Corner stones are witnesses to the earthquake, the renting of the Temple Veil, and the resurrection of physically dead saints, according to OTW Belief.
On the eastern edge of Jerusalem, just west of Gethsemane and northwest of the Kidron Valley, sat the temple of Herod. Herod’s temple court covered about 35.5 acres. On the far northwest corner sat Antonia Fortress, the home of the temple garrison that stayed alert for disturbances in the temple-disturbances that the governor was quick to quell so as not to attract unwanted attention from Rome.
Herod’s temple sat skewed in the center of the large courtyard so that its entrance might better face due east. A balustrade (a low wall of stone posts and caps) defined the inner boundary of the Court of the Gentiles. Within the Court of the Gentiles, getting closer to Herod’s temple, was the Court of the Women, accessed through the Beautiful Gate.
In the Court of Priests was the altar. Beyond these fixtures was yet a staircase leading to a curtain embroidered with a map of the known world that covered the entrance to the temple proper. Beyond it, behind another large curtain, lay the Holy of Holies, which none except the high priest was allowed to enter, and he only on the Day of Atonement. A stone marked the place where once the Ark of the Covenant stood.
Herod’s temple existed until AD 70, which marked the end of the second temple era. At that time, after a long war between the Jewish Zealots and the Roman authorities, four Roman legions, led by Titus, besieged Jerusalem and burned down the temple. As the temple burned, the gold and silver ornamentation melted and seeped between the cracks in the stones. In their zeal for a stipend, the Roman soldiers took the temple apart, stone by stone, fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:1-2:
Matthew 24:1 Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.
Matthew 24:2 Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
The Jewish people were scattered in the Diaspora of 70 AD, and did not return en masse to Israel until after World War II. The temple mount, where Herod’s temple stood, is now home to the Islamic Dome of the Rock. All that remains of Herod’s work on the temple mount is the Western Wall, a 1,600-foot-long portion of the retaining wall Herod constructed to expand the temple mount.
On the boundaries of Herod’s temple there was an outer wall which circled the building of the Temple and on the inside were two curtains, an outer curtain, and a second curtain called the Veil (inside of Herod’s Temple) connecting to the Holy Place.
It is believed that the veil of the Holy Place was witnessed by the Centurion, his men and the women followers of Christ. This was far away on the hill of Golgotha. It is taught that these witnesses actually saw the veil being torn into two pieces, from top to bottom, from about a half mile away. This was in the darkness of an unnatural eclipse during a 5.5 magnitude earthquake.
It is highly unlikely that these people on Golgotha saw the veil being torn. This is because the veil was located inside the Temple hidden from everyone except the priests of the temple.
Exodus 28 teaches that only the priests or the Levite family of priests were allowed to be inside the temple and inside the second veil. The only people who would have been able to actually see the torn veil would have been a Levite or priest.
It also was highly unlikely that a priest would have been in the temple to witness the event happening unless by Time and Chance. This is because no ceremonies were being conducted at the time. If there wasn’t a warranted reason for a priest to look in at the veil, the veil was found torn at the next ceremony
It can be argued that when the rent was discovered, the information was passed on from one priest to another. This information could have been told to Matthew at a later time. One of these priests could have been Nicodemus. It was Nicodemus that helped prepare Jesus for his burial (John 19:38-40). Nicodemus was a follower of Christ and could have spoken to each of the writers of the gospels about what he had seen in the temple.
Acts 6:7 states a great number of the priests became followers of the faith. These priests could have likewise collaborated with Nicodemus spoken to the writers of the gospels telling of what they had seen or heard.
Acts 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Likewise, Paul, an ex-priest, could be considered another source from which information could have been gained.
Many of these priests could have passed on the story of the veil being torn, but none of the writers of the Four Gospels nor any witnesses at Jesus’ crucification could have seen or known of the torn veil by actually witnessing or seeing the tear. Each writer would have been told this fact perhaps much later than immediately after the resurrection of Christ.
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