And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!" - Matthew 27:50-54
In the Old Testament Temple, there was a veil that kept everyone out of the Holy of Holies, the most secret and holy place of God. When the Lord Jesus died, that veil was broken. It would not be long before the whole Temple would be destroyed, but Matthew is making an important point, for now all the people could go into the most Holy place and worship the Living God through Jesus. The Roman centurion could not have seen or known God in old times, but now He can know Jesus.
There something about what the centurion said that is very interesting. Now that the veil is torn I think Christians can see something clearly that used to be blurry. It is the mysterious understanding of God Christians call the Trinity. For even though Jesus was dead (at that point), the centurion could see that He was the Son of God.
The Trinity is very mysterious, so I will not say anything to explain it, except to say that it means that there is One God who made heaven and earth, and only One. And He exists forever in Three Persons who love and serve One Another. They are all of the same essence, which means that they are all fully God. And They are also distinct from One another.
That is something that Jesus' death on the cross reveals to us, and which we can look at and ponder about for thousands of years.
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ReplyDelete[Edited version of Adam Pastor's original comment...]
ReplyDeleteGreetings Matthew Hoover
On the subject of the Trinity,
I recommend this video:
[video link removed]
Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
Adam,
ReplyDeleteI've edited your comment and removed the link you provided. My baptism is in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, so that won't fly here. Please do not attempt to proselytize on my blog again.
For anyone tempted to buy the argument that Messiah is not one and the same as Yahweh, the New Testament is abundantly clear time and again. The only way you can make this argument is to throw clear, key NT passages. "Before Abraham was, I AM"
For anyone tempted to look for a way to "erase lines of hostility that separate Christians from the Jewish and Islamic communities", the Old and New Testaments makes it very clear that the only way that can be done is for Jews and Muslims to put away their idols and worship the One Triune God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew