August 03, 2020
Bible Reading – Exodus 26
Exodus 26:33b
33 …and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
The Bible explicitly tells us that the veil of the temple, made to separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, was an image of the body of Christ. On the surface, keeping man separated from the presence of God may seem a cruel thing contradictory to the character of Christ. Understanding the consequences of such interaction, however, reveals the grace and mercy the veil provided. Had sinful man come into the presence of a HOLY God, it would have resulted in immediate death. God’s holiness and purity would have acted as a consuming fire, destroying sin, and ultimately the individual sinner. Thankfully for man, the veil allowed God to be in close fellowship without being consuming. The veil kept God from having to look upon the sinfulness of man. Yet, the veil also kept the children of Israel from witnessing the full glory and holiness of God, and it also prevented them from individually accessing Him. At this writing, Moses is currently on Mount Sinai speaking with God while the children of Israel are at the base of the mountain witnessing a portion of what Moses is experiencing. They could see the clouds and lightning and hear the thunder and the voice of God, but they could not even so much as touch the mountain or they would die. Absolute holiness and putrid sinfulness cannot mix, and a separation is absolutely necessary. Christ teaches a lesson similar to this in several of the Gospels. He tells His disciples that you cannot put new cloth into an old garment or else the garment is made worse, and you cant put new wine into an old bottle or the bottle will burst. The lesson we can learn is that God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness are incompatible. The veil kept separate what at this point could not be combined. However, this was only a temporary solution for an eternal problem.
Because the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God are incompatible, the remedy must not be and cannot be a mere temporary “patch job.” The old garment and the old bottles must be made entirely new as must the lives of sinful men who desire the presence and fellowship of an almighty, holy, and loving God. II Corinthians 5:14-21 beautifully illustrates and teaches us that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature! While sinfulness of man is not compatible with the holiness of God, Christ as the veil, separates and shields man. He then “became sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!” But in becoming sin for us, Christ was separated from God the Father (Matthew 27:46) as if God was split apart from Himself. We see upon the death of Jesus Christ that several things occurred, but significantly to this text is Matthew 27:51 when the veil of the temple was rent in twain, or split in two, from top to bottom. Both physically and spiritually, Christ was torn, and symbolically, that veil that separated us from God the Father was also torn.
Hebrews 10:19-22 KJV
[19] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; [21] And having an high priest over the house of God; [22] 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.
That veil, symbolic of the body of Christ, provided grace and mercy all those years. And when Christ died on the cross, the torn body of Jesus Christ and the torn veil no longer separated man from God. Rather, the tear became an open invitation into the presence of God! No longer would man need to bring his sacrifice and sins to an earthly high priest, for our Great High Priest is in heaven, the holiest of all, ever before God on our behalf. Having torn the veil of separation, we are now become priests in that each of us upon salvation is aloud bold and perpetual access to the presence of God! We are a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9), a priesthood of each and every believer! Oh! How wonderful that precious and torn body of Christ should remain to each believer, as it is the power of God to make us new and to provide access to God for eternity!
— Eli Faulds