Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Lifting veils

We're closing in on the end of the book of Isaiah, and today I came across something that still blows what's left of my mind. Really. It does.

"Just watch my servant blossom!" God says of Jesus. Exalted, tall, head and shoulders above the crowd! But he didn't begin that way. At first everyone was appalled. He didn't even look human -- a ruined face, disfigured past recognition. Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback, kings shocked into silence when they see him. But what was unheard of, they'll see with their own eyes; what was unthinkable, they'll have right before them."

Jesus was beaten so badly he couldn't be recognized.

For you. For me.

Blood was shed, the Bible says, so that we could live eternally with our Father, and his delightful Price of Peace.

It is unfortunate that some today, of Hebrew lineage, have a veil of bias upon their hearts that obscures their vision as to the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the promised Messiah of Old Testament fame.

Paul wrote, "

12-15With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away—and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there."

Our prayers go up for all who can't see this Jesus, who changed my life, who fixed great portions of my life, who makes my life manageable, at the least. Hebrews, Gentiles, persons of Islam, all need to understand that God loved them through this servant, and the one who met all the criteria of this servant was Jesus.

The veil has been lifted.

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