place. Any Israelite could come to the temple to pray or to bring an offering, but only priests could sacrifice the animals or burn incense in the Holy Place. And only the high priest could enter The Most Holy Place one day a year (Yom Kippur) to offer blood for his sins and the sins of the world.

What that meant is that in Old Testament days, people did not have personal access to God. We see this is Hebrews 9:7, “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.” (I encourage you to read this in context in Hebrews 9.)

Okay, now let’s look at the passage that I think so often is glossed over. When Christ died on the Cross, we read these words in Matthew 27:50-51, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 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 curtain (veil) referred to in that passage is the curtain that separated the people from the presence of God. What does that mean for us here and now? Because of Christ’s death on the Cross, through His blood, we now have personal access to God. Jesus is now our High Priest and through Him we can come into God’s presence.

So, take some time right now to reflect upon what it means for you to be able to come into the presence of God, to be able to walk right in. It really does change everything!

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