Restoring the Blessing: Remove the Veil - Part 1 - David Mitts

Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:12-18 NASB)

I once heard from a good friend, “You don’t get what you want in life, YOU get what you picture”.  At the time I thought he was speaking about visualization of what I want in life.  So, I cut out pictures to remind myself of the things that I wanted to experience in my life.  This is definitely a truth but as I began to meditate on these things that I wanted to experience in my life, I realized what I really wanted was to be the person who could live in that reality.

Listen to Restoring the Blessing:Remove the Veil -Part 1

I realized if I could steal all of those things then I would just be a thief in that reality.  So it wasn’t really the things I wanted but to be a person who had what it took to live in that reality at peace.

"It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it."  Pro 10:22 (NASB)

I realized that sorrow is a condition of conscience.  Ultimately we want not only to succeed but to have peace in our conscience without self-justification. When I looked up the Hebrew word for sorrow I saw that it was the same word, “Atzav” in Gen 3:16

"To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.""  Gen 3:16 (NKJV)

I began to meditate on what it might mean to birth children in sorrow.  I realized that this is really a revelation of the heart of sin being in the child or in the world that the child is born into.  A mother’s heart would always be to bless and not curse.  To be born into a world under the curse of sin would bring sorrow to even the great joy of childbirth. 

So when I look at meditating on the future, I realized that the true cry of my heart would be to be a Godly person, in a Godly world.  We would call that the manifest reality of the Kingdom of God.

This is a raw reality without the stain of iniquity and the resulting sin.  Iniquity is a statement directly about a bent away from God and His ways that comes through the sorrow of childbirth.

Iniquity is what we are born into.  It is a generational influence.  I don’t like the concept of “generational curse” but it is for sure a generational influence towards certain patterns that produce sorrows.

Now what’s cool is that Yeshua specifically came deal with not just sins, not just iniquities but the “sorrows” themselves.

He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5 NKJV)

So, we see Yeshua was a man of sorrows. In other words, He was born into the iniquity of the earth, the generational distortions that came from the Garden

Now the question is how do the sorrows affect us and how was we use the power of the cross to prosper without sorrows?  How can we succeed without feeling “wrong inside”?

I think at least part of the answer is revealed in 2 Corinthians 3, a chapter we should be very familiar with but maybe we will see it in a new light.

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;* for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1.     This is about trust through Messiah unto God

2.     We are speaking of a sufficiency that is NOT from ourselves, our history, our iniquity

3.     This sufficiency is because of the New Covenant which is not according to the letter, or of a set of instructions, or how to’s which we fail at because in us is the iniquity, the sorrows producing approaches to life that are rooted in the old man.

4.     Instead we are speaking of a life of the Spirit which gives us access to the New Covenant reality.

 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

1.     Rule books and written instructions designed to bring life only bring failure or even if they work, they work inside of iniquity so we feel cheated even in our wins.

2.     The Spirit however brings a new kind of performance that is Spirit-led and brings glory or identity and God’s opinion to the believer.

For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

1.     Condemnation is the approach to life where we try in our own efforts to win but because it is performance based it leaves us feeling exposed, vulnerable and insecure. 

2.     Righteousness is an approach to life that is rooted in trusting God to empower us to be as we were created to be.  This is unique for each of us with gifts talents and a working out of our destiny, what the Bible calls salvation in fear and trembling.  We have a holy fear that draws us to want to intimately know God and His strategy for us in each moment.  This is true wisdom which the healthy fear of the Lord brings to and through us.

 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech-- unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away

1.     Hope or the promise of our Destiny becomes our reality and we know that it is released by the authority of declaration, using our voice in faith, which is called bold speech.

2.     Moses by contrast knew He was exposed to a Glory, God’s spoken will that would melt flesh and so veiled himself.

. 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. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

1.     The veil prevents access to the promises.

2.     Messiah removes the veil.

3.     We know the veil has to be more than a physical veil Moses wore but what that veil represents.

4.     The veil is a covering of the face.

5.     Messiah as the revealed face, when received removes the veil.

6.     The veil is what is between us and His Face.  It is what is between us and His promise.  It is what is between us and being able to live the life of the Spirit and accomplish our destiny, His glory.

 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:4-18 NKJV)

1.     Removing the veil is key to seeing into Face, living free of shame and iniquity, success without sorrows, and becoming who we are called to be.

2.     This is a transformation, a move from caterpillar to butterfly.

So then what is the veil?  The veil is everything that was represented by Yeshua who died for us.  The veil is our hiding mechanisms.  The veil is behaviors that are rooted in self-preservation.  The veil is the source of sorrows.  Look with me at Hebrews 10:16-25

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:16-25 NKJV)

So, the veil is the perspective of life of our ways of doing things.  It keeps us from the boldness in God we need to accomplish His Will.  The veil is our need to cover up the glory.  It is what keeps us silent.  It is what steals our joy and our power in life.

Originally the veil was erected to keep man separate from the Glory of God in the Holy of Holies.  Only the Cohen Hagadol, the High Priest could enter through the veil with blood. Now, through the death and resurrection of Yeshua the veil has been torn permanently.

Now we know from Hebrews 10, that the veil that was torn was His flesh.   That means He was always the veil in the Holy of Holies.  That makes sense when we remember in 2 Corinthians, it says that a veil lays over the hearts of Israel, that is only taken away in Messiah.  He is the veil that is torn and the veil that protected.  So when we are looking at the promises of God, His power for our lives, we need to see the veil torn, so we can come bodly to throne of Grace.

But if He is the veil that is torn, then it is Him becoming our sin that is what is torn.  So it is really our sin that is the veil.  No sin, no veil.  SO if the veil hides the true meaning of scripture as 2 Corinthians tells us and obscures the greater glory, then it is our sin that does that.  Remember sin is that perspective which is out of alignment with God’s will for us that we harbor in our heart as idolatry.

Today God wants us to fully experience the torn veil.  It is torn but religion rebuilds it in our lives or our own tradition.  It’s time to come to Him accept the grace we need for our time of breakthrough!

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:12-16 NKJV)

Activation:

Let’s ask Him what veils we have accepted and put on to hide ourselves. Let’s remove the veils.