“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” Luke 23:44-45

The Veil

Upon breathing His last, Christ’ death initiated a rather tumultuous event. The light of the sun failed, leaving the land in darkness, the earth shook and rocks split in two. And within the temple the veil was torn in two, from top to bottom. The veil created a physical separation between the Holy of Holies, the area where only the high priest was allowed to enter and offer sacrifice once a year, and the rest of the temple. This veil is a physical representation of a spiritual separation between the perfect God and fallen man. And the tearing of it in two is the removal of that divide. Just as His death opened the Holy of Holies by tearing the veil, it also enabled us all to have entrance into the Presence of the Holy God.

But  it was not the resurrection of Christ from the dead that caused this but the death itself.  It was the sacrifice of His life on the cross as payment for our sins that led to such a great blessing in being able to draw near. His death earned us the gift of salvation, but the event of the tearing of the veil showed that He also intended for us to approach Him in relationship. Christ set for us an example in everything that He did on earth; in His life, His suffering, His death and resurrection. His death and the tearing of the veil, shows us that sacrifice is the key to intimacy. His death and subsequent tearing of the veil initiated the intimacy and allows us to respond similarly. Many Christians accept the salvation that His death bought us yet still fail to enter into real relationship with Jesus. If we want to draw close then it will require sacrifice. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 16:24-25 when He says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

I believe that if there was one reason why we are so devoid of personal relationships with Christ it is because we wont sacrifice. Beginning with our failure to sacrifice a small amount of time to spend with Him. I remember a few years ago when I had enlisted in the army and was going through basic training. We were woke up extremely early in the mornings and would train all day. When we finally got to turn in for the night we were exhausted and had just enough time to shower and maybe write a letter to home. It was during this time that I decided to spend some time just to read a chapter of the bible and pray for about ten minutes before I went to bed. After showering and maybe writing a letter, prayer and reading had to take place often after the lights were already off. And if you have never been in the military than let me just say that sleep was a precious commodity. But I gave some of it up just to draw close to God and it paid off. Despite sleep deprivation, physical pain and emotional and mental strain I knew that God was always present despite the circumstances and the fact that I couldn’t “feel” His Presence. It built up my faith and helped me get through the whole ordeal.

This is when I learned that we all have plenty of time to spend with the Holy Spirit. If I could find time in boot camp for God then we can find time in civilian life. So what is our problem? The culture we live in says we must be busy and productive and when we have free time we find ourselves spending it on our own entertainment or relaxation. I believe that rest is extremely important, even a command of the Lord but the way we are “resting” is not good. We drink, party, go to friends, play video games, watch television or get on social media. We fill our lives with distractions and feel bad about failing to spend time with the Lord. We fail to recognize that in the Presence we find rest and sustenance. These other things only satisfy temporarily and leave us empty. They simply distract us from our work obsessed culture and when it is time to return to work we are still reluctant to go back and our rest is immediately disturbed. If we could just be bold enough to sacrifice one thing to open up some time for the Lord in our schedules we would find Him and find the rest He has for us. We would discover that it wasn’t just His sacrifice that lead to intimacy but our own as well. God enjoys partnering with us and after all a relationship takes two people to work, not just one.

He opened the door, but the choice to walk through it is up to us. Developing a relationship with God is actually not as difficult as we think. In addition to tearing the veil, His death also took our sins away. With the penalty paid and our old self dying on the cross with Him, we are able to enter into relationship right now! He took care of everything else. We just have to make the choice and as He tells us in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters , for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other”. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you an area in your life where you could surrender it to Him and in its place interact with Jesus. Sacrifice a distraction, give up an idol that is holding you hostage to religion without relationship and experience the blessing of knowing God personally.