The Light Within the Veil
“But 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” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Fall Communion Season 2025
“With open face beholding.“ The veil once hid God from man. Christ tore it when He died, and through that torn fabric the light of heaven fell on the unworthy. Since then, the Supper is face to face fellowship Him.
The believer, unveiled by grace, comes a child welcomed home. He looks and lives. His faith is sight beginning. Every look at Christ refines the soul’s features, sanding down the hard lines that sin carved deep.
Beholding changes us. Not quickly, not painlessly, but surely. The old face fades. The new one, gentle, steadfast, forgiven, takes shape beneath the sight of glory. This is the secret of sanctification. We are transformed by worship, not will. The mirror of the Word, the preaching, the cup, the bread, all become one single lens through which the Spirit shows us Christ until the image is etched on our hearts.
The Lord’s Table ends, but the beholding does not need to. Communion begun in bread and wine, may continue on in regular life. I often see the believer leaving the Supper carrying light in the eyes, mercy on their lips, and peace across the countenance. Like Moses, others see it without knowing why, the quiet evidence of time spent before the face of God.
Heaven is never far to such a soul, if they would just pause an think of Him. The light that once seemed distant may grow day by day. Until that perfect Day. May we catch a vision of that Day, in the rehearsal dinner of the Lamb.
O Lord, keep me under that light until I wake and see Thee as Thou art. Then the mirror will be gone, but Thy likeness will remain forever.