Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Veil That Covers

"And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all nations
."
Isa. 26:12
". . . you covered me in my mother’s womb."
Ps. 139:13

According to Isaiah, God has covered all people with a "veil". Every person who has ever lived on earth was covered with it, just as David was, in their mother’s womb. This veil is something that all have in common, and it is referred to many, many times throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament. What is this veil, this covering that God has cast over all people?

David referred to this covering while praising God for creating him within the womb of his mother. He said (Ps. 139:13-15): ". . . you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."

So, what was this covering, this veil cast over David, cast over every other human being? The answer is revealed in the book of Hebrews, when the writer refers to the glorification of Jesus; that is, when Jesus passed out of his natural body and was given a glorified body by the Father: "Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, through his flesh" (Heb. 10:19-20). The flesh that covers your spirit is the covering that God casts over every soul that is conceived, and, just as David described it, God gives flesh to those souls while they are still fetuses in their mother’s womb.

Isaiah prophesied of a glorious day in which God will destroy this covering of flesh and give His people new bodies to cover their spirits, bodies made of eternal substance, bodies that will never suffer pain or die, bodies that are "like his glorified body". We are blessed to come into existence, to be given this veil of flesh so that we may live and know the Lord, but it will be a far better blessing to pass through this veil of tears and receive our spiritual "mansions" that are stored up for us now, with Jesus in heaven.

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