Prayer Opens the Veil

Early Christian art has many examples of God's hand extending down through a curtain, a cloud or from the sky.

John Tvedtnes explains in Temple Prayer in Ancient Times how:

anciently, a veil or curtain separated the holy of holies from the rest of the tabernacle or temple (see, for example, Exodus 26:31—33; 2 Chronicles 3:14; and Hebrews 9:3, 5). The Lord instructed Moses that the high priest should not pass through the veil until he had been washed, dressed in priestly clothing, and brought a sacrifice (see Leviticus 16:2—4).

The earthly veil is paralleled by the veil of the heavenly temple mentioned in many early Jewish and Christian texts. When the brother of Jared prayed, "the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord" (Ether 3:6; see Ether 3:1—6). The same thing has happened in modern times. Joseph Smith recorded that after dropping the veils of the Kirtland Temple around the pulpit (see the preface to D&C 110) on 3 April 1836, he and Oliver Cowdery offered prayer and "the veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened. We saw the Lord" (D&C 110:1—2). Significantly, it is only after prayer that the veil is uncovered. This is symbolic of the uncovering of the heavenly veil, which also occurs after prayers.

According to 1 Enoch 9:10, prayers go to the gate of heaven. In 3 Baruch 11:1—9, we also learn that the gates of heaven are opened to receive prayers, an idea confirmed in Testament of Adam 1:10. A prayer in Sepher Razi'el 441 asks God to open "the gates of light and prayer."(Martin S. Cohen, The Shi'ur Qomah: Texts and Recensions, 120.)

Rabbi Ishmael reported that it was only after prayer that he was ushered by an angel into the presence of God (see 3 Enoch 1:1—6).

The symbolism of the veil extends to women during temple prayer. Paul wrote that the woman's head should be covered during prayer (see 1 Corinthians 11:4—7, 13—15), which led to the practice of women covering their heads in the Catholic and Eastern churches (traditionally with a veil), though the practice is also known in orthodox Judaism.

Ancient temple prayer was symbolic of the crucified Christ. It is in this light that we must understand some of the teachings found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In Hebrews 10:19—20 we read that the veil is the flesh of Jesus, who went ahead as a forerunner for us. The veil, then, is mortality, or our present carnal state. Jesus submitted the flesh to the will of the spirit and was thus able to pass beyond the carnal or earthly state into the celestial, where he now stands as the eternal high priest of the church and as our advocate with the Father. Having entered through the veil into the heavenly holy of holies, Christ desires that we, too, should pass by the veil into the presence of God. Hebrews 6:19—20 speaks of the "hope [which] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

Prayer is also tied to the opening of the heavenly door in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus admonished, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:7—8).(Welch, in Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple, 90, has noted the threefold petition involved in asking, seeking, and knocking and ties this aspect of prayer and of the opening of the door to the temple.)

See Temple Prayer in Ancient Times by John A. Tvedtnes