Veil Of The Temple (part 9 of 9)

If one believes in and confesses allegiance to Jesus the Christ/Messiah as Lord and King, then what can be known from that fact is that the Creator God indeed chose that one for Himself from before the foundation of the world to be part of His globally sourced covenant people that would rightly bear His image into the world.  Figuratively, the believer has been made alive in his or her tomb. 

When the power of the Creator God’s Spirit breaks in and demonstrates itself through the believer’s submission to what can certainly be looked upon as the wholly insensible claims of the Gospel (Jesus, a crucified and subsequently resurrected man is Lord of all), and thus the choosing that extends beyond the boundaries of ethnic Israel, encompassing individuals from all nations and ethnic groups, is made manifest for all the world to see and know, it is then that those that have been figuratively raised up, awaiting the final resurrection of the righteous to renewed life in the renewed creation, are then sent forth into the world, to appear to many and to preach that Gospel. 

In a sense, they are dead men walking, while at the same time, sharing in the gift of eternal life (being the place of the overlap of heaven and earth---bring the life of the age to come into the here and now through their words and deeds that demonstrates the Lordship of the Christ).      

The torn veil is why the Apostle Paul can write to the Romans, embracing the sweep of the Scriptural narrative and say, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory” (5:1-2).  That faith by which Paul insists that he and others have been made righteous, or justified, or brought into God’s covenant as part of His covenant people, or rendered legally “not guilty,” or put right before Him and now aligned with His purpose for them, is accomplished by a trust in Jesus as Lord as the response to what has become the obvious faithfulness of the covenant God. 

Believers are given access to Him, as the cherubim with flaming swords have been taken out of the way, because of that faithfulness that is expressed through the Christ.  Believers band together to collectively and individually rejoice in a hope that will not disappoint because they understand themselves to have been empowered by the Spirit to trust that their God will consummate His plans, and to work in and through them to complete the salvation of the covenant people and the creation, bringing about the final exodus, redemption, and end of the exile of being subject to cursing, raising them up in the same way that He raised up the Christ. 

In Jesus the Messiah the Creator God put Himself on display.  It is said that Jesus led His God out from behind the veil so that all the world could see His nature.  This is the goal of the believer as well.  Truly, this was so, because the veil was torn and man was reconciled to his Creator, with the sovereign God doing all of the reconciling of His entire creation and His image-bearers through belief in Jesus.       

Veil Of The Temple (part 7)

Expanding on those thoughts then, in chapter twelve of Genesis, Abraham is introduced into the story of the covenant God that is being told through Scripture.  Through a covenant with Abraham, the record of which points to the singular seed of Abraham to come, as the Creator God begins to fulfill the promise of the seed to come that was given to Adam and Eve, that God commences what is recorded as His providential working through history to deal with the evil that had been introduced into the world by the rebellion of those that He had created.  That story progresses through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and on to Israel as a whole, is concentrated into the Creator God’s dealings with Judah, and comes to be consummated in Jesus as the promised seed fulfills the purported promise of the Gospel that had been set forth in Genesis chapter three --- crushing the serpent’s head while His own heel is bruised in the process.    

Though all of the previous covenant bearers had failed in some way, shape, or form, Jesus, the One to Whom Paul refers as the second Adam, did not fail.  He is demonstrated to have been faithful to the covenant.  He is shown to have rightly borne the divine image.  By willingly going into death, He entered into the curse which Adam had wrought.  Additionally, and much more specifically, as the Messiah/King of Israel (and therefore representative of the people) He takes upon Himself the cursing that had been promised to the covenant people, presumably exhausting its miserable supply.  His death, and the tearing of the veil in conjunction with that death, as it took those embroidered cherubim out of the way, can be understood to have symbolically re-opened mankind’s path to fellowship with their Creator.  The curse was broken.  Death would no longer reign.  New life was coming. 

Where the first Adam, and all that followed from him, were expelled from Eden, the second Adam, and all that follow Him through a unifying belief in Him as Lord and Savior and Redeemer, are now allowed to re-enter Eden.  Where the first Adam had rejected and given up his rightful dominion of the covenant God’s perfect creation, the second Adam re-claimed that dominion, ushered in the long-expected kingdom of God on earth with the Messiah as its King, and introduced the renewal of creation through the power of the Resurrection.  The veil had been torn. 

The first Adam, upon his failure to live up to His purpose, died in that failure, doing so in accordance with what it was that had been promised to him by the creative-and-covenant-making God.  The second Adam, completely fulfilling His purpose and faithfully carrying out the Creator God’s intention for His people Israel, was resurrected to a new life, also according to the Creator God’s promise.  This seems to be why the Apostle Paul can write, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22), insisting that all those that swear their allegiance to Jesus as King will be raised up with a new body, for a new creation, in the exact same way in which Jesus was raised, according to the promise of the faithful God on which Jesus relied and whom He revealed. 

The torn veil demonstrated that the covenant God had fulfilled His promise, and that new life in a new and changed world was coming.  Pointing to this, Matthew (and Matthew alone) follows up his report about the torn veil, writing that “the tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised” (27:52).  Jesus’ death, as one would expect if it was the singular event that it has been made out to be, seems to have had the effect of reversing the curse of death.  For all time then, this raising of saints, as recorded and memorialized by Matthew, will be associated with the tearing of the temple’s veil.  Matthew does not leave it at that, but goes on to write, “They came out of the tombs after His Resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (27:53).  As Matthew tells his audience, though these “saints” were raised at Jesus’ death, when it is implied that the curse was clearly broken, which is established with the tearing of the veil, Matthew makes it a point to write that they did not come out of the tombs until after His Resurrection.

Veil Of The Temple (part 6)

The veil of the temple, with its cherubim, would have served the purpose of reminding the covenant people of the Creator God’s narrative story of creation, of fall, of cursing, of a way now barred, of covenant, of promises, of slavery, of exodus, of redemption, of a promised land, of their responsibilities to their God, of exile, of a promised messiah that would be the physical embodiment of their God, of His coming to set things right, of the eventual end of their long exile, of their being empowered to fulfill their God’s intentions for them, of their gift of their long-promised inheritance of the land, of their redemption from oppression, of their being granted another exodus, of the fulfillment of all of the blessings promised to them by their God, of the establishment of a new covenant, of the granting of access to His presence, of the reversal of the curse that man had wrought in the earth, of the bringing of man back into right standing with their Creator, and the long-hoped for restoration of creation to the state of perfection in which it had been created.            

This now brings this study to the issue of Jesus’ death.  As has been presented by the authors of the Gospel accounts, that death was said to have been accompanied by the tearing of the temple’s veil, from top to bottom.  That veil, and all that it represented for the covenant people, and which had been in place for so very long, was destroyed.  That veil, with its cherubim that were presumably woven into the curtains in the same manner as the curtains of the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple, which served as an ever-present, physical reminder of the blocking of the pathway to the source and giver of life (calling to mind the Adam story), was taken out of the way.  The veil, which spoke of man’s fall and the Creator God’s curse, and the death that was said to have ruefully entered into this world at man’s hands, was put aside.  Of course, it is also significant that the tearing was from top to bottom, because, yes, it is presumed that it was Israel’s God Himself that did the tearing.

The Creator God would be understood to have done the tearing because of what had been accomplished by the long-awaited and expected Messiah.  Because the community of Jesus believers set forth a clear and direct association between Jesus’ death and the tearing of the veil, and because the veil, as has been seen from the Garden of Eden through the second temple that stood just a short distance from the place that saw the crucifixion of the Messiah, was a reminder of cursing and separation, its tearing would have to have meant, at the very least, that the curse had been broken. 

This is what could have been readily understood by those that witnessed the event, as well as by those that would hear about the event or come to learn about the event through either the telling of the Gospel tale or by the reading of the written record that now stood in the line of Israel’s long-running and defining narrative.  Yes, this tearing would be folded into the story of the activity of the Creator God and the people that He continued to set forth for His purposes.  This was yet another chapter in Israel’s long, narrative history, and in their God’s single plan of redemption for all of mankind.

According to that story, Adam had been placed in the Garden of Eden.  He was said to have been created in the image of the one who formed him.  His story is one of failure and fall and the delivery of a curse upon himself and this world that he was charged with stewarding.  He was expelled from Eden.  The Creator God, following this expulsion, is said to have placed cherubim at the entrance to that Garden, figuratively (and literally?) veiling man’s access to the Creator God’s place, and in some way, to the purpose for which the man had been created. 

Because Adam is presented as the father of all of mankind, much like would be the case for Abraham and his descendants, or of those that were brought forth from Egypt and their descendants, all that would follow from him would share in the curse that descended upon him because of failure to keep his covenant charge.  Thus, because Adam had been given dominion over all of creation, the curse extended to the whole of creation as well (the story of Abraham and Israel and their covenant-making speaks of blessings flowing forth to the world, reversing the curse of Adam).  From that point in Genesis, up to and through the eleventh chapter, what can be seen is a world in decay, with murder and corruption and a flood of judgment that would ultimately serve to produce the even greater rebellion of the tower of Babel and its defiance of the Creator God, rather than repentance. 

Veil Of The Temple (part 5)

As part of the curse that came upon Adam, when he, as reported in the Scriptural narrative, failed in his commission to steward the perfect creation of the one that would to be known as the Lord God of Israel, to have dominion over the earth, and to bear the divine image as he was created to do, he was banished from the Garden of Eden. When Adam rebelled against his divine purpose, and in so doing allowed death and evil to enter into this world as indicated in the story, he was banished from the place where he would have his fellowship with the Creator God.  He was removed from the place of access to his Creator. 

Not only was he removed from this place of fellowship and purity and perfection and the tree of life, but the Genesis narrative informs the reader that two cherubim were stationed at the east end of the Garden.  It was insisted upon and understood that this was done in order to bar Adam’s way from returning to the place from whence he had been banished.  Those cherubim stood with whirling swords of fire, figuratively veiling mankind from the place of the Creator God’s presence.  Prior to this, the God of covenants was said to have openly walked in the midst of His creation, freely engaging in open fellowship with the creatures that had been made in His image, but this was brought to an end through Adam’s transgression and thus would happen no more.  Adam, as the representative of all of humanity, had accomplished this. 

When the covenant God took it upon Himself, based on His promise to Abraham, with whom He had entered into a covenant, to redeem a people from out of bondage of Egypt, for the purpose of separating them for Himself and for His purposes, to appoint them to be the reflectors of His glory into His world, to again steward His creation and to bear His image, to be a shining light to the nations, and to be the instruments of His service, He once again, as He had done with Adam as the divine image-bearer, chose to place Himself in the midst of His creation.  He chose to enter into fellowship.  This time, however, there would be limitations.  It was not open and it was not free.  There were boundaries.  It was both similar and dis-similar to the situation of Genesis. 

When the tabernacle was erected, with its Holy Place and its Most Holy Place, the Creator God limited Himself to appearing in the Most Holy Place.  He limited Himself to direct fellowship with Moses alone.  Furthermore, it would be decreed that only the High Priest would be able to enter into His presence, and that, only once a year, as the representative of the people of the Creator God.  Where did this entering into the presence of the Creator God take place?  It took place behind the veil.  It took place behind the veil that was decorated with angelic sentries---cherubim. 

What was the penalty for a presumptuous entrance behind the veil?  The penalty was death.  The penalty was being cut down, figuratively, by “the flame of a whirling sword.”  This was true of the tabernacle, and of Solomon’s temple, and was held to as a tradition of the second temple, which stood in Jesus’ day.  There was no entrance behind the veil.  Cherubim guarded the way.  There was to be no direct access to or fellowship with the Creator God by man.  This could be looked upon as mankind’s ongoing curse. 

In Jesus’ day, it would be reasonable to presume that when the people saw the cherubim, read about the cherubim, were verbally reminded of the cherubim, and contemplated that veil of separation, their thoughts could have quite rightly turned to Adam, to Eden, to the fall of man, to the cursing of creation (a reminder of exile), to the expulsion from Eden (another reminder of exile), and to the cherubim that were set forth as a result of that fall.  It becomes clear that the veil of the temple was so much more than something that prevented people from seeing what stood behind it.  The veil was so much more than a reminder that man had been separated from his Creator.  

Veil Of The Temple (part 4)

When Solomon constructs the first temple, not only are there images of cherubim included in the design of the separating curtain, but representations of cherubim are to be found throughout the temple.  “In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood fifteen feet high” (1 Kings 6:23).  Their wingspans were also said to be fifteen feet (6:24-25), so that their wings reached out to touch the walls (6:27).  These cherubim would have shined brilliantly, as they were overlaid with gold (6:28).  Though the temple did not have curtains all around it, as did the tabernacle, Solomon still made it a point to mimic the decorative cherubim of the tabernacle curtains, carving cherubim into the walls, into the doors, and into the stands for the large basin. 

When the temple was completed and the Ark was brought into the most holy place, it is pointed out that “The cherub’s wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles” (8:7).  Of course, the reader goes on to learn that Solomon did this because his father, David, “gave him the blueprint for the seat of the gold cherubim that spread their wings and provide shelter for the ark of the Lord’s covenant” (1 Chronicles 28:18b).  Naturally, in its recapitulation of a portion of Israel’s history, the second book of the Chronicles also details the construction of Solomon’s temple, with numerous references to the cherubim to be seen there.      

Many years later, when Hezekiah and the southern kingdom of Judah are threatened by the Assyrians, Hezekiah is said to have went to the temple and prayed to the “Lord God of Israel, Who is enthroned on the cherubs!” (2 King 19:15a)  The Psalms speak of cherubim (80:1,99:1).  Isaiah calls upon the “Lord Who commands armies, O God of Israel, Who is enthroned on the cherubim!” (37:16a).  Though in a different way, cherubim feature prominently in Ezekiel’s prophecy.  Though there is no veil with cherubim in the vision of Ezekiel’s temple, representations of cherubim are still to be found there.  Finally, cherubim make their way into the New Testament, being referenced in the letter to the Hebrews, where the author writes, taking in the full scope of cherubic presentations, of “the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat” (9:5). 

Why all this talk of cherubim?  Were these people just very fond of all things angelic, or are the people of the Creator God to be reminded of something quite specific each and every time they hear about and see these cherubim?  These are good and important questions.  With these numerous and regular presentations of cherubim, what was it that was being communicated to the covenant people?  When they would see the cherubim, what is it that would spring to mind?  These questions can likewise be posed for the veil.  As one considers the veil of the temple, along with the veil of the tabernacle, what was it that made the veil so important?  It would seem to be obvious that it was something that served to keep the Creator God’s people from the place where He was to be encountered.  It seems to have been designed to limit their fellowship with their God. 

One can know from the Scriptural narrative that a promise that had been made by the Creator God was the promise to meet with Moses, and the High Priest of His people, above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, between what must be considered to be guardian cherubim.  This meeting between cherubim took place behind the veil that was adorned with guardian cherubim.  This forces an observer to reflect upon and consider where it is that cherubim are first introduced into the narrative.  Where does this take place?  To obtain that answer, it is necessary to look to the book of Genesis.  There, in the third chapter, it can be read that “When He drove the man out, He placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life” (3:24).  Those angelic sentries, of course, were cherubim. 

Veil Of The Temple (part 3)

So now that these veils have been mentioned and discussed, the question could be posed as to why all of this matters?  Why is the veil so important?  Those who reported on the tearing of the veil obviously believed that they had an obligation to share it.  It is probably that those who would have been witnesses of the torn veil (whether they saw it take place, or whether they heard the reports and were able to do the work to tie it to the time of the Jesus’ death) were supposed to have drawn a specific conclusion from the event.  Also, because the Gospels continue the long-running narrative of the Scriptures, those who would come to read about the tearing of the veil are supposed to come to some type of enlightened or enlightening position based upon what was represented by that veil and the veils from the story of the covenant people.  Was the tearing simply supposed to illustrate the dramatic and ground-breaking event that had just taken place?  Clearly, it was far more than that.  To understand why it was so much more, we have to examine what could be seen on those curtains.

So what was on the curtains?  It has already been mentioned that they were made with blue and purple and scarlet and fine white linen, but they also bore an image.  What image did they bear?  Returning to Exodus, and to the directions for the veil of the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, we read that “it is to be made with cherubim” (26:31b).  Images of cherubim were embroidered into these curtains.  Not only that, but cherubim were also worked in to the embroidery of all of the curtains of the tabernacle, as it can be read a few verses earlier that “The tabernacle itself you are to make with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet; you are to make them with cherubim that are the work of an artistic designer” (26:1). 

Cherubim, one comes to find, are an extraordinarily prominent feature of both the tabernacle and the temples.  It is another one of those topics that seem to receive an inordinate amount of ink in the Bible, though it may be overlooked.  The reader of Scripture is first able to learn about cherubim, in their relation to the tabernacle (temple), in connection with the Ark of the Covenant.  In the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus is found, “You are to make an atonement lid of pure gold… You are to make two cherubim of gold… Make one cherub on one end and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid you are to make the cherubim on the two ends.  The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other… I will meet with you there, and from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites” (25:17a,18a,19-20a,22).  The very place where Israel’s God said that He would meet with Moses was to be, effectively, guarded by two cherubim.  This was not only true of the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, but it was also true of the curtains that marked off that place of meeting. 

Later in the book of Exodus, as the items for the tabernacle begin to be made---as the curtains are produced and as the Ark is built, cherubim are specifically mentioned numerous times (chapters 36 & 37), thus bolstering the fact that they should probably be paid some attention.  In the book of Numbers, “when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak to the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim” (7:89).  Again, a point is made to speak of the cherubim in connection with the place where the Creator God is to be met, and where He reveals Himself to His emissaries.  In the first book of Samuel, when the Ark is mentioned, specific reference is made to the cherubim (4:4).  In the second book of Samuel, when King David brings the Ark to Jerusalem, the cherubim are referenced yet again” (6:2).  When the same event is presented in the first book of Chronicles, once again, the cherubim are found (13:6). 

God In The Camp

“A god has come into the camp” – 1 Samuel 4:7b  (ESV)

In the fourth chapter of the first book of Samuel, as part of the story by which Israel understood itself, defined itself, and presented itself to the nations, we read that “Israel went out to battle against the Philistines” (4:1b).  The battle did not go well.  “Israel was defeated by the Philistines” (4:2b).  It is said that four thousand men of Israel were killed.  Naturally, the elders of Israel were quite distraught about this situation, and they wondered why the battle went the way that it did.  They asked, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?” (4:3b)  Such an interesting question.  They understood themselves to be God’s covenant people, with an internal understanding of promises of victory in battle as they gained and maintained dominion over their land of promise, so the cause for loss in battle was to be searched for outside of the sheer strength of their enemies.  For that reason, they speak of their defeat as having been wrought by the Lord, rather than by the Philistines themselves.

The question is followed by a declaration, as they said, “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies” (4:3b).  At first glance, this seems like the correct response, and the right thing to do; but if we look carefully, we’ll notice that they are not necessarily on the right track, which will be borne out by what we find happening in just a few verses.  Though they rightfully put things in the Lord’s hand by asking why it was that the Lord had defeated them before the Philistines, when they shift to speaking about the next steps to take, the language subtly shifts.  They talk of bringing “the ark of the covenant of the Lord” to this place of battle, but then say that they are going to do this, not so that the Lord of the covenant will be with them and save them, but that “it,” that being the ark itself, that “it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”   

“So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, Who is enthroned on the cherubim” (4:4a).  Here, we can’t help but make a note of the fact that great, swelling words are used to describe the ark, and speak of the Lord of hosts, but in the midst of that, we cannot forget the words that were previously spoken.  In bringing the ark, they have plainly said that they expect the ark to save them from the power of their enemies, rather than the Lord Whose faithful and covenant fulfilling power the ark represents.  Also, the fact is almost comically mentioned that “the two sons of Eli. Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God” (4:4b).  Right there, we have a clue that things are not going to go well for Israel here, because these two guys are not spoken of very highly.  In fact, they are referred to as “worthless men,” who “did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12).  They “treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt” (2:17b), and they would “lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting” (2:22b).  We are told that “it was the will of the Lord to put them to death” (2:25b), and that “both of them shall die on the same day” (2:34b).    The men going to battle, with the ark or without the ark, would have been well-advised to keep these two far from them. 

So, “As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout” (4:5a).  They were so excited that the ark had come into the camp.  Not the Lord, but the ark.  Now, the ark may have been thought to be, as the ultimate focal point of Israel’s portable temple, the actual resting place of their God.  Therefore, in a sense, the bringing of the ark into the camp may have been, in their mind, the same as bringing the Lord into the camp, but it seems that the text as a whole does not want to convey this idea. 

The Philistines heard this and said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” (4:6b).  Making inquiries, “they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp” (4:6c), and “the Philistines were afraid” (4:7a).  Why were they afraid?  Reinforcing the “resting place” concept, they thought “A god has come into the camp” (4:7b).  They were right.  A god had come into the camp.  Not the God, but a god.  The ark had come into the camp, and the Israelites looked to the ark, rather than looking to or remembering the Lord of the ark.  The Philistines were right in saying that a god had come into the camp, because Israel had reduced the ark of the Lord into nothing more than an idol.  Because of this, and bearing out the idea that the author wants to convey the idolatry and its associated problems that would lead to Israel being defeated by its enemies, “the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home.  And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.  And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died” (4:10-11). 

In the first battle, only four thousand died.  Once the idolatry of Israel in regards to the ark was manifest, which is that which always brought God’s judgment upon them and upon all of His covenant people in accordance with the promises of His covenant faithfulness, thirty thousand died and Israel was stripped of that which had become little more than an idol.