Heaven Is Open to All Christ Followers
OPENING PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for providing access to you through the torn curtain when Christ was crucified. Amen
READ:
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”
Luke 23:44-46
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
Hebrews 10:19-22
REFLECT:
Several years ago, my wife and I visited Alcatraz Prison and on a tour. We were given the opportunity to be put briefly in one of the solitary confinement cells. When the door was closed it was so dark you could not see anything at all. I felt this hand tighten on my arm because my wife was fighting the urge to scream. The total darkness was terrifying! What a relief it was when the door opened, and light filtered into the cell.
This is what happened on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. Darkness covered the land, and the curtain was torn from top to bottom. “The temple curtain was no ordinary curtain. It measured 60 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 4 inches thick… not something that ripped easily! But yet, the moment our Savior died on the cross, it did rip. It ripped top to bottom, tearing completely into two pieces. What no human being could do by human strength, God did by the death of his son.” (from Torn, an Easter devotional by Christ for All).
Christ’s death brought us out of the darkness of sin into light of God’s presence, as stated in the focus Scripture above. The relief that my wife and I felt when the cell door opened, and light streamed in is what we can feel by knowing Christ provided us freedom from the blackness of sin when the curtain was torn from top to bottom. It gave us access to the light of God and his holiness.
APPLY:
Take time to write down what it means to you to have access to God. You don’t have to go through someone, or something; no one and nothing is keeping you from him. What does that mean to you?
CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord, I thank you that you declared “… you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV) Amen
WORSHIP: