Kata Markon

["Monnie Sears" <msears AT amce.com>]

This is typical of what I teach on the rent veil:

THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT



37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38And the veil 
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 
Mark 15:37-38



Comparing this passage to the parallel passage in John 19:30 indicates that 
the words Jesus cried out with a loud voice were (if indeed it can be 
determined what these words were) "IT IS FINISHED". The sun had been 
supernaturally darkened for three hours and at the end of those three hours 
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN 
ME?" Then he said, "I thirst", and they gave him a sponge full of vinegar to 
drink. At that point Jesus cried "again" (Matthew 27:50) in our text at Mark 
15:37.



The oldest sermon I can find concerning this passage of scripture is the one 
penned by the great apostle Paul in the ninth and tenth chapters of his 
letter to the Hebrews.



9:2For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, 
and the table, and the showbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3And after 
the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all (the Holy 
of Holies) . . . 6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went 
always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7But 
into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without 
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. 8The 
Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet 
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9Which was a 
figure . . . 11But 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; 12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but 
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place (the Holy of 
Holies), having obtained eternal redemption for us . . . 24For 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 . 
. . 10:19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by 
the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for 
us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh . . .



The veil blocked the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Men could not enter in 
to the presence of God. A "way in" was going to be made manifest, but not 
while the figure (the type, the copy, the imitation) was still in place. The 
Holy of Holies was the place that a mediator, the high priest, met with God 
on behalf of the people, and then only once every year. Jesus entered into 
the Holy of Holies (not the copy, but the real one in heaven) and was seated 
in the presence of God. There is now no need for the figure: God would no 
longer appear in the earthly copy of the Holy of Holies to meet with a 
temporal representation of the true High Priest because God and the High 
Priest are now in constant communion. The true High Priest, Jesus, now 
dwells with the Father to make intercession for us. Because of this we can 
now have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies (the true one in the 
spirit realm) if we are washed by His blood. We then see that the veil was a 
figure of Jesus' flesh, which was rent for us.



Once Jesus' redemptive work on the cross was finished, the veil was torn in 
two: Firstly, to remain a true figure of the rent body of our Lord, 
Secondly, to remove the figure that the true veil have preeminence and 
Thirdly, to indicate that the entrance to the Holy of Holies is no longer 
blocked. Men may now have entrance, by the blood of Jesus, into the presence 
of the Father.





Monnie Sears, LS
Survey Department Manager
Allgeier, Martin & Associates
P.O. Box 2627
Joplin, Missouri   64803

417-624-5703
417-624-7558 Fax

www.amce.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <fguyette AT erskine.edu>
To: "Kata Markon" <gmark AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:29 AM
Subject: [GMark] Mark 15:37-39/ The Torn Veil


> I have been asked to work up a review of sermons preached on Mark 15:37-39,
> "Then Jesus gave a loud cry... and the curtain of the Temple was torn in
> two.."
>
> 1. I would be interested in hearing about "good" sermons that have been
> preached on this passage, from the first century to today.
>
> 2. But more fundamentally, do GMARK scholars have anything to say about
> what the "torn veil" means, or what a sermon based on this passage SHOULD
> look like?
>
> Thank You,
> Fred Guyette
> Erskine College and Seminary
> Due West, SC