Gifts and Talents

          During the Old Testament days, they lived under the Law, which was the Old Covenant. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the Priest would enter the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle the blood of an animal on the Mercy Seat, on the right side (the Eastern Side). The Holy of Holies had a curtain (Veil), dividing it from the the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. No one could enter it, not even a Priest, accept at the allotted time, set by God. All of this was just one part of what the Old Covenant required. There were hundreds of sacrifices, along with offerings that were required.

      In Jesus’s day the temple still had a Curtain (or Veil) that was 60 feet tall, thirty feet wide, and 4 inches thick. It was made of very fine linen and was dyed Blue, Purple, and Scarlet. It also had Cherubim’s made of pure gold, and inter-laced into the fabric. The Curtain (Veil) was hung by gold hooks on an acacia wood frame, overlaid with gold. It weighed approximately 2000 pounds. It took 300 Priests to handle it.

      When Jesus died on the cross, the Curtain (Veil) was torn from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks split. Graves were opened, many saints were raised from the dead. The centurion said “Truly this was the Son of God”. His side was pierced with a spear, and his blood ran down those cracks in the rocks and landed on the Mercy Seat, on the Left Side (The Western Side). The Ark of The Covenant was in a cave 20 feet below where Jesus was Crucified. It was hidden there by Jeremiah, 500 years before Jesus’s time.

      When the curtain (Veil) was torn from top to bottom, no man could do that. Only god could do it. He was saying that a New Covenant was installed by God. That covenant opened God’s presence to everyone. He was no longer hidden behind a Curtain (Veil). We can enter into the Holy of Holies, because of Jesus’s sacrifice for us. By the blood of the Lamb of God, the door was opened for us. He says that anyone can come into the presence of God. We no longer need another man or a Priest to forgive us of our sins. Jesus paid the price for us all.

      After Jesus’s death and resurrection, the Priests of that day, put the curtain back together as well as they could, and carried on with the same sacrifices as before. They did not recognize that God had established a New Covenant. They carried on in their traditions. It was not until 70 AD when the tabernacle was destroyed that animal sacrifices were ended.

      There was a man who watched his wife while she was cooking a ham. She cut off the ends of the ham before putting the ham into the pan for cooking. He asked his wife why she cut the ends off the ham before cooking it. She said that was the way her mother had done it. He called his wife’s mother and asked her why she cut the ends of the ham off before cooking. She said that her mother had always done it that way, so she did it also. He called his wife’s grandmother and asked her the same question. Why did she cut off the ends of ham before cooking. She said that her pan was too small, so she cut off the ends of the ham too make it fit into the pan.

      We do the same thing. We keep our traditions, when God wants to do a new thing in our lives. Those old traditions were comfortable; they are hard to give up. We don’t like to do new things. The old way was very comfortable. But God never stands still. He is always moving ahead. He wants to bring us along. We need to open ourselves up and let God lead us to where He wants us to go. We need to tear up some curtains in our own lives and let God have His way in our lives. Because of Jesus we can have a relationship with our God. We cannot get any closer to God than that.

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(See 2023 #15 Ark of the Covenant)

      New King James Version
Matthew 27:50 ¶ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

      New King James Version
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.

      New King James Version
Hebrews 10:9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.