Reading Moses
without the veil
Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
A person can read the Bible and not get it. A multitude of people had that experience. The way Paul describes this kind of reading is reading with a veil over the face. The problem isn’t intellectual. What I mean is, it isn’t that the person reading lacks the reading comprehension skills, or intellectual capacity normally associated with understanding what is being read. It is a spiritual problem. There is a level of truth in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, that is hidden from those whose mind is blinded by spiritual death.
They can read and understand to some degree. They will, if they want to, grasp the basic story, who are the characters involved, what is the timeline, and what happened. They can answer the who, what, when, where, how, and why questions. At least they can on the surface level. But to discern, see, and understand The Story is another issue altogether.
This is perfectly illustrated in the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was after the resurrection and they encountered Jesus while they were traveling, although they didn’t realize at first it was Jesus whom they were talking to. Luke recounts the events in that Jesus took them through the Old Testament (a book they were very familiar with) and explained to them how those Old Testament stories, laws, poems, and prophecies all pointed to Him as the Messiah. They had read and understood the Old Testament on one level, but they were completely blind to what its main point was until their eyes were opened to see it.
It wasn’t just that Jesus explained it to them, as if all they needed was some better and more clear teaching. That was important, but even more necessary was the spiritual heart work that had to be done. “Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him,” and then they said to one each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
This is the same point Paul is making, but he is using a veil as an analogy. “To this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” The veil of spiritual blindness has to be removed or the mind is hardened against the truth of Scripture. Don’t be puzzled when you find people puzzled by what you find to be the clear message of the gospel in the Scriptures. Realize they have a veil over their hearts. Pray they would turn to the Lord who opens the mind and heart and removes the veil so they can see.