Matthew 27:51, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”
I love the
GotQuestions.org website, it's one
of my favorites, and I have learned much from them. Who are they?
“We are Christian, Protestant, conservative, evangelical, fundamental, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.”
SOURCE: About GotQuestions.org
Unfortunately, they teach a major theological flaw on the blood, going along with the popular heresy of John MacArthur, William E. Vine and Robert B. Thieme Jr., that Christ's blood was not sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven. Dr. MacArthur teaches the awful heresy that references to Jesus' blood in the Bible are merely representative of Jesus' death. May I politely say, “blood” does not mean “death”; if God meant death, then He would have said death ...
“Question: 'What is the meaning of the blood of Christ?'
Answer: The phrase 'blood of Christ' is used several times in the New Testament and is the expression of the sacrificial death and full atoning work of Jesus on our behalf...”
[emphasis added]
I did some further reading on their website to confirm their doctrinal position, and they clearly do not believe that there is a Mercy Seat in Heaven with Jesus' blood on it.
Consequently, because of their misunderstanding of the blood, GotQuestions.org also wrongly interpret the matter of the torn veil in the temple. According to GotQuestions.org, Jesus was the veil to the Holy of Holies, and by His own death, believers now have access to God the Father. I have a big problem with that teaching. What about the blood? Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” It wasn't enough for the Lord's blood to be poured out and soaked into the ground at Calvary. I read one website that said the tore veil was proof that redemption was completed on the cross, and not in Heaven at the Mercy Seat. That is heresy.
May I point out that Christ's death on the cross was insufficient to save anyone without the resurrection of Christ. So the torn veil in the temple could not have signified that redemption was finished, nor does the Bible teach that it was. What was finished is taught in Colossians 2:14, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” The Old Testament sacrificial system of goats and lambs was done away with, and now the curtain was torn away, making way for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, to enter once and for all into the heavenly Holy Place “BY HIS OWN BLOOD” (Hebrews 9:12), to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat (Hebrews 12:24) in the Father's presence (Hebrews 9:24).
The following passage of Scripture is irrefutable PROOF that Jesus applied His liquid blood to the Mercy Seat in Heaven. Hebrews 12:24, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” How did Jesus sprinkle His blood on the cross? Obviously He couldn't. Jesus sprinkled His literal blood upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven, just as the Old Testament high priest sprinkled the blood (of a spotless slain lamb) on the mercy seat. For a wonderful work on the subject, please read Pastor M.R. DeHaan's book, “The Chemistry Of The Blood.”
Here is some faulty (heresy) commentary from GotQuestions.org concerning the torn veil . . .
The veil being torn from top to bottom is a fact of history. The profound significance of this event is explained in glorious detail in Hebrews. The things of the temple were shadows of things to come, and they all ultimately point us to Jesus Christ. He was the veil to the Holy of Holies, and through His death the faithful now have free access to God.
The veil in the temple was a constant reminder that sin renders humanity unfit for the presence of God. The fact that the sin offering was offered annually and countless other sacrifices repeated daily showed graphically that sin could not truly be atoned for or erased by mere animal sacrifices. Jesus Christ, through His death, has removed the barriers between God and man, and now we may approach Him with confidence and boldness (Hebrews 4:14-16).SOURCE: What was the significance of the temple veil being torn in two when Jesus died?
Do you see what they cleverly did, heretically? They eliminated the Tabernacle and Mercy Seat in Heaven, substituting it all with Jesus instead. They believe that Jesus was the veil, and that when Christ died on the cross the veil was taken away, permitting believers to boldly enter into God's presence. That sounds really good, except that it's not true. It was Christ's blood sprinkled on the heavenly Mercy Seat, and not merely His death on the cross, that gives us the right and privilege to boldly enter into the presence of God. Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Here's what the veil being torn by God really means. Up until that time, the Old Testament ceremonial law system was in effect. Colossians 2:14-16 teaches that all the ceremonials laws, Sabbaths and holy days were nailed to the cross (i.e., not in effect any more). When Jesus (Who is the Lamb of God) was sacrificed upon the cross, and then He dismissed His Spirit (died), the Father ripped the veil down the center, opening the way to the Holy of Holies. THE PERFECT LAMB OF GOD HAD BEEN SLAIN ON THE CROSS. THE SINLESS BLOOD HAD BEEN SHED. NOW, OUR HIGH PRIEST, WHO IS JESUS CHRIST, NEEDED TO ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE. THE BLOOD STILL NEEDED TO BE APPLIED, AND IT WAS SPRINKLED ON THE MERCY SEAT THREE DAYS LATER WHEN CHRIST BODILY AROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
The veil being torn by God simply meant that the Old Testament ceremonial laws were done away with. The focus now was solely upon the heavenly tabernacle, holy place and mercy seat. There is a Tabernacle in Heaven, of which the Old Testament tabernacle was patterned (Hebrews 9:23). Revelation 13:6, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” When the New Jerusalem descends upon the earth, we read in Revelation 21:3, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
The veil (curtain) being torn did NOT mean that redemption was finished. I am wearied with today's preachers who say “it [redemption] was finished on the cross.” NO, it was not finished on the cross! If you carefully read the Scriptures in John 19:28-30, we learn that it was the prophecies concerning Christ that were finished, with the last prophecy being fulfilled with Christ's words, “I THIRST.” Jesus hadn't died yet, nor had He been buried, nor had He been resurrected. The Gospel is not merely that Jesus suffered on the cross; but rather, Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED and He was RESURRECTED the third day according to the Scriptures (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). So how could redemption have been finished when Christ said, “It is finished” in John 19:30? All of the prophecies concerning Christ were finished, not redemption.
The temple veil was torn in half, making way for the Savior to enter as our High Priest, and not for believers to enter into the Holy Place without the High Priest. Christ did not ascend into Heaven until after He rose up from the dead three days later, so how could the saints enter into God's presence when the High Priest hadn't even risen from the dead yet? Hebrews 4:15-16 invites believers to boldly enter before the throne of God, because Jesus is our interceding High Priest. John 3:13 says no man ascended into Heaven before Jesus Christ. So I don't believe the torn temple veil meant that redemption was finished.
The Lord rose from the dead and told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him. John 20:17, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
Until the Lord's precious, liquid, literal, blood was sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven in the Father's presence (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24), no man could directly access the throne of God. Jesus is not the veil. The veil is the veil. Jesus said that the promise of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, could not come until He ascended into Heaven, and that hadn't happened yet. John 16:7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
By the way, GotQuestions.org teaches that Paradise was a temporary holding place in the Old Testament, which is what I tend to agree with fairly strongly, but not dogmatically. That is, I wouldn't call anyone a false prophet for disagreeing with me.
To seek access to God without going through the veil of Jesus’ sacrificial death is not only futile and ineffectual but it is also sinful. It essentially says that Christ is not the only way of entering everlasting life. It says the blood of the Redeemer is unnecessary. It denies the necessity of the suffering and death of the Savior. It rejects the perfection and efficacy of Jesus’ sacrifice. Such people trample the cross of Christ underfoot as worthless. Our faith, trust and confidence must be directed to Jesus alone who was rent in His sacrifice and who alone is the door to the Father. The rent veil is a proclamation of grace. The Mediator has conquered. He has kept the law perfectly and has endured the curse and thus has thrown the gate to heaven wide open to all who will believe in Him. “When sin is gone, the barrier is broken down, the unfathomable gulf is filled. Pardon, which removes sin, and justification, which brings righteousness, make up a deed of clearance so real and so complete that nothing now divides the sinner from his reconciled God.”
SOURCE: Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Rent Veil,” 34:171.
I love what we just read, that is, Jesus was the veil to the Holy of Holies, and through His death the faithful now have free access to God. There are some great fundamental Bible truths which I'd like to teach you here. Here is a lengthy section of beautiful Holy Scripture from Hebrews 9:11-28 . . .
Hebrews 9:11-28, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
Christ's work of redemption was not finished until He sprinkled His literal blood upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven in the presence of God the Father (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24). If all Christ did was die on the cross as the sacrificial Lamb of God, but didn't raise up, then we have no High Priest to intercede for us in Heaven (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16). Christ had not yet risen when He died. So the price had not yet been paid for mankind's sins. When He arose from the dead, the Lord warned Mary Magdalene not to touch Him (John 20:17), because He hadn't yet ascended to the Father. If she had touched Him, she would have corrupted the blood sacrifice.
Well, then how did Jesus lead the Old Testament
saints into Heaven? If the price of sin hadn't yet been paid with His blood,
then the Old Testament saints could not have been brought into Heaven yet. It is
theological error to say that Christ paid it all on the cross, because
killing the lamb in the Old Testament was not enough. The high priest
absolutely needed to bring that blood into the holy of holies and sprinkle
that blood upon the mercy seat in God's presence. So also did Christ.
Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.” So, Biblically,
Jesus could not have led the redeemed from Paradise into Heaven until after
He ascended into Heaven with the blood.
Why Did God Rip the Temple Curtain?
Here is some faulty commentary from GotQuestions.org concerning the torn veil . . .
The veil being torn from top to bottom is a fact of history. The profound significance of this event is explained in glorious detail in Hebrews. The things of the temple were shadows of things to come, and they all ultimately point us to Jesus Christ. He was the veil to the Holy of Holies, and through His death the faithful now have free access to God.
The veil in the temple was a constant reminder that sin renders humanity unfit for the presence of God. The fact that the sin offering was offered annually and countless other sacrifices repeated daily showed graphically that sin could not truly be atoned for or erased by mere animal sacrifices. Jesus Christ, through His death, has removed the barriers between God and man, and now we may approach Him with confidence and boldness (Hebrews 4:14-16).SOURCE: What was the significance of the temple veil being torn in two when Jesus died?
Do you see what they cleverly did, heretically? I think they are sincere, but they are wrong. They eliminated the Tabernacle and Mercy Seat in Heaven, substituting it all with Jesus instead. They believe that Jesus was the veil, and that when Christ died on the cross the veil was taken away, permitting believers to boldly enter into God's presence. That sounds really good, except that it's not true. It was Christ's blood sprinkled on the heavenly Mercy Seat, and not merely His death on the cross, that gives us the right and privilege to boldly enter into the presence of God.
Here's what the veil being torn by God really means. Up until that time, the Old Testament ceremonial law system was in effect. Colossians 2:14-16 teaches that all the ceremonials laws, Sabbaths and holy days were nailed to the cross (i.e., not in effect any more). When Jesus (Who is the Lamb of God) was sacrificed upon the cross, and then He dismissed His Spirit (died), the Father ripped the veil down the center, opening the way to the Holy of Holies. THE PERFECT LAMB OF GOD HAD BEEN SLAIN ON THE CROSS. THE SINLESS BLOOD HAD BEEN SHED. NOW, OUR HIGH PRIEST, WHO IS JESUS CHRIST, NEEDED TO ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE. THE BLOOD STILL NEEDED TO BE APPLIED, AND IT WAS SPRINKLED ON THE MERCY SEAT THREE DAYS LATER WHEN CHRIST BODILY AROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
The veil being torn by God simply meant that the Old Testament ceremonial laws were done away with. The focus now was solely upon the heavenly tabernacle, holy place and mercy seat. There is a Tabernacle in Heaven, of which the Old Testament tabernacle was patterned (Hebrews 9:23). Revelation 13:6, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” When the New Jerusalem descends upon the earth, we read in Revelation 21:3, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
The veil (curtain) being torn did NOT mean that redemption was finished. I am wearied with today's preachers who say “it [redemption] was finished on the cross.” NO, it was not finished on the cross! If you carefully read the Scriptures in John 19:28-30, we learn that it was the prophecies concerning Christ that were finished, with the last prophecy being fulfilled with Christ's words, “I THIRST.” Jesus hadn't died yet, nor had He been buried, nor had He been resurrected. The Gospel is not merely that Jesus suffered on the cross; but rather, Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED and He was RESURRECTED the third day according to the Scriptures (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). So how could redemption have been finished when Christ said, “It is finished” in John 19:30? All of the prophecies concerning Christ were finished, not redemption.
Until the Lord's precious, liquid, literal, blood was sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven in the Father's presence (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24), man could not access the Holy of Holies. Jesus is not the veil. The veil is the veil. When God tore the veil in two, it signified that Christ our High Priest was about to enter into the Heavenly Holy Place. The Old Testament covenant did end with Christ's death, as the Bible plainly teaches in Hebrews 9:16-17, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” However, if Christ had not raised up and ascended as our High Priest into Heaven, then the New Testament (Covenant) would have been null and void.
Jesus said that the promise of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, could not come until He ascended into Heaven, and that hadn't happened yet. John 16:7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” When Jesus went UP, the Holy Spirit came DOWN! Romans 8:9 calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.
Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
