Lifting the Veil on Sanctification

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Exodus 32-34 details Moses’ response to Israel’s worship of the golden calf. In their false worship, Israel broke the Ten Commandments they’d twice previously agreed to obey. In his anger at their sin, Moses slammed the two tablets of stone to the ground, illustrating Israel’s disobedience.

One result of Israel’s sin was God’s refusal to dwell in the midst of His people. Instead He’d remain far off (Exodus 33:7). Sin separated God and man.

From outside the camp, Moses would enter the tabernacle of meeting to hear from God and then bring God’s message to the people. Moses became the mediator between God and man.

Whenever Moses met with God, his face shone like a lamp, reflecting the majesty and glory of God. The glow terrified the people because it revealed God’s perfect holiness and the darkness of their sin-corrupted hearts. After delivering God’s word, Moses would veil his face – not to hide the glory of God – but to hide the fact that the glory quickly faded from his own face (Exodus 34:30; 2 Corinthians 3:13). Moses’ veil protected the people from God’s judgment but also kept them from being transformed by God’s glory.

In Second Corinthians 3, Paul uses the shining face of Moses as an illustration. Many people only see the Bible as a series of stories, God’s wrath, commandments impossible to comprehend or comply with, and difficult sayings. Sin veils the heart from seeing Jesus in Scripture, the primary reason Scripture exists!

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:16). When we follow where the Scripture leads – which is always to Jesus – we see Him in all His glory and can’t but help to love, adore, obey, and worship Him alone.

Now we all, we who trust in Jesus by faith, have the veil of separation removed and we find ourselves looking in a mirror. The shadows are replaced by a crystal clear revelation of Jesus. As we lovingly gaze at His image revealed in Scripture, something remarkable happens to us: the Bible becomes ever clearer and we find our own image being transformed bit by bit, from glory to glory, into Christ’s moral likeness and character. This is sanctification!

Jesus and Healers

And Jesus strictly warned him and sent him away at once. And He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone…” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city (Mark 1:43, 44, 45).

The Bible says that Jesus gave His original Apostles power to perform miracles to prove the veracity of their preaching before the New Testament was written.

The Scriptures also repeatedly record that when Jesus and the Apostles performed their miracles they didn’t hold healing events or share testimonies. In fact, as the passage above shows, they strictly warned those who were healed not to tell anyone.

A man with leprosy approached Jesus begging to be healed. His leprosy is what we call Hansen’s Disease today and is related to tuberculosis. The disease is caused by a bacteria on the skin transferred by touch and respiratory droplets. The bacteria invades the nervous system and spreads to the extremities like the hands, feet, ears and nose, causing disfigurement of the skin and bones, the twisting of the fingers into claws, formation of skin tumors, and eventually a total loss of feeling.

Because of the highly contagious nature of this disease, Jewish law (Lev 14) forbid lepers from close contact with others. Lepers were required to wear distinctive clothing, ring bells, shout that they were “unclean”, and get no closer than 16 feet (5 meters) from an unaffected person. The man in the Gospel of Mark approached Jesus close enough that Jesus touched and healed him!

Jesus strictly commanded the man to get his healing confirmed by a Jewish priest familiar with the disease and share the news with no one else. Jesus sought no publicity with a public testimony or advertising. But rather than obey Jesus, the man told everyone that he’d been healed. The result was enormous crowds of sick people all wanting Jesus to fix them too, despite the fact that He’d come to preach repentance from sin (Matt 4:17).

Today false preachers, evangelists, and apostles proclaim their miracle-working power on Youtube, Facebook, and other social media. They don’t require independent confirmations from medical authorities. They crave the personal attention their shows receive, though they would argue it’s all about the glory of God. Jesus was all about the glory of God, and He insisted on silence.

Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10).