What the Veil on Moses' Face Really Meant (Most Miss This)

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, here we go, and again, we're going to go right back where we left off in 2 Corinthians, but now we're going to start in chapter 3, verse 1. We'd like to welcome our television audience, and we trust that you do like our folks do here in the studio. Take your Bible and notepad and a pen and follow with us. I remember here sometime this summer, time goes so fast, I don't remember where we are, but a missionary friend of ours from Bolivia stopped, and they attended a couple of our classes here in Oklahoma, and they were up here for the taping, and all of a sudden he said, You know what we can't get over? Every one of your people have their Bible and a notebook in front of them. He said, I've never seen that before, even on the field, and he said, We feel like we do a lot of teaching, but every one of your people have their own Bible. I said, Well I trust they do, and I think they do, so this is rather unique, and I trust that those of you out in television are doing the same thing. Alright, we're going to get right back into the study, because that's why we're here. I guess I should always remind folks that we do have past programs available on video, audio, and the printed page, and if you're interested you just give us a call. Back into the text then, II Corinthians chapter 3, and don't forget that constantly Paul has to defend his apostleship because of all the false teachers that were coming in, and we'll show you sometime as we get into II Corinthians that probably the strongest element at Corinth that was in opposition to Paul and his teachings according to the mystery, were those who claimed to follow Peter. And of course right next to that are those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, and of course it's no different today. You'd be surprised how many people I've had tell me, I know you like to teach Paul, but I'm not going to go according to Paul, I'm going to go by what Jesus said. Well I know they mean well, but you want to remember what Jesus said was to the nation of Israel, and under the Law, although we can make a lot of applications from it, yet that was not spoken to us. But what this apostle writes is Holy Spirit inspired, and it is directed directly to us as Gentiles in this age of grace. I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1-3 Ephesians 1-3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we as some others epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? You see what he's saying? Do I have to come here with official letters from Peter and the twelve in Jerusalem? Do I have to come with some kind of a commendation from those who were apostles before me? They had nothing to do with his apostleship, Peter and the eleven didn't send Paul out into the Gentile world, the ascended Christ did. And so here again he's reminding them of that. Do I have to come because of what Peter has commended? I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1-3 These people, as I pointed out in that first program, like the Thessalonians, they had turned from idols to the living God, they had come out of abject paganism with all of its immorality, and all of its idolatrous practices, and they had begun to worship the one true God. And so he says, you're our epistle, just the very fact that you are changed people. You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. And I like to feel the same way about so many who have come to know the Lord through our simple teaching, and that's what they become. They become living epistles. Now here's verse 3. Ephesians 4. Forasmuch as thou art manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ, ministered by us written not with ink, but with the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit the living God, not written on tables of stone, but you as believers are living epistles with the work of the Holy Spirit written on the heart." And that's where it all has to be, on the heart. Ephesians 4, and such trust we have through Christ to Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Now again let me remind you what kind of a man was Saul of Tarsus, highly educated. He was the most educated Jew of his day, having sat at the feet of the greatest rabbi of that time. So he had all that intellectual background, and he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He could have said, I'm qualified by virtue of my training, but he never once. In fact in Philippians he called all of that just so much dung, and cast it all aside as worthless that he might become the very workmanship of Christ Himself, and never lose sight of that. And so all of his sufficiency was never because of his background, not because he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, or a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but because he was a humble servant of the Creator God. Now I put it on the board so that I won't take time while we're on the air, that in these next series of verses, I imagine most casual readers would never catch it, this is one example after another of the difference between law and grace. I trust that if the Lord tarries, that I go by way of the valley of the shadow of death, and I'm off the scene, that people will still be able to remember that I was constantly trumpeting the difference between law and grace. And here it is again, verse 6, God who also hath made us able ministers of this New Testament, not of the letter, now when Paul speaks of the letter, what's he referring to? The Law of Moses. And so his new revelations are not of the law, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit liveth. You see the difference? Law could do nothing but condemn, the law had no life giving power whatsoever, and that's why people are foolish when they say, I'm trying to do the best I can, and I'm keeping the commandments. Hey, the commandments can't do anything but kill, they pronounce it as guilty. But grace, epitomized here by the Word, the Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit, giveth life. Now remember I think I mentioned in our lessons in our last taping, back in our resurrection study in I Corinthians chapter 15, that when we get into the eternal state, we're no longer going to be flesh and blood, but in what? Flesh and bone, with the life now in the Spirit. Now here's that same Spirit, it's that power from on high, it's that Holy Spirit that gives life. But the Law can do nothing but condemn. Now if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, if that was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of His countenance, which was to be done away. Now before we go back and look at those verses in Exodus, I'm going to tell you something that I'll bet like I for ever so long, that if you remember, His face shone, and so a veil was put upon Him. Now what do most of us think the veil was for? Well because He was so radiant in His glory, having been in the presence of Christ, that they couldn't stand to look at Him. That's not what it means at all. That's going to be hard to swallow isn't it? What was being veiled was the passing away of the Law. Now put that in your computer, and as we come down the line you'll see what I'm talking about. So verse 8, "...how shall not the ministration of the Spirit, which is indicative now of grace, be rather glorious?" In other words what Paul is talking about is, if there is such a word, if the gloriousness of the Law fadeth away, then what takes its place and is even more glorious? Grace! So you've got the passing away of one, and the bringing on the scene of the other. Law has to fade away, and grace becomes epitomized. Moving on, verse 9. "...for if the ministration of condemnation..." When you condemn something, what do you do? You find fault with it. You don't condemn something that's perfect. You condemn something that has a flaw. Let's go back to Romans chapter 3, verses 19-20. Now we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith it to them who are under the law. Now just stop a minute, who's under the law? Israel. The Gentiles never were, the Jews. But the power of the law didn't stop with Israel, that every mouth in the whole human race may be stopped, and that all the world, not just Israel, may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law, or the keeping of the Ten Commandments, there shall no flesh be justified, Jew or Gentile. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, and death. So the law was a ministration of death. All it could do was condemn the individual, and if he's condemned, then death was the only alternative. Now if that was going to be done away in verse 7, and we now have instead the whole concept of grace taking its place, now verse 9. For if the ministration of condemnation, this law that we just saw, that is a condemnation to death, if it was glorious, much more, far more than the law could ever have brought glory to the nation of Israel, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory, that as great as the system of law was while it was operating in the nation of Israel, it's nothing to be compared with the operation of grace. Let's read on. Ephesians 1. Verse 10. For even that which was made glorious hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth, that by comparison the glory of legalism, which of course was the way God mandated to the nation of Israel living under the law, by comparison with grace, it's nothing. And then we have people today, by the millions, who turn their back on grace, and say, well I'll do the best I can, and I'll keep the commandments. Sad isn't it? But that's all I can say, it's a sad commentary. Now let's move on. Verse 11. Now He makes it in plain language, this isn't covered up or veiled one iota. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. What was done away? The Law. What now remains? Grace. And here's the two great contrasts, same God, but two totally different economies. The one says, Thou shalt not, Thou shalt, and the other one stands over here in the verse that we saw a couple of programs ago, Therefore stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath saved us. What a difference. And so this is far more glorious. Now verse 12. Seeing then that we have such hope, I hope I'm not going too fast, seeing then that coming out of legalism, and with all of its demands, and I don't care in what shape or form legalism comes, it's legalism. And legalism always instructs you as to what you have to do in order to merit favor with God. And millions of people are shunning the Gospel of God's grace, and saying, I have to work for it. And oh what a sad commentary, that's the devil's lie. When Christ died and rose from the dead, God was totally satisfied that that was all we needed, and we can trust it completely. And I don't have to work and sweat and worry, hoping that I've maybe done enough, because Christ did enough. He did all that was necessary. But I always have to keep repeating this, grace is not licensed. That doesn't mean I can go out and live like the devil's crowd, mostly because we don't want to. I dare say the average true believer would be as miserable in a honky tonk on Saturday night as a regular honky tonk customer would be miserable in church on Sunday morning. It's the same difference, two totally different lifestyles, two totally different desires, and this is of course what makes it work. Now I hope I've got time to finish, and otherwise we're going to have to do it in our next taping session. Let's look at verse 13, and not as Moses. In other words, it's not the same setup that Moses was operating under when he had to put the veil over his face, and not as Moses who put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Does that tell you what I've been trying to say? In other words, when Moses put the veil over his head, it wasn't that Israel couldn't stand the brightness of his complexion, it was that they could not see the end of this whole system of Law. And they can't to this day. They are blinded to the fact that the whole system of Law has passed off the scene, it is abolished, and in its place is this tremendous revelation of the mysteries, the grace of God. But their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, and in the same way this veil is not taken away in the reading of the Old Testament. I'm leaving out the word veil again because it's italicized, and sometimes the translators don't help a bit. And so the veil was not taken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which is done away in Christ. In other words, when Christ finished the work of redemption by virtue of His death, burial and resurrection, the whole system of Law was done away with. It was abolished, because now we've got something far better. Now you want to remember that the Law was given to the nation of Israel to prepare them for the coming of their Messiah, but in their unbelief they failed it from start to finish. But God didn't stop His plan of redemption because of it, He carried it out anyway. And so Christ died, He rose from the dead, and He revealed to the Apostle Paul this whole new concept of salvation by faith because of God's grace, and nothing added. But the average Jew in his blindness is still tying himself to the Law, to him the veil is still on Moses head, and they cannot see that it has come to an end. I hope you can see that. It took me a long time, and I don't expect you to really catch it in 5 minutes, but the veil was to only keep Israel from seeing that the Law was fading away, and that something better had now come in its place. Now let's move on a little further. Verse 15. But even unto this day, now of course Paul was writing this letter in about 60 A.D., but it's the same truth for 1997. To this day when Moses is read, now you know in synagogue worship what do they primarily read? From the Torah, from Moses, bless their hearts, they are sincere, and Paul felt the same feeling toward them. So they were sincere in their activity, but as they read the Law of Moses, or the Torah, that veil that keeps them from seeing that it is all passed off the scene, is still there upon their heart. Now let's look at a verse back in Romans, chapter 11, and this says it in a little plainer than what it is here in Corinthians. Romans 11. Now if it's by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. In other words, grace cannot operate mixed with law, it has to stand totally by itself. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. In other words in simple language you cannot mix the two. Now verse 7, this is the verse I want you to see. What then? Israel, nationally, not individually, but nationally, hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election, in other words that small percentage of Jews, who believed it. But the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded, and that's the veil that is on their heart according to II Corinthians, and they just cannot see through it. Now come back to II Corinthians for the few moments we have left. Verse 15 again. So even to this day when Moses is read in the synagogues, the veil is upon their heart. Verse 16. Nevertheless, when it, the heart, shall turn to the LORD, believing Paul's Gospel, then what happens? The veil is taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit, where the Spirit of the Lord is, and there is liberty. Not the heavy hand of legalism, but liberty. And every believer has that liberty, the wherewithal to search the Scriptures, to come to their own conclusions. That's why I tell people, I don't mind if they write or call and say, I don't agree with you. That's fine, we have that liberty. But on the other hand they have to be able to do it on the basis of the Book. Now I've got to hurry. Verse 18. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed Now I haven't got time, but if I would have time I'd take you back to the account of the transfiguration. You all know that? When they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Peter James and John, and the Lord was transfigured before them, and He shone forth with all of His glory. Do you know what? That's the same identical word as changed is here in the Greek. And so every believer has experienced that already. All we don't show it outwardly, but God sees it inwardly, and so we have already been transfigured into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. Now come back up to the first half of that verse for just a second. We all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. Now Israel was depicted as being veiled from the truth of the Law. They couldn't see that it was fading away. But we look at Christ like in a mirror, and as we look at Christ in a mirror, what does the world see on us? His reflection. It's just that simple, and the Law could never do any of that, because Moses had to be veiled, and Israel could never understand. But you're not under Law, you're under grace. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.