When Jesus died on the cross, there was an earthquake. Rocks were split. The centurion and his soldiers who had carried out the crucifixion orders were afraid.

In the heart of the temple, in the "holy of holies", in the very heart of Jerusalem, the sacred veil tore, from top to bottom.

The veil, "rent in twain"...

The veils in the tabernacle and later in the temple were important. They're described in great detail in Exodus and in 1 Kings. In Arcana Coelestia 2576, it says that, "Rational truths are a kind of veil or clothing to spiritual truths.... The veil represented the nearest and inmost appearances of rational good and truth....

And now, as Jesus dies on the cross, the veil tears. What does this mean?

Here's how Swedenborg describes the symbolism of this:

"...that once all appearances had been dispelled, the Lord entered into the Divine Itself, and at the same time He opened a means of access to the Divine Itself through His Human that had been made Divine." (Arcana Coelestia 2576)

Think about four watershed spiritual events:

1) The creation of the physical universe. (Current best guess: 13.8 billion years ago). Genesis 1:1-10

2) The beginning of life. (On earth, between 3.5 and 4.5 billion years ago.) Genesis 1:11-25

3) The beginning of spiritually conscious human beings. (Reasonable guess: 100,000 years ago). Genesis 1:26-31

4) The incarnation and resurrection of the Lord God Jesus Christ (2000 years ago).

God's love and wisdom have been flowing into the universe for a long time. Where you might expect entropy, instead we see a universe that seems to favor life and intelligence. Think what a fulfilling moment it must have been when God could tell that human minds were now responding to Him, after all that outpouring.

But the free response-ability has tragedy baked in, because we can also choose not to respond, and to go the opposite way.

As we humans grew more "sophisticated", God used new channels to reach us, notably prophets and spiritual leaders, and later the written word. And in those channels, from the earliest times, there are already prophecies that the Lord would one day come into the world in human form.

Why did He need to do that? He must have foreseen that people would need to have that human level of connection, in order for enough good and truth to exist for us to make the decisions that open us to salvation.

Let's go back to Swedenborg's description:

"... once all appearances had been dispelled the Lord entered into the Divine Itself..."

Throughout the Lord's life on earth, there was the appearance that he was a man, like us. He had a human body. He could be tired and hungry. He could be tempted (though unlike us, he always won). In his spiritual life, there were times when he felt keenly the appearance of his human separate from his Divine essence. At other times, that appearance thinned, and he felt his divinity more powerfully. As he grew up, and was baptized, and began his ministry, he must have been growing more and more fully aware of what was going on inside him -- the glorification of the human part of him. With the death of his body on the cross, the bodily human-ness was no longer in the way. That appearance was dispelled. A new connection was fully forged between the Divine and the human.

And then, there's the second part of Swedenborg's statement:

"at the same time He opened a means of access to the Divine Itself through His Human that had been made Divine."

The veil was torn. The old religion, which had placed ritual above real good, and where God was invisible, separated from human knowledge by a veil -- was torn. New light could reach people, through the new teachings of the Lord. We could respond to a God who, in His Divine Human, we now could understand and approach and love more deeply.

1119. So much torment and mourning give her, signifies so much of infernal punishment and desolation. This is evident from the signification of "torment," as being infernal punishment; also from the signification of "mourning," as being desolation, which is from their no longer having anything of truth or good, but mere falsity and evil. It is said that "as much torment and mourning should be given as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously," because all torment or infernal punishment corresponds exactly to the evils in which such persons are. Those, therefore, who have glorified themselves much and have taken delight in the love of having dominion over heaven and over the church, and for the sake of that glory and consequent delight have perverted the goods of heaven and the church which belong to the Word, have their lot in a hell more grievous in respect to torment; while those who have glorified and delighted themselves less in such things have their lot in a milder hell; and those who have not glorified themselves at all, and thus have not perverted the goods and truths of heaven and the church, which are from the Word, but have simply rendered obedience to them either ignorantly or from persuasion, do not have their lot in hell; and such people as have no part in dominion, especially those who look to the Lord and have some affection of truth, have their lot in the heavens, where they are taught by the angels. From all this it can be seen that here, where Babylon is treated of, only those are meant who exercise dominion from the delight of the love of it for the sake of self.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith and respecting the Lord)

[2] That God is Man and that the Lord is that Man is made evident by all things that are in the heavens and that are beneath the heavens. In the heavens all things that proceed from the Lord in greatest and in least things are either in the human form or have reference to the human form; the whole heaven is in the human form; every society of heaven is in the human form; every angel is in the human form; and also every spirit beneath the heavens; and it has been revealed to me that all things both least and greatest that proceed immediately from the Lord are in that form, for that which proceeds from God is an image of Him. This is why it is said of the man Adam and Eve:

That they were created into the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

[3] And for the same reason the angels in the heavens, because they are recipients of the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, are men of wonderful beauty, while the spirits in the hells, because they do not receive the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, are devils, and in the light of heaven they do not appear as men but as monsters. And on this account it is known in the spiritual world from one's human form how much he derives from the Lord. From all this it can be seen that the Lord is the only Man, and that everyone is a man according to his reception of Divine good and Divine truth from the Lord. In a word, he who sees God as Man sees God because he sees the Lord. And the Lord says:

He that seeth the Son and believeth in Him hath eternal life (John 6:40).

To see the Son is to see Him in spirit, for this is said also to those who did not see him in the world.