Veiled to Those Who are Perishing

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The 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. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Do not be surprised brothers that maybe the people you are trying to reach find it difficult to understand the bible and see so many 'faults' and 'flaws' in it. It is most likely that they are confused, or they don't see the bigger picture, take verses out of context or just working within their own assumptions and expectations about the Gospel and the Word of God. It's somehow a daunting task to clear away the fog and mist that cloud the hearts and minds of prebelievers. Never fear though since we have the Holy Spirit Who ministers to us and helps blaze a trail into the lives of our prebelieving friends and family, also, we have a continuous community of believers across history, and the globe, we are all working together in expanding God's Kingdom and by God's grace, through the work of His Holy Spirit, this shroud that dims the understanding of our friends and family will be removed and keep th from perishing. Understanding God's revelation brings life and sustains it within us and the Good News is that this Life and sustenance can be shared through the Word Himself, our Lord Jesus. It is also interesting to note that "at the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4) God sent our Lord to earth in a very relevant way that breaks cultural barriers by putting together major values at that time (and we find permutations of such until now) into one package as we see in these verses. God's timing is really spot on. The Hebrew scriptures were more or less completed, the Greeks gave the world an international language ushered in by Pax Romana, a period of relative peace that covered much of the Western world and the Near East under the Roman Empire. To the Jews, the concept of light and all its metaphors is invaluable, "the Lord is my Light and my salvation..."; to the Greeks, they stand for knowledge (gnosis, logos, ginosko) as a highly prized possession; and to the Romans, it is Glory. These all come into being, as "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God", reflected in the face of the One Man, Christ Jesus!

Acts 17:26-27

"From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us."

~08.12.2013