Deleted Scenes From "The Passion Of The Christ"

The veil was a heavy curtain that blocked the entrance to the Holy of Holies in the

Jerusalem Temple, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, symbolizing the

sacred presence of God. The Historian Josephus described the veil as an ornately decorated curtain, made of blue woven fabric.

Only one person ever traversed the veil, and that was the High Priest. He ventured into

the Holy of Holies just once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when he was permitted to

enter only to bring the blood of a sacrifice. The veil was of vital symbolic importance,

signifying “that the way into the Holy of Holies was not yet made manifest” (Hebrews 9:8).

In other words, it was a constant reminder that sin renders humanity unfit for the presence of

God.

Hebrews 9:11-12

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; [12] Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

The tearing of the curtain at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that His sacrifice was a sufficient atonement for sins forever, and the way into the Holy of Holies was now open.

The entire Levitical system of rituals, animal sacrifices, even the priesthood itself were done away in the moment of His death. The redeemed now had free and direct access to the throne of grace without the need for priest or ritual (cf. Hebrews 4:16).

The tearing of the curtain from top to bottom signified that it was God Himself who

removed the barrier. He was in effect saying, “My Son has removed this veil and eliminated

the need for it, through a single, perfect, once-for-all sacrifice that cleanses the redeemed

from their sins forever. The way into my Holy presence is now open to every believer and

the access is free and unobstructed.”

At the moment the tearing of the veil occurred, the Temple was packed with worshipers

who were there for the killing of their Passover lambs. By God’s design, it was in the very

hour that those thousands of lambs were being slain that the true Passover Lamb died. He

was the real Lamb whom all the others merely symbolized.

The Temple itself would be completely destroyed when Titus sacked

Jerusalem. But the true end of the Old Testament sacrificial system occurred not with the

destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, but here at the moment of Jesus’ death, when God

sovereignly declared Christ’s death a sufficient sacrifice for sins forever, by supernaturally

splitting the Temple veil from top to bottom.

THE EARTH SHAKEN

Another miracle also occurred at the exact moment of Christ’s death. “And the earth

did quake, and the rocks rent” (Matthew 27:51). An earthquake powerful enough to split

rocks would be a significant temblor. (The crowd in the temple probably assumed the earthquake was the cause of the tearing of the veil.) Such a powerful quake would be a frightening experience for everyone in the region of Judea. Although earthquakes were a fairly common phenomenon, an earthquake with enough force to split rocks would have instantly brought the entire city of Jerusalem to a halt for several minutes.