BibleStudy Expressions of Faith. A Cross and A Curtain
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| A Cross & A Curtain |
A Cross
On several levels, Good Friday as a name for the day Jesus was crucified sounds wrong. This version of the title, Good?Friday might be more appropriate.
Then again, perhaps not!
On several levels, Good Friday as a name for the day Jesus was crucified sounds wrong. This version of the title, Good?Friday might be more appropriate.
Then again, perhaps not!
Jewish scholars of the First Century should have known who Jesus was when He came.
Somehow, the finest Hebrew minds misinterpreted the following:
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:1-6, 12b
This is the central Old Testament passage on Christ's suffering on the cross as the sacrifice for our sin.
Be sure you don't misinterpret this passage.
There is no other pathway to the forgiveness of God and the redemption of your soul.
The appropriate sacrifice was only part of God's plan for entering His presence.
A Curtain
A Curtain
When the Ark of the Covenant was built, the Spirit of God appeared as a visible cloud above the wings of the angels on top of the cover.
The Temple in Jerusalem had the Holy Place, where the priests performed their duties. It also had a Holy of Holies.
This special room held the Ark of the Covenant, which still represented the physical presence of the Spirit of God. Only the High Priest entered that room only one time each year.
The exact size of the Holy of Holies at the time of the crucifixion is hard to pin down. It was at least 30-feet square, and probably at least that tall. A heavy curtain—sometimes called the veil of the Temple—separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. It reached from ceiling to floor.
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A recreated view of the Herodian Temple, focusing on the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Image courtesy of Glo Bible Software
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In Mark 15, we read the statement that veil of the Temple was torn just before Jesus dies.
The picture above may have exaggerated the height of the Holy of Holies. But, even if the height of the room was 30-feet, that means that the top if the thick curtain was 30-feet above floor level.
Human hands would have started at the bottom of the veil and torn from the bottom up. Whether by an angel's hand or the hand of God, that curtain was torn from top to bottom. Entrance to the Holy of Holies was no longer blocked. This act signifies that God, Himself invites us into His presence.
This means that through Jesus we have free and unrestricted access to God.
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| I like this version of the tearing of the veil because it portrays Christ's sacrifice as the cause of the event. |
The torn veil symbolizes our hope to live in God's presence day-by-day.
It's okay to be sad about Jesus's death on Good Friday. But, as Tony Campolo said in a well-known sermon excerpt
It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!
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