Verse of the Day 5/3

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 9-10, Luke 24:1-13

 

Good morning,

Over the weekend many areas of the country faced thunderstorms.  I'm sure that you have felt the sense of "foreboding", the impending storm, as the skies darkened and you could almost feel the electricity in the air.

This weekend's reading was in Luke 23 where we'll go for today's verse where we feel this tension.  It's another one of those scenes like Jesus calming the sea, or God parting the Red Sea before Moses that you can picture in your mind with Technicolor and Dolby Sound.

Luke 23:44-45 (NIV)  ⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

The people who were present at the crucifixion and all over Jerusalem must have felt this, perhaps in a way that no one has before or since that event.  But at that moment everything changed, the tension was broken, the barrier between God and man was removed, the curtain that divided was torn from top to bottom.

We test fabrics in our lab at our plant.  Among other things, we test for tensile and tear strength.  When tearing the fabric, the yarns and fibers burst.  I can almost the sound and see the fibers bursting.  A curtain is normally static, stationary, not under tension bit free hanging.

 

But there was tension between God and man and as we read in Hebrews, through Jesus death, the curtain of separation has been torn, giving us access to the Father through Jesus Christ who intervenes for us.

 

Read the passage from Hebrews 10, what does it mean to you today that the curtain has been torn?

 ¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let 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. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Luke 23:44-49 (New International Version)

Jesus' Death

 ⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 ⁴⁷The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." ⁴⁸When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. ⁴⁹But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things