2 Corinthians 3:14

“But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ”

Wednesday 11^th August 1999 – Coincidentally, the day before my daughter was born – a solar eclipse came over the UK.  I remember walking  out to the back garden with my family to see the eclipse.  Heeding the warnings not to look at the sun directly, we all took turns to look at the natural spectre through the darkened lens of my Dad’s welding mask. 

This memory was brought to the surface recently through my Bible studies.   I’ve just read ‘The Holiness of God’ by RC Sproul, (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001C36CEW/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title) which I cannot recommend highly enough.  In Chapter 2, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, Sproul quotes from scripture:

"Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 

20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 

21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 

22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 

23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33:19-23)

Sproul then goes on to describe how, even just glancing the back of God meant that God’s glory would be reflected on Moses’s face, to an extent it blinded those around Moses, and he needed to wear a veil over his face in order to not terrify them.  In essence, God’s chosen people, who, like all of us, were sinners, felt indescribably uncomfortable in even the reflected presence of God’s Holiness.   I’d imagine they felt an extreme form of the uneasy feeling many of us have around figures of authority, such as police officers, or the CEO of our company.  But on a scale we can’t even begin to imagine. 

I’ve been reading the New Testament start to finish for the first time, and I read this passage in 2 Corinthians 3:14 last night.  To me, the passage really spoke about how Jesus took away the need for this veil between us and God.  The reason we feel this unease in the presence of God is because of our imperfections.  There’s no way any of us can measure up to the righteousness of God.  

Thankfully, God the Father sent Jesus, His only begotten Son to die on our behalf. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”( 2 Corinthians 5:21).  Jesus became the filter through which God sees us and us Him