Lessons on the Temple
Lesson No. Seventy-Two
The Veil is a Symbol of Jesus Christ
Introduction – The Sunday School lesson from Come Follow Me for the week ending June 25, 2023, includes the New Testament accounts of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake and the rocks rent” (Matthew 27:51; see also Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45. In 3 Nephi 8 – 9 we learn that far greater destruction took place in the western hemisphere). We are greatly blessed to have latter day prophets to teach and testify of the great symbolic and spiritual meaning of why the veil of the temple was rent at the exact time of Jesus’ death.
A symbolic meaning of the veil of the temple being rent in twain at the death of Jesus Christ – “This was a dramatic symbol that the Savior, the Great High Priest, had passed through the veil of death and would shortly enter into the presence of God [the Father]”. (New Testament Student Manual, P. 94).
A powerful spiritual application of the veil of the temple being rent in twain – Paul taught: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained: “Deity rent the veil of the temple ‘from the top to the bottom.’ The Holy of Holies is now open to all, and all, through the atoning blood of the Lamb, can now enter into the highest and holiest of all places, that kingdom where eternal life is found. Paul, in expressive language (Heb. 9 and 10), shows how the ordinances performed through the veil of the ancient temple were in similitude of what Christ was to do, which he now having done, all men become eligible to pass through the veil into the presence of the Lord to inherit full exaltation” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 1:830).
The veil of the temple is a symbol of Jesus Christ – Jesus is the door to salvation. (See John 10:7-8) He also said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Through the veil of the temple we symbolically enter into the presence of the Father and the Son.
To see and know the Son is to see and know the Father – Jesus continued His discourse recorded in John 14: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from hence forth ye know him, and have seen him (John 14:7).
Elder Melvin J. Ballard (1873–1939) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had a dream about an experience in the temple that we hope will one day be a reality for each of us – “I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night in that sacred building, the temple. After a season of prayer and rejoicing I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of those rooms, to meet a glorious personage, and, as I entered the door, I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious being my eyes have ever beheld or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. “As I approached to be introduced, He arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and He smiled as He softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me into His arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and, as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessing was such that if I can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt” (The Sacramental Covenant, New Era, Jan. 1976).