Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:45)
The veil reached from the ceiling to the floor, from wall to wall, and separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in the Temple. Solomon’s Temple was thirty cubits high [simple_tooltip content=’Now the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.’](1 Kings 6:2)[/simple_tooltip], but Herod increased the height to forty cubits according to the writings of Josephus, a first-century historian. Therefore, depending on what standard you use to convert cubits to feet (there is uncertainty as to exactly what a cubit equaled in feet and inches), this veil was somewhere between sixty and ninety feet high.
It is significant that this veil was rent from top to bottom [simple_tooltip content=’Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,’](Matt. 27:51[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.’]Mark 15:38)[/simple_tooltip]. No man could have torn the veil in this fashion. It was definitely God who rent the veil. It is also significant that the time this veil tore down the middle corresponds exactly to the moment Jesus died on the Cross.
[simple_tooltip content=’1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary;
3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.
7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—’]Hebrews 9:1-9[/simple_tooltip] tells us that the veil separated the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt, from the rest of the Temple, where people dwelt. This signified that mankind was separated from God by sin [simple_tooltip content=’1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.’](Isa. 59:1-2)[/simple_tooltip]. Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil and only once each year [simple_tooltip content=’And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.’](Ex. 30:10[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;’]Heb. 9:7)[/simple_tooltip]. This symbolized the Messiah, who would enter into God’s presence for us and make an atonement for our sin.
The moment Jesus Christ died, the veil was torn in two, revealing that the sacrifice had been made and there was no longer a separation between God and you. Jesus tore the veil, that is to say His flesh [simple_tooltip content=’by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,’](Heb. 10:20)[/simple_tooltip], in two and opened up the way to the Father through Himself—the way you are walking in today. Rejoice and be glad in it!