NO MORE CURTAINS!
"...the curtain of the temple was torn in two.."(Matt. 27:51)
The annual event always drew a crowd. the priest would solemnly ascend the temple steps, cradling in his arms a lamb. As the people waited outside, he would pass through the great curtain and enter the Holy of Holies. He would kill the lamb upon the altar and pray that the blood would appease God. The sins would be rolled back. And the people would sigh with relief.
A great curtain hung as a reminder of the distance between God and man. It was a deep chasm that no one could breach. Man on is island... quarantined because of sin.
God could have left it like that. He could have left the people isolated. He could have washedhis hands of the whole mess. He could have turned back, tossed in the towel, and started over on another planet. He could have, you know.
But he didn't
God himself breached the chasm. In the darkness of an eclisped sun, he and a Lamb stood in the Holy of Holies. He laid the Lamb on the alter. Not the lamb of a preist or a Jew or a shepherd, but the Lamb of God. The angels hushed as the blood of the Sufficient Sacrifice began to fall on the golden altar. Where had dripped the blood of lambs, now dripped the blood of life.
"Behold the Lamb of God."
And then it happened. God turned and looked one last time at the curtain.
"No more." And it was torn... from top to bottom. Ripped in two.
"No more!"
"No more lambs!"
"No more curtains!"
"No more sacrifices!"
"No more separation!"
And the sun came out.
An entry from Max Lucado's on THE ANVIL.
Thankyou Lord....
GIG
The annual event always drew a crowd. the priest would solemnly ascend the temple steps, cradling in his arms a lamb. As the people waited outside, he would pass through the great curtain and enter the Holy of Holies. He would kill the lamb upon the altar and pray that the blood would appease God. The sins would be rolled back. And the people would sigh with relief.
A great curtain hung as a reminder of the distance between God and man. It was a deep chasm that no one could breach. Man on is island... quarantined because of sin.
God could have left it like that. He could have left the people isolated. He could have washedhis hands of the whole mess. He could have turned back, tossed in the towel, and started over on another planet. He could have, you know.
But he didn't
God himself breached the chasm. In the darkness of an eclisped sun, he and a Lamb stood in the Holy of Holies. He laid the Lamb on the alter. Not the lamb of a preist or a Jew or a shepherd, but the Lamb of God. The angels hushed as the blood of the Sufficient Sacrifice began to fall on the golden altar. Where had dripped the blood of lambs, now dripped the blood of life.
"Behold the Lamb of God."
And then it happened. God turned and looked one last time at the curtain.
"No more." And it was torn... from top to bottom. Ripped in two.
"No more!"
"No more lambs!"
"No more curtains!"
"No more sacrifices!"
"No more separation!"
And the sun came out.
An entry from Max Lucado's on THE ANVIL.
Thankyou Lord....
GIG
posted by Pete at 3:53 PM
2 Comments:
I like the old KJV
"And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst"
The word "rent" seems like a much more violent tearing of the curtain than merely saying torn. I picture God's might hand grabbing it, and ripping it in 2. The same hand which saved Isaac from the altar, held back the Red Sea, that covered the cleft of the rock through which Moses peeked. The very same hand which shaped me in my mother's womb, that reached in and healed my son in my wife's womb.
That hand gives both healing and judgement. But in this case, is sealing a brand new covenant with His people. It makes me stop and really think about what Jesus did for me.
Oh yeah, and ATT, GIG
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