The Unveiling

32

The Veil

     A veil covers things.  It hides objects.  In some societies veils shield women’s faces from prying eyes.  Veils have always been used to cover things since the days of antiquity.

     When Israel came into the wilderness just out of Egyptian bondage, God commanded them to build a tabernacle, a tent of worship.  A veil played an important role in this ancient worship, separating the Holy of Holies into which the high priest was allowed to enter only one time per year.  The veil hid the ark of the covenant in that holiest of places.  Also, the ark was covered with a veil that was draped on occasions over the mercy seat.

     After Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the ten commandment tables of stone, having communed with Yahweh Himself for 40 days and 40 nights, he deliberately put a veil over his face to prevent the children of Israel from seeing the glory shining from his face.  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him…And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him. Exodus 34:30, 35.

     The apostle Paul alludes to this very event and expounds on its meaning to us.  The receiving of the ten commandments  was  a  glorious  event,  so  much  so that Moses’ face did shine.  Yet, Paul calls this receiving of the Ten Commandments the “ministration of death.”  By the law is the knowledge of sin…I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet…Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. Romans 3:20; 7:7; 5:20. 

     No man, in other words, can successfully obey the Ten Commandments in his own strength, or in the flesh, as Paul calls it.  If anyone is trying to obey the law by works, deeds or actions in and of their own selves, they are under a curse.   For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.  And the law is not of faith…Galatians 3:10-12.

     The Ten Commandment law was given to show us vividly our sin and to show us that we cannot on our own strength live a life without sin.  It was imposed officially upon the children of Israel so that we could be made to see our pitiful need for the Saviour to deliver us out of the degradation and depravity of sinful behavior.  It is to instruct us concerning our despicable actions and our need for change.  Then we realize that the only way we are to ever change our lives is to believe in the sacrifice our Saviour made for us.  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  Galatians 3:23-24.

     When we are convicted of the sin in our lives, we realize  that  the  end result of that evil human behavior is death.  We realize that we are not and cannot obey those commandments in our own strength because something grabs hold of us in the sinful state, and we cannot help ourselves to become permanently better.  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death…For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 

     God’s use of the law to convict us is a very necessary step in His perfection process.  But it still remains just what Paul calls it, “the ministration of death,” for death is what it brings; it ministers death, and rightfully so.  But now, Paul is saying, those of us who have died with Christ and have been risen with Him are the ministers of the new covenant.  Our hearts have had sin completely cut out of them by the Spirit of God.  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.  Colossians 2:11-12.  Where once sin generated evil actions from within us, now the Spirit in our hearts generates righteousness.  And righteousness is that very keeping of those same Ten Commandments that were impossible to keep in our sinful state.  Our belief in the resurrection of Yahshua the Messiah from the dead regenerates us with a new spirit, a new heart, a new life!

     And so, Paul can write that God has made us able ministers of life…ministers of the new testament; not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?  II Corinthians 3:6-7.

     Moses, he goes on to explain, put a veil on his face so that they could not see the glory of the law’s bringing them to the knowledge of sin and eventually death in their inability to keep it.  And this glorious knowledge of sin would be abolished in each believer when Christ’s Spirit came into their hearts, for the law then would no longer be needed, for they would have already repented of their sin and received the Spirit.  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ.  3:14.

     Those who have not believed in Christ’s ability to put to death their old sinful self through crucifixion with Christ have a veil over their minds.  They cannot see that the Ten Commandment law is an effective tool used by God to get us to repentance from the sin in our lives.  They do not realize that by believing in His resurrection, they, too, can walk in a newness of life.  When they read about the Ten Commandment law, they believe one of two things.  Either they believe that they can keep it if they try real hard, or they believe that they do not have to keep it because the law “has been done away with.”

     But the apostle Paul clears up that latter misconception with a simple question and its answer.  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live  any  longer  therein?   Know   ye  not,  that  so

many of us as were baptized into Yahshua the Messiah were baptized into His death?  Knowing this,  that  our  old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:1-3, 6. If we have truly been baptized in a spiritual reality with Christ, our old sinful nature has been put to death, and we have been raised to walk in a “newness of life.”   Period.  End of old nature.  End of old story.

     The veil is upon their hearts—those who have not had this experience.  But when their hearts turn to the Spirit of the living God, then the veil shall be taken away from their minds. 

     There is a veil upon the hearts and minds of the masses and multitudes of peoples of the earth.  But there is a time in the near future when that veil will be re- moved.  It is a time when the sons and daughters of God will herald in a new kingdom that will fill the whole earth with His righteousness.  After He deals with the organ-ized nations of the earth, He will fill this earth with His goodness.  And He will use His sons and daughters to take the veil away.  And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.  He will swallow up death in victory; and Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for Yahweh has spoken it.  Isaiah 25:7-8.

     Yes, a veil is for hiding things.  But sooner or later those things will be unveiled, and the hidden things will become known.  So it is with the sons and daughters of God who are hidden right now from the sight of natural man.