The Torn Veil - Life of Moses Part 52

You know we are involved in a study of the life of that great man of God Moses and we've come to the place where the Israelites have built the tabernacle at the base of Mount Sinai and last week we talked about how in the operation of the tabernacle there were two fundamental great spiritual truths that God was trying to communicate to the human race and I want to review and remind you what those two great truths were. Number one, we have the truth of substitutionary atonement and all this means is that God agrees to grant atonement, forgiveness to sinners based on the death, based on the shed blood of an innocent substitute and secondly we saw the truth that the substitutionary blood of Jesus Christ is the permanent, the ultimate and the final solution for all the sin of the world and today what I want to do before we move on is I want us to look at one last element of the tabernacle that has enormous significance for our lives.

We want to talk about the torn veil and if you don't know what that is stick with me we'll explain that to you. Now let's go back and review what we learned last week about the layout in the operation of the tabernacle. You'll remember we said that the tabernacle building itself and later of course the temple building which was based on the tabernacle was divided into two rooms. The outer room was called the holy place and the priests went in and out of here every day doing their ministry. The inner room was called the Holy of Holies.

This was the most sacred place in all of Israel because it contained the most sacred object in all of Israel which was the Ark of the Covenant with its lid of solid gold called the mercy seat but most important of all was that in the Holy of Holies it was here that God's personal presence dwelled. Now this inner room the Holy of Holies was separated from the outer room by a thick opaque curtain or veil if you will made of solid fabric and no one was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies except the high priest. Once a year on Yom Kippur the day of atonement the high priest alone would go behind this veil into the Holy of Holies and he would take with him the blood of a blemishless goat.

He would place this blood on the mercy seat on the top of the ark as an offering for sin and in response God promised that he would forgive the sin of the entire nation for that past year. Now according to Jewish tradition when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on that one day a year before he went in the other priests would tie a rope around one of his ankles so that in case he dropped dead of a heart attack in there or so that in case God struck him dead in there they had a way to get him out. They could pull the rope and pull his body out because you see without that his body would have to lie in there for the entire year in rot until a new high priest on the next Yom Kippur could go in there and get him. The point is no Jew in the world would have dreamed of going inside the Holy of Holies even to retrieve that dead body.

No Jew in the world would have done that. That's how inviolable, that's how off-limits the Holy of Holies was and remember what we said a moment ago we said that what separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the tabernacle was this thick opaque veil that hung and went from ceiling to floor. Now what do we know about this veil? Well according to Jewish tradition the Jewish writings of the rabbis they tell us that this veil was made out of a solid piece of cloth that was the thickness between the end of a man's middle finger and the end of his thumb. Therefore it was the thickness of about eight to nine inches a piece of solid cloth. They also tell us that this piece of cloth was 60 feet high and 20 feet wide and the same Jewish writings tell us it took 300 priests at once to hoist this curtain up and maneuver it into place.

Friends this was one hunkin big piece of cloth. You understand what I'm saying to you? A big one and the reason this veil was so big and the reason this veil was so imposing is because it was meant to deliver an imposing message and that message was hey you don't belong in the Holy of Holies. Hey you don't belong behind this curtain because God lives behind this curtain and God is holy and you're not and therefore you as a sinner have no grounds you as a sinner have no platform upon which to stand in the presence of a holy God. Now I would call that a pretty imposing message wouldn't you?

I think so. Now let me show you something fabulous. Let me show you something absolutely wonderful. Matthew chapter 27 watch. And when they came to the place called Golgotha which means a place of a skull they crucified Jesus and from noon until 3 p.m. darkness fell on the land then Jesus when he had cried out with a loud voice yielded up his spirit. Watch now and behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook. Now look at this friends the very first official act of God after Jesus died on the cross what was his very first act? His very first act was to tear the veil of the temple in two vertically to split it right down the middle and to expose the Holy of Holies for all the world to see. Now in light of the thickness of this veil in light of the density and the massiveness of this veil there can be no doubt that splitting it down the middle was an act a direct act of Almighty God that it was a supernatural event and so that raises the question why? I mean why did God do this? What was so important about ripping this veil down the middle that God chose to make it his very first action following the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross? Well that's the question we want to talk about now because it really leads us to another very important question and you all know what that other very important question is so are you ready? You guys ready back there? All right here we go nice and loud one two three ah yes you say Lon so what? Say man you're all worked up there God bless you up there but I mean what difference does this torn veil make to me when I go out of my house every morning to go to work to go to school to drive the carpool I mean what difference does it make? I'm gonna help you with that hang with us now you know this past year's Super Bowl Super Bowl 42 was a wonderful event for my son Justin because he's been an avid New York Giants fan ever since he was a kid we have any other Giants fans here? Three three all right and one big one all right now in fact when my son Justin was 13 years old he and I actually went up to a Giants game together to kind of do a father-son thing at the Meadowlands went into that wonderful stadium and after the game was over we went outside the stadium and we stood around the players entrance in the hopes that Justin could get to see his favorite player Lawrence Taylor Hall of Fame linebacker commonly known as LT well we stood there for a while and all these players were coming out Matt Barr the kicker came out all these huge linemen came out and every player that came out I would say to Justin who's that he'd name him I'd say who's that he'd name him but no Lawrence Taylor finally it got late and so I walked up to the guard and I said when's Lawrence Taylor come out I said my son here this that's his favorite player and we want to get just a moment if we can to see if he could just talk to Lawrence Taylor and the guard said to me sir he said you see that red Porsche over there inside that barbed wire fence I said yeah he said that's Lawrence Taylor's car he said you see all those big guys standing around that car I said yeah he said those are Lawrence Taylor's personal bodyguards he said sir Lawrence Taylor comes out of his own private entrance those men escort him to his automobile he gets in his automobile and he drives out of a different driveway than this one he said nobody gets through that fence and gets close to Lawrence Taylor I said but sir I have a 13 year old little boy here who idolizes Lawrence Taylor I mean don't you think that maybe even you could let us in and we could go over to the fence and just talk to him through the fence and he said to me sir it ain't gonna happen sir and you know what it didn't happen we never got close to Lawrence Taylor now you say what are you talking about up there all right listen listen all right it has a point the point is friends that the veil in the Holy of Holies was just like that barbed wire fence outside of the Meadowlands outside of giant Stadium it was meant to deliver the very same kind of message that that barbed wire fence was meant to deliver and that is that in our sinful human condition when it comes to us getting close to God we're just like my son Justin trying to get close to Lawrence Taylor folks it ain't gonna happen because you see in our sinful human condition the Bible declares that we are alienated from God that we are separated from God that we are estranged from a holy God that we are unable to dwell in his holy presence we are prohibited from having direct access to him and what's worse in our own energy and in our own effort there's nothing we can do to fix this problem but look but look when Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross friends the very first thing God did was rip that veil in the temple in two friends the torn veil symbolizes the heart and soul of everything that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to accomplish let me repeat that the torn veil symbolizes the heart and the soul of everything that Jesus died on the cross to accomplish the torn veil tells us that now that Christ has paid for our sin on the cross everything has changed between us and God the torn veil tells us that because of what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross the way into God's personal presence is now open to everyone who trusts in Christ the torn veil tells us that when we as sinners trust in what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross we are granted access right into the very presence of Almighty God right into the Holy of Holies watch with me as the Bible explains this to us in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 9 verse 3 the Bible says behind the veil in the tabernacle there was a room called the Holies of Holies and into this room the high priest alone would enter once a year never without blood which he offered for his sins and the sins of all the people by this by this veil the Holy Spirit was showing us that the way into the Holy of Holies had not yet been granted to everyone but oh what a great word but when Jesus appeared he entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies once for all not with the blood of bulls and goats but with his own blood and obtained eternal redemption for us for by one sacrifice himself on the cross he Jesus has perfected forever those who believe in him now watch here comes the Bible's big so what about this you go it's about time all right here it is ready therefore the Bible says therefore brothers by the blood of Jesus watch this now we now have confidence we as sinners have confidence to enter the Holy of Holies by the new and living way which he Jesus opened for us through the veil when he split the veil in two he opened a way into the very presence of God by his blood that didn't exist before therefore the Bible says let us draw near to God whoa there it is friends let us draw near to God God is inviting every sinner who trusts Christ to draw near to him now with full assurance you see what the Bible saying here friends the Bible is saying that the Lord Jesus came to earth he went to the cross he shed his blood on the cross he died in our place there he paid for our sins there don't miss this now so that he could tear down the barrier between God and sinners so that he could rip into the barrier between God and sinners the barrier that had been caused by our sins by our transgressions so that this barrier that the veil in that temple represented was gone forever Colossians chapter 1 talks about this it says for it was God's good pleasure to reconcile us to himself through the blood of Jesus's cross and although we were formerly alienated from God and although formerly there was a big veil between us and the presence of God watch God now has forgiven all of our transgressions and has canceled all of our deaths all those things that caused that veil to exist he has taken them all out of the way watch having nailed them all to the cross now all right you can clap for that and now since this is true my friends since this is true every person who trusts the blood of Jesus Christ every true follower of Christ God now invites us into his personal presence God now invites us into the Holy of Holies with him there is no more veil it is ripped it is torn in two it is gone forever it's been torn into shreds by the blood of Jesus this is the message of the torn veil now you say well on that's great I mean and you're you're you know I can tell you're excited but I mean are you sure are you sure you got this right I mean are you sure you're not reading way too much into this veil being torn no I'm positive and what makes me certain is that the Apostle Paul drives home this very same message to us in Romans chapter 5 watch what he says Romans chapter 5 verse 1 therefore Paul says since we have been justified then since we have been declared not guilty by faith in Jesus Christ we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we also have gained access look at that we have gained access into this gracious position with God in which we now stand you know how here in America sometime to certain countries we grant favored nation status you know you know what I mean all right well what the Bible is telling us is that when we place our trust in Jesus Christ God grants us justified person status and when we get justified person status in the sight of God we get two awesome things Paul says number one we get peace with God now don't confuse peace with God with the peace of God those are two very different things Philippians chapter 4 says that the peace of God is an experiential feeling of calm and of assurance and of tranquility that God gives us in the storms of life when we cast all of our burdens on him that's the peace of God but friends peace with God is not an experiential feeling it is a legal agreement between God and a sinner whereby God declares that based on the finished work of Christ on the cross that the war is over between God's holiness and our sinfulness we have peace with God a peace treaty with God that will never be broken justification my friends is what transforms us from being God's enemies into being God's friends for all of eternity because of what Christ did on the cross for us we are justified we are not guilty we are acquitted we are exonerated for all of time and eternity that's the first benefit we get but there's a second one the second benefit is we get access to God this is exactly what the message of the torn veil is trying to communicate let's go back and read the verse again therefore since we've been justified by faith in Jesus Christ we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ watch now through whom also meaning the Lord Jesus we have gained access there you go there you go into this gracious position with God in which we now stand the other thing that justification in Christ gives us my friends is it gives us look at the verse a new gracious position with God what does that mean well John chapter 1 verse 12 says that we become the adopted children of God to all of us who did receive Christ God gave us the right to become the children of God we have a new position with God and as God's children we are granted personal access to God in a way that the rest of mankind is not given because friends the rest of mankind is still alienated from God by those very transgressions and those very sins that for us as followers of Christ God nailed to the cross we don't have them anymore but the rest of mankind still does and because of this new status we have with God what is the verse say we have gained access right into the very presence of God you know I've lived here in Washington 37 years and God's given me the privilege of experiencing some really great things some really great places I've been able to see but if you were to say to me hey Lon is there any place left in Washington that you've not been that you really really would like to go and see I would say yeah there's one and that is I would really love to see the living quarters at the White House you know upstairs where the president actually lives I've never been invited there it's never been offered to me and and but that would be something wouldn't that be cool to see that well you know back in 1987 we were out at Hume Lake Christian camps in California we went there for many many years every summer and my son Jamie who was 10 at the time was in wagon train this is a camp where everybody lives all the kids between like 7 and 11 years old they sleep in covered wagons about 10 kids to a wagon and it just so turned out that one of the young boys in his wagon was a fellow named Cameron Reagan did you get that Reagan this was president Ronald Reagan's grandson and he was there along with six or eight fellows who wore you know golf shirts with big bulges in them you understand what I'm saying and my son Jamie was in the wagon with Cameron Reagan and I remember he told Jamie told me about a conversation they had where he asked Cameron Reagan he said have you ever been to the White House and Cameron said of course he said I've been there all in fact he said I've even spent the night there a number of times upstairs with my grandpa now how come he gets to go upstairs there and I don't get to go upstairs there you say belong what are you stupid what are you stupid of course he gets to go up there he's family you're not family Lon you're not even close he's family well that makes sense to you doesn't it makes sense to me that because he's family he gets an access to the White House into the president I don't get well friends this is the great news of the Bible the great news of the Bible is that when you and I place our faith in Jesus Christ and what he did for us on the cross we become family to Almighty God we become the adopted children of God we have a new gracious position and standing with God and because we're family one of the blessed privileges of being family is that we are granted direct and immediate access to Almighty God our Heavenly Father himself personally we don't have to go through a priest we don't have to go through a pastor we don't have to go through an administrative assistant we don't have to go through a switchboard no way no way Ephesians 2 18 says through Jesus Christ we have direct access to the Father all we got to do is pray and call on him and immediately we're there in his presence and that's why God ripped the veil of the temple into my friends to make sure that as followers of Christ we understand this to make sure that as followers of Christ the message is clear you can come in here you can enter the Holy of Holies you can come into my very presence in fact I invite you in I want you in you're not alienated from me anymore Jesus fix that on the cross well let's conclude today by asking a question and my question is this if you're here today and you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ my question is are you fully utilizing this free access to God that you've been given you know I love what Hebrews chapter 4 says it says let us therefore boldly what a great word huh boldly draw near with confidence wow look at this to God's throne of grace let us come boldly right on into the Holy of Holies God says that we may receive mercy and we may find grace to help in time of need friends God as followers of Christ he gave us this access that the rest of the world doesn't have because he wants us to use it you said but long you know I understand what you're saying but listen long even as a follower of Jesus Christ I mean honestly my life is not everything it should be I mean even as a follower of Jesus Christ I mean I do and say and think things sometimes that I know God's not happy with I mean honestly Lon even as a follower of Jesus I'm not worthy to march boldly into the presence of God with confidence in light of well some of the things that happen in my life week by week well you know what you are absolutely right you are not worthy in yourself to do this and neither am I but friends that's the great news of the Bible is that as a follower of Jesus Christ you are under the blood of Christ as a follower of Jesus Christ you are covered by the blood of Christ and because you are covered in the blood of Christ because you are hidden behind the blood of Christ all of those warts and all of those failures God ignores them and still invites you to come into his very presence and to ask for what you need so you can get mercy and grace the blood of Jesus makes you worthy to walk into the presence of God even though you're really not and you know I have a confession I want to make here and that is that sometimes personally I get so overwhelmed by the situations of life that I forget I've got this access you know sometimes I forget that God has granted me this incredible privilege to bring all of my burdens in and just lay them off on him and then he'll give me the peace of God that the Bible talks about and so instead of accessing his peace I fret and I worry and instead of accessing his strength I exhaust myself trying to work it out in my own energy and sometimes instead of accessing his wisdom I try to figure it out myself and end up doing some stupid things and sometimes instead of accessing the hope that is found in Christ I end up despairing and sometimes instead of accessing his comfort I end up being lonely and hurting and then the Holy Spirit's got to smack me upside the head and say what is wrong with you have you forgotten what you've got why don't you march into the presence of God and give him the burden and I have to go oh yeah that's right that's right the Spirit of God's got to say to me Lon I got a much better way for you to live than the way you're living right now go on in there the presence of God there's no curtain there's no veil it's split it's torn march in there to the presence of God and tell him what you need and give him your burdens and friend may I say to you the same thing is true for you that so many times I know you too end up carrying the burdens of life and they weigh you down inside if you're not careful they'll kill you because God didn't design you to carry those burdens by yourself in fact he didn't design you to carry him at all what did Jesus say Jesus said come to me for my burden is light and my shoulders my yoke is easy I'll carry your burden for you just bring them on into the Holy of Holies lay them down in front of the art give them to me but friends we've got to take advantage of we've got to utilize this access that God has given us and so many times we forget we've got it or at least we act like we've forgotten we got it listen God wants us to use it God wants us to march right into the Holy of Holies and talk to him about every problem we got and lay off every burden we've got we have an open invitation from God to go in there and talk to him about parking spaces yeah yeah man I never drive into DC without going in the Holy of Holies for a parking space first you think I'm kidding you I'm not kidding you and I'll tell you what I get some awesome parking spots too go on in there and tell him about the struggles your children are having go on in there and tell him about the homework you're struggling with go on in there and tell him about the project or the proposal at work that's killing you go on in there and tell him about the fact you can't find your keys and you don't know where they went or you're having health problems there's nothing too small or nothing too large that you can't march into the Holy of Holies and tell God about and that you can't lay off on God and he said I'll take your burden give it to me and I'll give you my peace in its place friends as followers of Jesus Christ we have a new gracious position with God we're family it's a position the rest of mankind doesn't have and God says look take advantage of utilize this new position the veil is torn the Holy of Holies is open you have my invitation come on in and tell me what you need and I'll show you mercy and I'll give you grace to help in the time of need now does this mean we don't march in there with humility oh no means we go in with humility but we go in with boldness you say I don't know how do those two fit together all my friends if you're a follower of Christ you know how they fit together you can be humble and bold at the same time humble in an awareness of what we really are and bold in the confidence of what Jesus did for us on the cross that's the beauty of walking with Christ as a follower of Jesus and that's the message of the torn curtain I hope you'll take it to heart and for those of us here who are really struggling and carrying burdens we got no business carrying man I hope you'll go out of here and you'll go into the Holy of Holies and say Lord Jesus thanks for tearing that curtain I'm here here I am and Lord this what I need and you watch God will take care of you let's pray together Lord Jesus thank you for teaching us from your word today and reminding us that as followers of Christ you have given us something the rest of the world does not have we are family and as family we have access to you right through the veil and into the Holy of Holies itself so Lord Jesus encourage us to utilize this wonderful privilege you've given us Lord encourage us and remind us to bring our burdens right into the very presence of God to cast all of our cares on him because he cares for us and father I pray that you would encourage people here today to make that transfer of their burdens to you and that you would replace it with the sweet peace of God that passes all understanding Lord change our lives because we were here today change the very way we live every day because we came and studied God's holy and eternal Word and we pray these things in Jesus name and God's people said amen you