As a writer, I love me some good symbolism. I love writing it and I love reading it. And I love that we worship a God who created it.
Because when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn.
We hear that a lot. It’s become this cliche thing. Yada, yada, yada, Jesus died on the cross. Yada, yada, yada, the veil was torn. Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it before.
But the veil was torn, people. Torn. Which has to be, 100%, the coolest symbol in the history of all symbols.
Because that veil was an incredibly thick curtain that barred the entrance into the Holy of Holies – a very special room in the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelt. A room that only the high priest could enter. Once a year, after meticulous preparation, to shed blood for the atonement of sin.
Everyday people like you and me? They couldn’t set foot into the Holy of Holies. They could not be in the presence of a holy God and live (Exodus 33:20). Which is why God established the old covenant. We needed a priest to be our middle man. And God needed blood to make us clean.
Until Jesus came. God in the flesh. He took the weight of our sin upon His shoulders and died on the cross. He shed His own blood, once and for all. The ultimate sacrifice. Our ultimate priest.
And the veil was torn wide open.
A new covenant was established.
The covenant of Jesus Christ.
A covenant that rips apart the barrier.
A covenant that gives everyday people like you and me open access to a holy God.
Talk about some amazing, amazing symbolism.
Let’s Talk: What symbolism have you come across lately? Or tell me about the coolest symbolism you’ve ever read in a book. Peace Like a River is filled with awesome symbolism!
Hi Katie!
I too love symbols. Especially the veil. Being a Jewish believer in Jesus the Christ, it means so much to me that the veil that separated me from Him was torn from top to bottom. And the top of the veil was 15 feet high (the Holy of Holies was a 15 foot cube) so no man could have reached the top.
And it was not flimsy veil. As you said, it was thick and heavy. I read it was so heavily embroidered, it was several inches thick.
HE opened the way for intimate fellowship with us by removing the barriers. No more mediator between God and man other than Jesus Himself.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Blessings,
Susan
Wendy's right; both Matthew 27 and Mark 15 record the veil being torn from top to bottom, so clearly it was God's doing and not man's. It's such a meaningful symbol for me.
I had a high school English teacher that tore every piece of literature apart showing us "what the author meant", and it drove me nuts because I didn't believe all of the authors intended the symbolism at all. So when it comes to reading now, I don't often look for symbolism.
Thank you for bringing this up, Katie. What an uplifting symbol to think about today! I like Wendy's additional note, too.
Symbolism is hard to use subtly and originally, but when an author does it, I love it!
I can't help loving Hawthorne and Melville and their no-holds barred, unapologetic symbols. They get away with it because they got there before anyone else and did it masterfully. We may laugh sometimes at the satires based on their work, but when you see a good film version of Moby Dick or read "The Minister's Black Veil," it's still powerful.
Love this post, but Jeannie's response was way interesting! I didn't know that about the Wizard of Oz. And here I just thought it was about not getting caught in a tornado.
Jeannie – I had no idea! That's crazy. I sort of want to Google it, but then I'd probably spend a lot of time researching Wizard of Oz when really I need to write!
i'll never forget sitting in a college class as one of my profs explained the symbolism (as he understood it) of the wizard of oz. something about the political climate of the 1900s and following the yellow brick road of money. i was like, seriously? the scarecrow represented farmers, tin man repped industrial workers? dorothy was the american people? she wore silver slippers (before the red ruby slippers) in favor of the free-silver movement? it was mind boggling. and here i was thinking it was just a story with scary flying monkeys.
this is totally NOT the best example of symbolism, if you even buy into it. hmm. so i find myself not really answering your question even though i just spent considerable time typing this out….
I love when symbolism is woven through a novel–and Rachel Hauck is a master at this skill. One of the things I remember she said is that sometimes our readers will "get" the symbolism and sometimes they won't -but write it anyway.
When I taught Covenant, a Precept Bible study, I loved how God's grace and redemption was woven through the Old Testament and New Testament like a red cord or thread. A powerful symbol that I've never forgoten.
oh dear, I'm one of those who has the hardest time understanding symbolism. I'm more a black and white kinda girl, just say it like it is please, don't paint me no picture puzzles.
Sorry, but that's how God made me, symbolism needs to be explained to me it seems every time.
I love it when I'm writing and come across something that shouts at me about something deeper in the story. Now, I write for middle grades, so there's not a whole lot of deep inner turmoil or angst, but sometimes there's a little something.
Anyone else just "stumble" across some meaningful symbolism as they write?
Thanks, Katie!
Ah, symbolism. That was my favorite literary element to address in English-class essays. I love rifling through a book, poem, short story, etc., to uncover the symbolism within.
CS Lewis has some amazing symbolism in the Narnia series.
Also, I love the symbolism of marriage. God intended marriage to mirror the Church's relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the head and the Church submits to Him, just as the wife is to submit to her husband. But Jesus isn't demanding and overbearing and His "power" as the head doesn't go to His head (ha); instead, He loves the Church and cares for her, leading her toward what is good and right. This is how husbands are called to be toward their wives. It's a beautiful and powerful picture, in my opinion, and it makes me appreciate the responsibility God laid upon my own husband's shoulders. It also makes me respect my husband all the more for loving me and cherishing me like he does. I am so blessed. I trust him, so it's easy to follow his lead, just as it should be easy for the Church (and all of us within it) to follow Jesus'.
Every day I find new reasons to stand in awe of the Savior. I agree with Julie; I don't think we can beat this one.
I just want to bask in this today. We have access to the throne room, so what are we waiting for!
I don't know if anyone can beat that one. The more I study the Bible, the more I'm in awe of how beautiful it is. It makes me emotional just thinking about it.
The torn veil is way up there on the symbolism meter! 🙂
The Passover Lamb…the entire Passover Seder amazes me.
There's a ton of symblolism in the harry potter books. That JK Rowling is brilliant!
Symbolism can be really powerful, esp. if a reader connects to it. Some things in the Bible don't connect to us "gentiles" as much just because we don't necessarily get it. I mean, without commentaries and stuff, I would never have realized what a veil tearing meant.
One of my friends has a vampire manuscript that I want her to sub (she's newly contracted on a different book). Anyway, she's a Christian who writes more secular type books, but her beliefs on sin and redemption came through so strongly on her vampire story. The symbolisms in that book still blow me away and speak to me more than even the plot does.
Love PLAR!
And here's something (didn't think I saw it in your post, but I might have read too quickly) I believe the curtain was torn from TOP to bottom. A clear symbol God made the invitation. Like you wrote, things like that make a difference. The fact that the curtain was torn at all makes living hopeful for me.
~ Wendy
I just finished reading Rubart's The Chair and I love his subtle symbolism. A man is a total claustrophobe, but he's healed and doesn't even realize it until he goes in after a dog in a dark tunnel.
Halfway in when normally he'd be freaking out, he realizes he's not scared and I love that symbolism. It's in the dark, tight places where we find the strength and faith to move forward. If that crazy circumstance hadn't happened the MC would never have crawled into a dark place, and never realized God had healed him. Loved that book!
I do love when the smaller things in a book symbolize the bigger internal conflict. Esp. when I don't see it right away.
I can't think of any books off the top of my head, but I know they're out there (just having a brain freeze this morning). I'm on my third year of reading the Bible cover-to-cover through the One Year Bible format, and I've got to say… the Bible is full of beautiful symbolism. I wonder how I ever thought I could write anything of quality before I tapped into the treasury that is God's Word! Now I even understand certain song lyrics in deeper ways than I did before, all because the Bible has transformed the way I read, comprehend, and write. Symbolism stretches the mind in amazing ways! Great post!