I love when I see God making connections. I’ve been studying 2 Corinthians 3:12-18. About how we are now under the New Covenant (Jesus) and not the Old Covenant (the law). How because of what Jesus did we can see God’s glory so bright and we don’t need to put a veil over our faces to dim the view like Moses did.
God is teaching here that in those days (and today’s days too) that people’s minds are hardened when they hear the Word of God, a veil covers their minds so that they cannot understand the truth.
BUT…
…This veil can only be removed by believing in Christ.
AND…
…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.
THEN…
Now, the Lord is Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is he gives freedom. And all of us have had this veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory ever more.
As if that weren’t cool enough! As I was traveling through my Bible and checking out the cross references, I came across Ezekiel 36!
“For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.”
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land. I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines. Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done! Ezekiel 36:24-32
This is God speaking here to His people. This is so good! In Corinthians we’re told that the veil is removed, that the believers’ hearts are no longer hardened, that the Spirit of the Lord is within us changing us day-by-day.
That’s the exact message God gave to Ezekiel. God said look ya’ll have made a mess of your lives. You could have saved yourselves a lot of heartache, pain, consequences, and evil-dabbling.
BUT…
…I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean…
AND…
I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.
THEN…
And I will put my spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
Thank you, Lord! People, God is a New Life-Giver. We don’t have to fix our old lives, they are just that, old. He has sprinkled clean water on us, the dirt and grime from our old lives has been washed away. He has given us new clean lives! The veil has been removed so that we can understand who Jesus is! We are new creations!
His Spirit is within us giving us the desire to obey Him. As we allow the Spirit to work within us, He will change us more and more to be like Jesus and our lives will reflect God’s glory. Truly, out with the old and in with the new. The veil has been removed so His Light can shine!
Please read 2 Corinthians 3 and Ezekiel 36. What is God saying to you?