By Doug Bell
2 Corinthians 3:
12 “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—
13 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.
14 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.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 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.”
*****
We see in our verses Paul using an actual event & turned it into a Metaphor. Look again!
13 “…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.
14 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.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.“
We read of this incident in Exodus 34:
29 “Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.
32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.”
So here is the actual event that the Apostle is talking about in the New Testament. The glow on Moses face, from talking to God ‘scared’ the people. So in between Moses’s talks with God, he (Moses) wore a veil.
But Paul takes this event and says, but it is more! It is a Metaphor for the condition of a lost person, anyone before they come to Christ.
In fact, the Bible uses quite a lot of different Metaphors to describe “the lost.” Such as;
1.) doesn’t see or know him (John 14:17-20)
2.) cannot understand (1 Corinthians 2:14)
3.) see message of cross as foolish (1 Cor. 1:18)
4.) blind Guides (Matthew 15:14)
5.) walking in darkness (1 John 2:11)
6..) blind (Zephaniah 1:17)
7.) Christ is stumbling block/foolish(1 Cor. 1:23)
8.) blind eyes/harden hearts (John 12:39-40)
9.) deceived and believe lies (2 Thess. 2:10-12)
10) a depraved mind (Romans 1:28-32)
And many others!
But Notice! “16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” This is indeed, “Good News!” It doesn’t matter if there was a ‘veil over a heart.’ If one was deaf, blind, and in darkness. It doesn’t even matter if anyone had a hard heart, believed lies, or even a depraved mind! When any person “turns to the Lord,” all these obstacles are taken away.
This is the glory of Salvation!
2 Corinthians 5:
17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”