THURSDAY, February 7th, 2008

Matthew 27:51-66

Pastor Lee:
Well, the passage begins with a veil being torn frmo the top to the bottom. This is so cool. In the Old Testament, in order to receive forgiveness for sin, the people had to send a high priest into the temple and He would go to the back room which is called the "Holy of Holies" There He would go to God on behalf of the people to ask for forgiveness. If anyone else went into that room they would immediately fall over dead. HERE IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD!

Well, when that veil vas torn in two, it symbolized that every man now has access to the throne of God through Jesus Christ.

In other words, we no longer need a priest to forgive us of our sin, we simply need to go to Christ ourself, place our faith in Him, and ask for the forgiveness that He gives so freely!

How cool is that! Christ literally tore the wall down that separated us from Him.
If He was willing to go through all that so I could be closer to Him, then I should be closer to Him! I need to get into His word and spend time talking to Him in prayer everyday. What a priveledge that is.


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!”
55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar,
56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.
59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.
61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
Pilate Sets a Guard
62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’
64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.”
66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.