The Temple: The Veil Separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place

The temple veil is a curtain that separated the most holy place from the holy place (2Chr 3:14). Only the high priest was allowed to pass through the veil and then only on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:2). At Jesus’s death the temple veil was ripped from top to bottom, illustrating that in Christ, God had abolished the barrier separating humanity from the presence of God (Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38; cp. Lk 23:45). Hebrews 10:20 uses the tabernacle veil, not as the image of a barrier, but of access. Access to God is gained through the flesh of the historical Jesus (cp. Jn 10:7).