27.3 To Take Off the Cover
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Have you noticed how much and how often the themes of the resurrection, of the apocalypse, of the human race being delivered by a few chosen ones, of a new age dawning, are occurring in today’s movies and television shows? Yet every one of these things is presented as darkness, especially the resurrection. The evil one wants everyone to imagine that the resurrection of the dead is a bunch of horrific super-power zombies preying on the remaining humans. To the world “apocalypse” means total destruction and ruin; this is the fruit of Nicene Christianity, of the spirit of anti-Christ run amok in the church.
Seen and Known
The apocalypse is Christ being seen and known by all. The apocalypse is the Love of God made visible into the experience of all humans on this earth.
Certainly, there is a shattering and falling apart as Father becomes visible walking this earth, but that shattering is the effect of evil coming to its bitter end. And, of truth, there is no entrance into Christ except through the cross, and there is no acceptance of the cross until the whole world becomes guilty before God. The thing that everyone FEARS about the apocalypse is that, when everyone else sees what they really are, everyone will see that they are nothing but a sham.
All Shall Know Me
Amen. How wonderful. It is only when people accept themselves as a complete and ridiculous sham that we are now able to show them Christ. Christ, the only life they are and have ever been. Christ, the one who has spoken them by good words every moment of their existence. The sham was nothing more than not knowing God.
None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them (Hebrews 8:11).
Apokalupsis
The word apokalupsis, meaning “to take off the cover, to reveal what has been hidden,” occurs 18 times in the New Testament. At times, this is an inner and personal unveiling, the Holy Spirit revealing the Lord Jesus to an individual person in far deeper ways than they have ever known Him. And at other times, this is an outer and corporate unveiling, when the cover is removed and all eyes see Jesus the Christ, having been here on this earth all along, walking in His body.
These two aspects of the unveiling go hand in hand, there is not the second without the first. Yet I want to list here the full text of those times when apokalupsis refers primarily to the outer revelation of Christ.
Apokalupto
At the same time, the Greek word apokalupto, the verb form of apokalupsis, occurs 22 times in the New Testament. These two words are the same, one the unveiling itself, the other, the action of unveiling. I will include the most pertinent texts that contain the action of unveiling. We also see that there is an unveiling of darkness as well.
We must place before our eyes what God says, for this most important action in all the history of the universe, both past and future, comes through every Word that God speaks.
Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be unveiled, and hidden that will not be known (Matthew 10:26).
Unveiled to Babes
A light of unveiling to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32).
I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have unveiled them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to unveil Him (Matthew 11:25-27).
Luke includes the same words as Matthew, linking tightly together knowing the Father and the unveiling. But then Luke adds something more.
Glory Unveiled
Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see” (Luke 10:24). They saw the everyday life of a Man walking together with them. – The righteousness of God is unveiled from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be unveiled in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the unveiling of the sons of God (Romans 8:18-19). – Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is unveiled, you may also be glad with exceeding joy (1 Peter 4:13).
Wrath Unveiled
(As in the days of Noah and Lot) Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is unveiled (Luke 17:30).
In accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the unveiling of the righteous judgment of God (Romans 2:5). – For the wrath of God is unveiled from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).
To give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is unveiled from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire (that brings) the required payment of judgment on those who do not know God (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). I place this line UNDER 1 Corinthians 15:28, God all in all.
Unveiled by Fire
When it, pleased God… to unveil His Son in me (Galatians 1:15-16a).
Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be unveiled by fire; and the fire will PROVE each one’s work, of what sort it is (1 Corinthians 3:13). – That the proving of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is proven by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the unveiling of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. (1 Peter 1:7-8).
You, who are kept by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be unveiled at the suitable time (1 Peter 1:5).
Christ Always All
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is unveiled, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3). – You know what is restraining, that he may be unveiled in his own time. – And then the lawless one will be unveiled, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His presence (2 Thessalonians 2:6 & 8).
Christ is always all first, before anything not Christ could ever vanish away. But we see a double unveiling, an unveiling going in both directions at the same time. There is nothing covered that will not be unveiled.
The Unveiling of Jesus Christ
The testimony of Christ was confirmed in you… eagerly waiting for the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ… you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:6-9 condensed). Notice that it is the unveiling of Jesus that we eagerly await, not His parousia, or presence, which we already possess.
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the unveiling of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13). – The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place (Revelation 1:1a).
Turning on the Lights
We cannot separate the unveiling of all things hidden in the darkness from the unveiling of Jesus Christ, as Paul said, in us. We are turning on the lights. And turning on the lights is the last thing the darkness wants to happen – because all will be found guilty of false accusation against God.
The judgment is that all the world would become guilty before God – for the cross has already brought the entire old creation to an end. It is the shepherding of Christ over the nations that brings all into the knowledge of God. There is no question regarding the difficulty of those who do not know God; yet evil turns “a period of time” into “forever.” We know that Jesus restores all creation to God.
Seeing Jesus
Our focus, however, is NOT on the unveiling of emptiness, but on the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Jesus is already here; Jesus is already our life; Jesus is already IN us and we IN Him. We are already Jesus’ body. But no one sees Jesus, and no one else knows He is here, walking this earth in us, His physical body, His very flesh. The cover must be removed so that all eyes will see Him.
For years I thought that the removal of the cover that hides the Lord Jesus was the removal of our outer fleshy self. Now I know that thought is not just absurd, but contrary to the gospel.
What Blocks Our Eyes
It is through Peter that God spoke the strongest expressions of the unveiling of Jesus Christ, though we do find each one of Peter’s statements matched by one of Paul’s. But it is Peter (as well as Jesus) who gives us the clue as to what it is that blocks from our eyes the seeing of Jesus as He IS, Jesus all here now and Personal in us as we walk together in one body.
Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). Then – He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
In That Day
The veil is not upon Jesus, but upon our eyes. It’s not Jesus who is “uncovered,” but our blindness. The veil is the cataracts that blind us from seeing all things as they really are.
IN THAT DAY you shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. Seeing comes from KNOWING. And “that day,” though always “today,” is also referring to the fulfillment of the first Day of the Feast of Tabernacles in the life of the church.
The unveiling of Jesus Christ and all the days of Tabernacles are the same thing. Tabernacles is the metaphor; the unveiling is plain-speaking.