Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to the ninth part and the approximately half-way mark of our series on spiritual Transformation. I expect there to be about another 9 weeks to completion with a break next month for the Autumn/Fall festivals and any special messages at Rosh Chodesh as usual.

For the last three weeks we have been looking closely at the Incarnation and have seen that it was Yahweh-Elohim who took the initiative in this great question of spiritual transformation, not us. This He did by first transforming Himself into our likeness so that we, in our turn, could be transformed into His.

This is a mind-boggling concept especially when you consider how great the Creator of this Universe actually is and how microscopically insignificant we human beings are, something atheists are quick to point out in their bid to establish how really irrelevent we are in terms of the whole Cosmos. Our two worldviews could not be more different. Indeed, the whole point is that physical size isn't what is important at all. What's important is that human beings are uniquely and especially an imaged extension of Elohim (God). We can ask questions as to why we were made so physically tiny, but again these things are all relative, especially when you compare our smallness 'down' to the tiniest subatomic particle and thereafter 'up' to the vast universe because sizewise we stand plumb in the middle of the two. What I mean by that is that the smallest particle of matter is as small relative to us as we are small relatively to the estimated size of the whole Universe. We forget, when gazing out into the vastness space, just how much space there actually is within each of us too. We must not forget that the Incarnation traverses space in both directions and meets plumb in the middle, with us. Elohim (God) has literally met us half-way.

When Yah'shua (Jesus) was crucified something supernatural happened in that unique set of space coordinates on earth where Heaven and Earth used to meet - the Temple. That one spot in old Jerusalem was where two realms of Creation intersected. And then a 'transfer' or changeover was made 2,000 years ago, an utterly unique, unrepeatable moment in time and space, from inanimate physical space and material to a living Being - the stone temple was replaced by a living temple which it had foreshadowed from the beginning. And in that intersection, something extraordinary happened to mark that change-over:

"And when Yah'shua (Jesus) had cried out again [from the cross] in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many qadosh (holy, set-apart) people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Yah'shua's (Jesus') resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people" (Matt.27:50-53, NIV).

"The curtain of the Temple which veiled the Qodesh haQadeshim, Devir or 'Holy of Holies' was ripped from top to bottom" (v.51, Barclay). This was a very heavy, mighty thick veil or curtain. What was the purpose of this symbolic act of tearing the material that separated the two parts of the Temple? It was a solemn symbol of the fact that, in Messiah, the heart of Yahweh is laid bare, and Elohim (God) shows Himself as He really is - redemptive Love - and on a scale spanning the tiniest subatomic particle to the entire Cosmos. We can't even begin to comprehend that scale. This is the infinite Yahweh-Elohim, the Creator of the vast, vast Universe, unveiling Himself in Yah'shua (Jesus), in a fragile, finite human being, midway in size from the smallest of the microscopic to the fullest extent of the Universe with billions of galaxies and zillions of stars and planets, too many even to count.

What ought to be our response to this astonishing revelation of love? He wants us, given what He has been prepared to do for us in the Incarnation and Cross, to unveil our faces, drop our masks, gaze upon Him in wonder, and, in the gazing, we are transformed and so made like Him. That's a big statement and it's probably going to take us two or three weeks to unpack it in any meaningful sort of way. So what we're going to do is examine the one central condition on our side which will enable us to become more like Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), He who is 'the unveiled face'.

There is a deep mystery hidden in the Israelite practice of veiling, something that was more-or-less global in the ancient world. Contrary to what many believe, both men and women were veiled. However, men were 'veiled' in a different way to women and for different reasons. The male version (known as a migba'ah) we know as the turban that was worn by the cohenim (priests) (Ex.29:6; Zech.3:5) and by royalty (Ezek.21:26) though, as I demonstrated in an in-depth study about 8 years ago (see More Kippah Tales: Royal Priestly Headcoverings?), these did not symbolise a protective covering of one who was under a spouse's or parent's authority as the women's veils did, but were open at the top. The turban was the symbol of being under the authority of Yahweh as well as possessing the authority given to men to be responsible, loving heads of their families, open at the top because theirs is the responsibility to live in such a way as to have an open channel to heaven to get guidance and revelation for their families. That's their job. Where was a reason why Paul instructed women to be covered in public when prophesying or in prayer and men to be the uncovered (1 Cor.11:2-16). It wasn't, as liberals claim, just a 'cultural thing' which we can now disregard (which they say about any commandment they don't like). Only in Asia, in my part of the world where I was born and raised, did men still have these open turbans - I speak of Malaysia and Indonesia and perhaps one or two other places, though they have pretty much disappeared now before the tital wave of Western culture.

Some of you may know that many years ago Yahweh showed me a vision of myself and two other men in the Millennium and I was somewhat taken by surprise to see that we were all heavily bearded and wearing substantial turbans! And fascinating though this subject is, we don't have time to go into it thoroughly today but if you are interested we have a whole website on the topic as the matter of headcovering seems to be universally misundersatood, misrepresented and misapplied [1]. Rather, I want to focus on those negative and destructive veils and what exactly we are supposed to unveil before Yahweh in order to be able to gaze into His face. I am going to being up seven over the course of the next two weeks and today we will take a look at three of them.

Aside from the symbolic meaning of veiling, there is a literal side as well. Thought this is physically invisible to us we absolutely do experience its effects and it can be seen in our behaviour much in the same way that we can observe the invisible wind. The moment we do wrong, meaning the moment we transgress the Torah (Law, Teaching) of mitzvot (commandments) or violate any spiritual principle, a spiritual veil immediately drops over our spirits. It's automatic and is built into our being. This veil shuts Elohim (God) out and simultaneously shuts us in. It becomes a kind of inner prison. This is both for our own protection - because no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of Elohim (God) (Dt.23:14) and we would burn up in His presence so long as we are carrying willful sin around - but also to persuade us to repent and put matters right with Him!

The effect or impact of being shut-out from Elohim (God) should be obvious but what of the effect of being shut in alone with your selfish self inwardly? Do you enjoy your own company cut off from Elohim (God)? It is a hard thing to be shut in with self which you you cannot respect or love because it's sinful and dark (it's selfish) because it is like carrying a living hell within. I don't know about you, but when I violate a mitzvah (commandment), knowing I have done wrong in my inward man, I often feel disgusted and tell myself how stupid I have been, especially if it's something I keep repeating. The self is not an attractive prospect, at least not after you have tasted the goodness and purity of Elohim (God)!

It is perhaps worth pausing here to briefly consider the difference between spiritual ahavah, chesed or agapé-love and carnal 'love'. There are very different behavioural differences between the two because the first is selfless and the second is totally absorbed with self. Take the feeling of 'being in love' which is wholly dependent on the brain producing a chemical called phenylethylamine. Once its levels diminish, the feeling of 'being in love' diminishes too. One thing we know scientifically is that this compound seriously diminishes the ability to discriminate effectively - and hencve the saying, 'love is blind'. The most unsuited people get hitched because they have been overwhelmed by the rpesence of this compiund in their system. By contrast, ahavah, chesed or agapé love makes a person even more keenly discriminating or discerning, which is why it is extremeløy risky to fall in love with someone without having a foundation in what we might call 'heavenly love'.

Let's be quite clear because when Scripture says "Elohim (God) is love" (1 Jn.4:8,16) it isn't talking about 'falling in love' or any of the other kinds of love we commonly speak of, especially romantic love, and especially not erotic 'love' so-called which as everyone knows is hardly the self-sacrificing kind of love that ahavah-love is. Indeed, once phenylethylamine is secreted giving the powerful and overwhelming sensation of 'being in love', it is sustained by naturally occurring chemicals linked to memory, learning, pain-suppression, sex-drive and hormone regulation. These are called endorphins. It is well known that if these biochemicals can be stimulated in both parties simultaneously, they instantly fall in love.

Divine ahavah-love is not a feeling even if it may, and absolutely should, lead to good, positive, wholesome feelings. It is a way-of-being, a disposition that proceeds from the presence of Yahweh-Elohim as the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and must be steered by covenant - hence covenant-love. It originates in the will. That is why we should always seek the will of Yahweh in our choice of marriage companions and wear a seal on our emotional romantic life, opening that seal only when the will of the Father is clearly known and life-long covenants have been made. The flesh may not like the idea too much, as it is always seeking self-gratification, but it is the safest road to walk.

We know this is what happened with Isaac and Rebekah, where we're told: "...he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her" (Gen 24:67, NIV). The Roman way, which is the way we follow in the West, does things the other way round.

Jacob, on the other hand, was initially steered by phenylethylamine, and whilst Rachel was beyond question one of Yahweh's four choices for him so that the Twelve Tribes of Israel could be brought into the world, he went about things just a little bit back-to-front. He did his spiritual overcoming of the flesh only later on in life at Peniel after he fled his father-in-law's house with his large family in tow; Isaac and Rebekah, on the other hand, went about it Yahweh's way and didn't have to agonise over the problems arising from being steered by phenylethylamine and endorphins ahead of the will of Yahweh. Yes, they had their personal problems to deal with as all marriage partners do but theirs was a stable and blessed relationship.

I realise that putting these things in scientific terms may perhaps sound a little unfamiliar and odd but I think it's helpful to know what is meant by 'the flesh' in this situation. We do, after all, live in a scientific age and there is nothing wrong employing science to the glory of Yahweh. I make deliberate mention of this because this is something that I, like Jacob, have had to struggle to understand, and I only wish I had had someone to explain it to me when I was a youth and not have to learn it the hard way. How blessed it is to be raised in truth and "the admonition of Yahweh" (Eph.6:4) because it can spare so much grief later on in life! But even though raised in truth we each still have to grapple with what is a very powerful aphrodisiac molecule indeed, phenylethylamine, and make sure we keep it stashed away until we know our mate and have cultivated covenant love befroe all else. We have the free, however we are raised, will to walk our life in the way of Yahweh or in the way of the self. (You have to understand that I am oversimplifying the biochemistry somewhat).

As we focus our spirits upon Elohim (God) the Father, Yahweh, and His Son Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), we are about to lift that negative veil that prevents us from looking upon His face. And as we thus lift the veil that hinders us from gazing on Him, we are, by that continuous process of gazing, changed into Messiah's glorious image. Pursuing the intoxicating effects of naturally-produced phenylethylamine does not promote gazing into the divine face when two people are entirely occupied with each other. Yahweh wants to be in the middle of that marriage relationship so that it can flourish. So this means we must lift our veils and learn to be open and honest with Yahweh. It may hurt our pride to do this, but if we are to experience spiritual, psychological, and physical health it must be done, and that includes making sure we are in love with the right spouses! The Ruach (Spirit) must rule over biochemistry!

The Japanese, in dealing with pride, say they follow the 'onion skin method' - peeling off layer after layer with tears - tears of making teshuvah (repentance). A big part of our repentance must therefore be to put our biological chemistry under the authority and power of the 'chemistry of Heaven'. The flesh is powerful stuff - our bodies aren't evil as the gnostics and gnostic-influenced religion claims, they just have to be properly veiled and unveiled, meaning they were designed to function optimally in the correct spiritual environment. 'Repentance' is all about recalibration, changing direction, so that things 'work' together the way they were designed. This is as true of marriage as of diet, sleep management, and the way we handle people generally and life, because until we get this right, spiritual transformation will be hampered again and again, getting us stuck in the gutter and thus stifling our spiritual growth.

So we have learned that there are natural and unnatural veils. Speaking of the difference between the Old and New Covenants, something unfortunately many Messianics get confused over, the apostle Paul wrote:

"Therefore, since we have such a hope [in Christ], we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts" (2 Cor.3:12-16, NIV).

This ought to be a warning even to us. It means we can read the Tanakh (Old Testament) with a veil over our hearts if we are not careful, as millions still do. Paul was not, by the way, criticising the Tanakh (Old Testament) or the Torah but rather a prevalent attitude in His day, first century AD Judea, an attitude whose trap even those claiming to be Christians and Messianics today frequently fall into. That trap is the belief that salvation is gained by what one does - in other words, that you have got to work for it - you have to earn it. This is the common error of all false religion and even in relationship-building generally, so there's something even atheists can learn from this, because true love cannot be earned. It has to be freely given without preconditions. Salvation, rather, is something that Christ accomplishes in us and through us. Many come to the Christian life by firmly renouncing self, letting Christ come into the centre of their lives, and then promptly try to live out the Christian life by self-effort and self-achievement. Self-centredness that is supposed to move out (be 'crucified', put to death, by an act of volition) at the moment of conversion, then creeps back in to make its presence known at a later stage.

When this happens, then the Christian/Messianic life is being lived out on the basis of self - you are doing it! Of course, you call upon Christ to help you in what you do, but this is using Christ rather than letting Him use you. The 'unveiled face' means that, in continuous surrender, you transfer the centre from yourself to Messiah. His love touches the springs of ahvah/chesed/agapé love within you, and you love in return. (And by the way, the phenylethylamine-endomorphin complex of biochemicals does not enable that to happen and employed without Yahweh in the centre not only keeps self alive but makes it even more powerful).

You can say with the little boy, 'Father, I love you and I'm going to do something about it!' So your daily prayer becomes, 'Yah'shua (Jesus), I love You, and I'm going to do something about it!' Your doing springs out of the loving, and the loving springs out of surrender. Sometimes people get the 'loving' part confused with 'duty' or 'obligation' but that implies coersion, even if it is self-imposed. Duty must flow out of love - it is never love itself. I think it is a tragedy seeing Christians and Messianics struggling to live out the Gospel life in an act of self-effort. Those who miss this essential truth end up constantly fighting and struggling inwardly - forcing themselves toward goodness. The Christian/Messianic life is not you using Christ/Messiah, but Christ/Messiah using you.

Another veil that prevents the beauty and loveliness of Yah'shua (Jesus) from breaking through into our personalities is the veil of fear. This will be the last one we study today. If we are to become like our Master we must take steps to remove this veil from our spirits as quickly as possible. And the best way to do that - to remove this negative covering of fear [2] - is to first look at Messiah fully in the face, and then look your fears fully in the face. The order in which this is done is very important. You see, gazing upon Christ helps us transform our fears, because it centres our attention on the One who is the Creator and Master of the universe, and the Controller of all our destinies.

Martin Luther once wrote to fellow reformer Philip Melanchthon, the first systematic theologian in Protestantism: "I am against those worries and fears which take the heart out of you. Why make Elohim (God) a liar in not believing His wonderful promises when He commands us to be of good cheer, and cast all our care upon Him? What more can the devil do than slay us? Why worry then since Christ is at the helm?" I repeat those words: "What more can the devil do than slay us?" There is tremendous wisdom in those words of the Reformer. As one famous psychologist said, "Think of the worst that can possibly happen, face it in your mind, then relax." The noted French moralist and writer, François de La Rochefoucauld once said: "It is a sort of happiness to know the worst that can befall us. Man can stand anything when he knows everything. It is uncertainty that breaks us."

So as we focus our gaze - our attention - upon Yah'shua (Jesus), and learn that he has our lives fully in His hands, then we can turn to our fears, look them fully in the face, and say: "the worst that can happen is for you to throw me further into the arms of Elohim (God)." When fear knocks at your door learn to let Yah'shua (Jesus) answer. It will soon run away.

Next week we're going to look at four more destructuive veils that spoil our relationship woth Yahweh. These are the:

• 1. Veil of inner resentment and bitterness;
• 2. Veil of impure thinking;
• 3. Veil of excessive grief; and
• 4. Veil of uncleared conscience.

Let's end with a word of prayer: 'Father Yahweh, thank you for the gift of divine love. Even if I have to peel off my pride with tears, I am determined that every destructuive veil which hinders my gazing upon You must go. I know that when they go, You come. And Your glory takes the place of gloom, despondency and depression. Father, this could be the beginning of miracles for me, if only I can grasp this truth and apply it to my daily living. Help me gaze upon You with unveiled face, and to experience Your power flowing into every pore of my being. What a delight it gives me to realise that the worst that can possibly happen to me will be used by You to draw me closer to Yourself. From today I will look fully into Your face, before I look fully into the face of my fears. In Yah'shua's Name. Amen.'

I look forward to seeing you at Rosh Chdoesh in a couple of days' time and then we will conclude the last part of this study of destructive veils. May Yahweh bless you and watch over you and your loved ones this coming week and may His love fill and consume you in simcha (joy). Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See the Headcoverings website
[2] Not to be confused with the fear of Yahweh

Acknowledgments

[1] Selwyn Hughes, Every Day With Jesus: The Transformed Life (Crusade for World Revival, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK: 1979)