When Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, they crossed the Red Sea and traveled to the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses came into the presence of God often to receive ordinances and instructions as God’s prophet and leader of the people. Exodus 34:30 tells us that, after being in God’s presence, the skin of Moses’ face shone and the people were afraid to come near him. As a result, Moses began to wear a veil over his face when speaking with the people, but he removed the veil when speaking with God.
Paul compared the fear of the Israelites of Moses’ day to look upon the evidence of God’s glory beneath Moses’ veil to the reluctance of the Jews of the first century to lift the veil of ignorance and prejudice to see the spiritual truth that lay beneath. In 2 Corinthians 3:15, Paul wrote, “But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.”
Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled perfectly every Messianic prophecy. Were it not for the spiritual blindness of the people, they would have seen Jesus in every word. Jesus told them they could look at the sky and predict the weather, but they were incapable of discerning the signs of the times (Matthew 16:2-3). When Moses was read in their hearing, they had the veil of political ambition over their hearts. The veil of ignorance blinded them to the facts of Jesus’ birth and upbringing that fulfilled prophecy. The veil of human doctrines and traditions caused them to reject His teachings and miracles. Because of the veil of preconceived notions, the Jews were looking for a conquering king to reestablish the glorious kingdom of David in the city of Jerusalem. Instead, Messiah established a spiritual kingdom; what a disappointment for them!
Of course, there is a word of warning in Paul’s message of 2 Corinthians 3. We can approach God’s word seeking to justify our own wills and fail to see the will of God in the process. We can view the Scriptures through the distortion of human doctrines and traditions. We can twist God’s revelation, trying to make it fit the cultural and political thinking of the day. When we do those things, we are placing a veil over our hearts just as surely as the Israelites did.
Paul wrote in verse 16 of our text, “But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” We must look to the New Testament of Jesus Christ with as much honesty and sincerity as we can possibly muster. will never see clearly until we remove the veil and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of the Murray Ledger & Times.
