The Veil The Jewish Symbol of the Gospel Mark 15:33-39

The Veil The Jewish Symbol of the Gospel Mark 15:33-39 The Church at Canyon Creek, Austin, Texas Monty Watson, April 9, 2017

THE VEIL THE JEWISH SYMBOL OF THE GOSPEL Mark 15:33-39 My name upon Your heart, my shame upon Your shoulders There is no greater love, there is no greater love 1 That s the Gospel. Jesus on the cross for us. For 2,000 years, the cross has been the sacred symbol of Christianity. And it should be. Countless are those who have written about it, preached about it, and sung about it. Countless are those who have tried to convey the horror and the wonder of the cross. It is easily the most recognizable and emotional symbol in the world. There are other symbols that provoke emotion as well. Like the American flag, which stirs up feelings of pride and patriotism when we hear the National Anthem. Or, like the Nazi swastika, which provokes disdain as the epitome of evil. For 2,000 years, the cross has been the unmistakable and comprehensive symbol of our faith. Yet, the roots of our faith are Jewish, and we often miss the Jewishness of our faith. The roots of our faith come from a Jewish land, with Jewish customs, and with belief in the Jewish Messiah. So this morning, we re going to focus on the Jewish symbol of the Gospel. We are going to focus on the temple veil, the curtain which hung in the temple separating the people from the Holy of Holies and from the presence of God. Mark 15 records this dramatic moment during the crucifixion of Jesus. 33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? which is translated, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God! (Mark 15:33-34, 37-39, NAS) The cross was the Roman tool of execution, and has become for us the sacred symbol upon which Jesus sacrificed His life so that we might be forgiven of everything we ve ever done wrong. The veil was the Jewish symbol separating man from the holiness of God, and when it was torn, it became the wonderful symbol of access to God. By the cross, we are forgiven by God, and through the veil, we have access to God. VEIL Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38, NAS). To understand the Jewish roots of our faith and to fully understand the Gospel we must understand the temple veil. After the exodus of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery, the Lord instructed Moses to construct a mobile tent to house His presence as they trekked through the wilderness enroute to 1

the Promised Land. The Lord instructed Moses, Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you (Exodus 25:8-9, NIV). The last 15 chapters in the book of Exodus are the detailed plans the Lord gave Moses on how to build and operate the tabernacle. 2 The outer area was where the priests sacrificed animals for various offerings to the Lord. Inside the tent was the Holy of Holies. This was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, a box which contained the Ten Commandments and several other items. This room, the Holy of Holies, was where God dwelled. The lid of the ark was called the mercy seat, where blood was offered for sin. The tabernacle was the template for the grand temple of Solomon, and years later, for Herod s temple. Herod was the Roman emperor ruling over occupied Israel. He rebuilt the temple to appease the Jews. The temple was the center of Jewish life in Jerusalem and the place where the people met God. A veil hung in front of the Holy of Holies to separate the unholy from the holy. Exodus 26 describes the veil the Lord instructed Moses to make. You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim (angels) skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony (the Ark of the Covenant) in the Most Holy Place (Exodus 26:31-34, ESV). The colors of the veil meant behind the curtain was a king. The cherubim meant behind the curtain was God. The cherubim woven into the veil were also a warning that angels guarded the Holy of Holies and would strike dead any who dared to enter. 3 The veil was 60 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and four inches thick. 4 Rabbinical writings say 84 women were charged with weaving a new veil each year. It was so heavy that it took 300 priests to hang it in place. On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, Only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of the people (Hebrews 9:7, NIV). 5 The priest would dip his finger in the bowl and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat seven times. This ritual was repeated year after year. The temple system and the meaning of the veil were as familiar to a Jew as baseball and apple pie to us. It was part of Jewish way of life. The veil was to prevent access. Today, there are countless places of limited or no access. There is no access to Fort Knox because of the tremendous value of the gold inside. There is no access to the Coca-Cola vault because it contains the secret formula for Coke. The temple veil was to prevent access, to prevent sinful man from approaching holy God without the proper sacrifice. The veil was also to protect people from the holiness of God. My son Andy is a superintendent overseeing the construction of a hospital in North Atlanta. He was telling me about the radiation vault build for cancer treatment. The concrete walls of the vault are 4 feet thick, and ceiling containing the radiation source is 7 feet thick. The entrance to the vault is sealed with a 2

steel door that is 2 feet thick and weighs 5,000 pounds. That kind of wall is meant to protect those on the outside. The temple veil was meant to prevent sinful man from approaching a holy God in an inappropriate way, and to protect sinful man from the intensity of God s holiness. The Jewish symbol of the Gospel is the temple veil, and the veil reveals the truth about us. And the truth about us, as the prophet Isaiah said, is that your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear (Isaiah 59:2, NAS). Again, the Jewish symbol of the Gospel, the veil, reveals the truth about all of us. CROSS After all these years as a Christian, I still understate the severity of my sin. I think most of us do. Yes, we are children of God; and yes, we have been forgiven of everything we ve ever done wrong. But we tend to understate the severity of our sin and take grace for granted. When we do, we fail to understand how utterly offensive our sin is to a holy God. But just like the veil, the cross reveals the truth about us. British theologian John Stott writes, Our sin must be extremely horrible. Nothing reveals the gravity of sin like the cross It is impossible for us to face Christ s cross with integrity and not to feel ashamed of ourselves. 6 Feel the weight of that. The cross exposes us and reveals the truth about us. Yes, we are on this side of the cross. Yes, we have been forgiven and the Bible says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). But when we sing, talk, or think about the cross, it must be with utter humility. Back to Mark 15. When the sixth hour came (noon), darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 in the afternoon) (Mark 15:33, NAS). Jesus was on the cross for six hours, and darkness fell over the whole land for three hours. Biblically, darkness represents the judgment of God. The prophet Amos records the words of the Lord. In that day I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight (Amos 8:9, NIV). And for three hours, in the middle of the day, when Jesus took on the sin of the world, the judgment of God fell on Him. Darkness was not the absence of God; darkness was the presence of the wrath of God being poured out on His own son. At the ninth hour (3:00 in the afternoon) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? which is translated, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? The moment Jesus took on our sin, His Father turned away. Jesus felt the same separation from His Father that is a reality for everyone who has ever lived. Isaiah 53:6 says, All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all (Isaiah 53:6, NLT). The stinging indictment upon humanity is that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). All of us. The Bible says what we already know. There is no one who does not sin and there is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. 7 Sin is not a disease or a disorder or a dysfunction. Sin is a choice to rebel against God. When we sin, we declare our independence and snub our noses at God s authority. When we sin, 3

we choose self self-will, self-reliance, self-indulgence. When we sin, we break God s law and bring upon ourselves the consequences of His judgment. Sadly, when we sin, we spurn the one who loves us the most, we break His heart, and we offend a holy God. 8 Sin is not getting caught with a hand in the cookie jar. It is something far worse. The Bible says, The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and that those who sin against God are worthy of death (Romans 1:32). 9 What a chilling indictment! But we don t feel that way. Our sins are not that bad. A little white lie. Going over the speed limit. Watching a movie with a sexy scene. Letting a curse word fly. We admit we re not perfect, but we re good people. We love our families and we pay our taxes. And compared to most people, we re doing pretty good. Our sins are just not that bad. Yet the cross tells us something totally different about ourselves. The severity of the cross exposes the severity of our sin. 10 If that s not true, then God certainly overreacted at the cross. But He did not overreact. The severity of our sin required a severe solution, the severe sacrifice of Jesus on a cross. Isaiah 53 says, The Lord laid on him the sins of us all (Isaiah 53:6, NLT). 11 Jesus did not merely carry our sin and nail it to the cross. He became our sin, He absorbed our sin, and nailed Himself to the cross. And by doing so, He became our substitute and died in our place. The cross was a violent act. It was bloody and brutal and gruesome. One could hardly witness it without getting sick. But why blood? As non-jews, we don t get it. Yet, the blood-theme runs throughout the Bible. And the Lord explains why. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement (Leviticus 17:11). Blood is life. The shedding of blood is death. And the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The New Testament explains, All things are cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). But not our blood, but the blood of an animal as a substitute. During Passover, an estimated 250,000 lambs were sacrificed. Imagine the day of Passover, as children breathlessly watched as fathers cut the throats of lambs. Imagine the amount of blood being poured on the altar! Biblical historian Robert Coleman describes the scene of Passover. Picture the vast throng of worshipers, the bleating of frightened animals waiting to be sacrificed, the flash of the knife, the spurting blood, the priests in their immaculate white robes quickly passing the bloodstained bowls, the splash of the blood on the altar, the blood streaming over the altar, spilling upon the marble pavement of the temple floor, the reek of blood in the air all this going on while the choirs and people sang in unison the praises of God. 12 Again, the blood-theme runs throughout the Bible. Yet, the Old Testament system of animal sacrifice was only a preview of the ultimate sacrifice to come the sacrifice of Jesus Himself. But when Jesus appeared not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11-12). 4

In the old covenant, the sacrifice of an animal substituted for the sacrifice of the sinner himself. As the animal was bound to the altar, the worshiper placed his hands on the head of the animal, confessed his specific sin out loud, thus transferring his sin to the sacrificial animal. The worshiper cut the animal s throat, collected the blood in a bowl, and poured it onto the altar. By this act, sin was forgiven and relationship with God restored. In the new covenant, Jesus became that lamb. In a way, Jesus was bound to the altar, the cross, and we placed our hands on His head and confessed our sin out loud, thus transferring our sin to Him. It s as if we cut Jesus throat, collected His blood in a bowl, and poured it onto the altar. By this act, our sin was forgiven and relationship with God restored. Why blood? Because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). Why blood? Because blood was an indelible reminder of the deadliness of sin and the costliness of forgiveness. And yet, through the gruesome act of the cross and through the complex theology of blood, is the love of God. It was all an act of love. Romans 5:8 says, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (NAS). ACCESS Back to Mark 15. Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38, NAS). The moment Jesus died was the same moment the veil was torn. Rabbinical writings say the veil was the width of a man s hand, about 4 inches thick. And it was torn in two from top to bottom. Only God could do that. The cross was the Roman tool of execution, and has become for us the sacred symbol upon which Jesus sacrificed His life so that we might be forgiven of everything we ve ever done wrong. The veil was the Jewish symbol separating man from the holiness of God, and when it was torn, it became the wonderful symbol of access to God. By the cross, we are forgiven by God, and through the veil, we have access to God. Most of us will never have an audience with the Pope or the President or the Queen. But we can talk to God anytime we want! We have constant and immediate access to the Creator of the universe, who just happens to be our Father. 13 There are many exciting days in life. Like the day you got your driver s license. The day you graduated. The day you got married. The day you became a parent. The day you became a grandparent. Life is filled with exciting days. But none of those days compare to the day of our salvation. And Romans 5 tells us we ought to celebrate. We have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2, NIV). Grasp what this means. Access to God! Accepted. Welcomed. Loved. 5

Hebrews 10 says, We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-22, NAS). 14 If you believe in Jesus, today, at this very moment, you are a child of God. You have been forgiven of everything you ve ever done. You have constant, immediate access to God, every moment of every day. And one day, you will see Jesus face to face, and live with Him forever in heaven, in a place He called Paradise. If you are a Christian, rejoice! Celebrate! WHAT ABOUT YOU? If you re not a Christian at this point in your life, if you have yet to believe in Jesus, if you have a lot of questions, let it all sink in. Think about it. Talk to someone about it. God is offering Himself to you right now. Jesus has made a way for you to know God and to be right with God and have peace with God. As you think about it, I want you to watch Marty s story and listen to how he became convinced that Jesus was the way to God. 15 [VIDEO] 6

NOTES 1 Lamb of God, Meredith Andrews, Vertical Church Band. You came from heaven s throne Acquainted with our sorrow To trade the debt we owe Your suffering for our freedom The Lamb of God in my place Your blood poured out, my sin erased It was my death You died, I am raised to life Hallelujah the Lamb of God My name upon Your heart My shame upon Your shoulders The power of sin undone The cross for my salvation There is no greater love There is no greater love The Savior lifted up There is no greater love 2 Exodus 40 states, The cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted. The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys (Exodus 40:34-38, NLT). 3 See Daniel M. Gurtner, The Torn Veil: Matthew s Exposition of the Death of Jesus (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pages 58-59, 69. 4 These details are not recorded in the Bible, but in historic rabbinical writings. 5 See Leviticus 16:29-34. Also see chapter 2, The Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16, from Mike Dever and Michael Lawrence, It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010). 6 John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986), page 83. 7 1 Kings 8:46 and Ecclesiastes 7:20. 8 See Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. 9 This is not just physical death; it is spiritual death, spiritual separation from God. 10 Gary Thomas dares to say what we need to hear. The clear teaching of Scripture is that all of us deserve capital punishment. The fact that anyone will be saved is an act of sheer mercy and compassion on God s part. We all deserve a spot on death row. [Gary Thomas, Authentic Faith: The Power of a Fire-Tested Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), page 244.] 11 See Isaiah 53:4-5. 12 Robert E. Coleman, The New Covenant (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1984), page 66. 13 Hebrews 4:16, Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 14 And Romans 8 declares that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God. Once separated, but now, never again. 15 Go to www.oneforisrael.org/video/jewish-testimonies-i-met-messiah/marty-goetz-how-i-met-messiah/ to see the video story of Marty Goetz. 7