We read together the account of our Lord's crucifixion from Matthew chapter 27. I would draw your attention to really a portion of a verse into that section, the first part of verse 51, beginning again at verse 50, 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. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs and after Jesus' resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. May God add His blessing to the consideration of His Word tonight. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Golgotha, Calvary's hill was shrouded in darkness as a dark veil covered the earth and blocked the light of the sun. Yet as the Savior hung on the cross that awful Friday, He was denied more than just the light of the physical sun. He was denied the warmth of His people's compassion as they said, you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, Save yourself. Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God. And the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him. He saved others, they said, but He can't save Himself. He's the King of Israel. Let Him come down now from the cross and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him. For He said, I am the Son of God. However, we know that He was rejected not only by men, but the crucifixion of Jesus is about His utter abandonment by His Father as He was denied the raise of His Father's love. Jesus Christ suffered the full force of the agony of abandonment. Agony unknown to man. Agony expressed as He was being pierced through for our transgressions, as He was being crushed for our iniquities, and as He was being made sin and a curse for us. Agony expressed as He cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? The abandonment of the cross was Christ's chief conflict. The worst torture that He endured. And His death as He was suspended between heaven and earth was His stunning defeat to the eyes of unbelief. yet to the eyes of faith not a defeat but to the eyes of faith his death was a moment of crescendo it was the climax of redemptive history it was the trumpet blast of salvation indeed we read here that as the Savior took his last breath creation groaned the earth shook and the rocks split the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Creation groaned. But when the Savior yielded up His Spirit, that groaning of creation, notice, was ushered in by a divine event in the Jewish temple. That home, as it were, where the heart of the Jewish people beat the loudest as the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. this awful Friday was truly good for us. Because as the door of God's presence closed on Christ, His presence opened to those Christ redeemed, as Christ's crucifixion opens Heaven's presence. That presence, first of all, which was once closed, as symbolized, signified by the curtain. To understand, we need to get behind the curtain as it were, to understand the curtain's function, which includes knowing a little bit about the priesthood and the sacrificial system and knowing a little bit about Christ's priestly office. What was the curtain's place in the temple? In Exodus 26, verse 33, Moses says, Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the holy place from the most holy place. From the tabernacle that Moses set up in the wilderness to the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem, they had a holy place and a most holy place, or as we know of it, the Holy of Holies. These two rooms that were separated by a specific curtain. At the time of Jesus' crucifixion, this was the third temple. The first one, Solomon's temple, had been destroyed when Judah was carried off to captivity. The second temple was built after the Babylonian captivity. That too was subsequently destroyed. And a third temple was built under Herod. This is the one that we're talking about here. This is the one that the rulers said to Jesus that took 46 years to build. It was still in the process of completion at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Now, the Jewish historian Josephus most likely, very likely, saw this very temple and he describes the curtain and says that it was about 80 feet tall, 25 feet wide, And he describes the beauty of this curtain with the cherubim woven into it, signifying the presence of God. He says it was so large and heavy that it took a number of men, and they give an exaggerated number, the historians do, they said it took 300 men to point to the large number of men that it took to manipulate or to move this curtain. Its place in the temple was to separate the holy place from the most holy place. And its purpose then for the people is that it was a vivid symbol of separation of God from His people because of their sin. You recall that the Holy of Holies originally held the Ark of the Covenant. That box that Moses had made which contained a number of items including the tablets of the law. It had a cover with a mercy seat. It had the cherubim on there. That cover, that mercy seat, is the place where God was said to dwell among His people. Yet as God, as it were, would look down upon those tablets of the law, He couldn't help but to see that that law had been broken. He couldn't help but to see the sin of the people, that sin that needed to be punished. The sin that needed to be paid for. And therefore, that curtain was a vivid symbol, reminder that the sinful people were not to come into the presence of a holy God. That curtain, beloved, was a dividing line. It was a symbol of the sin of man that offends God and separates man from God. That curtain kept the unholy from approaching the holy. That curtain covered the glory of God's presence from His people with a message loud and clear that said, off limits. Keep out. No admittance. Do not enter. Do not come a step closer. And therefore, that curtain was also necessary for the protection of the people to keep an unholy people from being consumed by the wrath and the justice of a holy God. And only the high priest, not even the common priesthood, but only the high priest could go behind the curtain and then only one time per year on the Day of Atonement, which has been called the Good Friday of the Old Testament. And on that day, the high priest would bring that sacrifice which was a shadow of the ultimate sacrifice. He would bring that sacrifice behind the curtain to the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people. The high priest represented the people of God into the very presence of God. And as the sins of the people were symbolically laid on the head of the scapegoat which was sent out into the wilderness, the blood of the sacrificial Lamb was brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on that mercy seat. Pointing to the grace of God. Pointing to the removal of the guilt of God's people. Pointing to God's satisfaction. Pointing to the forgiveness of sins. That curtain was a symbol of the curse of sin and separation from God as well of the holiness of God who was not to be approached improperly. And it was meant to keep the unholy from the consuming wrath of the Holy God. Beloved on the cross, Jesus Christ felt the full weight of the curse and the separation that that curtain represented. The full weight by which He opened heaven's presence, secondly, as He completed His work. His work as the great high priest. The writer of Hebrews says he is the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. We know that Melchizedek is introduced to us in connection with Abraham. And we're not told anything about Melchizedek, not about his beginning of days or the end of his days. And therefore, Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek in that he is an eternal high priest. The eternal high priest. The high priest who represents all of his people perfectly before our God. But not only the high priest. Not only the One who brings the sacrifice, but the One who Himself is the sacrifice, the final sacrifice for sin. He is what the Old Testament sacrifice of atonement pointed to. Yet He fulfilled every sacrifice of atonement that was made. He fulfilled the entire sacrificial system as the real thing. As the once for all. As the never to be repeated. Even as the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 9, beginning at verse 24. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true One. He entered heaven itself now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again the way the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not His own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world, but now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Beloved, His altar was His cross where He suffered the full weight of the curse of the curtain as He was separated from and rejected by His Father. As this great high priest brought the perfect and the final sacrifice for sin, Himself, His own precious blood, as He willingly offered this sacrifice of substitutionary atonement, substituting Himself for His people. And with His blood, He removed the guilt of His people. He pacified the wrath of God against His people. He makes the unholy holy. And He opened the way to God when all was finished. When He knew that it was sufficient. When he knew that it was complete. When he knew that there was nothing else to do on that cross. He said, it is finished. And Jesus gave himself to death. It didn't come and steal him away. He was in control. He gave himself to death as he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. He sacrificed himself all the way to death. entering the presence of His Father. Again, as the writer of Hebrews says, entering the holy place, heaven itself, and the presence of God behind the heavenly curtain, beloved, where God accepted His sacrifice. Where God accepted His sacrifice as perfect, as complete, and therefore opened His presence to His people once again, doing so symbolically and visibly on earth by tearing the temple curtain only after Christ suffered total abandonment and total rejection and the totality of hell. And barely after He breathed His last breath, we read at that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And beloved, God did it. It was no accident. It was not man who accomplished that. Again, it was 80 feet tall, 25 feet wide, and the historians say it was as thick as a man's palm, about four inches thick. It didn't happen because of the earthquake. As Matthew puts the earthquake following the tearing of the curtain, it was torn from top to bottom. And the point that we are to take from that very simply is that it was none other than the hand of God. God himself tore that curtain and opened his presence. the time of the evening sacrifice Jesus Christ was abandoned by the Father so that we might be able to approach that we might have access to and be accepted by God the Father He opened Heaven's presence finally for His redeemed people for those He died to save for those who would trust in Him alone pointing to His perfect work the torn curtain was God's testimony. It was God the Father Himself speaking. It was God's testimony that Christ's sacrifice was indeed perfect, that it was final, and most of all, that it was accepted by Him. No more bloody sacrifices were needed. It was God's testimony that the Levitical priesthood was no longer necessary. It was no longer useful. This torn curtain was like the pink slip to the Levitical priesthood. Most likely that's why Luke says in Acts 6 verse 7, So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Not all of them, no doubt. The Jewish leaders repaired that curtain and went right on with what they were doing before. But a number of them were brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and saw that their work was complete. It points to His perfect work, and beloved, it points also to our confidence. In Hebrews 10, beginning at verse 19, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain, that is His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful. Beloved, the torn curtain points to our confidence of access to God full and free through Christ's torn flesh. He alone is one's protection from the wrath of God as He endured the entirety of that wrath. Removing all, any and all obstacles that stand in the way of His people. As Paul says in Colossians chapter 2, that Christ, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us, He took it away, nailing it to the cross. You remember the Old Testament. You remember Mount Sinai. When Israel was traveling in the wilderness, camping in the wilderness, God told Moses to set a boundary around Mount Sinai that the people were to keep their distance, not to touch that mountain lest they be consumed. That boundary, symbolized again by the curtain, and that boundary of Sinai has been erased by the grace of God as signified by the tearing of the curtain. And therefore, our confidence is that we are never to be denied, never to be cast away, As Hebrews 6 says, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. As the hand of God tore that curtain, His divine finger, in a sense, was pointing back to Eden, pointing back to the closeness and the intimacy that had existed between God and man in Eden. Pointing back to that and stating the truth that that intimacy and fellowship and closeness has been restored in greater measure through the anchor of Jesus Christ. That anchor of Christ in God's very presence forever holds His people into that presence. Because by the grace of God, we are one with Him. We are one with Him who nourishes us with His crucified body and shed blood by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord's table prepared before us tonight is a visible confirmation of our blessing of access to and fellowship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. It is a call to His people to come unto Me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Beloved, the torn curtain proclaims that Jesus Christ and His saving work is the only way to the Father. And not only that, but it is the only protection against the wrath of God to come. And for those who reject Him, that torn curtain also points to being exposed to the holy wrath of God with no protection. For those who reject Him, the torn curtain proclaims that judgment is coming and that they will find God to be a consuming fire. But, He is merciful. He is loving to those who turn to Him in faith. And for those who are in Christ Jesus, that curtain proclaims that the final sacrifice has been made. That the redemption price has been paid. That the eternal punishment is a thing of the past. And that communion with God is an eternal reality for His people. That torn curtain proclaims as well that there is a new priesthood. That new priesthood is the church. Believers are a new and a royal priesthood. Paul says in one place that the church is the temple of God. And in another place, he says individual believers are the temple of God in whom He dwells and works by the Holy Spirit. Boys and girls, we don't dress like the temple priests of old. Our sacrifices don't drip with blood like their sacrifices did. But our sacrifices are the sacrifices of the heart offered in faith. John Calvin said that the priesthood hangs as a canopy over all we do. It's a canopy, as it were, over our worship, over our work, over our recreation, our relationships, our hobbies. It hangs as a canopy over all we do. And therefore, all that we do, beloved, is not to be sought or done from selfish reasons or for our own advancement, but for God's glory, recognizing His hand of blessing upon our lives. And this too, beloved, is a call for us to be mindful of the presence of God at all times, not out of terror for Him. But a call to be mindful of the presence of God with humble assurance that we are sinners saved by grace and with confidence that in Him we live and move and have our being. And therefore, beloved, He is the one who comforts us in our sorrow. He is the one who sustains us in our weakness. He is the one who encourages us in our times of hopelessness. He is the one who protects us when we are attacked. He Himself is the very reason that we can face trials and difficulties and even persecution if He so chooses with hope and confidence because nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And therefore, this is a call for us too to offer our lives for Him who gave His life for us, giving a testimony whenever possible that we see that the purpose of our lives in living is to glorify and to please Him. On this Good Friday, beloved, we rejoice and celebrate the good that Jesus Christ accomplished for us. That we are accepted by God and we are received into His fellowship and His care forever.