THE SAME VAIL UNTAKEN AWAY

The contrast which forms the background for our reading is between the glory linked with the ministration or giving of the law, and the glory linked with the new covenant, vv. 7-11. The giving of the law is linked with glory, but that glory pales before the glory of the grace of God.

Paul contrasts the plainness of his speech which this truth affords him, with the vail which Moses had to employ when he addressed the children of Israel. Here, centuries later, we learn for the first time one of the purposes of the vail. It was to prevent the children of Israel from seeing a fading glory. Paul now employs the metaphor of the vail and says that the very same vail remains on their hearts when the unbelieving nation reads the Old Testament scriptures.

The key to the Old Testament is Christ. When the heart turns to Christ, all becomes intelligible. It is as though a light shines upon the scriptures and the true meaning of the teaching becomes clear. But Paul recognizes that this is possible only by the power of the Spirit of God, v. 17. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’, has often been used as an excuse to justify every conceivable excess of behaviour which goes beyond scrip­ture. But its true interpretation is linked with the liberty which the Spirit of God affords to free believers from the limitations which the vail imposed and to reveal Christ in all His fullness and the blessings linked with Him.

In this day of grace, ‘we all’, with an unveiled face, can now behold the glory of the Lord who has secured for us all the blessings of a new covenant. As we behold that glory, we are transformed from a glory that was once linked with the ‘min­istration of death,’ to a glory which remains, v. 11, and excels, v. 10.

Christ is the key which unlocks all the treasures of the word of God to our souls - from Genesis to Revelation. Look for Him in your reading today. And beginning at Moses and all the proph­ets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself’, Luke 24. 27. May our hearts burn within us as we ponder Him.