THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE -- Tomorrow:
"But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor 3:15-18, KJV)
Devotion 20 of 33
" . . . with open face . . . "
Other versions read, "with unveiled face" (NKJV), "with unveiled faces all reflect," (NIV), "have had the veil removed" (NLT), "uncovered faces" (IE), and "with faces uncovered" (WILLIAMS).
WITH
This is the mode of the Kingdom – "with." It describes the means by which the required moral and spiritual change will be accomplished. For example, we properly serve the Lord "WITH" our spirit (Rom1:9) and "WITH" our mind (Rom 7:25). The effective confession of Christ is "WITH" the mouth (Rom 10:9), and believing is "WITH the heart" (Rom 10:10). How is it, then, that we will experience the change that will now be described?
OPEN FACE
An "open face" is one that is not veiled. It describes a person whose heart is not dominated by spiritual ignorance. It parallels Moses' manner when he was before the Lord. Although he veiled his face when speaking with the people, "when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he TOO THE VEIL OFF, until he came out" (Ex 34:34). In so doing he was fully exposed to the Lord. Had he failed to do this, the skin of his face would not have shone, and he would have possessed no evidence that he had been in the Lord's presence.
You will remember that it has already been affirmed that turning to the Lord CAUSES the veil to be "taken away." The purpose of this removal is not merely to "shine before men," so to speak. It is rather that we might be the more fully exposed to the glory of the Lord.
The experience that follows does not speak of a change from carnal to spiritual. Carnal is the condition of the veil, and thus is not the condition being considered here. An "open face" speaks of the "new man" (Col 3:10), the "inward man" (2 Cor 4:16), and "whosoever is born of God" (1 John 5:18).
This word suggests the liability of the returning veil – a condition in which one actually reverts to the state of spiritual ignorance from which he was once delivered. This is really what had occurred in Corinth, and thus a certain retardation took place among them – a condition that was more closely aligned with the unregenerate state than that of regeneration.
Here, the "face" stands for the heart, and thus an "open face" is a heart that is no longer uncircumcised no longer covered over with the flesh so that it cannot see. It depicts a heart that has been "purified by faith" (Acts 15:9) – a heart that has been "sprinkled clean from an evil conscience" (Heb 10:22, NASB). This is the heart from which the veil has been removed!
It is not possible to engage in heavenly commerce with natural aptitude. That is, "the mind of the flesh" cannot take hold of the things of God, for it is "enmity against God." It "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom 8:7). Such a mind is like a veiled face that cannot see. It is a heart that is covered over with an obscuring veil, and thus cannot make sense out of the things of God. If you are going to receive from God, you must look with an "open," or unveiled, face. This is something that is done by "we all." There must be full and unhindered exposure to Divine glory, else the resulting change, or growth, CANNOT take place!
VARIOUS VEILS
Among professed believers there have always been spiritual veils that inhibited spiritual vision.
EVE. When Eve ceased to consider the word of the Lord, and chose to dialog with the devil, a veil dropped over her heart. What God had clearly stated was suddenly blurred. The tree that was plainly identified as the gate to death was the thought to be a means to obtaining wisdom (Gen 3:6).
ISRAEL. When Israel stopped considering the God of heaven, and started pondering the wilderness through which they had to pass, a veil dropped over their heart. They began to murmur against God, even though He had promised to care for them (Num 21:5).
DEMAS. When Demas began looking at this world, a veil dropped over his heart. He no longer saw the work of the Lord as something to be preferred, and thus abandoned it, "having loved this present world" (2 Tim 4:10).
SUMMARY
As soon as a person's attention is diverted from the Lord of glory, a veil immediately begins to cover the heart. The things of God cannot be clearly seen while one's attention is devoted to lesser things. In order for God to be seen through Christ Jesus, our attention must be FOCUSED on Him. In spiritual life, diversion and distraction are the means through which demise and falling occurs. If heeded, they cause the heart to be veiled once again – veiled again AFTER the veil had once been removed! The bane of much of the theology and religion of our day is that they are filled with distractions that tend to veil the heart and thus obscure the truth.
Those who maintain that once a person is saved they can never be lost must substantiate that the heart can never again be veiled once it is unveiled. There is such overwhelming evidence of the nonsense of this supposition that no person of sound mind will attempt to defend it. Backsliding, retrogression, ignorance, coldness, lukewarmness, and disinterest are so common in the professed Christian community that is it mind-boggling.
The Spirit will now establish that the change required for glorification cannot possibly be achieved within the sphere of disinterest and distraction. There is no need to speculate about this. God will not transform people by knocking them down! And, He will surely not doing it while they enamored of the things of this world. He may get their attention while they are in that way, as seen in Saul of Tarsus. However, conformity to the image of God's Son will not come by force. It will be accomplished by looking, beholding, and considering by spiritual focus. This is the fundamental work that is being accomplished in Christ, in the New Covenant, and in salvation.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask for grace to behold Your Son in the Gospel without a veil over my heart – without theological biases, and sectarian templates.