The Gospels tell us that, immediately after Yeshua’s last breath, the veil in the Temple separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn from top to bottom. Even though the Gospels do not explain the significance of this event, we view it as a declaration by God that every believer is now allowed into His holy presence, as beforehand only the High Priest was allowed in once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Apostle Paul describes it in this way:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body…let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…” –(Heb. 10:19-20, 22)
Since I first became a believer, I saw the rending of the veil as an expression of God’s mercy towards us, a consequence of Yeshua’s last words, “It is finished.”
Just recently, however, God gave me a glimpse into His side of the story.
As I was pondering the outline of a teaching I would like to present to Tiferet Yeshua Congregation, I came to the part of the torn veil, and God gave me a vision of a cemetery: I saw a family burying a loved one – something we are unfortunately used to these days due to over 600 soldiers who have lost their lives in the war— and one of the cemetery’s rabbis (serving as a priest) made a cut on the clothes of the immediate family, from top to bottom, as a symbol of mourning.
Kriah, the Jewish tradition of tearing of one’s clothes from top to bottom as a sign of mourning, is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. When the Patriarch Jacob thought his son Joseph was dead, he tore his garments (Gen. 37:34). David and his men rent their clothing upon hearing about the deaths of King Saul and Jonathan (II Sam. 1:11). Job, grieving the death of his children, stood up and tore his clothing (Job 1:20).
The Lord opened my eyes, and I realized that the rending of the veil in the Temple which we see as a sign of God’s mercy towards us was, in fact, God Himself tearing His clothes as a sign of mourning for His Only Son. In that moment, God lost a part of Himself, and, though He knew it would not be for long, it was His time to grieve. As the prophet Daniel prophesied, God the Father experienced having His own Son cut off from Him:
” …the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing.” (Dan. 9:26)
This Passover, as we remember Yeshua’s death as a Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, let us also remember the unbelievable cost God Himself had to pay to give us that forgiveness and the access into His presence.
by Katy Sorsher
Anders Åkesson Moberg says:
Very well written and percieved, full of Holy Spirit. May you be blessed, helped and guided by Ruach haQodesh in these difficult times. May the Lord Yeshua, ABBA YHWH protect you all and all Israel. ‘Am Yisrael chai le’olam va’ed, Amen.
Ann Bennett says:
I agree completely. The Lord showed me the same
Image at a funeral. In the Father’s grief He gave us access to Himself. He tore His robe, the temple veil
Peter Hartgerink says:
I love this, but as I was reading it just now, I also saw something else. Abba was tearing his clothes (figuratively speaking) because his son Israel was far from him, and it would take the death of his son Yeshua the Messiah to reconcile Israel to himself. And even then not all would come. So it is a statement of both victory and mourning. It is a statement of our access to the presence of the Father through the sacrifice of Yeshua, yes (and I write this as a Gentile, so not a part of ethnic Israel although I love your people) but also an expression of the merciful heart of God towards the suffering of His people Israel and His son Yeshua. At least that’s what I see. I submit this for the discernment of the saints at Tiferet Yeshua