The Torn Curtain

17^th May 2026

The Torn Curtain

The gospel accounts has recorded a certain event that happened during the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, an event we sometimes just gloss over without giving much thought. 

Let me read it to you:

Matthew 27:50~51

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  The earth shook and the rocks split.”

Mark 15:37~38

“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”

Luke 23:44~45

“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,

For the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.”

This was one of the most profound, yet frequently overlooked events of the crucifixion.  Oftentimes we fail to appreciate the significance of this event.

The Jewish temple was a holy place, set apart for worship and sacrifices to God.

The temple was separated into 3 areas:-

The Outer Court,

The Holy Place,  and

The Most Holy Place (sometimes also called the Holy of Holies).

The Outer Court was where people brought their sacrifices and offerings.

The Holy Place had three articles of furniture in it :

·         The Golden Lampstand, which was to be kept burning continuously, giving light to the Holy Place.  This place was only accessible to the priests who carried out their daily duties.

·         The Table of Showbread (or the Bread of Presence), where the bread was baked fresh every week.

·         The Altar of Incense, where special incense was to be burned each morning and evening as an offering to the Lord.

The Most Holy Place was the innermost part of the temple, where God’s presence dwelt above the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:22). 

Now, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was separated by a curtain, separating the presence of a holy God from sinful men.

And only the High Priest could enter through the curtain into the Most Holy Place to offer sacrifices and atonement for the sins of the people (and for himself),

and only once a year,

on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. 

Anyone else who entered the Most Holy Place, other than the High Priest, would be struck down by God (Leviticus 16:2).

No matter who or what status we are, sinful mankind is separated from God’s holy presence.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

When Jesus died on the cross, the three Gospels reported that this temple curtain that separated the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was torn in two, from top to bottom!

What is the significance of this seemingly insignificant event? 

After all, it is just a torn curtain, right?  Some of you may even have torn curtains at home..?

If someone wants to split a hanging curtain into two, you just have to make a cut at the bottom and pull from both sides, so that the cut spreads straight upward…

but in the case of the temple curtain, it splitted from top to bottom!

According to ancient Jewish literature, this curtain was about 60’0” high (6 storeys?) and 4” thick (a hand’s breadth)!  It was a very heavy curtain!  

It is humanly impossible to rip this heavy curtain in two from 60’0” above the ground right down to the bottom! 

Only God Himself could have supernaturally caused the curtain to be torn in this manner!

That is why Hebrews 10:19~20 says,

“Therefore, brothers (& sisters), since we have confidence (boldness) to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart with full assurance of faith….”

The torn curtain symbolized that the way to God was now open to all through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the blood of animal sacrifices was no longer needed.

Because the curtain is now torn apart, we can now enter into the very presence of God in prayer and praise at any time, through our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why we do not have a priest in front of the church to lead us in worship, this morning.

We are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)

We are all priests unto God.  We do not need another “priest” to approach God on our behalf.

So, let us never forget that this privilege was purchased for us at a tremendous cost -  the shedding of blood of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, that makes it now possible for us to enter into the Most Holy Place!

Let us remind ourselves that we are coming before a holy God, and approaching Him is a privilege, not something casual.

As we bring our sacrifices of praise to Him, fruit of our lips that proclaims His Name,

may our minds be renewed through His Word

and our hearts be transformed through His Spirit.

 

May we stand O Lord in this Holy Place

May we worship you and behold your face

May we be transformed by your Word and your Spirit

And behold the Day of the Lord.

 

 

 

Father's Day 2025

 Father's Day (15th June 2025)

When I was a kid, I was naughty.

One time, my father had to reprimand me and he took out the cane to punish me.  I was angry and I ran out of the house while still in my singlet and bare-footed.

As I ran, furious thoughts raced through my head:

Where am I going to go?

What is going to happen now?

Where will I stay?

My feet hurt running bare-foot on the tarmac road.

I was crying.

There were some lorries parked nearby.  So, I hid beside one of the lorry’s tyres.

When you are a kid, the tyres are gigantic…

How long am I going to hide here?

What if no one finds me?

What is going to happen to me?

Got no face to return home also…

And just then, my father suddenly appeared before me.  He came after me when I ran out. 

He looked for me.

He searched for me.

And he found me.

He took me back home.

He loved me.

I cannot tell you what a relief that was….

Do you remember there was an incident in the Bible when a certain Person went to look for his disobedient children?

In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and placed them in the Garden of Eden.  They were perfect and had close fellowship with God.

But then, Satan tempted them to doubt God’s love for them, and both Adam and Eve sinned against God in disobedience!

And the moment they sinned against God, we are told in Genesis 3, a sense of shame and fear came over them.  They even became ashamed of their own nakedness, and had to cover themselves with leaves.

Then when God came looking for them in the cool of the evening, they hid themselves from God!

He called out to Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”

God knew they have disobeyed Him in sin, but still God came looking for them.

God took the initiative to seek them out, demonstrating the very thing that Satan got them to doubt – His love…

Not only did God came to seek out our disobedient first parents, He showed them kindness by announcing the coming of a Saviour who will save mankind from their sin…

Genesis 3:15 was called the proto-evangelion – the first gospel – the first good news!

What was this good news?

Speaking to the serpent, He said,

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

God prophesied that there will be hostility between Satan and the woman, and between Satan’s seed and the seed of the woman.

 The woman’s seed (referring to the Messiah) will crush the devil’s head, defeating him completely. It was at Calvary that our Lord Jesus decisively triumphed over the devil.

But in doing so, Satan would in turn bruise the Messiah’s heel, meaning, the Messiah will endure suffering.  Our Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross of Calvary.

Notwithstanding the horrific death on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead three days’ later, victorious over sin, hell & Satan!

Down through the ages, God has been calling out for the descendants of Adam to turn away from their disobedience and sin, and return to Him.

“Adam, Adam, where are you?”, He calls out..

“Adam, Adam, I love you,” He pleads …

God loved us long before the time our eyes first saw the light of day.

No matter what sin we may have committed, there is no sin we can imagine that is stronger than His love for us.

The Lord Jesus Christ has already given His life to set us free from the bondage of sin!

Such is the manner of love that God the Father has bestowed upon us!

Hallelujah!

 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

11th May 2025

doodlismsarahsalim

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, god-mothers, aunties, etc…

Mother’s Day is a day of joy, laughter, celebration and eating. 

Sometimes, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, we forget that before we can even celebrate Mother’s Day, there must first be the pain and suffering of child-birth.

Without babies, there will be no mothers.

Without mothers, there will be no Mother’s Day.

Each time we celebrate our birthday, we are also remembering the “mu nan ri” (母難日) of our mothers, lterally meaning, "mother's day of suffering..."

The most difficult day for our mothers.  A day of suffering just to bring us into the world, not to mention the intense labour pains prior to child-birth.

That is why there is a Chinese song that children are taught to sing from a young age, 世 上 只 有 妈 妈 好 (Shi shang zhi you ma ma hao).  Mother’s love is the greatest in the world.  Becos a mother’s love is unconditional and unmatchable!

I have told this true story before:

There was a young lady who would always fight and quarrel with her mother.

One day, after a very big fight, the young lady just packed and moved out of the home far away.

The mother said good riddance and told her to never come back!

After many months, the mother received a letter from her daughter.  The younger brother helped to read the letter for the mother.

She wrote that she has just given birth to a baby girl and her name was so-and-so, etc, etc …

As the mother listened, her tears just flowed uncontrollably..

How can a mother not love her very own child, even after what has happened?

How can a mother forget the baby that she carried in her womb for nine months and gave birth to?

 

The first part of Isaiah 49:15 asks a rhetorical question,

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?”

Can or cannot?  Can a mother forget her baby or not?  The answer is obviously "No"!  A mother can never forget the child that she gave birth to….

The second part of verse 15 says,

“Though she may forget,

     I will not forget you!”

 

This verse talks of God’s unwavering love and faithfulness towards His children.

Even if a mother can forget her own baby, God will never forget us!

 

What, then, shall we say? If God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all in order to give us new birth through the Holy Spirit—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8:31, 32)

Who shall separate us from the love of God?  Nothing!  Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

So, as we celebrate this Mother's Day, and we recognise and honour our mothers' profound, selfless love and sacrifice, in enduring immense physical, emotional and mental pain in carrying us for nine months and finally bringing us safely into this world, let us also remember our God’s indescribable and eternal love demonstrated towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, He sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross for our sins, so that we might receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life and be reconciled back to God!

Praise God!

Immanuel's Orphaned Cry

 Immanuel's Orphaned Cry

14th October 2023

Stushie Art

It is recorded in the Bible, that when our Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, He uttered seven statements:

 1.  “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

2.    “Verily I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

3.    “Woman, behold your son!. . . Behold your mother!” (John 19:26~27)

4.     “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46)

5.     “I thirst!” (John 19:28)

6.     “It is finished!” (John 19:30)

7.      “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

Two weeks ago, as I was pondering on these statements, I realised that in three of those statements that  were addressed to God, in the 1^st and last statement, Jesus referred to God as “Father”, but in the 4^th and middle statement Jesus referred to God as “God” instead of Father. 

Why was that so, have you ever wondered?

In the Bible, Jesus referred to God as Father about 170 times.  He even taught His disciples to address God as “our Father who art in heaven”, when praying.  Why would He suddenly address God as “God” and not as “Father”?  Why would He cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

I could think of a thousand reasons why God would forsake me, even though I know He has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me.  But why would a loving God forsake our Lord Jesus, the only good man who ever lived?

David said in Psalm 37:25, 

“….. never have I seen the righteous forsaken….”  

But yet our Lord Jesus was forsaken.

The Father declared during the baptism and transfiguration of our Lord Jesus, 

“In Him I am well pleased.”  

Yet God forsook our Lord Jesus when he hung on the cross.

There must be something else in this forsaking…

Psalm 22 is considered a messanic psalm as it describes in detail our Lord's suffering on the cross.

In Psalm 22:1, the psalmist cried out,

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from saving me,

    so far from my cries of anguish?"

The answer is given in Psalm 22:3,

"But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel"

 

You see, when Jesus was hanging upon the cross, the relationship that existed between Him and God was no longer simply between a son and a father.  It was now a judicial relationship between a man and a holy and righteous God.  Our Lord Jesus was dying as a judicial substitute under the judgement of a holy God.  He was dying as a substitute for others.  He was not dying for his own sin, but for others. God forsook Him not on account of anything in Himself, but on account of others.  Jesus died as a substitute and sacrifice for your sins and my sins.

 

When our Lord cried out, “Why?  Why have you forsaken me?”, he was not asking out of ignorance.  No, it was an announcement.  It was the human cry of intense suffering.  It was an agonizing cry of an innocent and holy life, as He alone bore the sins of the world upon himself.

 

The Bible tells us from 12 noon to 3 pm the sky went dark in divine displeasure as the light of God’s countenance was turned away. 

Here our Lord Jesus was forsaken of God but for no sin of his own. 

Here God would lay on him the iniquity of us all. 

Here he who knew no sin, would become sin. 

Here one dies, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. 

Here God gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Hebrews 2:9 tells us, 

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”.  

He became a man to reveal God, yes, that is true, but most of all, He became a man to die on the cross as our Substitute.  He died as a man and He died for man.  He bore in His body on the cross all of God’s judgement against sin, so that those who believe in Him will never have to bear it.  

Thank you, Jesus!

 

The Air-Bag

 25th September 2022

The Air-Bag

You have an air-bag in your car.  You’ve never seen it.  But they tell you, as soon as you hit something or somebody head-on, it’s going to explode.  It’s going to catch you like a down pillow.  And it will be nice.  

Have you ever seen that air-bag in your car?  Is it there? 

You don’t know.  

They tell you it is there, but you cannot see it.

You hope it is there.  

When are you going to find out?  

When you need it...

My wife found that out.  

In the early hours of one morning, on 3rd Ocober 2011, whilst driving to school on the New Pantai Expressway, she hit a styrofoam box in the middle of the road, lost control, swerved and hit into the concrete crash barrier and the car overturned!  

The air-bag exploded and cushioned her from hitting the windscreen or the steering wheel.  

Praise God it worked! The air-bag actually worked! 

Thank God that at that particular moment, there were no fast on-coming vehicles.  It would have been disastrous if there were.

My wife crawled out safely from the overturned car with hardly a scratch on her.  It was nothing short of a miracle!  Praise God for His protection!  He is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1)

What can we learn from this incident?  

Our God is just like that air-bag.  You cannot see Him with your physical eyes.  But you know that when you need Him, He is going to be there. 

He will come through for you when you find yourself in a position demanding that necessity of a divine intervention.  

You can depend on Him to ...

Systematic Theology

17th September 2022

We study theology (“theos”= God, “logos”= word) so that we can know about God and so that we can know God.

If we don’t know about Him, we can’t really know Him.  We may have encountered Him in passing when we made the decision to repent and put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we know little of Him unless we study His Word to get to know Him in a more intimate manner.

This is where systematic theology comes in helpful in our spiritual growth.  It organizes into a “systematic” way the knowledge of God as revealed in His Word and how all this knowledge relates to us.  Our fellowship with God is dependent on how well we know Him.

Topics covered under Systematic Theology includes the following :

The Bible

God

Jesus Christ

Holy Spirit

The Devil

Angels

Anthropology

Sociology

Man

Hamartiology

Soteriology

The Church

Eschatology

It helps put you on a firmer foundation regarding tough questions like the Trinity, election, predestination, end-times, etc, that we so often wrestle with in our Bible studies.

I encourage you to get a copy of Systematic Theology for your library.  It will enrich you in your study and understanding of God’s Word.

Thiessen’s Lectures in Systematic Theology has followed me since my student days in 1979.

http://ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Derickson's%20Notes%20on%20Theology.pdf

Derickson’s Notes on Theology is also quite good.  It is only available in digital format.  I find it uncomfortable reading long on the computer, so what I did was I downloaded the entire book and bound it up for easy reading.

Hope that helps...

Do You Have Your Own Library?

9th August 2022

Nowadays, it is so easy to get Bible study resources from the internet.  Practically free and effortless.  The problem is that there are so many different "Christian" teachings in the social media, and if you do not have some basic foundation in your Bible knowledge to filter off the errors, these “teachings” can do more harm than good and lead you astray.  

Allow me to offer some humble advice for the serious Bible student:

 

a)       Always find opportunity to discuss any “new” teachings you may have come across with your Care Group members or church leaders, so that it can be corrected if it is not true..

Proverbs 11:14:  “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."

 

b)      Invest in a good library.

 

I am glad that during my younger days as a new Christian, I was encouraged to build up my own Christian library.  Get books with good authors. Books are a worthwhile investment that will last you a life-time, and even until your next generations…  Books are good resource materials that you can refer back to over and over again. 

 

I started acquiring books for my library since my student days, back when books cost just a few ringgit each…  We were poor then, but I saved up from whatever meager pocket money I had and invested in books. 

c)       Suggested books for your library

 

Here are some of the books I found useful in my study of God's Word.  

You may also want to ask your leaders or other brothers and sisters-in-Christ to recommended their choice of books for your library ..

The late Howard Hendricks was a professor from Dallas Theological Seminary.  This book teaches on how to read, interprete and apply the bible to our lives.

 

William Macdonald was the President of Emmaus Bible College and a Plymouth Brethren theologian.

 

This is a great Bible dictionary companion.  Wycliffe is synonymous with Bible translation works in the mission field.

 

I had this with me since 1979…

Theology (theos = God, logos = word, knowledge) provides the basic foundation for your faith and beliefs.  Systematic theology simply organizes the various doctrines of the Bible into a systematic and topical format. It is your theology, undergirded by your faith in God, that will pull you through the highs and lows of your Christian life.

 

Lewis Sperry Chafer was one of the co-founder of Dallas Theological Seminary.

 

Hope I was able to encourage and exhort each other in the study of God’s Word that we may grow and mature in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 10:25)

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen - Samuel Paterson.