Jesus came to tear down the old temple and raise it up as a new, transformed temple (Jn 2.19ff.). In order to do this, he had to ascend through the temple fulfilling all of its types and shadows. The completion of this work was his glorification in the Holy of Holies, which, as it turns out involved the cross and the tomb. The glory of the only begotten was veiled behind a stone that enclosed him in a tomb.
On Sunday morning, the glory departed.
This is not the first time this happened in history. During the days of Eli the priest, the glory departed, and the old tabernacle was destroyed. During the days of Ezekiel and Daniel, the glory departed from Solomon’s temple, and the temple was destroyed. The death of those old structures gave way to new, more glorious structures.
As the glory departs from the tomb that first Easter Sunday, the entire old creation embodied in the tabernacle and temples up to this time in history are all destroyed. Their death doesn’t mean the end of heaven and earth being united in a temple. Their death means that there is a new and more glorious temple where God and man unite.
Unlike the other dwelling places of God, this is God’s final temple. In Christ’s body, everything anticipated in the old structures is fulfilled. All of the repeated sacrifices for sins are completed in Christ’s once-for-all death and resurrection. The intimate union and communion with God that was mediated through animals, grain, oil, and fragrance that kept man at a safe distance is now fully realized in our union in the God-Man.
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Heb 10.19-23)
