The Tearing of the Veil
Many Christians believe that the temple veil which blocked the way into the Holy of Holies was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. This veil represented the barrier between man and God, which was caused by man’s sin. (Sin cannot dwell in God’s presence.).
The passage often used to support this view is Matthew 27:50–51, which says: “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.” The veil mentioned here, it is argued, was the veil into the Holy of Holies.
I disagree with that view for several reasons. First, while it is true that a veil was torn when Jesus died on the cross, it was likely not the veil into the Holy of Holies. The temple had two veils, which separated three sections of the temple. There was a veil between the Outer Court and the Holy Place, and there was a second veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These two veils are mentioned in both historical sources and Scripture.
For example, the Jewish Encyclopedia’s description of Herod’s Temple says: “At the entrance to the outer Temple hung a veil [first veil] embroidered in blue, white (byssus), scarlet, and purple; the outer Temple was separated from the Holy of Holies by a similar curtain [second veil].”[1] Two veils.
Likewise, in Wars of the Jews, Josephus mentions these two veils of the temple:
“But then this house [the temple], as it was divided into two parts, the inner part was lower than the appearance of the outer, and had golden doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in breadth; but before these doors there was a veil [first veil] of equal largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful.”[2]
Josephus then describes the second veil into the Holy of Holies: “But the inmost part of the temple of all was of twenty cubits. This was also separated from the outer part by a veil [second veil]. In this there was nothing at all. It was inaccessible and inviolable, and not to be seen by any; and was called the Holy of Holies.”[3]
The Bible, too, mentions two veils. For example, Hebrews says: “For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All” (Heb. 9:2–3, italics mine). If there was a second veil, there must have been a first!
Exodus 26:31–37 likewise mentions “the veil” and “the screen” (second veil).
So there were two veils in the temple. The question is, Which of these veils tore at Jesus’s death? Here’s a big clue: Matthew says the spectators saw it happen: “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split…So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matt. 27:51–54).
Since the crowds saw the veil tear, it must have been the outer veil, which separated the Outer Court and the Holy Place. After all, the spectators would not have been able to see the inner veil (into the Most Holy Place) because the outer veil was blocking its view.
The layout of the surrounding area confirms this too. There is only one place where those gathered would have had a close-up view of the ripping of the temple curtain, and that would have been from the top of Golgotha, just outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem. In an image of the reconstruction of Herod’s temple…if we hone in on the temple proper portion of the temple, it becomes apparent that the only veil that could have been seen at all from the mountain was the veil to the Holy Place [as opposed to the veil into the Most Holy Place].[4]
Second, the book of Revelation confirms that access into the Holy of Holies was not given until the second coming (which did not happen at the cross):
“Then the seventh angel sounded [the trumpet]: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’…Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple” (Rev. 11:15, 19, italics mine).
Keep in mind, Jesus had said just prior to his crucifixion in AD 33 that the trumpet would sound at his cloud coming/destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in AD 70 (Matt. 24:2–34). So this event did not happen at the cross.
Then, after the sounding of the trumpet, Revelation says the temple of God would be opened, and the ark would be seen (see above). The reason why the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned here is that it was stored in the Holy of Holies of the temple—that is, until the Babylonians destroyed the first temple in 586 BC. Since that time, the ark had not been seen. So at the second coming, the Holy of Holies would be opened up, and God’s people would once again “see” the ark, spiritually speaking, of course, since the new covenant temple is spiritual (1 Pet. 2:4–9). This is when God’s people would have access to the Holy of Holies. In other words, this is when mankind’s broken relationship with God, which happened in the Garden of Eden on the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit (see Genesis 2–3), would finally be restored.
So the Holy of Holies was opened up at Jesus’s second coming, not the cross! And Jesus’s second coming happened in AD 70 (see Matt. 16:27–28, 10:23, 24:30–34, 26:64; Heb. 9:28, 10:37; Rev. 22:7, 12, 20, etc.).
For a detailed discussion about the topics discussed in this article, get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 11/10/24
[1] Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Temple of Herod,” viewed March, 29, 2023, https://www. jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14304-temple-of-herod.
[2] Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5, chapter 5.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Alan Bondar, The Journey between the Veils: Unveiling the Glory of Christ (Ardmore, OK: JaDon Management, 2017), 71–72.
