Word of Salvation – Vol.23 No.28 – April 1977

 

…When Man Turns To The Lord The Veil Is Removed

 

Pentecost Sermon by Rev. P.G. Van Dam on 2Cor.3.16

Scripture Reading: Acts chapter 2, 2Corinthians 3.12–18

Psalter Hymnal: 77:1,2; 273; 394:1,3,5; 391

 

Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

In our text we read how – in both the Old Testament and the New Testament – God had wanted His people to know and to remember Him as their covenant God, as the God of their salvation.  And from both, the Old and the New Testaments, we know how God had wanted – and still wants – to teach His people that this is the way in which they should remember Him: the way of thankful obedience and service.

For when on Mt. Sinai God (through Moses) gave the people His law we know from Scripture that He did this with two reasons in mind (so to speak).

First of all that law was to remind His often rebellious people that HE is God, in all His majesty, holiness and righteousness.  We are reminded (of this purpose) when we read (in Exod.20.17,18) of the scene when God was about to speak the ten words of His law.  The people were standing at the foot of the mountain which was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire….. and the whole mountain shook greatly.

Indeed, we may never forget that our God is FIRST OF ALL a holy and righteous God.  And everyone who does not obey Him especially when He commands that all people should believe in His Son Jesus Christ will meet with His righteous judgement!

And when we read of Moses coming down the mountain after he had been in the presence of the Lord with his face shining brightly (Exod.34:35) then this brightness must first of all be understood as a reflection of the glory of God: of the glory and majesty of His holiness.

Yes, but also of the glory and the majesty of His grace!

For in coming to the people with His law He came to them as their COVENANT God, Who had freed them from their slavery in Egypt.  For He spoke: “I am the Lord YOUR God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exod.20.2).

When Moses came down the mountain his face shone brightly: it reflected the glory of their covenant God and Saviour.  And the people were to see that glory, that they might also be reminded of the glory of his victory FOR THEM; that they should know Him as the God of THEIR glory as well.  For they too belonged to the people of God of all times and places whom He has called to SHARE in His glory.

We, too, must remember that God has chosen us and set us aside for that same purpose; that we should share in and witness to His glory; the glory of His victory in Jesus Christ over sin and death.

And now it was for this purpose – that they should remember His glory in their salvation – that God gave His people His law.  That they should rejoice, and express their gratitude to Him and their hope in Him as their only Saviour, in thankful service: In serving Him in the way He would have them serve Him.  (This, too, is a point for us to remember, especially in our days, that we should serve God not in all kinds of new ways etc., but always in the way HE, our God and Saviour, would want us to serve Him, in THANKFULNESS)

But the people at the foot of the mountain did not see this.  On account of the blindness and the hardness of their minds (text vs14) they did not want to be confronted with God and His Word.  Their ways were sinful, therefore to them the law of God spoke only of fear and guilt and judgment.  And in that state of mind’ they could not know and honour Him as their covenant God and Saviour.  According to our text their own minds were veiled (vs.15).  They could not — as a result of their sinfulness — hear the true word of God, and know His true purposes with them.

In fact their religion was a religion of ‘do’s and don’ts’ (which became clear when the Pharisees became the religious leaders of God’s people).  But that is the religion of a hopeless struggle between the people’s sinful nature and God’s holy law.  A religion without the joy of grace.

The danger of that kind of religion still is very real today.  When all is said and done, how many today have a religion that is no more than a matter of rules: of do’s and don’ts?

A formal religion?  A religion of fear rather than of thankfulness and of thanksgiving?  A religion without the heart being involved, rather than a faith of the heart?  Of guilt rather than of comfort?  Of fear rather than of hope?  Of escape rather than of dedication?  A religion which does not have its hope and expectation in the coming again of the Lord?  There are so many for whom their faith often is more a burden than a joy.

But all the same, THAT kind of a religion is a DENIAL of God’s salvation of His people; of His salvation from that bondage of fear and uncertainty and of not wanting to let sin go.  It is in fact a denial of JESUS CHRIST, no matter how pious we might seem to be in speaking of our sins.

In THAT case the veil has not been removed from their minds for they have NOT REALLY turned to the Lord (vs.16); they have ignored the meaning of the events we remember — especially of Easter and Pentecost.  For at Pentecost we remember that the Spirit came to take the veil from our minds that WE might VERY CLEARLY SEE Christ, His cross and the empty tomb!

There still are those in the church who have not understood that when God gave His people His law He did it as their COVENANT God: That they should know their sins and sinfulness, AND return to Him as their Saviour!

There are also those who say the law is finished.  That is not true; it is the law of the holy God.  It still serves that two–fold purpose; the expression of God’s holy will and the basis of His judgment over all those who disregard His will or who do not wish to repent before the cross of the Saviour Jesus Christ.  That is the one purpose and the other is that it moves us to the confession of our sins and to seek the forgiveness of our guilt in the blood of Christ.

And it is that second purpose of the law — that it move us to repent and to turn to God as our Saviour — which has been fully unfolded for us in the New Testament times.  The times of a NEW DISPENSATION.

The dictionary translates that word ‘dispensation’ in a very meaningful way; we read that it means ‘dealing out’.

See, God’s grace and the people’s only hope were the same in the old dispensation (of the Old Testament times) and in the new dispensation (of the New Testament times).  The ground of our salvation has never been our obedience to the law.  It always was in the firm belief that God in His grace would provide salvation from the guilt and judgment caused by His people’s failure to obey the law.  (Paul makes it very clear, in his letter to the Romans, that Abraham was righteous on account of HIS FAITH in his God as his only Saviour.)

But now in the new dispensation God has ‘DEALT OUT’ His grace in a much clearer way.

No longer is Moses the mediator through whom God spoke to His people and reminded them to live with Him as their covenant God and Saviour.  No longer will HE say that they should rejoice in Him in the way of true service according to His word and law.

No, in this new dispensation God ‘deals out’ His grace through the Holy Spirit.  In other words He now does it Himself, in His own person; not – as it were indirectly through Moses, but directly.  He Himself now lifts that veil, that WE might see clearly what He has done for us.

In the Old Testament times the message of salvation was still partly veiled.  This, too, is an explanation of the veil over Moses’ face.  The message had not come out in all its fullness yet; it would not come out fully until the coming of God Himself in Jesus Christ to fulfil the promises of salvation, in His suffering and in His resurrection.

So, we might say: in Moses’ days the message was still veiled.  That is: the message of salvation was still in the shadows.  But that veil was taken away by Christ who FULLY unfolded and WORKED OUT God’s gracious purposes for the salvation of His people.

That is what is meant by the words of our text: “….when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed.” (vs.16).  Not Moses but Christ was the true Mediator of the covenant.  Moses, in leading the people away from the slavery of Egypt, was a picture of the Christ Who would truly lead His people from their slavery to the temptation, guilt, and judgment of sin.

But those words of our text: “…when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed,” also speak of a veil in a different sense.

Not only was God’s grace and the glory of His work of salvation still veiled in Moses’ days.  In fact, that veil was not there because God wanted it there.  It was not that God had not wanted the people to see His glory and His mercy.

No, it was because of the sinfulness and the hardness of the minds of the people of which we read in our text here that that veil was over Moses’ face.  They did not want to see the glory because of their sinfulness.  Because of their sinfulness they could only think of God’s holiness and not of His mercy and THEREFORE THEY did not want to see God’s glory as it was reflected on Moses’ face.

And according to vs.15 of our text this is still the case today.  There still are many people who have not TRULY understood the meaning of the message of God’s Word.  They still think in terms of sin and judgment.  They are the ones who too quickly want ‘hell and damnation’ sermons.  Could this be because their minds are still hardened by sin?  Could it be therefore that they do not know that the law of God is the law of the covenant God, Who gave it that they too might truly know their sin, confess Christ as their Saviour, and serve Him in thankfulness?

God says to us in this word, “But now I have fully explained my salvation.  I did send my Son.  My plans are no longer veiled, hidden in shadows.”

Therefore, you should know that your hope is not in YOUR own doings, in YOUR piety and so on.  You have seen the Christ!

Yes, you have!

For not only has God taken away the veil from the revelation of His grace, BUT HE HAS ALSO TAKEN AWAY THE VEIL FROM THE MINDS OF HIS PEOPLE; SO THEY MIGHT TRULY SEE.

And how and when did God do this?

Well, that is precisely what we remember at Pentecost!  On that day we remember what God did at that first Pentecost day when He instituted His church on earth and sent His Spirit.

He sent His Spirit to take the veil away from our minds!  So we would hear and see and BELIEVE!  So we could believe it IS true!  God IS my Saviour, in Jesus Christ, His Son.

Now it’s not a matter of my sin, my failures, my guilt, my efforts to earn salvation, no for now I see it so clearly: my Saviour and my Lord.  GOD’S GRACE fully unfolded for me in Him.

Yes, I see it now!  That is the confession and the cry of my FREEDOM!

Free from guilt.
Free from that conflict between the desire to sin and God’s law.
Free from the fear of judgment, of death, of depression, of the illusion that I cannot resist Satan.

For ‘now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom’.  So we read in vs.  17,

After Pentecost we remember especially that the Spirit was given us to show us — to convince us of — the freedom we have in Jesus Christ.  This is the Spirit Who worked this saving faith in my heart, as the gift of my gracious God for His people (Eph.2.8).  Yes, to reassure me time and time again; it IS true.  For God will NEVER forsake us; Christ WILL forever remain faithful to us.  (Heb.3,6).

And so, at Pentecost it is Christ and His work which are central in the proclamation of the Word.  Just as they were in Peter’s sermon on the day of the institution of the church in the world (Acts 2).

At Pentecost we remember that the Spirit was given us that we might clearly see the work of Christ.  Any explanation of the work of the Spirit which does not point to Christ is not scriptural.

For in the Gospel to John we read these words of Christ: “When the Spirit of Truth comes…. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16.12–15).

But at the close of our text we read that the Spirit has done even more than open our eyes and ears and hearts!  He not only makes us see and believe this victory of Christ; He also makes us SHARE that victory.  We are not merely spectators; we are involved.  For we read here: ‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, ARE BEING CHANGED into His likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit”. (vs.18).

Not only do we see but we are also being changed.  Indeed, Christ came to make us His own.  We ARE HIS!  In the sense in which Paul speaks of it: ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in Me’ (Gal.2.20).

In fact, we are SO MUCH His own that Christ should be SEEN IN US as we are being changed into His likeness.  That is: we are being made to look like Him ourselves.

And so, we can understand what Jesus really meant when He said, just before His ascension into heaven: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8).  He spoke these words to His apostles, and through them to His Church.  Changed into His likeness we now are to continue the work He began, including the building of His church.

If we have been changed into His likeness we are His witnesses.  Each one of us.  The work of witnessing to Christ is first of all a PERSONAL witness.  EACH ONE OF US is to be a light to the world.

In Jerusalem, and also in the church.  We need not at Pentecost only think of overseas missions.  No, first of all of MY witness, here and now.

This is a witness MARKED BY THANKFUL OBEDIENCE to the word of MY GOD AND SAVIOUR.  Yes, indeed; for if we say that ‘we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit’ (Gal.5.25).  Our witness to Christ must be a total witness, of all our being, in all we do, at all times!

Pentecost: The Holy Spirit has now removed the veil from our minds, and has made us alive in Christ.  His CHURCH WILL LIVE, because I have seen THE GLORY OF MY LORD.

Amen.