April 6, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Through the Curtain

Through the Curtain

Psalms 22:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴ In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Who has forsaken David (or Jesus), the author of the Psalm (verse 1)?

When does David cry out (verse 2)?

How is God enthroned (verse 3)?

What happened when David’s ancestors trusted God (verse 4)?

What happened when David’s ancestors cried out” to God (verse 5)?

Who despises David (verse 6)?

How do people treat David (verse 7)?

Why did people think the Lord might deliver David (verse 8)?

Who did God make David trust in (verse 9)?

How long has God been David’s God (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between being forsaken by people and feeling forsaken by God?

Matthew 27:45-56 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

⁴⁷ When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹ The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split ⁵² and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

When did darkness come “over all the land” (verse 45)?

What does “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” mean (verse 46)?

Who did “some of those standing there” think Jesus was calling (verse 47)?

What was offered to Jesus to drink (verse 48)?

Why did the people want to leave Jesus alone (verse 49)?

What happened after Jesus “cries out again” (verse 50)?

How was the curtain of the temple “torn in two” (verse 51)?

What broke open (verse 52)?

When did the “holy people” come out of the tombs (verse 53)?

Who exclaimed “Surely he was the Son of God!” (verse 54)?

Why had the women “followed Jesus from Galilee” (verse 55)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between being forsaken by people and feeling forsaken by God?

In your opinion, how does David’s pivoting from feeling forsaken to stating his trust in God in Psalm 22:1-10 anticipate Jesus saying He was forsaken, then giving up His spirit, but being recognized as “the Son of God” by the centurion in Matthew 27:45-56?

Acts 7:51-60 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Who do the stiff-necked people “always resist” (verse 51)?

What have they done to the “Righteous One” (verse 52)?

How was the law that they have not obeyed given (verse 53)?

How did the members of the Sanhedrin react (verse 54)?

Who filled Stephen (verse 55)?

What did Stephen say that he saw (verse 56)?

How did the Sanhedrin react to Stephen’s words (verse 57)?

What did they do to Stephen (verse 58)?

Who did Stephen ask to receive his spirit (verse 59)?

What did Stephen cry out (verse 60)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between being forsaken by people and feeling forsaken by God?

In your opinion, how does Stephen in Acts 7:51-60 reveal the salvation that comes by doing what those who mocked David in Psalm 22:1-10 said, ““He trusts in the Lord . . . let the Lord rescue him”?

In your opinion, how does Stephen in Acts 7:51-60 show us what it means to have the curtain torn in two from top to bottom in Matthew 24:45-56?

Hebrews 10:19-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Who does Paul say has “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (verse 19)?

Where has “a new and living way opened” (verse 20)?

What do we have (verse 21)?

What happened “to cleanse us from a guilty conscience” (verse 22)?

Why can we “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” (verse 23)?

What should we consider (verse 24)?

What should we not give up (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between being forsaken by people and feeling forsaken by God?

In your opinion, for all of us who sometimes feel like the forsaken worm that David described in Psalm 22:1-10 how does Hebrews 10:19-25 help us have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place”?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 10:19-25 reveal to us about the purpose of the agony and death of Jesus in Matthew 27:45-56?

In your opinion, how does Hebrews 10:19-25 help us understand why Stephen in Acts 7:51-60 could face death with such confidence and assurance instead of feeling forsaken?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Acts, and Hebrews teach us about the “new living way opened for us through the curtain”?

In your opinion, how do we move from feeling forsaken by God to having “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)