The bible talks about the veil both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament we have the two veils of the temple. The first veil separated the court from the tabernacle, or the temple. The second veil separated the holy place, called Holy of Holies. The people, before the temple was built, stayed in the court, which was all around the tabernacle and, later, they stayed around the temple. Only the priests went beyond the first veil and entered the temple to minister. No priest could go beyond the second veil and go into the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could do it, and only once a year (Heb. 9:1-7). The veil, therefore, is a sign of separation. It separated the people from the inside of the temple. The second veil separated the priests from the Holy of Holies. Even the High Priest would die if he entered the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time and without the sacrifice of atonement  (Lev. 16:2,3). The veil separated from whom? It separated from Jehovah.

The apostle Paul makes reference to another veil, the veil of the Old Testament. “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ” (2 Cor. 3:14). There was a spiritual veil that blocked the spiritual vision. In order for a Jew to get converted, the veil had to be removed. “But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:15, 16). The law of Jehovah, that is, the Old Testament, put a veil in the hearts of the Jews, which separates them from Jesus Christ. We read in Heb. 7:12 that the law and the priesthood of the Old Testament were changed in Christ. Well, Jehovah promises to restore the law in the end times. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their hearts I will write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Jer. 31:33). This scripture is repeated in Heb. 8:10.This is equivalent to saying that Christ removed the veil, and that Jehovah is going to put it back again. Jesus removed the veil when he changed the law and abolished the Old Testament, and Jehovah promises to put over the veil by restoring the law and the Old Testament, which Christ abolished. When Christ was crucified, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). The way to God, the Father, was opened to all, and so that unworthy priesthood and those useless sacrifices were refuted. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). The law was abrogated for its great fragility and uselessness, since it did not make anything perfect (Heb. 7:18-19). Gone are the stone temple made by human hands, and gone is the Levitical priesthood. Everything is new, now. Peter declares the following about the Church of Christ: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). And Jehovah promises to restore Israel, in Ezek. 36:8-15. Then, in the chapter 37, he gives incredible details about the restoration of the people. In chapters 40 through 44, Jehovah says that he is going to restore the temple, the Levitical priesthood, the sacrifices and the burnt offerings of the Old Testament. In Ezek. 43:10-27, we are given details of the sacrifices. This proves that the plans of Jehovah are not the same as the plans of Jesus and the Father.

The Old Testament was the covenant of the flesh and of the blood. “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; THUS SHALL MY COVENANT BE IN YOUR FLESH FOR AN EVERLASTING COVENANT” (Gen. 17:13). The law was and is weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3). The commandment was, and is, carnal (Heb. 7:16). How can Jehovah make a covenant in the flesh, if there is no good in the flesh? (Rom. 7:18). “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:50). That is why Jesus said that the flesh profits nothing, in John 6:63. But Jehovah also said that he is going to create a new heaven and a new earth, and that all flesh will come and worship before him (Is. 66:22,23). They are ways contrary to one another.

As the woman is, so is the flesh “So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it” (Eph. 5:28-29). The woman uses the veil because she is flesh (1 Cor. 11:6). As the veil is a sign of separation from God and God is Spirit, so the woman is separated from God by the veil of the flesh, and so she needs the covering of the man. “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:3). Neither God, nor Jesus is the head of the woman, because she is flesh. Eve, flesh of Adam, caused him to sin (Gen. 2:23; 1 Tim. 2:13,14).

Christ became flesh (John 1:14), and sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3). Christ was temped in the flesh (Heb. 5:7; 4:15), and by the women that are flesh, but he did not fall. Christ crucified the flesh and demands that we follow him: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). Paul said: “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). In marriage there should be love, not fleshly lust, for the marriage bed should be undefiled (Heb. 13:4). If there is lust in marriage, it destroys it, just as Peter said, “…abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11).

To conclude this subject of the veil, in order for one to belong to Christ, the veil has to be removed. Christ came, finished the work, but the Old Testament continues with its laws, and the Jewish people do not get converted to Christ, therefore the veil is still on their hearts until today (2 Cor. 3:14-16). If Jehovah were Christ, Christ would have put the veil of separation over the Jews, but he did not, not even over the Gentiles. Christ tore the veil of the flesh on the cross, in order to enter in the heavenly sanctuary, opening the way for the Christians (Heb. 10:19,20). The veil has to be removed by conversion, though, that is, the veil of the flesh of the Old Testament. The ones who adopt the Old Testament, put over their hearts the veil that Christ has removed. And notice that the women go on using the veil. Why is that? It is because the women want to be flesh, walk about naked, even when they are dressed, and released the use of the flesh of Jehovah.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira