Salvation! From Top to Bottom! Mark 15:38-47

Text: “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.  And the veil of the temple was rent (torn) in twain (two) from the top to the bottom.”

Mark 15:37-38.

Good morning, Eternally saved Christian!  Not only have you and I been saved by Christ in time, but have been saved to spend a full Eternity with Christ in that Holy and Heavenly place He is off now preparing for us to reside there with Him.  Wow!  What a realisation!  God the Son, the Creator of all things, is today preparing a place for redeemed sinners to dwell with Him in an Eternal Heaven of perpetual bliss!  Does this thought not compel us to shout, "Hallelujah!?  Glory to the Lamb Who is worthy!  Amen."

“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And wither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”  (John 14:2-4)

Such a full Atonement for sins could never have been accomplished by fallen mankind.  It took a Divine and miraculous love for sinners; a selfless and gracious suffering and lying down of sinless life; a Spiritual ‘quickening’, making alive, of spirits dead in sin and trespasses against a Holy Lord God – to bring Eternal Salvation down from Heaven to an earth filled with gross disobedience and sin.  It took Salvation – from Top to bottom – as shown in the temple veil torn from top to bottom when the sinless Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily ‘gave up the ghost’ of His human life for love of ‘His people’.

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own (sinless) Blood He entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained Eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:12)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“We have in these verses the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. All deaths are solemn events. Nothing in the whole history of a man is so important as His end. But never was there a death of such solemn moment as that which is now before us. In the instant that our Lord drew His last breath, the work of atonement for a world’s sin was accomplished. The ransom for sinners was at length paid. The kingdom of heaven was thrown fully open to all believers. All the solid hope that mortal men enjoy about their souls, may be traced to the giving up the ghost on the cross.

“Let us observe, in these verses, the visible signs and wonders which accompanied our Lord’s death. St. Mark mentions two in particular, which demand our attention. One is the darkening of the sun for the space of three hours. The other is the rending of the veil which divided the holy of holies from the holy place in the temple. Both were miraculous events. Both had, no doubt, a deep meaning about them. Both were calculated to arrest the attention of the whole multitude assembled at Jerusalem. The darkness would strike even thoughtless Gentiles, like Pilate and the Roman soldiers. The rent veil would strike even Annas and Caiaphas and their unbelieving companions. There were probably few houses in Jerusalem that evening in which men would not say, “we have heard and seen strange things today.”

“What did the miraculous darkness teach? It taught the exceeding wickedness of the Jewish nation. They were actually crucifying their own Messiah, and slaying their own King. The sun itself hid his face at the sight. It taught the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the eyes of God. The Son of God himself must needs be left with­out the cheering light of day, when He became sin for us and carried our transgressions.

“What did the miraculous rending of the veil mean? It taught the abolition and termination of the whole Jewish law of ceremonies. It taught that the way into the holiest of all was now thrown open to all elect mankind by Christ’s death. (Hebrews 9:8) It taught that Gentiles as well as Jews might now draw nigh to God with boldness, through Jesus the one High Priest, and that all barriers between man and God were forever cast down.

“May we never forget the practical lesson of the rent veil! To attempt to revive the Jewish ceremonial in the Church of Christ, by returning to altars, sacrifices, and a priesthood, is nothing better than closing up again the rent veil, and lighting a candle at noon day.  May we never forget the practical lesson of the mi­raculous darkness! It should lead our minds on to that blackness of darkness which is reserved for all obstinate unbelievers. (Jude 13.) The darkness endured by our blessed Surety on the cross was only for three hours. The chains of darkness which shall bind all who reject His atonement and die in sin, shall be for evermore.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Significance of the torn veil: The significance of the rent (torn) temple veil for you and I today, Eternally saved Christian, is that the way into Heaven in prayer is now completely OPEN for you and I to worship, praise, make thanksgiving to God, and to petition our Father in Heaven for our daily needs and make Spirit-inspired requests for others. 

We come to God, hidden in Christ Jesus, covered from all sins by His sinless shed Blood, and are permitted to fellowship with Almighty Lord God in all Three Persons without fear or dread of harm.  Our Holy Lord God of wrath against all sin, only sees His dear Lamb, Jesus Christ, when He now looks upon us, Christ’s people.  What a Salvation - from TOP to BOTTOM - we have!

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace (in the Holy of Holies), that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Thought: In Mark chapter 15, we find a front-row observer of Christ’s Crucifixion realising that the man he had Crucified was indeed ‘the Son of God.’  We find Christ’s followers receiving His dead body, and laying Jesus in a sepulchre made of rock, with a stone rolled across to secure the entrance. Mark 16 continues to record God’s Supernatural Salvation of Christ’s people – from top to bottom. Glory to God!