The Temple Curtain || Numbers of Lent || Week 5

Today, we’re talking about the temple curtain. Now I know it sounds weird to talk about now, but in today’s scripture, we see something weird happen to it. It gets torn from top-to-bottom. A 45-60-foot-long curtain that’s 4 inches thick gets ripped apart as quickly as a piece of paper. Why is this so important? Well, we’re going to talk about it. We’re focusing today on God’s power. Before we dive deeply into it, I want to talk about some of the importance behind this curtain.

This curtain served as the barrier to the Ark of the Covenant, which is said to be where God’s presence rested. Only the high priest could enter, and even he was only allowed to enter once a year, and that was to ask for the forgiveness of all the Israelite’s sins. In 1 Kings 6:2, we hear Solomon’s temple is 45 feet tall. Later historians claim that Herod extended the temple to be almost 60 feet tall and that this curtain was 4 inches thick. Can you picture this curtain? You would have to stack 7-10 copies of me together to find the curtain’s height.

The scripture says that this curtain gets torn after Jesus dies. It gets torn in half, from top-to-bottom. There’s something weird about this tear. How was it torn from top-to-bottom? Do you think they had 45-60 ladders or scaffoldings to climb up there and tear it by hand? No! This tear was something that came from God, but why?

The connection between Jesus’ death and the curtain getting torn demonstrates who Jesus is, what He did, and the access that we have to God through Christ. Jesus becomes our high priest, so there no longer needs to be this barrier between God and us. We don’t need a specific high priest to come in and ask forgiveness over our sins because Jesus provided this forgiveness via what He did on the cross. The tearing of the veil also started the beginning of a brand-new covenant or promise.

Instead of needing a priest to talk to God, we can go before God through Jesus directly and boldly to receive his love and forgiveness. Jesus meets us where we are and gives us what we need, and strengthens what we feel weak. This tearing of the veil is a powerful example of how we can approach God today. God himself tore down this barrier between Himself and us through what Jesus did and went through.

May nothing hold you back from talking to God. No curtain, paper, friendship, nothing. Nothing can and will hold you back from the grace and mercy that God provides.