“Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
Exciting that the earth quaked at the very time that Jesus expired upon His cross; exciting that the graves were opened and the dead were raised; and so exciting that those who were raised went into the holy city, actually appearing to the living, who knew for certain that those upon whom they looked had once died and were buried.
Personally speaking, as moving as the raising of the dead had to be, and as spectacular as the earthquake also must have been, neither of these is what thrills me most. Yet what sends a real jolt into me is the very first thing that Matthew records: “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Why that, you may ask? It is because of the fact that this precise moment marked the end of a religion by which just one man would appear before God on behalf of an entire nation, and this but annually; still at the same time it signified the beginning of something far greater. In fact, just a simple “far” could never really capture the distance that God would catapult a people of faith upward. This is because the distance is immeasurable; the place to where He’d bring them - into an entirely new dimension, to the kingdom of the Son of His love. He would take us from the practice of a religion “by which nothing could ever be made perfect,” as pens the writer of Hebrews, and translate us into an inexpressible kingdom of light, where we may come to know and love the Saviour in Spirit and in Truth. It is there that perfection would be all about the God who we walk with, and the kingdom whose citizens we’ve become. To we the people that same perfection is imputed, though in us it has not yet been made wholly manifest.
There once was a time when the people of God lived o so distant from what we can enjoy today. The ordinances of the Most High were stated very clear and to the point. Once each year would His high priest go beyond the veil, and never without blood. He would enter a very feared and sacred sanctuary past the holy place. There in the holy of holies, he would for himself and for every descendent of Abraham, offer up the blood of a slain animal to the Almighty One of Israel. This would cover all the transgressions of an entire nation for the year past. And year after year this ceremonial act needed to be repeated, along with numerous others. Over a span of many centuries did Israel serve Jehovah God in such a manner. The endless repetitions were only saying that all of these activities could never be enough. And why? It was because they were not the real thing. They fell short. They were imperfect. In fact, they would serve only as types and shadows of the Real. They were adequate simply to the point of shielding the sins of the people from their Creator, and that just from one year to the next. But in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son. He, the Substance, and not the shadows, was what all of the former rituals pointed ahead to for well over a millennium. His was the true blood of the covenant. It was this blood and no other that the Father waited to receive in the holy of holies that is not of this world. And on the day that He saw its crimson flow cover the earth from where man was once taken, two great hands descended to part the veil with a terrible rending. Yes, amidst the earth quaking and the graves opening up, the Father had along with these split the veil, making clear the way to the holy of holies for every soul born of faith. No longer would it be that a single priest enter in one time yearly (at least this was not recognized any longer in heaven). But now we have heard from John the revelator that our God has made of all His children an entire nation of priests, and not only priests, but kings, a change of infinite proportions from how it had formerly been.
The ways of the Almighty transcend the imaginations of men, looming large even in the heavens. For when He had rent the veil it was no small statement He was making, since along with this occurrence go marvelous blessings: Now, instead of only the high priest of Israel accessing the most holy place but one time each year, every son and daughter of God can enter as often as he or she desires. To add, there would be no ritualistic duties to be carried out, and this in great fear of an error being made. But our communion with Him there, would be strictly from the heart, His words to us being fear not. Also we wouldn’t have to leave this sacred place at an appointed time, as is the nature of ritual. On the contrary we can remain with the Triune God as long as we have a mind and a heart to remain. And certainly there would have to be more than one holy of holies, as was so in the old world. Then there was but a single high priest to perform his duties there, and so there would be no need to have more than one sanctuary set apart for the occasion. But in the day in which we live our Heavenly Father has begotten a countless number of sons and daughters, all His ministers. Each He calls to intimacy with Him. But how can there be intimacy unless He has designed for every one their own sacred room in which to meet with Him, a secret place, a personal dwelling for every believer to speak with the God of heaven and earth? Consequently these rooms are now beyond number, as I’ve already stated that His changes are of infinite proportions, not only in this, but in all of His works from the Old to the New.
Now a question may arise. Where exactly can all of these holy sanctuaries be found? Where is it that the children can meet with the One whose very name is Holy? One may say that his study is where he meets with God; another may tell of how she loves to go to the garden of a nearby park and pray; still another may like the nicely furnished room in the attic, constructed just for this purpose. It is okay to recognize a certain location as our own personal meeting place with the Lord. I however believe that all such places serve more as symbols and representations of the real sanctuary where we enter God’s presence. For I am convinced that the true sanctuary is the same place for all of us, yet each person’s is different. It is the heart - the very center of our being; the unseen man. From there we communicate with the Lord. And so we may speak with Him wherever we go. We do not need to be in this location or that, for He has done a marvelous thing. He has built these inner tabernacles into His people. Even as He had instructed Moses in how to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, so has He designed man after the pattern of that same tabernacle, we however being the real and the true living temples. The Old Testament tabernacle was only the shadow of the real, which was yet to come. The real would be of materials alive and not dead, fashioned by God and not man. The real - it is we the church, the heirs of the kingdom.
In the tabernacle in the wilderness there was the holy place, and still further in there was the holy of holies. So it is today with His people. We are told that our bodies have become temples of the living God, and holy they must be kept. Still, as true as this is, the eyes of the Lord are more upon that inner chamber, that quiet place beyond the veil of the flesh. That place is the heart. For as our knowing of Him is there - in the sanctuary hidden away - so will it eventually become with the whole man. Therefore His eyes are on the heart, where intimacy must ever grow with the Father and the Son. For this reason we have become acquainted with words such as these: “For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts… ” “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” And Jesus Himself said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” The sanctuary of the heart is where we abide with the God of the highest heavens. It is why so many passages in scripture admonish us to keep the heart clean. And so God has undoubtedly created man as a temple in which He could abide. Holy - the body - and most holy - the heart - are His tabernacles in every believing son and daughter.
Jesus, the eternal Son, also needed to become a living temple unto His Father upon entering our world. But before He could enjoy eternal life, love, and peace in that temple, it was first necessary for it to undergo utter destruction. Therefore He spoke these words to the One who He ever sees: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written of Me - to do Your will, O God.’”
It is the writer of Hebrews, however, who as I see it, draws the clearest parallel between the human body and the outer and inner tabernacles of the Old Testament. Moreover he skillfully achieves this in two short verses: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh…” The only conclusion to be drawn here is that through the veil, which is our flesh, lies the true inner tabernacle of the believer; it is greater than any sanctuary; it is our own secret place where we come to meet with, and ever know the Father and the Son. Not only this, but it is a quite special knowing that takes place here, for it happens through the Spirit, and not by the flesh. He has opened up a way for us to come to Him. And from there our God reigns; and it has become a living place, alive by and through His Spirit.
When a man and his wife join hands together to pray, I’m sure this is precious in the sight of the Lord. And no doubt He desires this in every marriage. Nevertheless, this kind of communion doesn’t rise up from out of one’s secret place. When we come together with a brother or a sister to agree upon something before the Father, once again He looks upon it with great delight. But neither do these words ascend into heaven from that intimate sanctuary. If we should be one of a dozen or so people, who have come to unite in one Spirit, to bring before the Lord many needs, no doubt the Almighty is again well pleased. But as in the other cases such prayer does not occur within that personal and sacred tabernacle. For whenever the high priest met with the God of Israel in the holy of holies, never could a second man enter along with him. Surely it would have been unthinkable. And from the Old to the New this has not changed. Therefore it is only when we meet with Him alone, and only then, that we enter what has been set apart just for us. There we will at times speak to Him concerning things of a private nature, things we may have never spoken much about to anyone - not a spouse, child, or best friend. Here seclusion and nearness to Him create an atmosphere that totally envelops the Father and His child, making it to be a meeting unlike any other.
Speaking for myself, I believe that it is in this inviolable chamber that we become born unto Him. I believe this is so due to the very personal nature of the moment. Who does it really belong to but the one being birthed, and He who has now become Abba Father? Who else has any real part in the earnest petition that makes us His? The answer is none but the one who has presently bowed before Him. It is here that our life with Him begins - life eternal as a child and heir of a kingdom that will never pass away. In that room it begins, and it should always be that place that we hold more dear and more sacred than anywhere else. It is ours forever, to be with Him alone.
When we are abiding in the holy of holies it is altogether different than being in any other place. There we belong just to Him and never to another. We are not our wife’s or our husband’s, not our son’s or our daughter’s, not a friend’s or a relative’s, when we are shut in alone with He who has fashioned us according to His knowledge and desire. There we are His solely, for Him to know and to love. He likewise belongs only to us, and for the same purpose. That time can become transcendent. In such a case it may be necessary to remove far from our hearts and minds all that is of this earth, whether it be people, places, things, or anything that may diminish the strength of perfect union between the Potter and His vessel. There may arise an instance when we will feel moved to not just spiritually but physically escape to an environment alienated from things worldly in nature. Doing so will always prove conducive in preparing the heart for a meeting with the Triune God.
Once in watching an old movie I became a bit swept away by one of its scenes. A young couple had just gotten married and they hurried away to a solitary place. They seemed to be in the midst of a magically serene woodland. As the woman overlooked it from a high point she spoke poetically of its charm, its loveliness and its beauty, and of a stillness that defied description. Then as if in a trance she said these words: “It’s like the end of the world here.” It was sometime later that I thought about that scene; now a question arose. If such a place, being of this earth, could offer all the wonder of which the young lady spoke, then how much more should our quiet place with God, since it is above this world? Once we truly become established there, and have learned to settle in, how much more peace and comfort, joy and bliss, should our secret place with Him afford, since it is beyond the earthly plane? Is it not the place above all others? While in my thoughts of this I began to put these words to a poem.
Fly To The End Of The World
When the terrors and troubles and trials of life
Swiftly at me are hurled,
Then will my spirit sprout wings like a dove
And fly to the end of the world.
At the end of the world is a wilderness
Where all is beautifully still,
And nothing is heard but silence
So that I may learn His will.
There is no place like the end of the world
For the Spirit meets you there,
And you and He in a fellowship sweet
Know never a load of care.
Upon His holy bosom
At ease He sets your soul,
As He sings a song of glory
That makes all within you whole.
And when I leave that sacred place
I am given a fresh new start,
Hope in a new beginning,
A willing and steadfast heart.
Then into the battle once more I ride
Wielding a powerful sword,
To fight for what’s right and for glory,
To fight with the risen Lord.
J. Pecoraro
