Time to Remove the Veil*

           The Jewish people do not include Isaiah 53 in their scripture studies, calling it "the forbidden chapter". There is a denial that this chapter of Isaiah has anything to do with a prophetic portrait of the sacrifice of the Messiah/Christ for the sins of others. Why is there this continued rejection of Jesus as the Messiah? 

     The apostle Paul, who was a Jew and a Pharisee trained under the respected and renown rabbi, Gamaliel, wrote about the mystery at work here regarding Israel, but now revealed: "...Hath God cast away his people?...God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew...Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace...What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded, (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day." (Rom. 11:1-8).

     Except for a remnant, Israel has been made blind and deaf regarding the salvation of the Gospel through Jesus Messiah/Christ. However, Paul tells us that God has not forgotten nor cast away Israel from His salvation. There is a reason that Israel has been spiritually blinded and deafened by God: "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?..For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (v. 11-15). 

     If Israel had not been spiritually blinded to their Messiah/Christ by God, salvation would not have come to the Gentiles: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved...For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." (v. 25-27).

     Paul also warned the believers in Christ that if God was able to remove these natural branches (Israel) from the olive tree of salvation in order to graft us into that tree, He is also able to remove us, the grafted unnatural branches because of unbelief. In the same way, it will be also very easy for God to restore the natural branches of Israel back into the olive tree from which they came, as they come to belief.

     In describing the kind of spiritual blindness that came upon Israel, the prophet Isaiah described it as a spirit of deep sleep, and the Word of God has become to them as a book that is sealed, and unable to be opened and read. It is as if they are like someone who has never been trained in the scriptures, and therefore "unlearned": "...Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men." (Isa. 29:10-14). The precepts of men have no power and cannot bring the revelation of the spiritual truth.

     Paul wrote that there is a spiritual veil over the scriptures that can only be removed in one way: "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...the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away...we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:12-18, excerpt).

     The point of the revealing of Christ in the scriptures is not just for the knowledge of Him, but it is for the purpose of transforming the person into the same image of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Christ, His character, His being, is to be reproduced in us. Isaiah 54:17 in the Amplified Bible says: "No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And this is their vindication from Me,' says the Lord." It is our heritage to become the peace, righteousness, security and triumph imparted unto us by the ideal Servant of the LORD, Jesus Christ.

     Paul wrote that the whole purpose of the leadership functions of the church, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, is for the perfecting of the saints, to bring the whole Body of Christ into the unity of the faith, "and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ...From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. 4:11-16, excerpt, see also Col. 1:25-28).

     If the body of Christ is not unified and mature in His image, then we are missing it. The lost sheep of Israel are not provoked to jealousy by us to desire what we have, and the purpose of God for the church as the image and fulness of His Son is not achieved. We are to be a new creature, not the old. The same way by which we were reconciled to God, through Christ, we are to walk in that same purpose of reconciliation: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:17-21). We are to be made into the righteousness of God, not by our own efforts, but by the new identity of Christ within us. This is who we are to be by the sacrifice of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is only from this that our purpose in Christ flows.

     Peter wrote to the church as an apostle and servant of Jesus Christ. He wrote of the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ in us, saying: "According to his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust...But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail." (2 Pet. 1:1-12). This again brings us back to the divine nature in us spoken of in Isa. 54:17 AMP above that causes us to triumph over every weapon formed against us.

     Peter described the qualities of the divine nature that has been given to us through Christ and are to be manifested towards others and making us fruitful: from the starting point of faith, add virtue, and then add knowledge, then temperance (self-control), then patience, then godliness, and then brotherly kindness, and finally is added charity (agape - affection, benevolence, charity, love). (v. 5-7).

     We are to be found in Christ, "...not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Phil. 3:8-11). Our resurrection is found in the impartation of Jesus Christ's own righteousness, suffering, death, and resurrection. It is not by our own righteousness, nor flesh, nor men's ideas. There must be an impartation to us of Christ's divine nature. Conforming to this world and its ideas and ways is not a threat to the kingdom of darkness but walking in the fulness of Christ and His righteousness, is.

     In order to prove that this is not a result of men's own efforts, the Lord chose to work this miraculous transformation of the divine nature by God in those who are considered by the world to be foolish, weak, despised, and base. The wise and mighty are confounded by this and cannot attain it. Things that are not are brought into being and things that are, are brought to nothing, so that no flesh can glory in this divine and sovereign work: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption...as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Cor. 1:27-31). Again, the divine impartation that we first read in Isa. 54:17 AMP is restated here in these verses.

     At the moment when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was rent allowing access into the Holy of holies. It is time to remove the spiritual veil that has blinded the eyes of Israel to their Messiah and their salvation. The time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, and it is time for all of Israel to be saved.

     *Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 12/8/24 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.