3:12 ¶ Seeing then that we have such hope, we use
great plainness of speech: 13 And not as
Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this
day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament;
which vail is done away in Christ. 15
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their
heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall
turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 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.
Paul here likens the vail Moses put on his face as exemplifying
the Jews inability to see beyond the Law and to see Christ in their experience.
Exodus 34:28 ¶ And he was there with the LORD forty days and
forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the
tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down
from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came
down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while
he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron
and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone;
and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31
And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the
congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32 And afterward all the children of Israel came
nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in
mount Sinai. 33 And till Moses had done speaking with
them, he put a vail on his face. 34 But
when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off,
until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of
Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon
his face again, until he went in
to speak with him.
The Old Testament is filled with prophecies of Christ. Jesus
Himself made this clear.
Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory? 27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself… [then at a later gathering of the Apostles] 45
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures,
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they
are they which testify of me.
Here are some brief examples from Moses’ writings fourteen
centuries before Christ;
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together.
Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of
this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour
next unto his house take it
according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall
make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year: ye shall take it
out from the sheep, or from the goats:
Christ is a savior, the only savior, and your savior. Here in
Isaiah in the eighth century before Christ.
Isaiah 53:1 ¶ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him. 3 He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment:
and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 ¶ Yet it pleased the LORD to
bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities. 12
Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he
hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Here is the Psalm Christ directed us to from the Cross itself
which is filled with prophecies of Him. It is a Psalm of David written a
thousand years before Christ.
Psalm 22:1 ¶ « To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth
Shahar, A Psalm of David. » My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but
thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But thou art holy, O thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were
delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. 6 But I am
a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they
shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him
deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 9
But thou art he that
took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 ¶ Be not far from me; for
trouble is near; for there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all
my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of
my bowels. 15 My strength is dried up
like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me
into
the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of
the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast
lots upon my vesture. 19 But be not thou
far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling
from the power of the dog. 21 Save me
from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 ¶ I will declare thy name unto
my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the
seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the
affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he
cried unto him, he heard. 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they
shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and
turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before
thee. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the
governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that
go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be
accounted to the Lord for a generation. 31
They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that
shall be born, that he hath done this.
Hopefully you are reading your Bible from cover to cover
regularly. The next time you read it please look for Christ in every passage
and you will be amazed.
When one turns to Christ the vail that keeps His face from being
seen in the Old Testament is removed. Christ will reveal Himself to the Jews as a nation again at the
end of human-centered history. Read Revelation, chapter 12, in its entirety.
Verse 17 refers to the liberty to know Christ as He knows us. The
vail is taken away for us, Jew and Gentile who make up the church.
We really don’t understand God’s
sovereignty or the deeper doctrines of the Bible like the resurrection of the
dead. Paul admitted that and that he hoped to know and understand Jesus as
Jesus knew and understood him. Keep in mind in the next verses that, “attain
unto,” is to wrap your mind around, to comprehend, defined in Psalm 139:6 and
Proverbs 1:5, and although apprehend is only used in the next verses one of the
early meanings of that word was, to understand or to know, which you can
confirm by Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary or the Early Modern English Database.
“To attain unto,” and to, “apprehend,” then have similar or synonymous meanings
as evidenced by how they are used in contrast to each other in the following
with, “know,” as the foundation for interpreting the passage;
Philippians 3:9
¶ And be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I
may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, 14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
John wrote;
1John 3:1 ¶ Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Paul wrote earlier in 1Corinthians 13;
12
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I
know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
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