Get Rid of That Veil

Introduction

**Take a moment to breathe, take a moment to glancd over your notes and then begin.**

As I was preparing for this study, I asked God “why would a sermon like this be needed?” Why is it necessary to talk about the new covenant and its contrast to the old covenant?

God’s helped me see “Many people who have been in the institutional church—some all their lives—have never heard the gospel, once.” He stated, “it is important that I save the ones you assume are already saved.”

Friends—no matter how long we’ve been in church. If we have not believed the gospel of Jesus Christ and His kingdom, we will not be saved.

This is why it is important to study the entirety of Scripture; to know and believe the message God has given concerning His Son. A good place to start our quest for understanding and believing is in the books of Moses.

When the name Moses is called, I only think of one figure. In fact, as I think about it, I have never known another Moses besides the one from the biblical narrative. Moses is the most revered leader in Judaism. Ancient writings in the traditions of Judaism refer to him as the King, Prophet, or Revelator. This kind of reputation and reverence makes Exodus 33:12-23 very interesting (**explain or summarize Exodus 33:12-23**).

Moses was the only individual in the nation of Israel to see God face-to-face. Yet, when He had an opportunity to ask God for something, He requested these things:

An understanding of God’s ways (Exodus 33:13)

Knowing God’s ways will allow him to know Him

Knowing God will lead to finding favor with God

Favor, therefore, comes from knowing God. Knowing God comes from understanding His ways.

An experience with God’s visible glory (Exodus 33:18, 34:5-7)

**Refer to previous explanation under point 1.**

When we look at Moses’s requests in Exodus 33, it is as if he knew He was lacking something—something those experiences in the mountain could not provide.

Attached to Moses’s experience is the writing of the second copy of the Law of Moses. So, in the nation of Israel, there was no way to separate the glory of God from the law of God, because the law of God was given within the experience of His glory. And from this, the law of Moses was seen as a glorious.

Additionally, the association of Moses with the glorious coming of the law was inseparable. After Moses received the law and spent 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain of God, he came down from the mountain—not knowing his face was radiant from being in God’s presence. In Exodus 34:29-35, Moses describes the encounter he shares with the nation of Israel after coming down from the mountain. It was a terrifying experience! They were afraid and hesitant to come near him. From their he began to share all that God revealed to Him while in the mountain.

Imagine this experience—in the same moment the nation of Israel is terrified by the residue of being in God’s presence, they are given a law. Essentially the law of Moses was associated with the terror of God’s glory.

The Problem of the Veil

Accordingly, Exodus 34:29-35, describes Moses as wearing a veil.

**Read Exodus 34:29-35**

Veils, no matter their use, were always intended to block or separate.

The most popular veil in the Bible is the veil that divided the tabernacle into two parts. Only the high priest was allowed to enter beyond the veil once a year (Exodus 26:31-32 c.f. Hebrews 9:1-10- READ!).

The Old Covenant famously restrained the nation of Israel from God. It was not a means of getting as close as one may desire. Rather, the Old Covenant permitted individuals to get as close as they could without dying.

However, there’s another veil in Scripture that did individually what the tabernacle/ temple veil did institutionally—the veil of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35- READ!).

In ancient times, veils would allow the wearer to see, but prevent them from being seen. In other words, the veil was a separator that kept people away.

What good is a message, belief, or a gospel that pushes others away? May we never be proud of a message that allows us to walk around with a veil on our faces, in our religious superiority and pride. The message that God has given us is meant to be shared with others, face-to-face.

This mentioning of the veil properly expresses what living in the Old Covenant is like. And in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Paul uses this example to describe the contrast between the Old Covenant as followed:

Old way verses new way

Glory of the old way verses the [better] glory of new way

Veil verses unveiled

law verses Spirit

None of us walked in here with bulls, goats, or doves. We have moved into a more enlightened time—where we assume such living is barbaric. However, even in our sophistication, none of us came in offering our bank accounts, cars, homes, or other earthly possessions for remission of our sins. Yet, we should not assume we have properly entered God’s presence by the grace He has given. In this time we are living in, our additional offerings still remain—just in a different form.

Some have brought their church’s doctrine—full of man made religion that has been prescribed as the only way to get into heaven.

Some have brought their personal revelation and experiences with God, so they can say, “I don’t care what anyone says…I know what God has said to me.”

Some have brought their subjective rationale that they inherited from university or independent study, so the gospel appears too foolish to believe or prove true.

Some have brought their squeaky clean appearance that allows them to look down on others, because of their “not so perfect past.”

Some are coming with their opinions and expectations, so we are unable to accept what God has given unless they look like, sound like, and feel like we think they should.

God has called us to abandon these ways of thinking. For, these all are the old ways of our lifetime, which must be abandoned for the new way that has been created by Jesus Christ long ago.

**Read and expound on the text**

The old way came because of God’s glory, but the new way comes in God’s glory (2 Corinthians 2:7-11).

The old way shines God’s glory from our face, but the new way shines in the glory God has shared in our hearts.

Hope in the new way creates confidence (2 Corinthians 3:12).

Only Christ can remove the veil and place us in the new way (2 Corinthians 3:13-18).

Paul makes two observations on why it is important to leave the old way for the new way:

The veil removed by belonging to Christ (2 Corinthians 3:14)

removed/ set aside: to be or become idle, inactive, inoperative, or useless.

The veil is removed when one turns to Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16)

removed: to remove something that is wound or wrapped around something else

Conclusion: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The glory that is in us is a reflection of God’s glory. This glory take us to higher levels of glory as we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ [not our pastor, denomination, thoughts].