Removing the Veil

“Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” – 2 Corinthians 3:16

Seed:

Deuteronomy 30:9-16; Isaiah 25:6-8; John 6:63-69; Romans 8:2-8; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18

Plant:

Have you ever heard the saying, “Once you see something, you can’t unsee it”? I’ve heard and used this expression over the years, and it can be applied two ways. One is when you actually see something, either majestic or gruesome, and it stays with you. You see it replay in your mind over and over again. It elicits either a sense of longing or foreboding whenever its memory comes to mind. Whether by choice or by chance, its image is now etched in your mind, and you can’t unsee it.

Another use is when you either notice or someone else points out the similarity between one thing and another. For example, there is an abstract picture my mother painted hanging in our home. I always thought it looked like mountains with the sun setting behind and a stream wandering across the field below them. One day, I realized how similar the texture in this picture is to the lava fields we explored in Hawai’i. Now I can’t unsee it. Whenever I look at the picture, the peaceful mountainous landscape I once saw now wrestles in my mind with the memory of the harsh, rocky landscape left behind by Mauna Loa’s fierce eruptions.

Years ago, I had a “can’t unsee it” experience with God’s Word. Once God opened my heart to His Torah, I can’t unsee it. It has become the thing through which I not only view scripture, but how I see myself and the world around me. 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 sums this experience up perfectly. If you’re anything like me, sometimes it takes a few different ways of receiving information for your brain to fully wrap around it, so here it is in two different translations just to give us all a more vivid picture:

“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – ESV 

“What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away. Yes, till today, whenever Moshe is read, a veil lies over their heart. “But,” says the Torah, “whenever someone turns to Adonai, the veil is taken away. Now, “Adonai” in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of Adonai is, there is freedom. So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by Adonai the Spirit.” – CJB

During Old Testament times, before Messiah came, people read scripture with a veil over their faces, without the full understanding of who Messiah was to be. Not just in the flesh, but as an emissary of freedom. Our freedom. Freedom from the bondage to sin. Freedom from the penalty of our sin. Freedom from the inability to resist sin and live for righteousness. Freedom from the compulsion to satisfy our fleshly desires. Freedom to overcome all that separates us from our Heavenly Father.

We are told that in Messiah we are given the ability (freedom) to flee from evil and pursue that which is good, but how will we know which is which without something to guides us? Yeshua (Jesus) said that He didn’t come to abolish the Law (Torah), but to fulfill it. He came to show us how to live according to Torah the way God intended so that we might learn to do likewise. Torah is the light that exposes sin and illuminates righteousness. (Rom. 3:20,31) The law is not a heavy burden as many believe, but a joy, a blessing, and life. (Deut. 30:19-20, Psa. 119:92-93; Rom. 7:22; 1 John 5:3… and so many more.)

It is only through Messiah that we see Torah for what it is… our freedom.

Years ago, I gave God permission to rewrite my faith. To take anything that I believed about Him that wasn’t true and get rid of it, and to strengthen what was true so that my faith might be genuine and pure. I began to read the Bible and let Him speak to me Himself instead of listening to what someone else had to say about Him. It was then that He began to open my eyes to the beauty of His Word… all of it. I began to see Torah, His law, through the lens of Messiah. And now, I can’t unsee it.

Everything makes so much more sense. Things that didn’t fit together before have now become seamless threads in a beautiful tapestry. Seeming contradictions now come together into a single truth. In our turning to the LORD through faith in Messiah, the veil truly is lifted, and we begin to see Him as He really is. Yeshua (Jesus) walked according to Torah, and we are called to walk as He walked. To imitate Him. To follow Him. And when we do, that is when we begin the transformation into His likeness, from one degree of glory to another. And the freedom that comes from Torah, from faith, from the power of His Holy Spirit in us, becomes a reality in our lives.

Just as the pharisees presented to Israel a legalistic view of the Law through works and manmade decrees, we have been presented with a false messiah who did away with the Law altogether. Neither of these views are correct. Both of them are veiled displays of the truth, keeping us from seeing and experiencing the freedom Messiah offers to us all. And hindering us from being changed into His image. If we can’t see what He looks like, how can we become like Him?

We are told that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Word made flesh. (John 1:14) We are also told that Torah is the Word. Torah was the written Word; Messiah is the living Word. They are one in the same. Yeshua is the Word of God, the living, incarnate righteousness of the God of all creation. It is in this realization that the veil is lifted from our face, and we can see clearly the glory of God. And once you see His glory, it becomes something you can’t… something you never want to unsee.

Harvest:

• In what ways has my view of Messiah and Torah been distorted?
• Am I willing to let God rewrite my faith into one that is based on the truth of who He is?
• Read the whole of Psalm 119 this week and ask God to help you see His Torah the way David, a man after God’s own heart, did.

Father, thank You for sending Messiah that I might be free. I ask you right now to cause Your freedom to be a reality in my life. Show me anywhere that I am in bondage, anywhere that sin has a hold in my life. Send Your Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth. Father, You are truth, and it is Your truth that will set me free. I thank You and praise You in the name of Yeshua our Messiah. Amen

Embracing Freedom

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Seed:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20;

Psalm 119:129-136

Romans 3:1-31

1 John 5:1-4

Plant:

When Israel was in Egypt, they had many rules to follow. As slaves, they were told when to wake up and when to go to sleep, what they could eat, and what task they were required to complete each day. They weren’t even allowed the freedom to worship their own God.

Once they were rescued out of Egypt and freed from their bondage, they didn’t know what to do. There was no Pharaoh, there was no slave driver, there was no tyrant barking out orders. So what did they do? They grumbled at Moses, disregarded the LORD, and when they tried to make up their own way of doing things they wound up in all kinds of trouble. At one point they even mourned the captivity from which they’d been delivered.

There is a modern term for this kind of behavior. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome. This is when a victim identifies with or attaches to their abuser. Some signs of this include appeasement of their captor, learned helplessness, and unwillingness to detach from their abuser and heal. In extreme cases, they will even resist any attempt to be rescued.

It would seem logical that over four hundred years as slaves in a foreign land might have this effect on a people. The slavery Israel endured must have somehow become normal to them. After all, the generation alive at the time of the exodus had never known freedom. And as they sat at the foot of Mt. Sinai, with Moses atop the mountain and nothing to do but sit and wait, the Israelites grew restless.

They were in unknown territory, both physically and metaphorically, and the memories of the pagan gods of Egypt seemed to have offered some comfort. Rather than rest in this new found freedom, they longed to return to the life they knew.

I’m sure they were wondering why they should trade the rules of the Egyptians for the rules of a God they hardly knew. After all, they didn’t even know what His rules were going to be. Maybe they felt they were simply exchanging one task master for another. Who knows why they resisted the future the LORD was offering, but I’m sure it probably had something to do with not wanting to let go of the familiarity of the past.

What they failed to see was that the rules of the Egyptians were a form of oppression. The rules of God are a means of redemption. Instead of being forced into slavery, they were being invited into relationship. A covenant with the God of all creation who promised provision, love, and peace.

Without God, we too are slaves. But our captor isn’t a person, it’s our sin. We are forced to obey the very thing that keeps us imprisoned in this life and inevitably leads to our destruction in the next.

But with God, we are freed from the law of sin and death and now can choose to follow the law of grace. We still have rules to follow, but they are for our welfare, not our sorrow. Instead of beatings, we get blessings. Instead of hostility, we get love. Instead of appeasement, we find pleasure. Instead of death, we’re offered life.

Obedience to the LORD’s commands is not oppressive or restrictive or a burden. Rather they are uplifting, healing, and a joy. We are finally fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created, and there is nothing better than that.

Just as Israel had a choice, so do we. The LORD has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. Let us choose this day whom we will serve. (Joshua 24:14-15)

Harvest:

LORD, Heavenly Father, show me Your ways and teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth for you are my God and Savior. Search my heart, oh LORD, and know me. Show me if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Help me to show my love for You by keeping Your commandments with my whole heart, because You loved me first and saved me from my sins. Amen.

(Prayer taken from Psalm 25:4-5, Psalm 139:23-24, John 14:15, and 1 John 4:19)