The veil is removed

One of the highlights of a wedding ceremony is the custom where the veiled bride walks up the isle towards her bridegroom, and when she reaches him, the veil is removed, and he can at last see her face to face.

This is what the word apocalypse means – the removing of a veil, derived from apo, which means to remove, and kalupsis, which means veil. And of course, this means the removing of the covering that hid the revelation of future end-time events from mankind up until that precise point in time that God gave John the vision that revealed it to us.

But there is a wedding ceremony waiting for us in the future when all events of the apocalypse are drawing to an end, where the highlight for the bride and the Groom will be that face-to-face moment the bride has been preparing herself for throughout her lifetime – when Jesus will present her to her Abba Father, spotless and without wrinkles!

We read in 2 Cor 3:14 that the Israelites also have a veil over their minds and hearts: But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. This veil is only removed when a person repents and accepts Jesus as Lord, as written in verse 16: but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Could this have been the reason for John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance? Acts 19:4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”  Could this baptism have been the removal of their veils in order that they could see that Jesus is the Messiah?

Just as Leah hid behind her wedding veil, concealing her identity from Jacob to trick him into marrying her instead of Rachel, so we are all hiding behind our veils, Jews and Gentiles alike. There are things in our lives that we wish to conceal from our Bridegroom! It is time to start preparing for our coming unveiling at the wedding feast of the Lamb – let us get rid of those things hindering our walk of intimacy with our Bridegroom here on earth and start growing in glory and holiness day by day!

Points to ponder:

Wounds, sinful behaviour and unforgiveness (leading to bitterness) are blockages preventing us from experiencing intimacy in our walk with Jesus our Heavenly Bridegroom. All can be dealt with and removed or healed in sessions with our compassionate Healing Rooms councillors. Do not wait another day – make an appointment now!