Rending the veil

Both Lord Wilmore and I have written about the veil before. See here and here. God's presence (heaven) and the material creation (earth) are separated by a veil. Rending the veil opens the pathway for man into God's presence and unites heaven and earth. This is symbolically represented by the temple. There are different ways and occasions where the veil can and will be rent. This became clearer to me as I read D&C 101 recently, which I will get to soon. Here are three ways of rending the veil:

Rending the personal veil of unbelief

This has been discussed on this blog before. Having been sent to earth, we are surrounded by the material creation and need to exercise faith to see beyond the veil.

And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. (Ether 12:19)

The brother of Jared is one example of rending the veil by seeing with the eye of faith. King Lamoni also has an experience where the veil of unbelief is dispelled.

the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God (Alma 19:6)

The veil being removed and the light shining, in fact reminds of the veil taken off from the eyes of the Brother of Jared and seeing the finger of God giving light to the stones in Ether 3. The point is that unbelief and pride is withholding a portion of light from us, preventing all of us from seeing clearly.

And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. (D&C 88:67)

The glory of God is represented by the holy of holies / celestial room in the temple. If our eye is single to his glory, we are seeing beyond the veil into the light. Even though Christ has prepared a way into the holy of holies as I soon will show, we must each rend our personal veil of unbelief to walk that way. 

Christ's first coming: The way to salvation prepared

I think I have mentioned this symbol a few times before on this blog. I bring it up again for context since it is leading into my next point that I just learned. When Christ had completed the atonement and died on the cross, the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was "rent in twain" (Matthew 27:51). As the true high priest, Christ entered into the holy of holies, God's presence, like many high priests symbolically had done before him once a year on the day of atonement. But rending the veil meant that something was different this time. This was the ultimate sacrifice. Now the way was prepared so that anyone could enter in. This is why the holy of holies in the ancient temple was restricted to the high priest symbolizing Christ and the celestial room in the temple today is open to anyone who is willing to enter into covenants. Christ rent the veil of the temple through his atonement so that anyone who has rent their veil of unbelief can follow him into the holy of holies, God's presence. 

Christ's second coming: His glory revealed

Christ completed his atoning sacrifice when he come to earth the first time in a mortal tabernacle. He promised to come again in glory. D&C 101 explains that he will rend the veil separating heaven and earth at his second coming. Notice the temple symbolism. 

And prepare for the revelation which is to come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together. (D&C 101:23)

There is also an apt reference to Isaiah 40, that I did not pick up until I read the footnote of the verse.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together (Isaiah 40:5)

According to Bible scholar, Margareth Barker, the setting of Isaiah 40 is the holy of holies. The glory of God was exactly what King Lamoni could see when the veil was cast away from his mind as I just quoted in Alma 19. At the second coming ("the revelation which is to come"), the veil of the temple shall be lifted once more in a way that reveals his glory to the whole earth and all flesh shall see it. Those who are not prepared will be consumed. D&C 101 continues:

24 And every corruptible thing, both of man, or of the beasts of the field, or of the fowls of the heavens, or of the fish of the sea, that dwells upon all the face of the earth, shall be consumed;

25 And also that of element shall melt with fervent heat; and all things shall become new, that my knowledge and glory may dwell upon all the earth.

The material creation cannot endure this glory. This is why a veil must separate the two in the first place. But we can prepare to endure the day by rending our personal veil of unbelief and follow Christ into the holy of holies. Then we can dwell on an earth where also his "knowledge and glory" dwells, an earth that is no longer separated from heaven by a veil. The bride removes her veil after she has become married to the groom. When the earth lifts her veil, we have a marriage of heaven and earth.

Jesus' clothing and the temple

Learning about ancient temple practice and theology, I tend to view things through that lens these days. I wrote previously about the veil and its symbolism. The veil in the first temple was woven from four different colors representing the four elements, which the visible world was thought to consist of. It concealed the glory of God and represented matter, the visible creation. The vestment of the high priest was made of the exact same fabric and represented incarnation. Even though they look differently today, some may notice the similarities that exist between the veil and sacred clothing.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered through the veil into the holy of holies. Before he did that, he took off his vestment and changed to a special white linen garment that was only to be worn in the holy of holies. This was the clothing of angels. He did not wear the colored vestment anymore representing incarnation, because he passed into the eternal realms. In the first temple period, the high priest who did all this was also king, representing the Messiah.

Considering all this, I find striking parallels to Jesus' transition through the veil on his "Day of Atonement". The letter to the Hebrews argues that Jesus was a true high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the first priest-king in the ancient temple tradition. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, we see evidence of that.

35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Jesus, the king and high priest was about to complete the atonement. He was stripped of his garment, just like the high priest in the temple took off the vestment. The greek word used here in Matthew is 'himation' meaning an outer garment. Jesus had a name or title written over his head. Similarly, the high priest in the temple wore a golden seal on his forehead with the sacred name written on it.

Some verses later, we read

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 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

Here is the transition. Jesus leaves the mortal world and the veil rends to let him through into the holy of holies. Even though his body is lifeless at this point, it will soon come to life again in the first case of a glorious resurrection beyond the veil. To prepare his body for that, Joseph from Arimathæa takes his body and wraps it in fine linen.

59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth

The greek word here is 'sindoni'. This is fine bleached linen, comparable to the garment that the high priest in the temple wore inside the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement. The clothing-temple symbolism doesn't end there. In her book, "Temple Theology", Margaret Barker explains

Most remarkable of all is the description found in 2 Enoch, where Enoch the high priest figure has ascended through the heavens to stand before the throne. The Lord summons Michael to remove Enoch's earthly clothing - the symbol of his mortal body - and to dress him in the garments of glory - the symbol of the resurrection body.

When Jesus appears to the Nephites after his resurrection and ascension into heaven, we read

And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. (3 Nephi 11:8)

This white robe reminds us of the garment of glory that Enoch received that represented the resurrection, especially a few chapters later when his garments are described as shiny white.

And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof. (3 Nephi 19:25)

"There could be nothing upon the earth so white" indicates a heavenly condition beyond the veil. Both the countenance and garments of Jesus had this whiteness and it infected the disciples that he "smiled upon". I just learned from this blog that this verse in fact was the fulfillment of the so-called priestly blessing ("birkat kohanim") that we read in Numbers 6:23-27

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

This was to be done by the sons of Aaron, the priests in the tabernacle/temple. In 3 Nephi, Jesus was now the priest-king who had passed through the veil, resurrected and dressed in the white garment of glory. He came to his people to give them this blessing and His name, the name that high priests in the temple traditionally had worn. Figuratively, his disciples became temple priests too and were allowed to enter with Jesus into the holy of holies.

The meaning of the veil

Growing up in the church, we learn about the veil as something that we pass through on our journey from the pre-mortal existence to mortal life. Similarly, we read about ancient temples where a veil separated the holy of holies, God's presence, from the rest of the temple. This is familiar also to a latter-day saint who has been through the modern temple. Until recently, I didn't think much about the fact that this concept is quite unique in latter-day saint theology. At least to my knowledge, this kind of symbolism is not used in other christian churches.

I am currently reading Margaret Barker's very interesting book called "Temple theology", where she explains the meaning and theology connected to the first temple of Solomon and also argues that the early Christian theology to a large degree was based on it. She describes the meaning of the veil in this temple. According to her research, the veil represented

the web of matter that conceals the throne of God from human perception

When making the portable proto-temple in the wilderness, Moses was instructed:

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. (Exodus 25:40)

Barker uses extra-biblical sources as evidence that the creation account was revealed to Moses on the mountain (which fits nicely with the Pearl of Great Price) and that the temple was built after the pattern of the creation account. Just as God created "heaven and earth", the temple had the holy of holies with the throne of God (heaven) and a veil separating it from "earth". The veil represented the second day of creation when the firmament was made to separate the waters above (heaven) from below (earth).

In Barker's words:

Those who passed beyond the veil found themselves outside time.

Passing through the veil was thus a transition from earth to heaven and from time to timelessness or infinity, from mortality to eternal glory. This symbolism is very recognizable to a latter-day saint.

I have previously written about the heaven-earth pairing in the scriptures. See here and here. I didn't mention the veil in those posts, but the idea of bringing heaven and earth together is very relevant in this context since the veil separates the two. We sometimes talk about the veil being thin in certain circumstances. There are also examples in the scriptures where the veil can be rent. When Christ died on the cross, the following happened: 

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)

The heaven-earth posts I linked explain that the heaven earth connection is typically made in conjunction with creation, atonement, restoration or covenant making in general. The rent veil brings heaven and earth together. In this example from Matthew, Christ's atonement opened the way for man into the holy of holies, God's presence.

With all this background, I will finally turn to the Book of Mormon, more specifically, the story of the Brother of Jared. His interaction with the Lord after he brings the sixteen stones to the mountain is very interesting in a temple context.

• In Ether 3:6, the Lord "stretched forth his hand" and the veil was removed enough for the brother of Jared to see his finger
• An interaction follows where the Lord asks some questions and the brother of Jared answers
• Then in verse 13, the brother of Jared was "brought back into [the Lord's] presence"

The brother of Jared had passed through the veil and found himself in the holy of holies or the celestial sphere, God's presence. Notice how verse 25 describes the timelessness, where both past and future are right in front of him

And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.

Compare with D&C 130:7

But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

Moroni explains how this way through the veil is available to us and that the brother of Jared shows a pattern to follow. 

And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. (Ether 12:19)

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea... then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. (Ether 4:15-16)

Notice also how the heaven-earth pairing appears in Moroni's comments to this story about the brother of Jared.

And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are... And at my command the heavens are opened and are shut; and at my word the earth shall shake (Ether 4:7-9)

Summary

• In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. He also separated them. The veil in the temple, ancient and modern and the use of this word in the scriptures, symbolizes this separation.
• The intention was not to keep them separate. Rending the veil and unifying heaven and earth is the goal. But we first need to learn to see with the "eye of faith" and walk the covenant path
• The story of the brother of Jared and the temple shows a pattern for how we can pass through the veil