The Veil is Gone

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

THE VEIL IS GONE

Mark 15:33-39

33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"    35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

NIV

Jesus breathed this last and the world has never been the same. We have already come to the conclusion that God never turned his back on himself, although from our perspective it was the Father turning his back on His Son. Yet, as we have thought, Jesus and the Father are one and therefore they cannot be separated, not alone from each other. Mark does not give us all the details, including some of the other things Jesus spoke, such as stating forgiveness for these men because they really did not understand what they were doing. He also spoke to the one he loves, which was John, and transferred his mother’s care from himself to John. This would have certainly meant that Joseph had already died, and Mary was a widow so was in need of care. But now as the earth was in darkness for three full hours, the people had to know this was something other than an ordinary man on that cross. Even a full-fledged eclipse of the sun does not last for three hours. The last eclipse happened a few years ago and lasted six minutes and a few seconds. So these three hours of darkness was a supernatural event, because of the momentous occasion of the light of the world being crucified, or we could say being snuffed out. Without the light of the world, there is total darkness. That is certainly a metaphor for the condition of a person who does not have Jesus in their heart, living in total darkness unless the Light of Jesus shines within them. The other most interesting event that happened when Jesus breathed his last was the veil in the temple tearing in two from the top to the bottom. From one standpoint, this veil separated the most holy place from the rest of the temple. It was the place of the Ark of the Covenant, the place God resided with his people. Only once a year was the high priest allowed to enter the holy of holies which was the Day of Atonement. Even then he would have a rope tried to his angle so that if he was not worthy enough, God would strike him dead, and the other priests could drag him out. This was the type of access men had to God then, but now with the death of Jesus, the veil has been torn and because of Jesus, we have full access to God. The Israelites were taught to fear the Lord, in fact, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, yet the most used Hebrew word translated as fear, especially in relationship to God, meant revere, or moral reverence. Thus this fear of entering the Holy of Holies, but at the same time, they wanted to kill Jesus. It just does not seem to make sense on the human level, but God had determined this course from the beginning. This fear of God has now been replaced by the peace of Christ. When Jesus said that he gives us his peace, that word carries the meaning of being at peace with God, being assured of our salvation through Christ and thus fearing nothing from God and being content with our earthy lot, whatsoever that is. The veil is gone, and we can come to God anytime, anyplace in whatever state we are in, for he will not strike us dead, but has instead given us life. We are so thankful the veil is gone.