The Veil - Matt 27:51-54; Mark 15:38-39; Luke 23:45-47

As soon as Jesus’ spirit leaves his body there is a major earthquake and “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”  I had no idea why this would have been significant until the IM gave some perspective. First let’s get a little bit of background on the ancient temple in Jerusalem. We have to remember that the Jewish temple was not laid out in the same manner that our temples are modernly. The temple was sprawling, with lots of different “porches” or “courts” or patios that were reserved for certain groups of people. For instance, the “Court of the Gentiles” was a place where Gentiles could go, but could go no further. Similarly, the “Court of Women” was for Jewish women to get closer to the temple, but then could go no further.

It was a progressive type of architecture, meaning that a group of people could start out approaching the temple together, but then as they ascended closer to the pinnacle, less and less people would be able to continue forward. This means that the highest place in the temple was what’s called the “Holy of Holies” and it was meant to represent the presence of God. Our temples today have a similar feature, the Celestial Room, which is explained by the Church as, “The celestial room symbolizes the exalted and peaceful state that all may achieve through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. This room represents the contentment, inner harmony, and peace available to eternal families in the presence of Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.” In other words, the celestial room represents the presence of God, just like the Holy of Holies in the ancient temple.
The IM further explains, “once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest passed through the veil of the temple and entered into the Holy of Holies, where he sprinkled the blood of a sin offering to atone for the sins of all he congregation of Israel.” This one man, the high priest at that time, was the only person permitted to enter “God’s presence,” and was only allowed to do so once a year, on a special day and sprinkled the blood of a lamb without blemish that was sacrificed without the breaking of any bones. It was during that time when the high priest was able to trade “blood” for “sins” as restitution for the sins of the people.
Let’s consider that the temple is the closet place on earth to God, and inside the temple is housed a room which contains the presence of God where only one man is permitted to enter, the high priest, and atone for the sins of the people. When we think about how that works out, the high priest represents Jesus and the blood of the sin offering represents Christ’s own blood, and the sprinkling of it on the altar represents the blood Jesus shed for us. Jesus approaches the Father to give his own blood so that we can be forgiven.
Why is it significant that the veil shielding the presence of God from the people is torn completely in half as soon as Jesus dies?  The IM says, “When the veil of the temple was ‘rent in twain’ (torn in two) at the death of Jesus Christ, it was a dramatic symbol that the Savior, the Great High Priest, had passed through the veil of death and would shortly enter into the presence of God. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote that in addition to the Savior entering the presence of the Father, ‘the Holy of Holies is now open to all, and all, through the atoning blood of the Lamb, can now enter into the highest and holiest of all places, that kingdom where eternal life is found. Paul, in expressive language, shows how the ordinances performed through the veil of the ancient temple were in similitude of what Christ was to do, which he now having done, all men become eligible to pass through the veil into the presence of the Lord to inherit full exaltation.’ The Apostle Paul taught that just as the torn veil of the temple allowed symbolic entrance into the Holy of Holies, it is the torn flesh of Jesus Christ that opens the way for us into the presence of the Father.”
The earthquake would have needed to be pretty strong in order to move a large stone building enough to tear a piece of cloth in half. The IM notes, “Prophets before the time of Jesus Christ had prophesied of the geologic upheavals that would signal the death of the Creator of the universe (see 1 Nephi 19:10-12; Helaman 14: 21-22; Moses 7:55-56).We know that in the New World there are earthquakes that change the whole face of the land, and although it can probably be safe to consider that these were separate earthquakes, the strength of the earthquake, along with the precise timing of it with Jesus’ death, doesn’t escape everyone, and a centurion (a Roman soldier) standing nearby exclaims, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
It’s difficult for us to understand how someone can recognize the divinity in a person and still react like “ok, no big deal” and they don’t go and change their lives and every thing in order to follow them. And we don’t know the whole story about what this centurion did or didn’t do in his life, but typically this type of cross-cultural conversion was unusual for this time, especially since a Roman soldier probably would have had the freedom to choose a religion during his service. The IM notes, “In Mark’s account, the first person to speak after the Savior died was the Roman centurion who said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’ This statement echoes the on made by Mark at the outset of his Gospel: ‘The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ Together, these statements frame Mark’s account of the Savior’s mortal ministry and accentuate Mark’s testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”