The Unveiling

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants – things which must shortly take place (Revelation 1:1).

For centuries, the wedding practice in Western society was to keep a bride veiled at her wedding. Though they knew one another, the bride’s face was kept hidden from the groom until the couple was pronounced husband and wife.

Some suggest this unveiling goes back to Genesis 29:21-25, when Jacob was deceived into marrying the wrong sister. No one wants to discover the next day they married an unintended person!

The final book of the Bible is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

First, it’s not “Revelations”, plural. Anyone who calls it that, run from! They don’t know the Bible. It is a singular revealing.

Second, Revelation is a revealing, unveiling, or uncovering.

Third, the unveiling is of Jesus – not the Antichrist or the end of the world. Yes, these are mentioned, but don’t miss God’s point: Jesus.

In the Old Testament, Jesus is anticipated. In the Gospels His eternality, incarnation, sinless life, miracles, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand are described. In the Book of Acts Jesus is preached by the apostles who witnessed of Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. In the New Testament epistles Jesus and His salvation are explained. Finally in Revelation, Jesus is revealed as the ascended, glorious, and expected coming-King.

In the Book of Revelation, we’re given a heavenly vantage of Jesus yesterday, today, and forever. We look back into eternity at the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). We see Him today as the One standing in the midst of churches judging, rebuking, encouraging, and promising. We glimpse the movement of time beyond today as Jesus brings judgment upon sinner and sin alike, His Second Coming in power and glory, the establishment of His Kingdom reign upon the earth, and the eternal state in which His bride enjoys and shares in His glory.

The Book ends with a dramatic twist. The Groom doesn’t whisk His bride hurriedly to Himself, but the Church, Christ’s bride, longs for the Groom to come! Then comes the promise of the Groom, the anticipated unveiling when faith becomes sight, He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).

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!