Matthew 27:50-51 (NKJV)

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.

Matthew records this at the very moment of Jesus' death, and it carries profound meaning. The curtain in the Jewish temple marked the separation between a holy God and sinful people. Behind it lay the Holy of Holies, where God's presence dwelt. Only the high priest could enter, and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), under the strict conditions laid down in Leviticus 16.

Also notice the direction of the tear that Matthew describes: “from top to bottom.” A man tearing a heavy curtain begins at the bottom, where his hands can reach, and tears upward. This one tore the other way — from the top down, from heaven to earth. The access we now have to God is not something we forced open from below. It is something the Father reached down and tore open from above.

That tearing announced the shift from the Old Covenant, with its sacrifices and rituals for forgiveness, to the New Covenant of grace. Jesus' final sacrifice opened the way into God's presence — and the writer of Hebrews tells us how. The curtain stood for Christ's own body: we now enter “by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:20). The torn curtain was a picture of His torn body on the cross.

This open way is not for Israel only. Under the old covenant, the approach to God ran through one temple, one priesthood, one nation. Now the invitation goes out to every people — Jew and Gentile alike — to draw near to God with confidence.

Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.