One of my early understandings in the Navy was that the Admiral’s door meant no entry. PERIOD. You didn’t cross the threshold without approval. His office was even in a special security area that required authorization just to be in that area. Even with such authorization, no matter how important you may have thought your business merited seeing him, you did not enter. Only the Executive Officer, the second in command, had full access to the Admiral, so you could at least convey any message for the Admiral through him. The Executive Officer could counsel you on matters of policy, intervene with the Admiral in your behalf, or even help you through a difficult situation. It was always a good idea to be on the good side of the Executive Officer.
This scenario had obvious, strong parallels to our human condition…at least before Easter. God was believed to reside in the innermost sanctuary of the Temple, a very special place called the Holy of Holies. There was a large veil separating that area from all other human access areas, even the area immediately outside the Holy of Holies, where only the priests were authorized to enter. The Veil represented human sin, which separates us from God, since sin cannot exist in the presence of Holy God. At the time of Jesus’ death, the Veil was 60 ft high, the height of a 6 story building, 45 feet wide, and as thick as a man’s extended hand, about 4 inches. Just for perspective, the first century historian, Josephus, reported it was made up of 72 squares and would take 300 priests to lift it. It was so strong, a team of horses pulling on both sides of the curtain would be unable to rip the curtain apart.
Like the Admiral’s door, the Veil meant no one entered into the Holy of Holies through the Veil without authorization. And once a year, the High Priest was allowed to enter to offer a sacrifice for Israel’s sins. The sacrifice of animal’s blood was only temporary, so it needed to be repeated annually. Before His human birth, Jesus would have been like the Executive Officer, having full access to the Father. With his human birth, Jesus became our Advocate, teaching us the will of the Father, exercising His power to heal and forgive, able to intervene for us with the Father, and help us in difficult situations. But His role changed at the Crucifixion.
If we look deeper at the Crucifixion, it wasn’t just about Jesus’ dying on the Cross, a necessary event before placing Him in the tomb, prior to His Resurrection. There were a number of events that began happening at the Crucifixion. From noon to three, a deep, eerie darkness covered the land, usually an omen of something bad about to happen. It was God’s wrath on sin being poured out on Jesus, the payment for humankind’s sin.
There’s a story I like that illustrates what was happening on that Cross. It takes place in Russia before it was organized into its numerous tribes. The largest tribe had a great chieftain who was strong, powerful, and unmatched. Someone kept stealing among his tribe, but the thief was unknown. The chieftain first set the punishment at 20 lashes, but when the thief continued, the chieftain finally raised it to 50 lashes. This was significant because no one could survive 50 lashes but the chieftain himself.
Finally the thief was caught. It was the chieftain's mother! No one thought he would punish her. But he had her brought before him. "Strip her back," he commanded. "Tie her," "Bring the whips," "Prepare to strike" he commanded. As the soldiers raised the whips, he cried, "Stop!"
Coming down off his throne, he uncovered his own back and wrapped his large body over hers, and then ordered, "Proceed with the punishment!" We can see the meaning of this story as what Jesus did for us on that Cross.
As Jesus nears death, He cries out in a loud voice, as if to regain the attention of His Father, who could not bear to watch His sinless son in such suffering, ‘Father, Why have you forsaken me, why have you left me to die on my own? It was perhaps the first time in His life Jesus felt separated from His Father, alone, helpless, forsaken.
Meanwhile, in the Temple, the lamb chosen as the Lamb of Sacrifice for the sins of Israel was being prepared for the annual sacrifice. At exactly 3 PM, as required by the Passover observance, the sacrificial lamb was killed. And, at that same moment, Jesus, the Lamb the Father had sent to be the Lamb of Sacrifice for the world, gave up His spirit in death. The ground shook, and the massive Temple Veil was torn from top to bottom, as if the Hand of God had reached down and tore that veil as easily as if it had been a piece of paper. With the sin debt permanently paid, God and His creations were once again reconciled. The prodigals forgiven, welcomed by the Father. The lost sheep returned home by the Good Shepherd. There was no longer a need for the Temple Veil, the physical representation of separation.
Now, a person’s Last Will and Testament is not actuated as long as that person is alive. It only comes into effect upon the person’s death. Jesus’ New Testament, The New Testament of His blood, came into force at His death. Upon His human death, Jesus became our High Priest, the only one who had full access to God. He was both the High Priest offering the Sacrifice, as well as being the Perfect Sacrifice for Sin. The Sacrifice was no longer a temporary, symbolic animal sacrifice, but the permanent sacrifice for all time and for all people, the sacrifice that paid our sin debt.
All this happened in those same few moments. Matthew records the testimony of the centurion and those guarding the crucifixion site as, “Surely he was the Son of God.” This crucifixion had been centuries in the making, a critical event in God’s Plan of Salvation. When Jesus declared “It is finished”, and gave up His spirit, God put a major exclamation point on this event when He immediately tore the veil.
With our sin debt paid, we now have full access to the Father through Jesus. Using my previous military example, the Admiral’s door was still only accessible through the Executive Officer, Jesus, who now holds open that once impenetrable door, inviting us in. The physical Temple Veil was no longer needed, and God wasted no time in removing it. But woe to those who tried to enter through any other door, or without the approval of the Executive Officer.
Because of our sin, we don’t deserve such access, but God created us to be in relationship with Him. To live in His presence. He created us to live in a world of harmony for our benefit. But humankind’s sin necessitated that barrier separating our sinful nature from the presence of His holiness. But as a God whose nature is Love, His Plan of Salvation was to offer us a way to reconcile us to Himself, a way to eliminate that Veil of Separation. And that plan finally came together when Jesus died, when the Veil was no longer needed.
Our access to God even allows us a stronger relationship with God. John Wesley felt that there were four aspects to such a relationship. Relationship with God is our responding to Him and Him responding to us. Secondly, relationship with God means also having relationship with others, encouraging each other on to love and good deeds, continuing to meet, together, in worship and fellowship. Thirdly, relationship with God is also in seeing Nature and others working around us and with us. God created us as part of His creation, meant to be working together harmoniously as God’s creations. Just as the Hebrew word Shalom is more than peace, it’s the mind, body, and spirit working together in harmony that knows His peace, relationship with God is working harmoniously with each other and with Nature, allowing us to see God working in us, for us, around us. The fourth aspect of Wesley’s aspects to relationship is seeing ourselves in working together with God, nourished by being in His Presence. Access to God means having this full relationship with Him.
The people then would still not have understood the total significance of what was happening as Holy Week began. Jesus had tried to tell them he must go to Jerusalem, where he must be killed. Their despair going to the tomb on that first Easter morning shows they hadn’t understood why that was necessary.
Those seeing Him alive at the empty tomb, the disciples seeing and touching Him, the two at Emmaus feeling their hearts burning within as He explained Scripture to them, were just beginning to understand. As the Holy Spirit continued to work on people’s lives, they began to see the clearer picture of His Resurrection But it wasn’t until evangelists like Paul were able to put into words what had happened, helping them interpret the meanings in Scripture, that they finally began to understood the deeper significance of what Jesus had accomplished.
They needed to understand God’s initially providing His people a means of forgiving sins through a system of sacrifices. The blood of animals didn’t satisfy Him, nor cleanse them permanently from their sins. The blood sacrifice required for permanent forgiveness was not the blood of an animal, but the blood of a Perfect, sinless Savior. Animal blood would suffice only as a temporary means of God’s forgiveness until His Plan for the Perfect Sacrifice, the permanent sacrifice for all sin, was revealed. As humans, we may never fully understand His ways, but He had continued to preview His Plan of Salvation over centuries, preparing us to understand the fullness of Easter. The model of a high priest offering a sacrifice for sin. Being allowed to enter the Most Holy Place of God once a year, through the veil that represented Sin that separated humankind from God. That high priest’s symbolic purification rituals before entering God’s Presence demonstrated God’s standards of holiness to approach Him. So, when Jesus came into this world, He was preparing to be that High Priest as well as the sinless Perfect Sacrifice. And it all came together at the Crucifixion.
Too often, we still fail to appreciate the full implications of Easter. Our NT reading from Hebrews shows these implications as encouragement to persevere in our faith. The author of Hebrews states we should have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, with full access to God through the blood of Jesus. Some translations even use the term boldness to convey an even greater concept of confidence. Boldness to enter in the new, living way opened for us through the curtain, which is now Jesus Himself, not a physical Veil. He is our holy and pure High Priest whose pure blood sprinkled on our hearts makes us pure, and who sanctifies us, sets us apart, for His holy use in the presence of God. We can now draw near to God with sincere hearts, knowing the assurance that faith in Him brings, especially as we see the Day of His Return approaching. So, believers, hold on to our hope that brings us boldly to Him. Jesus shall reign as we sang in our opening. And we know Jesus, our High Priest, leads us, content with whatever lot He gives us, into the Holy of Holies, as we sang in our Call to Prayer.
We rightfully see Easter as the rolling away of the stone and the joy of Jesus’ Resurrection. But we must also recognize that the Crucifixion was a significant part of the Easter events. That Jesus’ death on the cross let God tear open the Veil that once separated us from God. Jesus became our High Priest, opening the new and living way for us, through Him, leading us to full access to the Father. His Resurrection was undeniable proof that He reigns over death, and that we now have the bold confidence to enter the Most Holy place, Life Eternal in Heaven, through His Love that enabled Him to make that necessary sacrifice. Our Victory in Jesus, our Savior…forever. Amen
