The Torn Curtain

One of the coolest things (in my opinion) about the writing in the Bible overall is how much weight and gravity it packs into the most straightforward sentences. Some of the most dramatic parts of the Bible are communicated so simply. There’s the time Jesus changes Mary’s whole world by just speaking her name in the garden on Resurrection Sunday. Then there are any of the battle accounts in the Old Testament that go seamlessly from recounting how many men were killed (sometimes along with how they were killed) to how much treasure was confiscated, with all the formality of a grocery list.

Then there’s Matthew 27:51- “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” The significance of that is so great, and yet it’s told without any flowery phrases or even an exclamation point. But that sentence, in all 3 of the gospels that contain it, gives me goosebumps. That same plain, factual sentence in a novel would probably not grab my attention at all, which is why it is one of the best examples to me of how the Word of God is living and active.

That torn curtain is what I kept picturing while I read Hebrews 8. This chapter is all about the New Covenant that Jesus established with and for us through his death on the cross. It talks about the temple that Moses constructed as a copy of the true temple in Heaven, and how that copy is no longer necessary in light of the new covenant. Similarly, earthly high priests are irrelevant now because Jesus has permanently and perfectly replaced them.  

That moment the curtain tore, which was the moment Christ’s death on the cross was completed, was the beginning of this new covenant. The curtain served as a separation between imperfect people and a perfect God, accessible only through sacrifice and offerings from one appointed priest. But when the curtain tore, it all changed.

The torn curtain marked the beginning of our freedom to approach our God personally and confidently. It symbolized the end of the need to offer sacrifices to pay for our sin and was a physical representation of the better promises God has for us in the new covenant.

When Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was finished and the curtain tore, God essentially said, “Come. Be my people. No more barriers, no more distance. I have provided the only Sacrifice that will ever be needed. My Word and my Presence will be within you, no longer confined on stone tablets or behind a curtain. I will be yours, and you will be mine. Come.”

- Connie