Morning, April 19
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“Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom.”
Matthew 27:51
No mean miracle was wrought in the rending of so strong and thick
a veil; but it was not intended merely as a display of power—many lessons were herein taught us. The old law of ordinances was put away , and like a worn-out vesture, rent and laid aside. When Jesus died,
the sacrifices were all finished, because all fulfilled in him, and
therefore the place of their presentation was marked with an evident
token of decay. That rent also revealed all the hidden things of the old dispensation : the mercy-seat could now be seen, and the glory of God gleamed forth
above it. By the death of our Lord Jesus we have a clear revelation
of God, for he was “not as Moses, who put a veil over his face.” Life and immortality are now brought to light, and things which have
been hidden since the foundation of the world are manifest in him.
The annual ceremony of atonement was thus abolished. The atoning blood which was once every year sprinkled within the veil, was now offered
once for all by the great High Priest, and therefore the place of
the symbolical rite was broken up. No blood of bullocks or of lambs
is needed now, for Jesus has entered within the veil with his own
blood. Hence access to God is now permitted , and is the privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus. There is
no small space laid open through which we may peer at the mercy-seat,
but the rent reaches from the top to the bottom. We may come with
boldness to the throne of the heavenly grace. Shall we err if we say
that the opening of the Holy of Holies in this marvellous manner by
our Lord’s expiring cry was the type of the opening of the gates of paradise to all the saints by virtue of the Passion? Our bleeding Lord hath
the key of heaven; he openeth and no man shutteth; let us enter in
with him into the heavenly places, and sit with him there till our
common enemies shall be made his footstool.