Click here to listen to this post our God who tore down barriers to be with us on the Candidly Kendra podcast:
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Mark 1:9-11 NIV
Heaven was torn open as an announcement to the world, “Pay attention, world! This is my Son who will break down all the barriers of separation between me and you!”
And the bookend at the other end of Mark’s book:
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Mark 15:33-39 NIV
Do you see the bookend? When Jesus’s work was finished, God tore open the curtain of the inner room at the temple, saying, “Come to me, all you who will believe. Jesus’s blood has covered you once and for all!”
This is the beauty, the mystery of the Gospel!
For further study, see also Hebrews 9 & 10.
