GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
MARK 15:38
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38 The curtain of the inner temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
I have translated the simple word “temple” as “inner temple” because the curtain is without a doubt the curtain that separated the innermost chamber, the Most Holy Place, from the Holy Place in front of it. This was “the curtain that is in front of the Testimony” (Exodus 27:21), or “the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony” (Exodus 30:6). God had given this command to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the atonement cover” (Leviticus 16:2). That curtain could only be passed once each year, when the high priest went behind it to make atonement for the people’s sin on the Day of Atonement. He had to take in the blood of a bull that was sacrificed for his own sins, and then the blood of a goat that was sacrificed for the sins of the nation (Leviticus 16:14-15). We have no reason to suspect that the original curtain made by Oholiab the embroiderer (Exodus 38:23) was anything more than the single curtain commanded by God, since in all of the construction of the tabernacle, “everything was done just as the Lord commanded Moses” (Exodus 39:32, 42, 43). With regard to the second temple, the one in place in Jesus’ time, the Jewish rabbis talk about the curtain as a double curtain. “They say (says Edersheim) that the high priest went in by the southern [left] edge of the first curtain, then walked along till he reached the northern [right] corner of the second curtain, by which he entered the Most Holy Place” (The Temple chapter 2).
When Jesus died, this whole curtain (whether one thickness or two) was torn in half, into two pieces, from top to bottom. The curtain was fifteen feet high by fifteen feet wide. It shielded the holy place, where the priests worked and made daily offerings, from the most holy place, which represented God’s throne room. Its only object was the Ark of the Covenant. The lid of the ark was pure gold, and its name is translated “atonement cover” (NIV), “atonement seat” (EHV) or “mercy seat” (KJV, Exodus 25:17).
The curtain was not torn by human hands. It was found torn open at the time Jesus died; the Most Holy Place was empty and exposed, so that the Daughter of Zion was “left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons” (Isaiah 1:8). What did this signify?
1, Since no one was to enter the Most Holy Place except for the high priest, and only once per year, the tearing of the curtain announced that Christ, the sole and true High Priest, had now entered into the Most Holy Place and established an eternal redemption by his own blood; not once for a year, but once for all time (Hebrews 9:12; 9:26; 10:10).
2, In ancient times, under the Old Covenant, the priests went into the Holy Place every day to worship, but only the high priest could enter into the Most Holy Place once per year. That was a type or symbol, of what was to come. Since Christ had now accomplished this atonement with his own flesh and blood, the type or symbol was now ended, and therefore the tearing of the curtain marked the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant– the New Testament. God tells his ancient believers and his New Testament believers that we are saved through him: “At our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you” (Song of Solomon 7:13). But he also declares that the old way is now ended, and that faith is through Christ, and not any other path to heaven: “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast– as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
3, In the Most Holy Place, behind the curtain, the high priest stood at the throne of God’s grace once per year. But now, the tearing of the curtain shows that we all have access to the throne of grace through Christ’s blood and death. “Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we possess. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:14,16).
4, The tearing of the curtain also declares that the Levitical ceremonies of the Old Testament have now reached their end. While they were in place, those outward ceremonies all pointed ahead to Christ. But now that the one true sacrifice had been made on the cross, the outward ceremonies are no longer needed. As Christ himself declared at the altar of his cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And Paul instructs the Colossians: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, New Moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).
5, The New Testament is validated and ratified by Christ’s blood, death, and resurrection. Therefore the tearing of the curtain is a sign that the mystery of all the Jewish ceremonies (which were covered and hidden, as secrets) are now clear to everyone and revealed in the New Testament. “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed” (Galatians 3:23).
6, Finally, this tearing of the curtain can also be seen as the tearing down of the wall or divider between Jew and Gentile, since Jesus reconciled both Jew and Gentile on the cross, as Paul says to the Romans: “The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).
The sacrifices of the Old Testament were types or symbols of Christ’s actual satisfaction, and they themselves– that, is, the blood of all of those lambs, bulls, goats, and doves– furnish a solid proof for Christ’s satisfaction. “For if the sacrifices and victims truly atoned for men’s sins because of the Antitype (that is, the thing the symbol represents) of Christ’s satisfaction that was to come, then it follows that the Antitype, which is Christ himself, granted this by the offering of himself on the cross. He is called the asham, the atoning sacrifice, in Isaiah 53:10.”
The tearing of the curtain was the sign of the end of all sacrifice, not because the sacrifices had no value, but because Christ’s sacrifice, the final one, has infinite value. Through his blood and death, we are rescued from sin, from death, and from the devil’s power. Through his blood we are carried into the throne room of God, cleansed and purified. “The blood of Christ, who offered himself unblemished to God, will cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:10).
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul,
firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary,
behind the curtain, where Jesus who went before
us, has entered on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:19). In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
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