The gospel truly is a tale of two veils: the veil of death that has shrouded and shadowed humanity since we turned away from trusting our Father and the sheer wedding veil that He has placed on us by sheer grace.

The book of Isaiah is full of rich images and word pictures that pointed Israel to the new thing that God was going to do and continues to point us to the gospel which was that new thing. In chapter 25, Isaiah artfully depicts the then coming day when the veil of darkness, the thickly woven web of sin that covers all people of all nations would be swallowed up, engulged, ingested and destroyed.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:6-9. 

The Hebrew word translated veil literally means blanket and the verb attached to the veil means woven. Our sin is a thickly woven blanket of heaviness and brokenness that hangs over each of us, whether we can name it and identify it or not. This veil covers all peoples of all nations with no exceptions.

Isaiah declares the promise that One is coming who will, in his words, swallow up this veil of blackness and blindness, this closely-hanging death shroud that is the both the inheritance and choice of every human on this sphere.

“On this mountain,” Isaiah wrote, “On this mountain, death will be swallowed up,” thinking that Mount Sinai would be the place. But God had in mind another mountain, Calvary. On that dreaded death hill, the place of the Skull, the only human who ever walked the earth without veil of darkness closely clinging to him would swallow up our shame.

The holy one, who had never known shame, ingested the shame of His rebellious children, on the Cross.

For those who love Him and look to Him, the sin and shame swallower, the veil of shame of is replaced with the veil donned by a beloved bride.

One day, at the wedding feast hinted at by Isaiah with rich wine and lavish food, Christ will lift forever the gossamer veil of His bride, His people. Thenceforth, they shall see Him face to face.

Two Veils