Sermon Tone Analysis

The Veil is torn

My name is Gill Gabelmann and I am a lay person from Topeka Bible Church.

Last Sunday I heard a pretty good sermon that I’ve been thinking about this week so I am going to share with you my thoughts on the same text and also weave in some thoughts from my current devotional that is on the Torah on the first 5 books of the OT.

The devotional was written by Texas lawyer

Torah for Living by Mark Lanier

So turn with me to the book of Mathew chapter 27.

I am going to start reading in verse 45 - 53.

So we see three things happening , the curtain is torn, there is a massive earthquake and the dead rise from their graves..

The earthquake is so strong, people turn to God

the people rising from the grave is a visible manifestation of “them Bones, them Bones, them dry bones” found in the story In

and you are thinking and she is talking about a curtain.

Yes, I think as you will see this one has the most significance for our lives today.

So what is this curtain and why is it significant?

Well to find out about it we need to go back to the OT in the book of Exodus.

May 12 of Torah:

May 20th - Torah

Why this separation?

well for that we have to back to the garden of Eden.

Garden of Eden - in the beginning we were with God He was walking with his creation in the cool of the day - He had complete fellowship with Adam & Eve and the had complete fellowship with them

but they were deceived by Satan and that brought sin into their world and our world and into the garden and God cannot be with sin

He is intrinsically holy - he didn’t give them a =time-out -

he is holy - sin cannot be in his midst so they were separated with the flaming sword

But God a deep relationship.

In exodus 29 Moses is up on the mountain receiving instructions from God and God says

:

:

- Moses is up on the mountain for 40 days and so what happened - the people get frustrated and think God has left them and they created a golden calf - this was significant - specifically listed in the 10 commandments

He is intrinsically holy - he didn’t give them a =time-out -

he is holy - sin cannot be in his midst so they were separated with the flaming sword

His goal was that he would have a deep relationship

- Moses is up on the mountain for 40 days and so what happened - the people get frustrated and think God has left them and they created a golden calf - this was significant - specifically listed in the 10 commandments

God sends an angel - but because of their sin He cannot be with them - so out of His love He separates himself and then there will be a physical place that will remind his people that they had fellowship with them .

plans for the tabernacle reminds them of the Garden of Eden

- Solomn is building the temple, carving, inner and outer sanctuaries - holy place of worship - then the holy of holies, cedar covered with Gold, cherubim - with the flaming sword protected the Garden of Eden.

Every single tabernacle and temple faced east, not facing the city .

- east of the Garden of Eden - heading west to get back to the Garden,

Imagine you are a Levite - running the temple for the nation of Israel, careful to follow the law, ritually clean and physically perfect, There is one day a year when the high priest can go behind the curtain - at the most westerly end of the temple - you had a rope tied on your ankle in case you died in there - because people had died for touching the ark of the covenant, for looking at it at the wrong time - I think you would be pretty nervous.

As you walked back to towards the holy of holies - there was plenty of imagery to remind you of the Garden of Eden - the carvings that focused on the kind of vegetation that would have been in the Garden of Eden - and there in the curtain a cherubim , the very same kind of angle that guards the entrance with their flaming swords...

that curtain is a physical manifestation of our sin, our separation from God

Holy spirit inspired people wove the curtain - Exodus.

Ex 26

In we read that the word became flesh and dwelt or “Tabernacled” among us -Jesus is the temple - the meeting of two worlds - He was the living breathing temple.

Jesus is the temple, He is God in flesh living with His people - in fellowship.

No wonder the pharisees were confused.

God just wouldn't do that He has separated Himself.

Jesus came and during His ministry he helaed the sick and he fellowshiped with sinners, he came to fulfill the prophesy in Isaiah 53.

Turn with me to Isaiah 53

v2 -12

- - Surely he took up our pain

when he dies the curtain is split from top to bottom - read description in Exodus

They could see what was behind the curtain - God displayed it in a way that the people could understand - you can do something today that Moses could not do - only Aaron in full regalia went into the holy of holies - even Moses was not righteous enough

Application:

So now we understand that as Jesus died the “veil was torn” and this is a symbol of the end of our separation from God and yes sometimes - perhaps often we still feel separated from God, we feel that what we have done or how we have lived our lives still makes us so un worthy and we find it hard to imagine that the God of the universe wants to have a relationship with us.

Read from Torah May 20th

Let’s also read from starting at verse 19

- 25

Notice the word confidence in verse 19 - we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus - what do we know about the blood of Jesus

we know that is washes us clean - whiter than snow - we know that it removes our sins from us - as far as the east is from the west - we know that is saves us

What do we have to do? - we have to believe!

Draw Near

The rest of this passag in Hebrews gives us practical ways to improve our fellowship with God......

Hebrew 10: .

We have to take the first step of believing and then we have to take the time to develop the relationship - relationships on thrive if you invest in them.

How do we invest in our relationship with God - we take the time

:8

in reading His word, meditating on His word , memorizing His word, studying His word

we spend time in prayer - talking to God and listening.

Hold Tight

: Hold Tight

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

We need to hold tight - when the waves of the storm buffet us and they will we need to hold tight - hang on to our faith when it maybe makes no sense - when things are difficult - they are not working out, we are not feeling blessed, we want to complain - God doesn’t seem close - we are wandering in the desert.

Hold fast - hold tight - remember the promises even when the future looks bleak.

Remember who is the God of the Universe and remember that He love you with and everlasting love and endure.

Stay Together

Hebrews 10:

and finally stay together - find fellow Christians, like minded people to spend time with - believers who don’t just talk a good game but that you see walking their talk - you know who they are.

Who we choose to spend time with makes a big difference.

Maybe you feel there is no one you can trust and no-one who is really sincere in their faith so you will just shut your self up and be a loner.

When you get to thinking that way i want you to imagine for a moment that it is winter and you are staring at fire that is blazing in a fire place it is made up of mostly coals that are glowing red hot and warming you.

You reach into the fire with a pair on tongs and remove one of the coals that is glowing red hot and you set it on the side away from the rest of the coals.

You go back to warming yourself in front of the fire.

After a few minutes you look back at that lonely coal that you set aside.

What do you think you will see?

Well I can tell you it has gone out and sits there black and rapidly cooling - no longer on fire.

To me this is an excellent illustration of what happens when we no longer assemble together - we don’t attend worship, or bible studies or have any kind of Christian fellowship - our faith begins to fade and we lose the fire that our faith once had.

As we need to fellowship with God so we need to fellowship with others.

So my charge to you today is to Draw Near, Hold Fast and Stay Together.