Matthew 27:51

The inner veil of the temple is probably in view here, the one separating the holy place from the temple courtyard (cf. Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 6:19-20; Hebrews 9:11-28; Hebrews 10:19-22). [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., pp. 1079-80.]

"According to Jewish Tradition, there were, indeed, two Veils before the entrance to the Most Holy Place (Yoma Matthew 27:1). . . . one Veil hung on the side of the Holy, the other on that of the Most Holy Place. . . . The Veils before the Most Holy Place were 40 cubits (60 feet) long, and 20 (30 feet) wide, of the thickness of the palm of the hand . . ." [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:611.]

The tearing happened at 3:00 p.m., the time of the evening incense offering. A priest would normally have been standing in the holy place offering incense when it tore (cf. Luke 1:8-10). Some early non-biblical Jewish sources also report unusual phenomena in the temple 40 years before its destruction in A.D. 70, one of which is the temple curtain tearing. [Note: See Robert L. Plummer, "Something Awry in the Temple? The Rending of the Temple Veil and Early Jewish Sources that Report Unusual Phenomena in the Temple around AD 30," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 48:2 (June 2005):301-16.]

"The fact that this occurred from top to bottom signified that God is the One who ripped the thick curtain. It was not torn from the bottom by men ripping it." [Note: Barbieri, p. 90.]

This was a supernatural act that symbolized the opening of access to God and the termination of the Mosaic system of worship. This event marked the end of the old Mosaic Covenant and the beginning to the New Covenant (cf. Matthew 26:26-29). Jesus Himself now replaced the temple (cf. Matthew 26:61). He also became the great High Priest of His people. The rent veil also prefigured the physical destruction of the temple, a necessary corollary to its spiritual uselessness from then on.