To turn their heart to the Lord is to take away the veil.” Actually, their turned-away heart is the veil. When their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. “This indicates that when their heart is away from the Lord, the veil lies on their heart. What an encouraging word! Note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version tells us: “But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” In relation to our heart, 2 Corinthians 3:16 says: The answer to this question is twofold and involves both our heart and our spirit, our deepest part. Since this is the case, what can we do? How can we have the veils removed from our heart? Turning our heart to the Lord Not only so, things that seem harmless or unrelated to our Christian walk, such as our personal philosophy or cultural traditions, can also become a veil that covers our heart. These ideas can preoccupy us and prevent us from seeing the Lord. Anything that arises from our own preconceived notions or assumptions about the Word is a veil that covers our heart and prevents us from beholding the Lord.įor instance, we may have certain ideas about how we should worship God, how to please God, or how to live the Christian life. But from the example Paul used of the Jewish people, we can see that even things related to God and His Word can be a problem to us. Sinful things are certainly a problem between us and God, and we need to take care of those things. What about us today? We may think that we know who Jesus is, so Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 3 doesn’t apply to us.īut we need to realize that in principle, a veil can lie on our heart at any time. If we have a veil on our heart, how can we see God? How can He infuse Himself into us? To have a veiled heart is a serious matter. Our heart is central to our relationship with God, so the condition of our heart is crucial. Our heart is also the gateway of our being, determining whether we’re open or closed to particular people and matters. Our heart is the organ with which we love God, people, and things. Many verses in the Bible reveal that our heart is composed of our mind, emotion, will, and our conscience. Yet the Jewish people couldn’t see this, because Paul said that they had a veil on their heart. These writings revealed not a religion for people to follow but a wonderful Person, Jesus Christ. Jesus made it clear that the writings of Moses and even the entire Old Testament were concerning Himself. “And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” This chapter gives the account of the resurrected Jesus meeting and conversing with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. We know this from the Lord’s own word in Luke 24. Because of this, they couldn’t see that the writings of Moses revealed the Lord Jesus. It wasn’t the writings of Moses themselves, but what the Jewish people thought they knew about them that became a veil on their heart. Here, the apostle Paul was speaking of the Jewish people, who revered the writings of Moses in the Old Testament. “Indeed unto this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.” To see what it means to have an unveiled face, we first have to see what a veil is. So what does it mean to have an unveiled face? What is a veil? In the same way, if we believers are to behold the glory of the Lord-that is, to see Him and gaze upon His beautiful and glorious Person-we must have an unveiled face. But if the mirror is covered, or veiled, it can’t behold or reflect anything. A mirror is a surface that both beholds and reflects what’s in front of it. Here, the apostle Paul likened us believers to a mirror. “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” In this post, we’ll take a closer look at 2 Corinthians 3 with help from notes from the Recovery Version to see the things that can hinder us from being able to behold the Lord and how we can deal with them. As we behold Him, more of Christ is infused into us, resulting in a spiritual “metabolic” process: our old, natural element is replaced with more of Christ, and we spontaneously live according to Him. Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us we’re being transformed as we behold and reflect the Lord like a mirror. Instead, it’s the result of God’s life operating and growing within us. In a previous post, we saw that according to the Bible true Christian transformation isn’t brought about by an improvement in behavior, or by acting in a way we think is more Christ-like.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |