Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart. (Matthew 27:50-51)
Hot tears streamed to their chins as Adam and Eve stumbled out of the garden. An invisible barrier forced them away from the fullness of their Creator.
In the time of Moses, the barrier between God and humans manifested into the curtain before the ark. The message was clear—God’s holiness must be separated from man’s sinfulness.
Fourteen hundred years further into history, we came to a crossroads of epochs, and God revealed his wild plan.
At three o’clock on the darkest Friday, a rumble began deep inside the earth. It raced to the surface and, at the point of our Messiah’s last breath, the seismic phenomenon exploded into a reimagined supernatural landscape. As the dust settled, angels were the first to realize what happened.
The physical curtain in the temple, and the spiritual curtain between God and humans, were rent in two. God had taken the topmost hems in hand and shredded the barriers down to the soil line. The new message was even louder than the last. God’s Spirit relocated from the temple’s most holy place into the hearts of his children.
How blessed we are to live on this side of the timeline, after the curtain was torn. With a prayer, I can bring a universe of goodness inside me. I should be shocked that God can now dwell in me. And it would be so if only I wouldn’t take my privilege for granted.
Prayer: Everlasting Life, thank you for destroying the curtain.