Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Matthew chapter
27 as we gather together on this Good Friday and look at what
Christ has done for us, His death on the cross of
“From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life; and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique—a new type of meeting and new type of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as of the old, but its content is not the same, and the emphasis not as before.
“The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation [self-denial] of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into the public view the same thing the world does, only a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.
“The new cross does not slay the sinner; it re-directs him. It gears him to a cleaner and jollier way of living, and saves his self-respect. . . . The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
“The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of DEATH. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took the cross and started down the road has already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life re-directed; he was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise; modified nothing; spared nothing. It slew all of the man completely, and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with the victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
“The race of Adam is under the death sentence. There is no commutation [substitution for a lighter sentence] and no escape. God cannot approve any fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear, or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him, and then raising him again to newness of life.
“That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world; it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life to a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. . . .
“We, who preach the gospel, must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, or the world of sports, or modern entertainment. We are not diplomats, but prophets; and our message is not a compromise, but an ultimatum.”
- The Biblical Evangelist, November 1, 1991, p. 11
This evening we are going to focus on what the cross of Calvary means to us, the work the Jesus accomplished because I think it is that important! Let me set the stage for what transpired that day and then we will look at our text in Matthew chapter 27.
As Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane there began a series of six trials that He had to endure. There were three religious trials: first before Annas - John 18:12-14, then before Caiaphas the high priest - Matthew 26:57-68, and then before the Sanhedrin - Matthew 27:1-2. Then there were three civil trials: first before Pilate - John 18:28-38, then before Herod - Luke 23:6-12, and then before Pilate again - John 18:39-19-6. It is here that Pilate offered himself a way out of this mess by giving the people a chance in letting Jesus go free but instead of letting Jesus go free, they chose instead to let Barabbas go free! Barabbas deserved death for his crimes, he was guilty and yet, they wanted to put to death an innocent man, a man who was without sin, Jesus!
Jesus was scourged. He was beaten. He had a crown of thorns placed on His head. He carried the cross beam from which He would be nailed to through the streets up to Golgotha or the Place of the Skull, Calvary! And there on the hill of Calvary, Jesus Christ was crucified! And it was from that cross that Jesus cried out with seven sayings that are important for us to hear and understand! He said:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34
Here we see the heart of forgiveness
for sinful man even though they are the ones who have nailed Him
to the cross! THE WORDS OF FORGIVENESS!
“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
Here, when He should be focusing on what is happening in His own life, He is others centered and gives words of hope and security to a repentant sinner! THE WORDS OF SALVATION!
“Woman, behold your son!” “Behold your mother!” John 19:25-27
Here we see Jesus again concerned
for others, and specifically here, the care of his mother as He
asks John to care for her. THE WORDS OF AFFECTION!
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46
We will deal with this more as we move on, but as the sins of the world were cast upon Jesus, the Father turned away from Jesus, that fellowship was broken! THE WORDS OF ANGUISH!
“I thirst!” John 19:28
Jesus was not only physically dry, dehydrated from this torture and crucifixion, but spiritually speaking He was dry as the Father turned away from Jesus as the sins of the world were cast upon Him. THE WORDS OF SUFFERING!
“It is finished!” John 19:30
Again we will be dealing with this
more as we move on but simply, the work of our salvation was finished
as Jesus paid in full the penalty for our sins. THE WORDS
OF VICTORY!
“Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Luke 23:46
Jesus freely gave His life for us; no one took it from Him. And at the time the work was finished, He gave up His Spirit. He died for our sins! THE WORDS OF CONTENTMENT!
And thus, with that as our background, let’s begin reading in Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 50 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word and look at the work that Jesus has finished for us and what that means to us!
I do realize that this is not a traditional verse or verses to deal with on Good Friday, but it is so important. You see, many just pass over this section, just read through it and never really give it much thought. But the events spoken of here are huge in regards to our relationship with God and what the Holy Spirit is showing us regarding this event!
This veil separated the holy place from the holy of holies or the place that God dwelt in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. You can go back in our Exodus studies and see how the Tabernacle and all that was in it pointed to Christ, but this evening we are going to focus on the Temple because that is where are story is focused upon here in Matthew.
Let me take you into the Temple and see what they would have seen as they were walking through. There is the east gate from which you would enter into and once you entered in through this door, the first thing you would see is the brazen altar where the sacrifices were made. Again, apart from the sacrifice of Christ appropriated into our lives by faith, we are still dead in our trespasses and sins.
The next piece of furniture was the brazen laver where the priests were washed completely as they entered into the ministry and then they had that daily cleansing of their hands and feet before they served the Lord. The picture is beautiful as we are washed once as white as snow by the blood of Jesus and then we need that daily cleansing to wash off that dirt of this world, not for salvation here, but for sanctification, and that is done by the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God.
It is only then we can enter into the tabernacle proper, an area that was divided into two compartments. There was the holy place and then the holy of holies. Now, as you enter into the holy place the first piece of furniture you will see is the table of showbread and it is located on the right side before the veil leading into the holy of holies. This speaks of Jesus being the bread of life and that we need to partake of Him through His Word and His Spirit. A time of sweet fellowship this speaks of. Next is the altar of incense that was located right in the middle, before the veil and this speaks of Christ as our intercessor and it is a picture of our prayers as they ascend before God as the smoke of this incense would rise upward! And then, on the left side, just before the veil, was the third piece of furniture, the lampstand or the seven-branched oil-burning lamp that is a picture of Jesus being the light of the world and that light will never go out!
What is interesting to me is that if you line up the brazen altar, the laver the altar of incense going right into the holy of holies and the Ark of the Covenant, you have a vertical line. Then, if you went north to south in the holy place you have the table of showbread, the altar of incense and the seven-branched oil-burning lamp running horizontal, and this leaves us with a picture of a cross!
And in regards to this veil, in the temple it was 60 feet high, 30 feet in width and some 4 inches thick! This veil was not a door to come into the presence of God but in reality it was a barrier to prevent people from entering into the holy of holies, the place that God dwelt, the Shekinah glory! This veil was made of fine linen; blue, which speaks of heaven or the divinity of Jesus. Purple that speaks of His kingship. And scarlet that speaks of His shed blood. On this there was a design of cherubim. You see, on the other side of this veil, in the holy of holies was the presence of God and man could not approach God.
In fact, it was only the high priest who could approach God and only one day a year, on the Day of Atonement after he went through a rigorous ceremonial cleansing and he entered in to atone for the sins of the people by sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat and then he would leave. He did not sit down and fellowship with God. In fact, he had bells on his robe and a rope on his foot just in case the bells stopped ringing, it meant that God had struck him dead and the other priests would pull him out, they did not want to enter in! And keep in mind that Gentiles could only enter in as far as the court of the Gentiles and Jewish women could only go as far as the court of the Women, while men could go farther in, but only the priests could enter the holy place, and as I have said, only the high priest could enter the holy of holies and only on the Day of Atonement!
Now some may feel that God is not being fair here. Why won’t He allow people to enter into His presence anyway they want? Why can’t they just enter in? Because you would be struck dead! Why is that? Because sin had separated man from God! Thus, God is not being unfair; He is being merciful by protecting us from entering in with this thick veil separating man from God!
In Isaiah 59:1-2 we are told, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” And in Habakkuk 1:13 we are told, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. . . .” I realize that some may feel that they are not sinners, but that is just pride and that is sin. But even if you could live out a perfect life, and you can’t, you have a bigger problem, inherited sin from Adam that has affected every one of us!
When God created Adam and Eve they were without sin, they were created in the image of God as Genesis 1:26 tells us, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”
And everything was good, man fellowshipped with God, walked in the Garden with God until Adam sinned or two pages in my Bible! Now some don’t believe in the idea of inherited sin but listen carefully to what I have to say. Adam was originally created in the image of God, then he sinned and notice what image his descendants were created in, “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Genesis 5:1-3. You see, now man was created in the image of sinful man and not God!
And if you still struggle with this, listen to what Paul says in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Listen to how The Amplified Bible puts this verse, “Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.” And The Living Bible, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.”
The problem today is many have lost the reverence of God, the holiness of God and they feel that they can approach Him any way that they want to, and that is wrong and you will never be able to come to God that way. Let me show you want this all means, because again, we can approach God today, but not by our own efforts, but by the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary!
Jesus was placed on the cross of Calvary at 9:00 am and at 12 noon the sky became dark. In fact, darkness covered the land and some feel this was not just the land of Israel! Keep in mind one half of the world was in darkness already, it was night time, but here in Israel and the other half of the world, it was day time. Do we have historical records indicating this took place? Oregin, an early church father alludes to a statement by Roman Historian Flagan, who mentioned the darkness in one of his writings. Also, Tortellian also wrote to some Pagans, mentioning the darkness and saying, “Which wonder is related in your own annals and is preserved in your own archives to this day.” And there is an ancient writing that says, “Many went about with lamps, supposing it was night, and fell down.” And in the so-called report of Pilot to Tiberius, the governor, it assumes that the emperor is aware that in the entire world, they lighted lamps from noon until three o’clock because of this supernatural darkness!
Please understand that this was not an eclipse where the moon eclipsed the sun because it was Passover and it was a full moon, which meant that the moon was completely on the opposite side of the earth from the sun! Again, this was a supernatural darkness. So why did this darkness occur? Why did the Lord bring darkness upon the land?
The darkness is always a sign of judgment in the Bible and God was showing us that the cross was a place of judgment, the judgment of sin. You see, I believe it is at this point that the sins of the world were cast upon Jesus and God was judging our sin as Jesus bore them for us. It is as Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” God’s punishment for sin was unleashed upon Jesus, the one who died in our place!
And it is here that I believe Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46. You see, as Jesus bore the sins of the world, God the Father could not look upon God the Son with favor, that fellowship was broken, the only time in eternity past and eternity future that this has and will occur! And now, for some six hours Jesus has borne the pain, the agony of the crucifixion. And it is not only the physical pain, which was incredible, but it was also the spiritual pain as we saw as the Father broke fellowship with the Son!
And now it is close to three-o’clock in the afternoon and it is around this time that Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” John 19:30. It is the Greek word, TETELESTAI and Jesus is saying that the work the Father sent Him to do was completed. It was finished! And then we hear the last words of Jesus from the cross of Calvary, as He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Luke 23:46. No one took His life, He freely gave His life for us and it was then He sent His sprit away or literally sent away His own life. He dismissed His own spirit as an act of His own will, a voluntary death!
Now some may wonder how we can know that the work was completed and the answer is simple, and it deals with the verses we have read here this evening. Yes, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father and as our Great High Priest that shows that the work was completed. No priest ever sat down in the Tabernacle or the Temple because his work was never done, but Jesus finished the work of our salvation. And there are others but I want to focus on this 60 foot high, 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, for it was torn in two, from top to bottom the moment that Jesus gave up His spirit!
What time of day did Jesus give up His spirit? It was at 3:00 pm, and that meant it was the time of the evening sacrifices and, it was also the time that the Passover lambs were slain! I thought Jesus had a Passover meal with His men before He was arrested and crucified, so how could there be two Passover meals? Listen carefully, because I believe this is what took place and I firmly believe that our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ was crucified as the Passover Lambs were being killed in the temple. John MacArthur explains it like this. He wrote:
It all depends on how you count days. How do we count days? From what to what? From midnight to midnight, that’s a day, right? I mean, the next . . . Monday begins tonight at midnight. We go midnight to midnight. . . . Their day, for the Jews, went from sunset to sunset, or from sunrise to sunrise. The normal routine of days for the Jews was sunrise to sunrise . . . sunrise to sunrise . . . sunrise to sunrise. But festivals and special days and the sabbath day went from sunset to sunset. And so, it depends on how you look at the day.
And that’s what I want you to understand. It just fascinates me. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, according to Exodus 12:18, had to be celebrated from sunset to sunset, sunset to sunset for those seven days. So, those days were marked as sunset-to-sunset days. The Day of Atonement was a sunset-to- sunset day; the weekly sabbath, sunset to sunset. And those times, for example, like Leviticus 11:14, 15, 17, Leviticus 22:6 where it talks about a special cleansing or special ceremony, any of those days where there was uncleanness for a single day, a cleansing had to be done before sunset. So, those days were sunset to sunset.
. . . But on the other hand, the Jews also reckoned sunrise to sunrise as the normal calendar day. And we fall into that thing, really in our thinking, though we say midnight to midnight. Our day really begins when we rise in the morning. And so, their day would be morning to morning to morning. For example, in Matthew 28 verse 1, it says this: “Late on the sabbath,” listen, “as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Now there we learn that the writer is saying that the first day of the week comes at dawn. So they’re back to their normal way of sort of counting.
Now where does that take us? That just says that there were times when they counted sunset to sunset and times when they refer to a day as sunrise to sunrise. There are others in the Old Testament, check Deuteronomy 16:4 where the day is from morning to morning. Now hang on.
Therefore, this Passover day since it’s not necessarily prescribed specifically in the Old Testament, this Passover day could be calculated from sunset to sunset or sunrise to sunrise. And depending on when you start it would be when you ended it.
Josephus, the great Jewish historian who was a Pharisee, living in Jesus’ day, explained the law of the Passover. And he said the Paschal lamb has to be eaten during the night and nothing left for morning. The Mishna says it must be eaten by midnight. So they both were committed to the fact that whoever ate it, you had to eat it before the dawn of another day, before the morning time. Now listen very carefully. As you dig into this history a little bit, and this is what I found fascinating, the Galileans--that’s the northern people--and the Pharisees counted the day from sunrise to sunrise, the day of Passover. Whereas the Judean and Sadducees counted it from sunset to sunset.
You say, “How do you know that?” The Mishna, which is the codification of Jewish law, tells us that. It says, for example, that the Galileans would not work at all on the day of Passover. Why? Because the day began for them at the beginning. It says that the Judeans would work until the midday, because the day didn’t begin for them until the sunset.
Now you say, “Well, what does all this mean?” Listen very carefully. First thing it does is it harmonizes John 18 and 19 because it tells us that Galileans, which would be Jesus and His disciples and the Pharisees, could have their Passover on the evening . . . because they already began to count the day from morning to morning and it would end on [the next] morning. And the others who were from Judea and who were Sadducees which made up the rulers wouldn’t start their day festivities until late [in the evening] and wouldn’t kill their lamb until the end of the [next] day . . .
Now you say, “Why is that important?” Listen to me. It’s odd that it would be like that. It’s very odd. And we really can’t identify specifically as to how that came to pass. But what fascinates me is this, listen very carefully. Jesus had to die on . . . crucified . . . when the traditional Judean Jerusalem Passover lambs would be killed, from three to five [in the evening] . . . He had to die then. That’s why it says, “In the ninth hour.”
He also had to keep the Passover because He had to transform it into the Lord’s table. So, how could Jesus keep the Passover and still be the Passover lamb? There would be absolutely no way that that could be possible unless God allowed this kind of thing to take place in history so that when it came to the very moment that Jesus was going to die, in that very year, there was no problem in having a Galilean Passover . . . and dying in the Judean Passover . . . perfectly on schedule and violating no Jewish law at all.
- John Macarthur
So Jesus not only celebrated the Passover meal with his men, He also was crucified on Passover as the Passover lambs were being sacrificed. It is as Paul reminds us regarding Jesus, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” I Corinthians 5:7.
Now, keep in mind that in the temple the priests were there, it was the time of the evening sacrifices and the time to sacrifice the Passover lambs and as they are doing this, there is this loud tearing noise, which I am sure got their attention. And to their surprise, to their shock, the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, the veil that kept man separated from God, was being torn in two, from top to bottom. No man could have done this. Only God could and did.
You see, the sacrifices of bulls and goats could never take away your sins and thus, the way to God was closed, you could not approach God in your sinfulness. But, as soon as the perfect sacrifice was offered up, as soon as Jesus died on the cross of Calvary for our sins, that wall of separation, that curtain of separation was removed! Can you imagine what was going through the minds of these priests? To have that veil removed, it was something that they never imaged could ever happen and now, not by their own efforts, but by God the way was open!
Did this impact their lives? I believe it did for in Acts 6:7 we are told, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” I believe it was the tearing of this veil and the opening of the way to God that many of these priests saw that opened their eyes and they became believers in Jesus as their Messiah, the one who cast their sins as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more! Yes, there were those priests, I’m sure, who tried to sew this veil back up, but that would be an impossible task and a futile one, but people continue to do it today. But the glorious truth is that the old way is gone and now the way to God the Father has been opened for all to come to Him through Jesus Christ!
The question for us today is what does this all mean to us? Why is this event so important? I want to answer that question and then I will close with something for you to think about. Something that I believe is also taking place at this time. There are three points I want to make regarding the rending of this veil.
1. THE DAYS OF SEPARATION
WERE NOW OVER
Keep in mind that for the Jew’s, Gentiles were unclean. In fact, many believed that father Abraham was positioned at the gates of Hell and any Jew, be he good or the worst person possible, was plucked from the fires of Hell because he was a Jew, a descendant of Abraham. On the other hand, every Gentile, be he good or bad was doomed to Hell because Gentiles were created to fuel the fires of Hell. But, if a Gentile became a Jew, he was spared. Obviously that is not the case, but that is what many believed.
And even in the Temple there was the separation between Jews and Gentiles until Christ came and died for both Jews and Gentiles. In Ephesians 2:14-16 Paul tells us what Christ has done, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
All that tension between Jews and Gentiles has now melted away in Christ. His death on the cross of Calvary is for all who come to Him and thus, the torn veil indicates that this way is open for all, not just the high priest, not just the Jew, but even the Gentile!
2.
JESUS’ OFFERING OF HIMSELF WAS THE PERFECT AND
FINAL SACRIFICE
Day after day, year after year the sacrifices were made for the Jewish people and yet, they never could take away sin, these sacrifices only covered sin for a time! And, the sacrifices all pointed to the final sacrifice that was to be made, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the world! You see, Jesus put away our real sin by His real death! Our sin is not something just imagined, it is real and the death of Jesus was not symbolic, it was real!
Listen carefully to what Paul tells us in Hebrews chapter 9 starting in verse 11, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. . . . For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another — He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:11-17, 24-28.
What in the world is Paul talking about here when he says that a “testament is in force after men are dead”? Think of the testament as being a “last will and testament.” Thus, this will is not in effect until the person who made the will dies. The point being this, the New Covenant could not take effect until the “testator,” until Jesus died!
Let’s put this into perspective. If I am the sole possessor of someone’s will, all that they own is going to be mine someday. But right now all that the person has are only promises to me. Then, once the person dies all those promises become a reality. Up until the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ there was only the promise of the coming Messiah and the inheritance of eternal life through Him, the forgiveness of our sins! But when Jesus was crucified, when He died all those promises became a reality to us; they are ours as the New Covenant was established.
Thus, there is no salvation apart from Christ; He is the only way that our sins are forgiven. Let me just share a couple of verses with you to show you what I mean. In Acts 4:12 we are told, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” In I Timothy 2:5-6 we are told, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” And we are told in I Peter 3:18, and we will deal with this more as we look at the last point, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” And lastly, we are told in I Peter 1:18-19, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” It is obvious in just looking at these few verses that there is no other way of salvation apart from Christ, that He is the mediator, the one who suffered ONCE and all for our sins and He alone was able to do it because He was that perfect sacrifice!
3. THE DOOR TO THE FATHER
IS OPEN THROUGH CHRIST
When that veil was torn from top to bottom it symbolized that the way to God the Father was now open and that was only through Christ. How can I be sure? Listen to what Paul says in Hebrews 10:19-20, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Because of what Christ has done we can boldly come before God; we can enter into the Holy of Holies or the presence of God. For the high priest, as he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement he did so with much fear but we can approach with boldness because our sins have been forgiven! And Paul uses the illustration of the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, it separated man from God and Paul says that this veil is symbolic of the body of Christ, His flesh. As we have read this evening in Matthew 27:51, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” As Jesus gave up His spirit, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom opening the way to God through Christ!
It is as Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He is the door, He is the only way to the Father and all who try to approach the Father apart from Jesus will not enter in! There is no veil, no curtain any longer and thus, if you are in Christ, you can enter into a relationship with God the Father. Praise the Lord for that, for what was keeping us from God, our sin, has now been paid in full and we can approach God, not in our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us by faith!
Paul, in Colossians 2:13-14 tells us, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” You see, all our sins were written down for us, we were guilty of them, but those sins were nailed to the cross of Calvary, the penalty for those sins were paid by Jesus, and now, across that paper is written, “TETELESTAI” or “PAID IN FULL!”
And remember what Peter said in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” Why did Jesus die for us? Yes, to pay in full the penalty for our sins, but in doing that, he opened the way to the Father. He is that bridge builder, that mediator that gives us access to God the Father!
It doesn’t get any better than that. In fact, Jesus gave us assurance of our salvation because our salvation is not based upon our faithfulness but His, it is not based upon our good works, but His finished work on the cross of Calvary. Thus, He tells us in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
Now there is one more point here and we are told that there was this great earthquake and dust must have been thrown in the air. Let me ask you this. What was a sign of mourning for the Jew? He would tear his garments and throw dust in the air. Could this be a picture here of God the Father tearing the veil of His temple and throwing dust in the air as a sign of mourning over what it cost for our sin to be paid in full? I think that is a possibility, for it cost Jesus much!
Thus, to take the cross away, to ignore the cross, to say it never happened, means that we are still lost in our sins. We have no hope. But we do have hope, we have the Word of God that gives us the truth and points us to the way that leads to life and that is found in Jesus, the door.
As I begin to close this evening, let me share with you this story. We are told:
A father and his young son were viewing a parade in London, England. Because of the chilling wind, they stepped inside a small store and watched through the window. In the course of time a regiment of British troops marched by, and the man exclaimed, “My, aren’t those Redcoats pretty!” But the little boy replied, “They aren’t red, they are white. If you don’t believe me, just squat down here and look.” Just to prove the little fellow was wrong, his Daddy got down on his knees and looked out the window. To his amazement the coats were not red; they looked white.
What had happened was this. There was a red band of glass around the storefront window, and at the height that the boy was looking out he was viewing the parade through a red band of glass. When you look at a red object through a red piece of glass, the red object loses its red color to your eyes. It appears white.
The same thing is true in salvation. When God looks at you through the red blood of Jesus your scarlet sins appear white. This is blood atonement.
- Source Unknown
It is as the Lord said in Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’” That is what God has done for us, that is what we are celebrating, the finished work of Christ on Calvary, the forgiveness of our sins!
If you don’t know the Lord this evening, won’t you receive Him as your Lord and Savior? Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and He will and you will be clean, you will be forgiven. If you refuse, if you reject Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you will die in your sins; you will be separated from God. But don’t pass up the opportunity for today is the day of salvation. We must all be prepared to meet our Maker and the only way that is possible is by receiving Jesus Christ into your life!
In Eugene, Oregon, a sand and gravel company erected a large cross in a public park many years ago. For a long time, no one said anything negative about it. Then, as the times became more anti-Christian, a group of citizens protested and tried to have the cross removed. A judge heard the case and ruled that the cross could stay. Why? The judge said that the cross was nothing more than a symbol and had no religious value. How untrue and how sad! The Cross of Jesus is so much more! Won’t you receive Him and enter into that relationship with the Father through Him?
For those of you who know the Lord, rejoice in the finished work of Christ. Not only rejoice in what God has done, bringing reconciliation into your life, but then you bring that reconciliation to others, you share your faith with others so they too may receive the reconciliation of God that is found in Jesus. And remember, He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay! Praise the Lord for His love for us and leave here knowing that the veil is torn, the way to God the Father is open, we have been united together with Jews and Gentiles in Christ because the sacrifice that Jesus made was complete and the Father accepted this sacrifice for sin as Jesus, our High Priest sat down at the right hand of the Father because His work was finished, it was PAID IN FULL!