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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

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Luke 23:44-49

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

NIV

Luke leaves out some of the other things Jesus said from the cross, which is alright. We will only deal with what Luke makes known to us and this is the moment when it all comes together. The time when the sun stopped shining. Interestingly the Hebrew word used here for the sun stopped shining means to fail, quit, and leave. In other words, the sun failed to shine, this was not an eclipse, for we have seen a full eclipse of the sun by the moon and the sun was still shining, so much so that we needed special glasses to be able to look directly at the eclipse. When it was the sixth hour which would be high noon, the time when the sun was directly overhead, and it stopped, it failed to shine, as if it disappeared from the sky, that was how dark it became, and at that exact time the curtain in the temple was torn in two. We cannot be sure about the size of the veil or curtain, but from various sources it is said to be about sixty feet high, thirty feet wide, and the thickness of a man’s hand, which could be from one to six inches thick, depending how one measured a hand. Nevertheless, it was so large and thick that no one could accidentally stumble into the Holy of Holies. All this is important because no one was allowed to enter the presence where God dwelled with men, except once a year and then only by the high priest. Now, Jesus being the High Priest, in the order of Melchizedek, the Son of God, breaks down the bearer between men and God, tearing the curtain, and taking away the veil so that we can have full access to the Father. No longer is that anything between us and God, in fact, now God dwells within us as the Holy Spirit. We cannot be any closer to God than if we sat on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies, yet we are even closer than that. All this happened the time Jesus gave up his spirit when he decided to take his last breath. He gave up his spirit. No one killed Jesus, not man nor the dark forces of evil in this world. Jesus decided the time and place he would give his life for his creation, to redeem them, to see to it all their sins are forgiven, and they now have complete life, to the fullest, eternal life through faith in Jesus. There is no curtain anymore, We have full access!