Remove the Veil

“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.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

This is one of my all-time favorite verses of Scripture. It describes the process of Christian maturity. To grow in Christ, to become like our Lord, we must come before Him with “unveiled face.” In other words, we must pursue honest intimacy in our relationship with Christ.

Think about the use of veils in Scripture. Tamar wore a veil to hide her identity and intentions from her father-in-law, Judah. When Rebekah approached her husband-to-be, Isaac, she covered her face with a veil for a different reason. At this point in their relationship, there were parts of Rebekah, both physically and emotionally, that she was not yet ready to share with Isaac.

There was a veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the temple. It represented the distance between God and human beings. Once a year, the High Priest carried the blood of atonement behind the veil as a sacrifice for the atonement of Israel’s sins. The word atonement means covering. The same word was used to describe God covering Adam and Eve’s nakedness in the Garden after their sin.

When Paul uses the image of the veil in this verse, it is clearly a metaphor for intimacy and trust. I love the story in the Old Testament book of Zechariah of Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the Lord. Satan appears and begins accusing Joshua, who is described as dressed in filthy rags. But suddenly, Joshua’s rags are removed by the Lord, who, in turn, covers him with a white robe. I read this passage for years before it suddenly occurred to me that between the rags and the robe, Joshua stood in all his nakedness before God.

What a picture and what a message is found here for us. Our Lord wants us to come before him just as we are. As I used to say from the pulpit, “God meets us where we are and takes us to where He is calling us to be.” But in order for God to take you and me where He wants us to be, we must be willing to remove the veils (or maybe it would be better to say, we must allow God to remove the veils - I kind of think it’s both/and) in order to see ourselves and Him as we really are. This is how spiritual growth and Christian maturity take place.

Have you come to the place in your relationship with Jesus that you are ready to remove the veil?

In Christ,

Dan

Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.