The Veil of Christ's Flesh

We all know what a veil is: it covers something.

All the fullness of the Godhead was in Jesus, but the Bible says Christ's flesh was a kind of veil because it masked his glory.

The high priest used to go through the veil of the temple into the "holy of holies" to offer up a sacrifice to God for the people's sins. Similarly, Jesus left heaven, went through the veil of his flesh and entered the real holy of holies: heaven itself. And he did that to offer himself.

At the moment Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn. It symbolised how Christ had removed the barrier that existed, opening the way for people to have a truly intimate relationship with God. All who throw themselves on the mercy of God and accept Christ as their saviour have this special access to God.

We note secondarily how the tearing of the temple veil continued the anti-temple motif of Mark's gospel. Temple Judaism would soon be destroyed.