No Ordinary Veil
I’m going to focus my next three articles on unpacking the three important days from Black Friday to Easter Sunday. I have found that many Christians’ aren’t really aware of the spiritual meaning. But even the most simple-minded of Christians will have their faith strengthened to understand a little more than that. I’ve chosen to explore these three days through the lens of the tearing of the veil. It was no ordinary veil!
“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.“
Matthew 27:51 NASB
Seems a little over our heads
From the Bible, we know that the death of Jesus is a glorious truth, foundational to our Christian faith. It grants us peace with God (Romans 5:1), redemption, and the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14). But how does the Bible express the significance of Jesus’s death in the gospels? This is exactly what we find at the crucifixion of Jesus and the tearing of the temple curtain (or veil) immediately after his death. Though the tearing of the veil is described in all three of the four gospels (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), none of them stops to explain it. Presumably, they thought the event was clear enough to their original readers. But twenty centuries later, we have no real framework to even begin to make sense of.
To complicate matters, the account in the gospel of Matthew tells of several of extraordinary events that puzzle us today. Matthew, a Jew, was well versed in the scriptures at that time. He helps us understand the significance of the historical realities around Jesus’s death more clearly than any other writer.
All of this occurs on Good Friday, where the goodness of God in Christ points us to the hope of Easter Sunday.
What is the veil?
It may seem strange to readers that Matthew refers simply to “the” veil of the temple, without any explanation as to which of the many hangings, curtains, and veils in the Old Testament tabernacle and subsequent temple he had in mind. Interpreters must simply presume that Matthew would have expected his readers to know what he meant. Since Matthew makes such frequent appeals to the Old Testament, presuming it to be an important authority for his readers. To read it for yourself, however, you should turn to God’s words in Exodus.
Matthew’s writings about the veil
Matthew’s use of the phrase “veil of the temple”(Mathew 27:51 NASB) suggests there was an enormous inner veil (curtain) separating people from the innermost, sacred part of the tabernacle (temple) — the holy of holies. This veil, described first and most fully with these details in Exodus 26:31-35.
- Verse 31: “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker.
- Verse 32: “Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases.”
- Verse 33: “Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.”
- Verse 34: “Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place.”
- Verse 35: Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.”
[Parts of this article are excepts from an aricle by Daniel M. Gurtner, found at https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-veil-was-torn-in-two#modal-2984-tma4nxak]
In my next article I will explore the significance of the veil being torn from top to bottom at the moment Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross, and what thata means in light of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day..
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