Lord, Remove the Veil

2Corinthians 3:14 - But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

The Laws written in the Old Testament were for that time.  It was part of God's plan.  The Commandments given to Moses and the sacrifices to be observed daily, monthly, yearly were all a precursor to today.  The Commandments still apply to us now but all the sacrifices back then did not forgive the people permanently of their sin.  In the New Testament we are introduced to Jesus, the one Sacrifice to remove the necessity of all the Old Testament sacrifices.

The Jewish people, for the most part, still look forward to their Messiah. They could not and still some do not see how all throughout the Old Testament they were being pointed to Jesus through the sacrifices and feasts.  They were blinded. They did not acknowledge Jesus when He came and they look now to a political figure who will save them.  But what earthly man can do that?  Today unbelievers are even like the Jews, blinded by His majesty and salvation, always looking to man for their needs. Israel went through times of captivity throughout the Old Testament.  God always miraculously delivered them.  Today it is Jesus who miraculously delivers. When Christ is fully revealed in a person's life, that veil is removed.

I think of the moment when Jesus died and the veil in the Jewish temple was torn from top to bottom.  Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split (Matthew 27:51).  That veil back then separated the people from the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could enter once a year to atone for the sins of the people.  It was where God "resided."  God no longer lives in a temple made by man's hands (Acts 17:24).  Because that veil was torn we are free to have access to God and the Holy of Holies through Jesus when we accept Him.  Jesus was the veil, symbolically.

Some day all people's eyes will see and know Jesus as Lord and Savior.  They will weep at their inability to have seen sooner.  Zechariah 12:10b - ...then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.  

In Christ we are no longer captive to the world and blind to freedom. When one is in Christ the veil is lifted and all things are new--we see new, we hear new, our wisdom is new.  It's amazing and glorious.  A spiritual transformation takes place that only one who has gone through it can understand.  As one of these people whose veil has been removed, it is my prayer that all, especially the Jews, have that veil lifted and the Spirit of God begin to work in their lives.

There are some Jewish people today who believe in Christ.  They have undergone their own trials because of their belief.  They are shunned by family.  I can't imagine the pain on one hand and yet joy on the other having finally had that veil removed and new life, new wisdom.  I think that's how God feels about all people:  those who turn from Him and those who choose to follow.  Let this be the day you choose whom you desire to follow--man's way or the way of Truth, the way of the Lord.

2Corinthians 4:3-4 - But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.