"At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people." Matthew 27:51-53
The KEY MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE. In order to properly understand the significance of this event, you have to go back to the actual function of the area and the curtain itself. The curtain was the concealment of the Holiest of All. Once a year, the high priest would go into the Holiest of All and offer Yom Kippur. That offering was done for one purpose and
one purpose only.
And this needs to be well understood by heretics who insist this means there is no need for the Eucharist.
The curtain was an element of the ritual in the Day of Atonement.
What was Yom Kippur? Was it a sacrifice for our personal sins? No. If it was, then the Levitical offerings done daily were not required. Yom Kippur was for the nation of Israel. It
forgave the nation's sins and restored and renewed the national covenant
between Israel as a nation and God. No one but the high priest could do this.
Anyone else who would enter the Holiest of All would drop dead. A promise from God.
What does it mean when the curtain is torn? The rending of the veil takes place at the same time that Jesus states, "It is finished."
What is finished? The Old Covenant with Israel. They are no longer the singular peopleof God. National Israel no longer has a place for the ratification of the covenant to be done because once the Holiest of All was exposed to human eyes, it was profaned and no longer sanctified for use for Yom Kippur.
Now go to 'Hebrews' and read chapters 7 - 10. The entire thrust of these chapters is how our Great High Priest has taken the place of the earthly high priest and offers a permanent sacrifice of Yom Kippur. There is no earthly Yom Kippur now. If a high priest were to attempt it, it would be futile, worthless, and an insult to the completed Yom Kippur of Christ in heaven. He has done the work, made the permanent and eternal covenant with God on behalf of the Church, which is the new Israel of God.
God's covenant is now with the Church.
The tearing of the curtain in no way means that man can come directly to God. The Holiest of All had to do with covenant renewal of the corporate covenant, not with personal sins and personal worthiness. We still must go to God through the priest, who is the authorized mediator of our sins before God.
Whenever you read about a person or object in the Scriptures, it is important to get the historical, theological, soteriological, and ecclesial setting correct. If you don't do this homework, you will make typical heretical errors. And bring untold misery to your fellow man.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the continuation of themediatorial priesthood of the Levites. Our faith is not something new. It is the continuance of the Jewish faith in the fulfillment of the Messiah promised to come. The sacrifices remain the same covenantally, they are just replaced with a new priesthood, a better and greater High Priest, and a PERFECT LAMB which we offer instead of the blood of animals.
Do not confuse the mediatorial priesthood with the high priesthood. This is what Protestants do when they insist that Hebrews is teaching that Jesus made "one sacrifice for sins for ever and then sat at the right hand of the Father." They fail to read in context the surrounding verses in Hebrews which make it clear that this one sacrifice is Yom Kippur in heaven and not the Levitical sacrifice for our personal sins.