We have seen that a person who is living in the presence of the Lord, that is, in the spirit, in the Holy of Holies, is likened to a captive in a celebrating procession and to a letter. If we mean business with the Lord and desire to follow Him in the spirit, we have to be captives and we have to be inscribed with the Spirit of the living God to be the letters of Christ to express Him. In this chapter we want to see two more aspects of a person who is living in the Holy of Holies.
Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us that we need to be mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. A mirror reflects whatever it beholds. When we are beholding the Lord, we reflect the Lord. However, if a veil is placed over the mirror, nothing is reflected. Paul tells us that we need to behold the Lord with an unveiled face. We need to ask what the veil is that Paul is talking about. Some may feel that the veil here is the flesh referred to in Hebrews 10:20. But the veil in Hebrews 10 is not the veil in 2 Corinthians 3. These are two kinds of veils. The veil in Hebrews 10 is the veil within the tabernacle (Heb. 9:3), but the veil in 2 Corinthians 3 is the veil upon Moses’ face (v. 13). In type it was the veil upon Moses’ face, but spiritually what is it? Probably very few have ever considered in a proper way what the veil is in this chapter. We need to be impressed that the veil is the religious traditions or the traditional religion. Why was there a veil covering the hearts of the sons of Israel when they read the Old Testament? The veil on their hearts was the old, traditional religion.
We need to apply this understanding to ourselves. We always have a tendency to apply what we read in the Scriptures to others and not to ourselves. We may think that the Israelites in the Old Testament were foolish in many ways, and yet not realize that we are no different from them. You may have read the New Testament many times without seeing much light because you are veiled. You are covered with religious traditions, with Christian traditions. You are covered with traditional religion, with traditional Christianity. The background of Christianity may be a veil covering you. We have to realize that if we are going to live in the spirit, we have to be outside of religion, and we have to be delivered from all kinds of religious traditions. We need to go to the Lord in order to see our real situation. You may still be under the covering of the religious, traditional veil of Christianity. You may still be under the covering of the traditional teachings you received in the past. These all may have become a veil covering you from the real seeing of the Lord Himself.
The matter of religion is a real problem for those people who are seeking God. All day long many of the Lord’s seekers are hindered and veiled by religion, which keeps them from seeing something of the Lord Himself. Judaism and Christianity with Catholicism and Protestantism have become great religious systems hindering the Lord’s seekers from the experience and enjoyment of Christ as their life and everything. Religion is a device of the enemy. Who condemned the Lord Jesus to death? The Jewish religionists with the Old Testament in their hands. The religious people condemned and sentenced the Lord Jesus to death according to their understanding of the Old Testament. Who has persecuted the Lord’s seekers throughout the history of the church? The religious people. Who persecuted the apostles? The Jewish religionists. Who persecuted Martin Luther? The Roman Catholics. Sometimes you may be your own persecutor because you are so religious. You have to be released and delivered from all traditional religion.
With a mirror there is the need of an unveiled face. There is also the need for the mirror to be turned in the right direction. This is why 2 Corinthians 3:16 tells us that whenever the heart “turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Our heart needs to be turned to the Lord so we can behold Him with an unveiled face. You may feel that you have given up religion with all its traditions many years ago. You may have even left the denominations, but after that to whom did you turn? You may have turned in the wrong direction. A mirror has to be turned in the direction of your face to behold and reflect you. When the mirror turns to you, it reflects you. You may have given up traditional religion, but where is your direction? What are you after now? Are you directing yourself to the Lord Himself? Have you turned yourself to the Lord? We need to be unveiled and we need to be directed to the Lord Himself.
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