Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
For context here, Paul has been talking about two covenants: the Old Covenant, or the Old Testament in your Bible, and then the New Covenant. He's been going back and forth. To make his point here in these verses that culminate in verse 17, he reaches all the way back to Exodus chapter 34. He describes this thing that was going on with Moses and Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments, and his interaction with God and with the people. There was a veil involved.
The Veil
When Moses would go up to speak with the Lord, the veil would come off. Then when he would come down and be with the people, he would cover his face again with the veil. When he was with the Lord, no veil; when he was with the people, the veil was there.
The idea is, with a veil you can't see, and with the veil removed you can see. What God was teaching His people, and the point that Paul brings up here, is that something must be done to remove that veil from before our eyes. In other words, you will not understand who you are, who God is, you won't understand the Word of God, if there's a veil in front of you. It's a veil you can't remove. It's a veil that must be removed by the Holy Spirit.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
When the Holy Spirit removes that veil, it sets you free. It sets me free. Paul says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17, "The Lord is the Spirit."
Think about the three persons of the Trinity. Our God is one God who exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They each have different ministries in our life. Here we're learning something of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? He removes the veil, and it brings, we're told, freedom.
Freedom From What?
Well, freedom from what? I think when we hear the word freedom, we usually think, I'm free to do whatever I want to do. That is actually not what the Bible really ever means when it talks about freedom.
Here, in this context, here is the great liberty, here is the great freedom: You have been set free to understand the Word of God. You have freedom from the veil. There's no longer a veil before your eyes so that you can't see. The veil has been removed.
You could say that you have been set free from spiritual blindness. You've been set free from the condemnation of sin. You've been set free from having to come to God like a criminal that is facing judgment. Now we are free to come to God as an adopted child, and He is our Heavenly Father.
We have been set free. We understand this freedom by the work of the Holy Spirit. We have been reconciled to God.
Living Like the Veil Is Still On
Here's the reality: You can live in the freest nation on earth and still not be truly free, not like this. Or, like Paul, you can be in a prison and you can be the freest man alive if you've been set free from spiritual blindness, if the veil has been removed, if the Holy Spirit has enabled you to see.
Some Christians, I think, today, and maybe you're one of them, are still living like that veil is on. You read the Bible and you don't really see what you need to see. Maybe you see it as a list of rules that you need to follow. Maybe you read it like a nervous employee or subject before God, and you're worried and anxious all the time. That is not the relationship you have with God through Jesus Christ. The veil has been lifted, and you can see God as your Heavenly Father.
Consider today: Where are you still relating to God with fear instead of a childlike faith?
