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

She Believed God

Seed:

Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:1-25; Galatians 3:1-9; Hebrews 11:1-40; James 2:14-26; 1 John 5:1-12

Plant:

Last week, I posed a question on social media. I asked: If you could only be remembered for one thing, what would you want it to be? The number one answer was to be remembered as a kind person. Several wanted to be remembered as one who followed God faithfully and stood for His truth above all else. There were others answers as well, but every one was a good one. Unless it is somehow for evil, I’m not sure there is a wrong way to answer this question.

This question, as are most questions I pose to others, was prompted by the fact that I was asking myself the very same thing. While washing dishes a few days earlier, I began talking with God over my kitchen sink, and a verse came to mind. “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” (Romans 4:3)

Abraham believed God… What a beautiful way to be remembered.

Believed. What does it really mean to believe? To trust? To have faith? Does scripture give us a clear definition of what belief is or is it some vague concept of accepting as true the words or promises of another, specifically God? Thankfully, God is pretty good at giving us answers to questions like this. Sometimes we just have to dig a little bit to find it. In 1 John we are given a very clear and specific answer to what it means to believe.

“Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?” – 1 John 5:1-5

The Greek word for believe in the above scripture is pisteuō. According to Strong’s Concordance, it means to have confidence, faith, to be persuaded, commit, entrust (especially one’s wellbeing to Messiah).  Let’s take this a step further. The word entrust, according to Dictionary.com, means 1) to charge or invest with a trust or responsibility; charge with a specific office or duty involving Trust: “We entrusted him with our lives.” 2) to commit (something) in trust to; confide, as for care, use, or performance; to entrust a secret, money, powers, or work to another.

There are so many directions I could go from here. This concept of belief, especially in context of 1 John 5, is packed with foundational scriptural insight. But we’re only going to build on the foundation of our foundation today.

Our belief is rooted in the knowledge that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah. The only atoning sacrifice for our sin. The only source of payment acceptable and worthy to release us from our debt. And it goes beyond that knowledge into a full entrusting of our very lives to the charge of His care. To entrust Messiah with our lives means to give Him full authority over our money, work, abilities, health, purpose, thoughts, desires, even our very existence. To give Messiah permission to use these new lives we now have in Him however He sees fit. That is what it means to believe.

Abraham believed. His belief was built upon the same foundation ours is – Messiah. He believed God would send the Messiah He promised through Abraham’s seed. We believe in a Missiah who came, he believed in a Messiah to come. The same God. The same Messiah. The same promise. The same way of Salvation. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

A trustee is the person responsible for the handlings of any of the assets in a trust. He is the one who makes sure the terms of the trust are carried out. When Abraham believed, he handed over the responsibility for his care to the One who was to come. Messiah became the trustee of Abraham’s life. God’s instructions to Abraham concerning righteousness and justice were the terms of that trust. And by living according to those terms, Abraham was able to receive what the LORD had promised him.

“For I have made myself known to him so that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of Adonai by doing righteousness and justice, so that Adonai may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”  – Genesis 18:19

Faith has always been the way to salvation. Works of righteousness have never saved a single person. But once we believe (have faith, trust, confidence), those works of righteousness become the terms by which we live our lives. Messiah was charged with making sure those terms are clearly known to everyone who believes in Him. When He came in the flesh, He taught His disciples how to live. He didn’t just teach them with words. He showed them. He modeled for them, and us, how to walk according to the terms of the trust of our belief. He lived according to the instructions of God – Torah.

When we violate those terms (sin), we violate that trust and forfeit the promise that comes with it. We cannot live our lives however we want and expect God to bless us. Living how we want instead of how God instructs shows that we don’t truly believe.

We can’t give Him some of our lives. This part but not that. If we truly believe, we are submitting the whole of who we are to the fullness of who He is. This doesn’t mean we won’t mess up occasionally. Abraham did. David did. The disciples did. We will, too. This is where grace comes in. Grace is the force that picks us up, brushes us off, and strengthens our resolve to continue to uphold the terms of our trust. But sinful behavior should not be something we choose, justify, or embrace.

If I could only choose one thing, that’s what I want people to remember about me… She believed God.

My mind is going in so many directions right now. I’m not sure I would be able to make sense of it all enough to relate it to you in this blog. This is one of those sit on the couch together for hours as we talk excitedly about all the connections and colors and beauty hidden and bursting forth in the Word of God. So, I’ll leave you today with this last verse and pray that we will both see all the things our Father wants us to see as we learn what it means to truly believe.

“After you heard the message of truth—the Good News of your salvation—and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession—to His glorious praise! Therefore, ever since I heard of your trust in the Lord Yeshua and of your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I mention you in my prayers— that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, our glorious Father, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in knowing Him.” – Ephesians 1:13-17

Harvest:

• Does my belief line up with the Biblical definition of belief?
• Are there any areas of my life which I have not yet entrusted to Messiah?
• If I could only choose one thing, how would I hope to be remembered?