Beholding the Beholder: From Veil to Face

And right now, we are being transformed from glory to glory, but that work is not yet complete. We still squint a bit. We still resist God's light, but what we see is enough, and what we see is real enough, but it's not yet whole. But this future reframes our present. What will be one day clarifies what we are becoming right now if you will allow God to do it. [00:50:59] (32 seconds)  #TransformedFromGlory

In Exodus, Moses was told, you cannot see my face because anyone who sees my face will not live. But Revelation reverses that one sentence saying, they will see my face. What once would overwhelm us is going to now sustain us for eternity. What once required shielding will become our home. [00:49:31] (25 seconds)  #FaceToFaceHope

We don't behold Christ to measure ourselves against other people. We don't behold Christ even to an improved version of ourselves that we long to be. We behold him and him simply, and in that sustained attention upon Jesus, we are remade into a whole new person. It's not just theory, friends. Think about your week. You spend hours if you spend hours immersed in outrage, you will become a much angrier person than you meant to be. [00:41:36] (36 seconds)  #BeholdNotCompare

The veil isn't lifted by our effort. The veil isn't managed by our discipline. It's taken away. Someone else has to do it. It's a divine action. Something happens in Christ that human effort could never accomplish. This isn't just new information to add to your lifetime of learning things. This is a new life that is given to you, a new capacity that you are unable to obtain on your own. [00:33:08] (33 seconds)  #VeilNotByEffort

Sometimes our faithfulness can even wound others in the name of being faithful. So you see this veil is very subtle. It allows us to feel like we are devoted to God but avoid the vulnerability required at the same time. It lets us love part of the light and resist the rest that the light wants to shine on in our lives. And Paul says, when anyone turns to the Lord, this veil is taken away. [00:35:36] (34 seconds)  #VeilMasksVulnerability

The spirit even now is restoring our sight, teaching us to see what is already real and what has always been there, but our hearts have been blinded to it. If the end of the story is face to face communion, then what we do now is worship, and worship now is a rehearsal for eternity. And growing up, think, well, are we gonna be sitting in church service all day long for eternity singing songs and listening to someone preach? Like, that doesn't sound like heaven. [00:51:31] (32 seconds)  #SpiritRestoresSight

It's meant to convey this this image of gazing into a mirror. And in the grammar, it's in the original Greek, it's describing that we are not passive spectators of gazing. We are implicated in our seeing. We're not spectators of glory. Oh, look at that like we're at a game and concert. We are participating in this gaze between God and humanity, and here's why it matters. You are always becoming what you behold. [00:39:10] (32 seconds)  #YouBecomeWhatYouBehold

While he says in verse in verse 15, he opens with, even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. See, the problem is no longer the brightness of God's glory that overwhelms. The problem is blindness of our hearts that obscures our seeing. And here's the crucial difference. Moses could remove his veil whenever he needed to. We cannot remove this veil. Paul writes in verse 16, whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. [00:32:30] (38 seconds)  #VeilTakenWhenYouTurn