Curtain

"He opened the new and living way through the curtain, that is, through his flesh," Hebrews 10:20.

For centuries the priests killed and offered the same daily animal sacrifices over and again. The blood of untold thousands sheep, goats, cattle poured onto the ground, splashed onto the ark of the covenant. Yet, for all that, animal sacrifices could not take away human sin. A mighty curtain blocked us from God's presence. But Christ offered a single sacrifice, once, for all time. Daily, he yielded his body to do the will of God, to go around doing good for people. And at the end, Jesus yielded his body's blood as the one and only sacrifice, a human sacrifice, effective to take away human sin. His body, nailed to a tree, opened up a new way, breaking through the curtain, into God's presence. A living way, for us. Forgiven, we enter the Presence boldly in Jesus raised from the dead, seated beside God. Sky kingdom.

As we speak today with a brother or sister of Jesus' sacrifice for us, we yield our own lives in service to our God and his Christ. And, together, thankful, we speak of grace and power and forgiveness.