With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away—and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. II Corinthians 3:12-18
Incredibly, when Moses would speak with God on Sinai, the face of Moses would begin to glow from being in the presence of God's glory (Exodus 34:29-25). When Moses, then, would return to the Israelite people to tell them all that God had told him, the people would shy away from Moses in fear and not want to look at him. Here Moses had words directly from God but the people couldn't bear to look at and listen to Moses out of fear. A tremendous divide yet existed between God and an unbelieving and fearful people.
Paul, many years later, explained to the church in Corinth that the veil that once stood between God and people had been permanently removed but only for those who followed Jesus. Paul told about people who still were blinded by a veil due to their allegiance to old and tattered ways - ways of tradition and secularism.
Paul said, to followers of Jesus, "We're free of it! All of us!"
The question for you and me is this - "Am I now free or still a slave?" Can we see beyond the veil and, as Paul said, see God "face-to-face"? Or are we still clinging to misunderstandings and confusion such that I only see a dark, thick veil and nothing else in my pursuit of a higher being?
May the veil be lifted from in front of you due to your faith in Jesus. You are free.
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