Dear Friends in Messiah,
Passover and the Rent Veil
The Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified and rose from the dead on biblical Jewish feast days, Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:5-11). At that time, there was no such holiday as “Easter” nor a day named “Good Friday.” What happened? The Roman Emperor Constantine (4th century AD) declared that “pascha” would be officially celebrated on the Sunday after Passover. Several centuries later, the name “pascha” was officially changed to “Easter” after the pagan goddess Eastre, and the date moved from the Hebrew calendar to the solar calendar, forever separating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus from their original Jewish root. Antisemitism? Unfortunately, yes. This year the two holy days occur in different months, but sometimes they coincide. Passover 2024 begins on the eve of April 22, and continues until Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Yeshua was crucified at Passover. It is believed by many scholars that the actual date of the crucifixion was April 3, 33 AD. His last meal with His disciples was a Passover seder, at which time He said that the unleavened bread and wine were His body and blood. He was about to become the Eternal Passover Lamb, the One who would take away the sin of the world by His sacrificial death.
Something extraordinary happened at the moment of Yeshua’s death: “And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, 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” (Matt. 27:50-53). Those who witnessed these miracles all agreed, “…Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54).
Luke adds additional insight into the Messiah’s last moments: “Now it was about the sixth hour [noon], and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour [3:00 PM]. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Yeshua had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:44-46).
What did the torn veil signify? We have to go back first to the Book of Exodus where God gave Moses instructions on raising up a tabernacle according to the pattern shown to him on Mt. Sinai. “‘You shall make a veil [parochet] woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim… And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place [haKodesh] and the Most Holy [Kodesh HaKodashim]. You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy'” (Ex. 26:31, 33-34).
The parochet, פרכת [par-ROH-khet], was a divider. It blocked access to the inner sanctum, the Mercy Seat—the very Presence of God—for everyone except the High Priest, the Cohen Gadol, who entered through the veil once a year on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, to make atonement for the sins of the people. “and the Lord said to Moses: ‘Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat (kapporet) which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat'” (Lev. 16:2). The Cohen Gadol had to take the blood of a sacrificial animal with him behind the veil and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. Always blood. (See Lev. 17:11).
When Yeshua died and the veil was torn from the top to the bottom, God was making a grand, life-changing, eternal pronouncement. Access was being given, through His Son’s death, to the Holy of Holies, the very Presence of God. The earthquake that occurred did not tear the veil, or it would have ripped from the bottom up. God, in Heaven, tore the parochet. He was the only One that could. He reached down from heaven to provide a solution to man’s sin. The parochet measured 60×30 feet, and is estimated to have been about four inches thick. According to Alfred Edersheim in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, it took 300 priests to handle the veil when cleansing it after being soiled.
One of our Jewish Jewels partners wrote about a revelation that God gave her concerning the tearing of the temple veil. It has to do with an ancient Jewish funeral custom (see Joel 2:13 for a “veiled reference”) still observed at most Jewish funerals today (Neil’s included). It is called keriah—קריעה (keh-REE-ah)—from a verb meaning to rip or rend. Traditional Jewish law requires mourners of close relatives to tear an item of clothing on hearing of the death or at the funeral. (Today, a black ribbon is usually ripped by a small knife and pinned to the clothing of the mourner.) A blessing is said at the time: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe, the True Judge.” Dayan Ha-Emet—דין האמ (dye-YAN ha-eh-MET). Suppose God, upon hearing the words, “Father…” on the lips of His dying, beloved Son, ripped His garment in anguish and mourning? Suppose the veil of the Temple was that garment? Isn’t that a touching thought?
The Veil and Messiah
There are some beautiful references to the torn veil and Yeshua in the New Covenant scriptures. Consider Hebrews 6:19-20, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Yeshua, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
As our Faithful New Covenant High Priest, Yeshua took His own blood, shed on the tree of sacrifice, behind the veil, making eternal atonement for us (see Hebrews 9:12). There is more! The Bible equates Yeshua’s flesh with the temple veil. “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Yeshua, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…” (Heb. 10:19-22a).
The weak, human, suffering flesh of Messiah’s humanity veiled His Deity (see Heb. 5:7-9). Yeshua’s flesh was also the state (veil) through which He had to pass before He entered heaven for us. When He put off that flesh/veil, the veil of the temple was torn in two. He passed through humanity to Glory as our forerunner. In other words, the veil of the temple and the body of Yeshua both provided access to God. Both had to be torn to provide this access. One was cloth. One was God clothed in flesh.
More About Veils
There is so much about veils in both the Holy Scriptures and Jewish tradition, especially concerning brides and veils. Beginning with Rebekah, the first Jewish bride, in Genesis 24:65, we see a bride covering herself to show her readiness to meet her bridegroom. Some commentators see this as Rebekah showing her readiness to enter into the covenant of marriage. “for she had said to the servant, ‘Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master.’ So she took a veil (tzaif) and covered herself.” Isaac was the one who removed her veil when he took her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife—and he loved her.
While modesty played a role in the veiled bride, this ancient Jewish custom also included the idea of a bride separated and submitted to her bridegroom. He is the one who unveils her. This evolved into the present day Orthodox Jewish custom called bedeken, which means “to veil.” It is also called the “First Look.” It is an intimate moment before the wedding day ceremony where the groom reverently covers the face of his bride-to-be with a veil. Two theories attached to this include: (1) The groom must make sure he has the correct bride, to avoid the mistake made by Jacob with Leah and Rachel, and (2) Veiling the bride symbolizes that the groom loves the bride for who she is on the inside, not just for her outward beauty. As I mention in Day 21 of my book Kiss Me Again, ultra-Orthodox brides today even wear an opaque veil as they are escorted down the aisle to the huppah to meet their bridegroom. The veil is lifted by the groom just before the end of the wedding ceremony.
The bridegroom lifts the veil. A chilling thought brought Matthew 7:21-23 to mind as I considered the implication of not being “known” to Yeshua. There will be some who say “Lord, Lord” to Him, but when He lifts the veil, He says, “…’I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” (v.23b). (You’re not My bride.) In contrast, the beloved bride of Song of Songs 4:1 hears these words from her bridegroom: “Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes be- hind your veil…” She only has eyes for him.
The Unveiled Face
We see this for the first time with Moses. When he came down from Mt. Sinai, after receiving the two tablets of the Testimony, the skin of his face shone and the children of Israel were afraid to come near him. Moses covered his face with a veil, but whenever he went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he took the veil off. An unveiled face.
What about Yeshua’s bride today? This is addressed in 2 Cor. 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We, like Moses, behold God’s glory—in Yeshua—and as He makes His face shine upon us (think Numbers 6:25), we reflect that glory.
The Veil on the Heart
The Bible makes a comparison between the veil on Moses and the veil on the hearts of pre-believers today. I personally observe this on a daily basis as I pray for the Lord to lift the veil of unbelief, doubt, fear, tradition, arrogance, and pride in those around me. “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Messiah. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:14-16). “Dear Abba, please remove the veil from our loved ones, neighbors, and friends. May they see Yeshua, the Son of God, the Lamb who was slain for their sin. Cause them to open Your Word and to see wondrous things in Your Law. In Yeshua’s Name, Amen!”
The day is coming, a future Yom Kippur, when God’s people Israel will see their Messiah. The veil of spiritual blindness will be lifted, according to Zechariah 12:10, “‘And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” A national day of salvation for Israel. Until that day, please join me in praying for the salvation of the Jewish people, still God’s covenant people and still beloved for the sake of the Fathers (Rom. 11:28). Let’s agree with Rabbi Saul (Paul) who said, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1). Pray specifically that my neighbors agree to read the Bible. Many insist that it is a gentile book and shy away from it. Pray that the Holy Spirit draws them to God’s Book—written almost entirely by Jews about a Jewish Messiah!
Within the Veil
“Within the veil I long to come,
Into the holy place, to look upon Thy face.
I see such beauty there—None other can compare!
I worship Thee, my Lord, within the veil.”
These are the lyrics of a chorus that Neil and I sang when we first met Yeshua in 1973. It thrilled us that we could have a panim el panim פנים פנים אל (pah-NEEM EL pah-NEEM), face to face relationship with the Lord. We saw our Heavenly Bridegroom in all His beauty and majesty and counted Him worthy of all our devotion and life-long service.
A favorite book in our early days as believers was Beyond the Veil by Alice Smith. It is about experiencing daily encounters of divine intimacy—within the veil. Alice writes beautifully about intercession, comparing the priestly burning of incense in the temple to the end-time prayers of believers. She says, “Around the world, multitudes are praying! Those who burn incense will become saturated with the fragrance of intercession that ascends pleasantly before Him. And as they do, they will experience life the way God intended it: connected and satisfied by Him inside the Holy of Holies. Then when people who are living in the outer court and the world experience the fragrance of His lingering presence, they will be aroused and unsatisfied with strange fire and counterfeit incense. They will long for that place known as the Holy of Holies.” Alice continues by saying that because of God’s prophetic end-time purposes—as well as for the desperate need of our generation—He is calling us into our prayer closets. (And this book was written in 2003!) She even says, “No other generation has lived so close to the brink of annihilation as ours.” Look at Israel. Look at the U.S. Look at the world. It is indeed time to pray—within the veil. May the burdens of the Father’s heart become the focus of our prayers.
Unveiling at a Gravesite
There is a ceremony in traditional Judaism today called Hakamat HaMatzevah (ha-kah-MAHT ha-mah-tzay-VAH), or Unveiling, when a memorial marker or headstone is “unveiled” approximately one year following the death of a loved one. The purpose is to honor the life of the deceased and serve as a focal point for memories through the years. At the bottom of most Jewish tombstones there is usually a verse based upon I Sam. 25:29, “May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”
If you have ever been to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, there is a marker at the entrance of the tomb that says, “He has risen. He is not here.” The Passover Lamb is alive, raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. That is why the Bible says, “But now Messiah is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor. 15:20).
Revelation: The Unveiling
Veil in Greek is calupsis, καλυψις (kah-LOO-psis). To take away the veil is apocalupsis, αποκαλυψις (ah-po-KAH-loo-psis). Apocalupsis is the “unveiling” or the “revelation.” It includes the “unveiling of secrets.” In biblical terms, it refers to a text that contains prophecies concerning God’s future intervention in world affairs. Hence, the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Its literal title in Greek is The Apocalypse of John. What is unveiled in Revelation? A lot! But the most beautiful to me is the unveiling of a returning Jewish Messiah in Revelation 19:12-16:
“His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS.
Look up into those eyes of fire this month—with an unveiled face!
Love in Yeshua,
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