A Quick Compelling Bible Study For Those Who Don’t Read The Bible

Author’s Note: On RedState back in September, I wrote, “A Quick and Compelling Bible Study for Those Who Don’t Read the Bible.”

After receiving positive comments from readers and many more via email, what appears below could be considered the second installment of an occasional series — but only when the Holy Spirit moves me to write about His Word. That said…

The topic of three passages we are studying today — found in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke — chronicle the same miraculous event: Immediately upon Jesus’s death on the cross, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two.”

Now, I hear you thinking, “Why is that so compelling and worthy of my time on this Super Bowl Sunday?” And my answer, “Don’t leave for the pre-game party until you understand the all-important context of the following three passages:

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks split” (Matthew 27:50-51).

“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15: 37-38).

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:44-46).

If you are still with me, hopefully, the context has piqued your interest regarding the perfectly timed correlation between when Jesus “gave up his spirit” and the tearing of the temple curtain.

First, it is essential to know why this was no ordinary curtain.

Second, what was behind the curtain?

Remember the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”? The “ark” was based on the Ark of the Covenant — a magnificent gold chest housing the two tablets of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, as written in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 20.

Furthermore, according to the New Testament Book of Hebrews 9:4, the Ark also “contained the gold jar of manna” and “Aaron's staff that had budded,” — both connected to miracles described in Exodus. All three of the Ark’s holy contents were gifts from God when He made His presence known to the Hebrew people after they fled Egypt and wandered in the desert for four decades before reaching the Promised Land of Israel.

God conveyed precise instructions to Moses about how the Ark must be constructed, and you can read them in Exodus 25:10-22. Based on those passages, here is a depiction of the Ark, according to National Geographic.

After completion, the Ark was to reside within a Tabernacle — the place where God dwells among his people. God’s exact orders to Moses were: "Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain” Exodus 26:30.

And the tabernacle was to have a curtain.

God the Creator, Craftsman, Textile Expert, and Interior Designer commanded Moses to produce a curtain with these specifications:

"Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place” (Exodus 26: 31-33).

For emphasis and because the passage is central to this Bible study, I shall repeat: “The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.”

Now that you have learned how the curtain came to be and about the Tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant behind the curtain — let’s proceed to the moment when Christ “breathed his last” and “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”

Why and how did that happen? What does it mean? What does it mean to you?

I will attempt to answer all these questions before the first Doritos commercial airs.

A curtain, by definition, separates one thing from another. The curtain of the Tabernacle separated the place where God dwelled among his people on earth, from the people. Thus, since only God could have torn His curtain (specifically from “top to bottom”) and tore it the moment Christ died, it meant that God and Man were no longer separated. A direct path to God through Christ was opened. No barrier means Christ is accessible to you!

The curtain tearing passages are among my favorite Scriptures because, in my 20s, Christ made himself accessible to me — having been born and raised Jewish, with no knowledge of Him.

If you have no knowledge of Him and are learning about the tearing of the curtain for the first time, thanks for reading this far on National Super Party Day. It is my sincere hope that you think or pray about a “curtain” in your life that separates you from God. Know today that you can “tear it in two,” walk on through, and Jesus will be there to greet you!

[[It is my sincere hope that you think or pray about a “curtain” in your life that separates you from God. ]]

A thought struck me as i read this part-

The bible states that if we ‘regard iniquity (sin) in our hearts, God will not hear us’

If we have sins in our lives that we refuse f=to deal with, like say gossip, anger, jealousy, lust, covetousness (which most sins consist of), even sins of omission, looking the other way when we know the Holy Spirit is compelling us to reach out- sins that we repeatedly commit without dealing with it- the God will not hear us- according to His word-

That is not to say that whenever we commit a sin, that we sever our relationship with God- We sin daily, without even knowing it- and it would be impossible to confess every sin, and lead a sinless enough life to maintain a relationship with God IF that was what God requires- or even sins we keep falling into yet immediately turn to Him to ask for forgiveness-

God is more talking about sins we know that we should deal with but refuse to do so, because we like them too much- That is what it means to ‘regard iniquity in our hearts’

God doesn’t demand that we have a spotless record before we can have a close relationship with him- He simply expects us to grow, and doing so, involves dealing with sins that we love to commit over and over- This is a growing experience, not one we can conquer immediately-

I never thought about this but was the Ark of the Covenant still there when the curtain was torn? Many references think it was lost centuries before?

The purpose of the curtain was to separate us from God.

Mayabe the curtain was torn to show the emptinesss of the old covenant............................

The Ark was either there or not when the curtain was torn.

If it was not there, the people would have looked inside and seen they were lied to by the priests. If it was there they definitely would have rebuilt the old covenant.

while sins were forgiven even before the perfect propitiation of Christ, yet this was done under the rubric of the coming atonement, and which was necessary

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)

Thus

the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: (Hebrews 9:8)

Thus OT believers could not actually enter in the holy of holies, yet neither were they with the lost and suffering in bondage. For in the true story (real names are not used in parables, nor was science fiction used by the Lord, which would be the case if this was not true, but instead, known physical realities were used which corresponded to real spiritual realities) of Lazarus and the Rich Man. In which Lazarus is comforted in a separate compartment of Hades, Abraham’s bosom (AKA Paradise) while the once-complacent uncaring rich man is tormented in the flames of Hell:

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16:22-24)

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (Luke 16:26)

However, the death and resurrection of Christ changed the reality of the believers, whereby brethren have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." (Hebrews 10:19-20)

And thus,

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:8-10)

Therefore the Lord could tell the contrite believing criminal,

Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43) And later, 2 Cor. 12:2-4 places paradise as being the 3rd Heaven.

Put all together, when Christ died then having provided the perfect atonement, then the way into the holiest of Heaven was opened, and the Lord who has the keys of Hell and of Death, descended into Hell, delivering those believers, and taking them to glory. Thus,

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; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27:50-53)

However, Christ also used His key to preach to the disobedient,

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (1 Peter 3:19-20)

These disobedient were unlikely to be saved souls, nor does 1 Peter 4:6 (For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit) necessarily say that Christ preached them so that they may be saved, rather than referring having preached to them who are now dead, so that they may live. The rich man in Hades was not given a second chance, nor is this really something that is taught.

But what could be preached to the damned disobedient souls would be that by rejecting Noah then they in essence were rejecting Christ. Likewise those who have never heard the gospel are justly damned for rejecting whatever degree of grace and light they had, which is essence is rejecting "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John 1:9)

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