The Heart's Veil

"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail (or 'veil') that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25: 6-8)

Sinful man has a case of serious spiritual "heart" disease. "

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17: 9).

Fallen man is afflicted with blindness of soul. He has his spiritual vision greatly impaired, and hindrances in the way, blocking his sight, and keeping him from seeing truth.

Fallen man does not see things as they really are, but are like the men in Plato's "allegory of the cave," who live a world of falsehood and delusion. Because of this inner blindness of heart (Ephesians 4: 18), men "call evil good, and good evil."

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and [call] good evil; that put darkness for light, and [put] light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and [put] sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5: 20)

This inner blindness concerns God and righteousness. Sin has reversed definitions about holy things, and corrupted truth, so that fallen man is in a cave of darkness.

Depraved hearts have a veil (or hindrances to spiritual vision) over them, keeping them from enlightenment. God graciously promises to remove the "veil" that is on the heart of sinners, and which is keeping them from saving truth, and from being enlightened and illuminated.

Such a "veil" is removed when a sinner "comes to see" the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In such an experience, the sinner comes out of the cave of darkness and has all obstacles to clear sight removed. The sinner now sees and understands clearly. He is no longer deluded and he no longer calls evil good, nor calls good evil.

The very word "revelation" (Greek - apocalypse) means an "unveiling," or to "uncover." When saving truth is revealed to the wayward sinner, the veils that cover his mind are lifted and he is now able to see what he could not see beforehand.

"And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." (II Corinthians 3: 12-16)

Here Paul speaks of another "veil" that is upon the heart of the Jews. Every individual Jew who has accepted Christ as Messiah, and has obeyed the gospel, following Christ, has had the "veil" removed from his heart and mind.

In both the instances given above, by Isaiah and Paul, removing the veil = salvation. The words of Paul are also prophetic for he looks forward to the second coming of Messiah, when the entire Israelite nation will be converted, with but few exceptions, when the "veil" that is corporately and nationally upon them, is removed.

When the holy scriptures are read today, when the gospel message is heard today, we see the effects of this "veil" upon the hearts of all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news of his work of redemption.

We who have come out of the cave, and have graciously had this heart veil removed, see the Christ rejecter's blindness, his condition spiritually, in the cave of darkness and sin. We pity him and plead with him to come to Christ for healing and for the strength and courage of faith to come forth from the cave.

We Christians regularly pray, while the message of the gospel is being published, that the Lord would be merciful and remove the veil and so let the sinner see and understand. We have had God reveal the truth to us, and we greatly desire that others come to the same experience.

Friend, are there veils upon your heart and mind that keep you from beholding God and from believing the gospel? Then seek to God and beg him to remove these veils from your thoughts. When this veil is removed, you will see the most wonderful things! You will be glad that you have come out of the cave of sin's darkness and into the light of God and into the light of saving truth.