In previous messages we have considered Romans 6 and 8 and the entire book of Philippians in regard to the experience and growth in life. In this message we will consider how transformation is related to our growth in life. The measure of our growth in life depends upon the measure of our transformation.
Second Corinthians 3:15 through 18 says, “But unto this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart; but whenever it turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The main point of these verses is transformation.
In chapters three and four of 2 Corinthians, Paul primarily deals with the ministry of the Old Testament and the ministry of the New Testament. In this portion of chapter three, he deals with the matter of transformation. God has transferred us from the Old Testament ministry to the New Testament ministry. This transfer is for transformation. Because we have been transferred, we can be transformed.
Under the Old Testament ministry, a veil lies over the heart. Second Corinthians 3:14-15 says, “For until the present day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant....But unto this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.” The “present day” refers to the time of Paul’s writing his Epistle to the Corinthians when Paul was carrying out the New Testament ministry. Until that time the Jews still had a veil upon their heart whenever they read the Old Testament writings. Today, two thousand years later, it is still the same among most of the Jews.
Apparently the Jewish rabbis and the Jewish seeking ones love God, but their love of God is according to their traditions. According to a recent news report, the Jewish religious leaders charged their people not to set foot on the Temple Mount, where the site for the temple is presumed to be, lest they accidentally step on the site of the ancient Holy of Holies and offend God. This is an example of their devotion to God according to their traditions. They love God completely according to their traditions and without any light from the Lord. They read the Old Testament, but they cannot see any light.
Many of the Jews are very devoted, but they are also thoroughly veiled. Apparently their heart loves the Lord; actually their heart is still turned away from the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 3:15-16 Paul says, “A veil lies on their heart; but whenever it turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” “It” in verse 16 refers to the “heart” in verse 15. This means that whenever the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. The veil is their turned-away heart. Because the direction of their heart is wrong, they are veiled. If our angle in viewing an object is wrong, we cannot see anything. We have to adjust our view, then we will be able to see clearly. Our self with the wrong angle is the veil. When we turn ourselves to the right angle, we see. At Paul’s time many of the Jews were seeking God, but the direction of their hearts was wrong. Because they were not in the proper direction, they became a veil to themselves. Therefore, Paul said, “Whenever it [the heart] turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).
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