Devotional Guide—April 20

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Praise:  Our Response to
God’s Generosity and Grace

“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:51

This is one of those verses that we may just read right over and miss the awesome truth it holds! In Exodus we read about the holy place where the Lord God dwelt, and how once a year the chief priest went into that place to make an offering for the sin of the nation. A great curtain covered the opening to that place, and no one but the chief priest could enter – on penalty of death!

Matthew tells us that when Jesus died, that curtain to that place was split from top to bottom! Now nothing stops us from freely entering into the dwelling place of God! We no longer have a priest speak on our behalf. We can go to Almighty God ourselves, without fear, for the curtain no longer exists, thanks to the vicarious death of Jesus. Because he died for us, ending the separation that existed between us and God, we have access to the Father without another’s intercession! Jesus was/is our intercessor!

It was such a shattering event that God’s creation, the earth, trembled when it was accomplished! We lie in the bed, or sit in our favorite chair, or in our favorite pew on Sunday and talk to God, without realizing that nothing separates us from him because Christ’s sacrificial death satisfied the requirements for our forgiveness. The curtain between him and us is gone!

Prayer: Father, thank you, thank you that because of Jesus’ tremendous sacrifice, no curtain – nothing – separates us from you! Amen.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25
Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2009
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Director