“And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom.”
– Mark 15:37–38
Oh, what a juxtaposition of verses. These two verses back to back. One, the darkest moment in the history of the world. Jesus, the son of God, God in the flesh on a cross, uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
Mark 15:37–38 Narrates Jesus’ last Moment on the Cross
He died to pay the price for sinners like you and me to endure the judgment we deserve. He died. And then the very next verse says, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”. The darkest day in history opens the door for the greatest news in the world. The way has been made for sinners to be reconciled to God, to be restored, a relationship with God, to come into the presence of a Holy God.
Jesus has paid the price for sin. And as a result of his death on the cross, the way is open for you and me to come into the presence of God, not based on our own merits, but based on the death of Jesus for our sins, based on the life of Jesus as our righteousness. We are welcomed, invited into the presence of God. Now we can be with God. We can do what we do on this podcast. Now we can pray and we can do this anytime, anywhere.
We don’t have to go to a certain place. We can come to God all day long today based on the blood of Jesus, based on the death of Jesus for our sins, the way has been sprung open, the doors have swung open for you and I to commune with God. So take full advantage of this right in your life, in my life. Let’s take full advantage of this.
Mark 15:37–38 Reminds us we are Welcomed into the Presence of God
Let’s do what 1 Thessalonians tells us to do. To pray continually, continually, all the time to walk with God and communion with God. We’re the temple of His Holy Spirit. Our bodies are the place where the glory of God now dwells His spirit in us. Like the truths just get more amazing the more you dive into it.
And it’s all because of Mark 15:37, because “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last.” That Mark, 15:38. “The curtain of the temple torn into from top to bottom.”
The way opened the temple totally redefined by the death of Jesus. Jesus, we praise you. We praise you as the one who took our place on the cross, who died the death we deserve to die. Who endured the judgment we deserve to endure, who took the condemnation we warrant upon yourself in our place as our substitute, all glory be to your name.
All glory be to your name, our Savior, our Lord, our King and our friend that you call us your friends, that you have opened the way for us to come to the Father. God, we praise you for the privilege of communion with you right now. We praise you for prayer. God, help us not to take this privilege for granted. Help us to enjoy it to the full, to steward it, to the full, to walk with you in prayer, continually praying to honor you as the temple of the Holy Spirit that you have made our bodies to be.
God, help us to be pure, and holy, and pleasing to you in every way, and help us to commune with you all day long today, tomorrow when we wake up, when we go to bed all throughout the day to pray continually because the way is wide open to intimacy with you. And God, we pray you’d help us to proclaim this good news, to lead others to experience this reality in their lives.
Praying for the Moroccan Arabs
We pray specifically today for Moroccan Arabs, for Arabs all over Morocco, and think about sitting in one village in Morocco, one believer for miles, and miles, and miles around only one follower of Jesus. I pray for your blessing on him. Oh God, as he tries to share the gospel with his family, with his friends, his neighbors. Thank you for the favor you’ve given this brother in Christ and his community.
We pray that you would bless him for the spread of the gospel, that the way may be opened for more, and more, and more people in Morocco, in the villages around him and all across that country from Moroccan Arabs to come into your presence through Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives. God, we pray for this good news. God, we pray for the spread of this good news there through our lives here, that we might not keep this to ourselves. This great news that the doors are open for communion with God. Help us to live in this and lead others to this. In Jesus name, we pray according to Mark 15:37–38. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
