2002: The Year of the Bride – The Veil Lifted

Every year at about this time I take some time to reflect back over the past twelve months and recount all of our accomplishments together as a church. At the same time I try to look ahead and ask the Lord what He would desire from us in the New Year that is before us. Long ago the Lord commissioned us as a people to build a “discipling church” but within this large, life-long vision, there are many facets or components. Each year He seems to give us a specific task within this larger vision, one component in the entire process of discipleship.  In the following paragraphs it is my heart to attempt to express what I would consider to be a prophetic commission to us for this New Year of 2002.

 Over thirty-two years ago I stood on the altar of a small little church on Coronado Island and waited in excited anticipation as Nancy rounded the corner of the sanctuary and walked slowly down the isle towards me. She was a radiant bride even though her face was hidden behind a full-laced veil that obscured her beauty from me. She was the woman I had chosen to give my life to and who had in return chosen me.  It would only be after we had confessed a covenant of love and commitment between us that the veil would be lifted and nothing would inhibit us from seeing each other clearly. This is the picture that is so vivid to me as I read 2 Corinthians chapter three and four. This is the picture that the Bible gives us of an uninhibited relationship between Christ and His church. - 

“¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3)

Paul tells us here that as this veil is lifted our lives begin to reflect the Lord and we are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory. Removing the veil represents the provision that the Lord gives us to renounce all of the secrets and shameful things that we had done in our past so that we can receive forgiveness and new-found freedom. He speaks of a process that we can enter into only after receiving Christ’s new covenant, a process that he elaborates on in chapter four where he goes on to say, 

“²Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”(2 Cor. 4)

The point is that the Lord has given us every provision for freedom. He has given us everything we need to become a radiant people – holy, cleansed without spot or wrinkle because he has washed us with the water of His word (Eph. 5:26). The entire message of the New Testement directs us into a relationship with God that matches this picture, not merely a relationship that saves us from hell, but one that takes us beyond salvation to freedom and sanctification. A relationship that takes us from darkness into the full light as a result of being “washed” in the truth of His word.

This is the picture that the Lord has given me for the year 2002.  This will be the Year of the Bride. This will be a year where many will realize that the veil has been lifted and because of it, they will experience a freedom they didn’t know was possible.  This freedom will come as a result of three things: First, it will come as we allow the Holy Spirit to have full access in our lives because “were the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom”.  Second, this freedom will come as many move into a fuller revelation of the provision of Christ and His work on the cross.  And finally, it will come through a new courage to “renounce secret and shameful ways”, as well as through the rejection of deceptions and the distortion of truth (2 Cor. 4).  This will happen as we choose honesty and transparency.  It will happen as we believe and practice the instruction of 1 John 1:6-10, which reads:

“ ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”