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. (Matthew 27:50-53)

Arguably, the single most important event in the history of humankind is right here. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffering and dying for sin he did not commit.

Interesting how Matthew links it intimately and immediately to the tearing of the veil in the temple.

The temple is where God dwelt among his people. And the veil kept the impurity, the unholiness, out. Once a year the high priest, after cleansing himself and making a special offering for himself, would go behind that veil and interact with God. The area behind the veil was the Holy of Holies.

And so what striking truth Matthew presents. At the death of Jesus Christ, the Holy of Holies was opened up. What was outside no longer defiled its holy chambers.

Lest you miss that he’s making a statement about holiness, Matthew anachronistically brings forward that at Jesus’ resurrection, the bodies of the dead came out and walked around in the holy city. Dead people walking! They would need cleansing, purification. They would defile Jerusalem and its inhabitants!

No. Matthew is careful to continue to call Jerusalem ‘the holy city.’ Something has happened.

The veil has been torn.
The raised dead do not defile.
This is an entire reversal of what was.

Before, the holy must be kept from what defiles, lest the holy be defiled.
Before, the unclean must be banished, because touching the unclean makes unclean.

Now – the holy makes holy. The clean reaches out to the unclean. Love has come, and makes holy what was not holy. The temple now touches and makes holy what was defiled.

This is what the work of Jesus Christ on the cross did, says Matthew.

It carries great implication for how we see ourselves.
Jesus Christ has come, and he has made us holy. We who were outcast and defiled, unholy and unclean.

We still sin… we live in Romans 7.

But it is not a New Testament concept that we make ourselves holy. That with a little bit (or even a lot) of God’s help, we make ourselves presentable. This belittles Jesus Christ’s work and raises our own; this brings back the flesh which has already been crucified in Christ. Our true good works and fruit come out of holiness which is given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The holiness that produces fruit cannot be earned with sweat or zeal.

Our sanctification is no less a work of Jesus Christ than our justification.

We are “holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1) because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, and because of no other thing. Paul there is not writing of our efforts (i.e. ‘make yourself a holy sacrifice’) but of what is true of every believer (‘you are a holy and acceptable sacrifice’). What a miraculous wonder! We worship by a renewed mind, we desire to bear fruit, but we are holy by Jesus Christ alone.

We must not redefine holiness to mean our imperfect effort. By its very meaning, holy is entirely set apart, not partially separate.

The only way the veil was torn – torn forever – is through the incredible, overwhelming sacrifice of our redeeming Savior. All our hope, all our trust, all our faith, is in him. The outcast brought in. The defiled made clean. What wonders our God has done!