S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 5   (8)
Through Christ the hidden glory of the holy of holies was to stand revealed. He had suffered death for every man, and by this offering the sons of men were to become the sons of God. With open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, believers in Christ were to be changed into the same image, from glory to glory. The mercy seat, upon which the glory of God rested in the holiest of all, is opened to all who accept Christ as the propitiation for sin, and through its medium, they are brought into fellowship with God. The veil is rent, the partition walls broken down, the handwriting of ordinances canceled. By virtue of His blood the enmity is abolished. Through faith in Christ Jew and Gentile may partake of the living bread (Letter 230, 1907). (5BC 1109.1) MC VC
(Matthew 26:65; Daniel 5:5, 25-28; Hebrews 10:19, 20.) Israel a Nation Unchurched—In Christ the shadow reached its substance, the type its antitype. Well might Caiaphas rend his clothes in horror for himself and for the nation; for they were separating themselves from God, and were fast becoming a people unchurched by Jehovah. Surely the candlestick was being removed out of its place. (5BC 1109.2) MC VC
It was not the hand of the priest that rent from top to bottom the gorgeous veil that divided the holy from the most holy place. It was the hand of God. When Christ cried out, “It is finished,”(John 19:30) the Holy Watcher that was an unseen guest at Belshazzar′s feast pronounced the Jewish nation to be a nation unchurched. The same hand that traced on the wall the characters that recorded Belshazzar′s doom and the end of the Babylonian kingdom, rent the veil of the temple from top to bottom, opening a new and living way for all, high and low, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. From henceforth people might come to God without priest or ruler (Manuscript 101, 1897). (5BC 1109.3) MC VC
(Hebrews 6:19; 8:6, 7; Hebrews 10:19, 20.) God′s Presence Withdrawn From Earthly Sanctuary—By the rending of the veil of the temple, God said, “I can no longer reveal My presence in the most holy place”. A new and living Way, before which there hangs no veil, is offered to all. No longer need sinful, sorrowing humanity await the coming of the high priest. (5BC 1109.4) MC VC
Type had met antitype in the death of God′s Son. The Lamb of God had been offered as a sacrifice. It was as if a voice had said to the worshipers, “There is now an end to all sacrifices and offerings” (The Youth′s Instructor, June 21, 1900). (5BC 1109.5) MC VC
A New Way Opened to Fallen Man—When Christ on the cross cried out, “It is finished,”(John 19:30) the veil of the temple was rent in twain. This veil was significant to the Jewish nation. It was of most costly material, of purple and gold, and was of great length and breadth. At the moment when Christ breathed His last, there were witnesses in the temple who beheld the strong, heavy material rent by unseen hands from top to bottom. This act signified to the heavenly universe, and to a world corrupted by sin, that a new and living way had been opened to the fallen race, that all sacrificial offerings terminated in the one great offering of the Son of God. He who had hitherto dwelt in the temple made with hands, had gone forth never again to grace it with His presence (The Signs of the Times, December 8, 1898). (5BC 1109.6) MC VC
52, 53 (see EGW comment on Matthew 28:2-4). Resurrection Known to Priests and Rulers—The captives brought up from the graves at the time of the resurrection of Jesus were His trophies as a conquering Prince. Thus He attested His victory over death and the grave; thus He gave a pledge and an earnest of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. Those who were called from their graves went into the city, and appeared unto many in their resurrected forms, and testified that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, and that they had risen with Him.... (5BC 1109.7) MC VC
It was well known to the priests and rulers that certain persons who were dead had risen at the resurrection of Jesus. Authentic reports were brought to them of different ones who had seen and conversed with these resurrected ones, and heard their testimony that Jesus, the Prince of life, whom the priests and rulers had slain, was risen from the dead (The Spirit of Prophecy 3:223). (5BC 1109.8) MC VC