REMOVING THE VEIL IN THE READING OF THE BIBLE

Rev Michael Benson Ajayi

" His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”  He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.  

   That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand. 

This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say,   you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened,   and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—     so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear,  and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me     and let me heal them.’ 

    “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. Matthew 13::10-17

  Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples reiterated the difference between the old testament and the new testament. The old testament placed the burden of salvation on man while the new testament requires that salvation be achieved by depending on a savior through a vicarious atonement . The old testament points to the need of a saviour and unfortunately the religious people of Jesus' time chose to  the old way so they could have something to boast about.

    The new testament ascribes the process of salvation from the beginning to the end to the lord and gives no room for boasting . The bible says " Romans 3:27  "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of  faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the  law."  The absence of the room to boast makes salvation by grace through faith unattractive to the proud and presumptuous religious bigots of the world . They rather remain in the dark than  humble themselves before God to receive the gift of salvation.

   Secondly, religion is a multi billion dollar enterprise that involves merchandising the salvation from sales of books ,oils, animals , pilgrimages, conventions  , politicking etc all requiring exchange of money for the free gift of salvation. This is why apostle Paul and teachers of grace are hated by religious extremists because he was a foremost promoter of the free gift of salvation . 

   The teaching of the old religious codes as a way of being saved places a veil in the hearts of the teachers of the law . "We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2Corinthians 3:13-16 

Prayer : Heavenly father forgive me of my sins against you I believe Jesus Christ died and was raised again for my salvation I receive him as Lord and saviour and receive the Holy Spirit and power to preach the gospel in Jesus name. 

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