Easter: The Torn Veil

Weddings are wonderful, aren’t they? We could probably plop down on some big comfy couches and chit chat for hours about the details of our own weddings. Okay, so maybe not everything was perfect, but we can pretend!

Can you remember the days when you and maybe a couple of friends lay belly down on your bed with snacks and sodas, perusing wedding magazines and ripping out pictures to glue into binders labeled “Wedding Day Dreams”?

In my big wedding day binder, I had a “me” section where I put all of the ideas or pictures of things I might be wearing. I would have pink heels for the ceremony and switch to pink Converse All-Stars for the reception. I planned on wearing a string of pearls passed down through my family and a special bracelet my parents had given me. My hair would be like this and my makeup like that. My dress would be this and my veil would be that.

Fast forward ten years!

As my family attends any wedding and I attempt to balance getting my children to behave and enjoying the ceremony, my mind and heart are always eager to see one particular detail. Sometimes the detail is there, and sometimes it’s not. But as the wedding march begins and people slowly rise and turn to see the bride, I’m craning  my neck to see over the tops of the guests’ heads if the bride is wearing a veil.

I get downright giddy at the thought of seeing the bride’s eyes glisten with joyful tears and a smile that goes on for days slightly blurred under her veil. There is something about the way it just barely keeps her emotional face hidden from full view of her guests. The bride gets to the end of the aisle and the minister speaks a few words, then that girl’s daddy lifts her veil to kiss her rosy cheeks and presents her to her soon-to-be husband!

I just love it! It is the sweetest thing to me, that moment of Here’s my daughter in all her glory. Take good care of her. If you are from the South, there may also be a threat or two at the end of the fatherly presentation!

I must admit, though, my obsession with veils goes way beyond the veil of a bride on her special day. My obsession with veils has everything to do with the veil of the temple, which was torn from top to bottom on the day of Christ’s death.

As you read through the Old Testament, you hear a lot about the Jewish temple. Within the temple (the holy building, similar to the Christian church building), many things happened. People worshiped at the temple and made sacrifices at the temple. At the very front of the temple, there was an area called the Holy of Holies. Only one man, the high priest, was allowed to go behind the veil into the Holy of Holies.

He would go in once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. Before doing so, he had to thoroughly prepare to enter the Most Holy Place where God dwelt. If he did not, he would die. Clearly this was a big deal.

I actually enjoy studying the Old Testament and looking into such information, but my favorite thing about the sixty-foot-tall, four-inch-thick curtain separating man from the presence of God, is the fact that it ripped from top to bottom on its own as Jesus took his last breath and cried out in agony, It is finished.

For hundreds of years, the mysterious atonement the High Priest made behind the veil was the only way man could be made right with God. The veil literally symbolized separation from God because of sin. Can you even fathom such a separation, where we could not approach God ourselves to seek forgiveness? Before Christ, the Jewish people were completely dependent on the high priest to go before God on their behalf.

Talk about taking things for granted.

When Jesus carried the cross up to Calvary and bled and died for the forgiveness of our sins, he became the ultimate sacrifice. When the curtain in the temple tore, it forever created a way for us to come into the presence of God. No longer would anyone need to depend on a man or the sacrifice of an animal to be right with God. [Tweet “For eternity, we have full access to the Creator of the universe.”] The One who numbers the stars and watches the earth go around the sun is no more than a prayer away.

The next time you go to a wedding, look for a veil! And if you see one, take a second to think about the symbolism of the veil being lifted. The same way a bride stands before her husband declaring her love, so we, through the torn veil, stand in the presence of the Lord, who declares to us his forever love.

Rachel Van Hook was born and raised in the Casey Jones capital city of Jackson, Tennessee. She’s mom to three girly girls, married to her church camp sweetie, and passionate about . . . well, according to her husband, she’s just passionate! Rachel blogs at racheljvanhook.com.