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Text: Exodus 26:31-35
Intro: When our Lord Jesus died the vail of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. The events of this are recorded in three of the gospel accounts. Matthew 27:50-51, Mark 15:37-38, Luke 23:44-46. I know last week we didn’t establish this truth but in the unrent vail we have on display the deity of Christ. God’s holiness on display, that which showed man his sinfulness and short-falling of God’s glory. The unrent vail in this sense was that which separated God from man. Man’s only access was that through the high priest and that access was limited. That is why Christ came to die, to take down the middle wall of partition between us. Ephesians 2:11-16. And being that He was the vail, it ment that He Himself must be rent. John 12:32-33. Thus becoming the One by which access to God is granted. Today that access is still through the High Priest, but not by the one after Aaron, the One after Melchizedek. Psalm 110:4.
A few thoughts about the vail from its description. The vail was woven and would not have been easily torn. It hung loosely so it would not have been easily cut or torn by a direct stroke. In addition to this it was soft and would have yielded to any such strike. It was not rent in twain from bottom to top, but from the top downward to the bottom. In this we have the wonderful truth, that Jesus’ death on the cross was not the work of men, but it was the work of God!
Jesus spoke of this very truth before the cross.
1. Not of man but of God:
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
His death was as much a work of God as His incarnation was. Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
Christ died on the cross, not by the hands of men, but by the wrath of God.
David spoke through the Spirit concerning this truth in the Psalms. Ps. 22:15, Ps. 38:2, Ps. 39:9, Ps. 42:7, Ps. 88:7
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me;
Thy terrors have cut me off.
He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
It was spoken of by many others as well. Is. 53:10, Zechariah 13:7, A prophecy that Christ applied to Himself while speaking to His disciples. Matthew 26:31.
2. Christ, Our Passover:
The Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed in the evening. The evening per the Hebrews day was between the hours of noon and sunset.
The vail was rent in twain at the third hour meaning 3 pm. Matt. 27:46 I believe the very hour the evening lamb was on the altar in the temple, the lamb of the passover was being sacrificed in the court of the temple is that hour that our Lord became the true passover lamb for us.
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
As He hung there on the cross I believe that Christ not only smelled the spikenard that Mary anointed His body with in each dying breath
but that He could see the smoke rising from the altar of the temple. He was the true passover of God, He knew that all things that were foretold of Him upon the cross were now fulfilled. It was then that He lifted up His voice and cried out, knowing that He had met every condition agreed upon in the everlasting covenant, His cry was one not only heard by those watching but also reaching the very throne of God on high. It is finished.
A cry full of agony, but was a cry of triumph, one full of authority, and of command. Look at the effect it had on an unbelieving gentile centurion. A man that had likely seen many die by way of crucifixion, but the death of this man stood out as so different that he made this statement.
And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
It the moment the vail was rent in twain, it was all at once changed from a barrier which kept people from the very presence of God, to a way of passage, allowing all to have access to the Most Holy Place!
I said last week, that His perfect life was a barrier itself. Showing man in full display, his short comings, his vileness, and his filthy rags. Only making even more manifest the distance between God and man. His holiness was a constant witness of the sinfulness of mankind, and every act which demonstrated that holiness contained also a demonstration of mans unholiness. Man was without hope, but God...
3. But if it die:
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
Man could never get beyond the penalty of sin. The penalty of death, Not until that penalty was paid, could there be any hope of a new life for sinful man. Jesus took the penalty sin that was against us and nailed it to Himself.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Through His death on the cross He made the way. When He arose from the dead and ascended to Heaven He took His place as the Second Man, the Last Adam, the Eternal Life Giver; and all of that is because of the complete satisfaction fulfilled by His death. For it was then and only then that He could impart His life and nature to all who would receive His sacrifice as their own. I use the term own, because He is a possession.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
Like the corn that dies, it bringeth forth much fruit!
Because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, because the vail was rent in twain, we have constant and continual access!
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Let us take full advantage of the rent vail!