Let us turn to this portion that
we've just been reading in Exodus chapter 34 and directing your
attention to the last verse of the chapter in Exodus 34 and
verse 35. And the children of Israel saw
the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses
put the veil upon his face again and he went in to speak with
him. Exodus 34 and verse 35 to say
something then with regards to this quite remarkable phenomenon
that the face of Moses shone the shining of his face he comes down from the mount
He'd been there again for 40 days and 40 nights, as we read
back in verse 28. He'd been in the mountain, of
course, previous to that. Again, earlier we read of Him
being there for 40 days and 40 nights when He received various
commandments from the Lord. concerning how the Ten Commandments
was to be applied to the life of the nation, all those various
civil laws, and he would subsequently go on to receive all the ceremonial
laws also. But on that previous occasion
when he had been in the mount, he had come down really as a
judge amongst the people and we see that so clearly in what
we are told in the 32nd chapter there at verse 7 the Lord says
unto Moses go get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest
out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves They'd turn
so quickly out of the way, they made a molten image, the golden
calf, and they'd worship God, as it were, by means of an image.
It was a form of syncretism, really. They would say they weren't
worshiping the golden calf, but they were trying to worship God
by means of that idol that Aaron had made. And God sends his servant
down from the mount, Again, in that 32nd chapter, at verse 15,
we're told how Moses turned and went down from the mountain.
The two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables
were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other
were they written. And the tables were the work
of God. And the writing was the writing
of God, graven upon the tables. And then at verse 19, he came
to pass as soon as he came down to the camp that he saw the calf
and the dancing and Moses' anger waxed hot and he cast the tables
out of his hands and break them beneath the mount. He had come
down then on that previous occasion very much as one who is angry
and he's coming down as a judge. It's interesting when the incident
is recounted in Deuteronomy 9 and verse 17. It reminds them, I
took the two tables and cast them out of my two hands and
break them before your eyes. Before your eyes. The covenant
had been broken. But then, though subsequently
God had spoken of disinheriting them, He'd refer to them not
as his own people, thy people, he had said to Moses, the transgressors. God had already disowned them,
he would altogether disown them. But Moses is the man who stands
in the breach and prays for the people that God would yet have
mercy and forgive them and restore them. And so he goes the second
time here into the mount and God is pleased to restore the
covenant to these people. How remarkable it is that God
would again engage himself to such a wicked people, so willful
in their sins. They're in In verse 10, we read up to verse
9, but God says in verse 10, Behold, I make a covenant before
all thy people. I will do marvels such as have
not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the
people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord. For
it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. God restores them,
but God will do terrible things amongst his people. And here
we see as Moses comes down, then now from the mount his face shines. His face shines. And the children
of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face
shined, it says here in the text. The significance of that, the
Lord lifting up the light of His countenance upon the man,
we can think of the great Aaronic blessing that God will appoint
later there at the end of Numbers chapter 6, how He will bless
the people through the priests. They are to pronounce those words.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face
to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His
countenance upon thee and give thee peace. But there is with
these people now such a holy awe as they behold the face of
Moses. They cannot bear the sight of
his face and so he has to put a veil over his face. And he
only removes the veil when he goes up again into the mount
and into the presence of the Lord. Well as we examine this
incident a little more carefully. I just want to deal this evening
with two headings. First of all, to examine what
was the cause of the shining of his face. And then secondly,
to think somewhat about why it was so necessary that he conceal
that shining. First of all, the cause of the
shining as I said the first time when he'd gone up into the mount
he'd been there 40 days and 40 nights and he'd received all
those various civil laws and he would also receive instruction
concerning the tabernacle and the priesthood but there also
he had received those tables of the law written by the finger
of God. And the significance really of
the breaking of those commandments at the foot of the mount, the
very mount where God had entered into the covenant. But now the
tables must be renewed. But the amazing thing now of
course is that Moses sees something more than what he had beheld
previously. And we see it from what he had
been pleading at the end of chapter 33. In verse 18, he prays to God, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. He wants to see something more.
He'd seen surely something of the glories of God when he had
first gone into the mount. But here, having prayed for this
disobedient people, these covenants breakers. And the Lord God, accepting
his prayer, he says that he would, that God would show him something
of his glory. And what does God say to him? Verse 19 of that chapter, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the
name of the LORD before thee, and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see
my face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the LORD
said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon
a rock, and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth
by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee
with my hand while I pass by. and I will take away my hand,
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen."
And so there is something more now that Moses is able to behold. It's God's backward parts. But it's that God who has so
clearly proclaimed himself as the gracious God. And this is
the cause really, this time, of something different with regards
to the countenance of Moses. When he first comes down, having
first received the commandments, as we've said, he is angry, and
displays something of that anger in the way of judgment, really.
But now we see a very different scene. And the cause of this
shining is, of course, that God is revealing himself as a sin-pardoning
God. as a God who is ready to forgive
his people though they have sinned so grievously against him. This is the wonder of God and
the grace of God when God deals with his people. Is it not ultimately to reveal
to them something of his gracious character? We see it in all the
troubles that a man like Job passes through. and the confession
that Job is brought to make at the end of all those bitter experiences. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, he says, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore
I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And now the latter
end of Job is more great than the beginning. His latter end
is much greater than his beginning. because God has revealed to him
something more of himself as the God of all grace. He's learnt
lessons, hard lessons, profitable lessons. When the Lord has dealings with
his people, and in those dealings he's revealing himself and his
character to them, won't that communion be such as to make
their faces ultimately to shine? when we read of Stephen making
his noble defense before the Jewish council. There at the
end of Acts chapter 6. Remember he's about to speak
to them, he's about to record something of the Lord's dealings.
The whole of chapter 7 he's taken up with his great apology for
his Christian faith. But right at the end of chapter
16, just before he begins that noble defense, we read how Stephen's
face was as an angel. His face was as an angel. Even as he comes to his ends,
the first Christian martyr, he knew such communion with the
Lord God himself. He knew that one who declares
himself to be the great light of the world. All those tremendous
statements that we have recorded in John's Gospel, where Christ
reveals himself as Jehovah, Jehovah Jesus. Time and again he declares,
I am, I am the light of the world, he says. He that believeth on
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
This is what Moses says, he has that blessed light of life. That
is the true light, says John, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. And the psalmist, in thy light
shall we see light. It's when there is that dealings
with God, those communings with God. Moses was one. He was the mediator between those
sinful Hebrews and their God. And as he is with God, as he
is pleading with God, as he is receiving new commandments as
he were from God, so his face is made to shine. A light that
shineth in a dark place, says Peter. or that blessed light
where we see something of the goodness of God and the grace
of God. When we think of that first giving
of the commandments in chapter 20 of course, the children of
Israel were so filled with dread that they requested that Moses
would be their mediator. Didn't they say as much at the
end of that 20th chapter? Speak thou with us And we will
hear, but let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die. But how Moses
is favoured, you see, as that one, as the mediator, as all
those wondrous dealings with the Lord is God. That light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, says Peter, and
the day star arise in your heart. That Son of Righteousness that
rises with healing in His wings, healings in His beams, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, when God comes and where
there is that gracious enshining of the light of the Gospel, It's,
in many ways, a paradox, the experience of the Christian,
that light begins to shine, and what does the child of God feel? He feels his own darkness. It's
a light shining in a dark place, in the depths of the sinner's
heart, that heart that is sunk in iniquity, that heart that's
desperately wicked. No man can know it, but the Lord
knows it. He searches the heart. He tries to rise. And yet God's
purpose is a gracious purpose. The language again of the Apostle,
there in 2 Corinthians 4, it's God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, who shines in the heart, giving the light
of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh, that's the enshining,
that's the enshining of the Gospel. And in many ways, this is what
we see in the shining of Moses' face. As I said, there's a difference
between what we have previously, when he goes into the mount,
and comes down, as it were, in judgment this time, God having
restored his people, he comes down with his face shining. And so we reflect something of
the glory of God. Isn't that really in many ways
what the Christian is called to? To reflect something of God,
something of the glories of God. The language of the Lord Jesus
in the Sermon on the Mount concerning the necessity of good works. There are those good works. do not precede salvation but
good works must follow where there is the real experience
of salvation there will be those works by their fruits says Christ
ye shall know them and he says in the sermon to his disciples
ye are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid neither do men light a candle and put it under
a bushel but on a candlestick, and He giveth light unto all
that are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." All the glory is God's. Where do those
good works proceed from? Without sin it is impossible
to please God. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. Oh, where there is that faith
then there must be that evidence in those good works that will
follow. Believers then reflect something
of the grace of God. And surely, when we think of
the day in which we're living, those works should be much more
conspicuous than anything that could ever have been under the
law because the gospel so excels the law. This historic incident
that we have recorded back in Exodus is of course taken up
in the New Testament by the Apostle in the words that we find in
2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and there at verse At verse 7, writing
to the believers at Corinth, Paul says, If the ministration
of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away? O shall not the ministration
of the gospel be rather glorious? If there's a glory reflected
in law there, how much more should there be a glory associated with
the gospel? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, Paul says, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. There is something to be learned
then from what we have recorded here in this historic account
of the shining of the face of Moses. So I want us in the second
place to see the significance of the concealing of that shining. We're told, aren't we, here at
verse 33, till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a
veil on his face. But when Moses went in before
the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came
out. And he came out and spoke unto
the children of Israel that which he was commanded. Now, all these
things are written for our learning. says the Apostle, that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Whatever things
happen to them are in samples. They're written for our learning.
There is something significant. There is something symbolic here.
Moses veils his face. and again the language that we
have there in the New Testament in that third chapter of 2nd
Corinthians where Paul takes it up he says at verse 12 seeing then
that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech he's
speaking of himself and his ministry of the gospel great plainness,
the margin says great boldness of speech and not as Moses which
put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished." There is a glory that excels
in the Gospel. And Dr. Gill, commenting there,
on that third chapter, makes the point that the veil had a
mystery in it. That's the remark of Gill. He speaks there of the mystery,
the mystery of the Gospel. There was a certain darkness,
a certain obscurity really in the law in comparison with the
plainness and the clearness that we have in the Gospel, the fullness
of that revelation. There are certain intimations
we might say, back in the Old Testament, And we've already
remarked that there's something different about Moses on the
second occasion when he goes to renew the tables of the law,
because something else of God's character has been revealed,
his willingness to forgive. And yet, there's still much that
is shrouded in darkness there in the law. And again, what Paul
is saying in that third chapter in the second letter to the Corinthians
it continues really with the same truths in the fourth chapter
it says therefore seeing we have this ministry As we have received
mercy we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Oh, Paul will
use great plainness of speech. He's so bold as he goes into
the synagogues. throughout the book of Acts,
preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course,
when we think of the veiling of Moses' face, it does indicate the difference
between the law on the one hand, the gospel
on the other hand, but also, Gil makes this point, it is prophetic
of the future blindness of the children of Israel. They were blinded, there's a
veil upon their eyes. Whenever the Scriptures are read,
they don't see the truth of all that is ultimately fulfilled
in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul again writing there
in Romans chapter 10 speaks of them, they the Jews being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
the believer. It is Christ who has come who
has honored the Lord and magnified the law. It's Christ who has
by his obedience in life and by that sin-atoning death that
he has died that has honored the law both in terms of all
its precepts, all its commandments, and all its terrible penalties. There's a glory in the Gospel.
We see it so clearly in that portion in 2 Corinthians that
we've referred to. Again, look at the language there
in verse 10 of chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians. Even that which was made glorious,
the law, had no glory in this respect by the reason of the
glory that exalteth. And the glory that exalteth is
Christ in the Gospel. Where all of salvation is to
be found, the law was given by Moses. grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. More than is availing then over
his face to show us something of the darkness of the law in comparison with
the glorious revelation that we have in the Gospel, in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, with regards
to Moses, who of course himself is the most gracious man, although
we associate law with Moses, he is the Lord's servant. And all the Old Testament prophets
would look back to Moses, as their authority to the law and
to the testament, he says, Isaiah, if they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. There is a certain light
in Moses. And we see how gracious a man
he was. He seems to be unaware of his
face and the shining of his face. Verse 29, it came to pass when
Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony
in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses
whispered not. He was not aware that the skin
of his face shone while God talked with him. And you know the godly,
the godly who are those who reflect something of God's glory, are
they not also unaware of that fact? They don't feel themselves to
be what they are, the servants of God, those who are reflecting
the glories of Christ. In fact, the more a man is sanctified,
we know the more that man will feel is sinnership. It's another paradox of the Christian's
experience. As a sanctified man, we know
how Paul felt so much of his sins. Growth in grace, in the
language of the articles, growth in grace is not a growth in conscious
goodness, but in self-necessity and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. The more we grow in grace, the
more we'll grow in that knowledge. Christ will be more precious
to us because we feel ourselves to be greater sinners. And we
see it time and again in the experiences of the godly Paul
in particular. That seventh chapter of Romans.
The good that I would, I do not, he says. The evil that I would,
not that I do. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. There's a certain law,
he's not talking about God's law, the Ten Commandments, he's
talking about his own fallen nature. There's that in him,
you see, that is wedded to sins. The carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. and he feels it, I find
then a law that when I would do good evil is present with
me the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh and these so contrary one to the other and Paul says
you cannot do you cannot do the thing that you would, all wretched
man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God, he says through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
with the mind I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the
flesh the Lord of sin." It's the experience of the godly,
isn't it? They're unaware that they're growing in grace. And
when the Lord comes and has dealings with them, and is intimate with
them in those dealings, how they feel it. That was the case, as
we've said, with Job. Ne'er mine eye seeth her, he
says, and I repent in dust and ashes. Isaiah the same. Oh, a
wretched man. He found himself to burn. Calls
himself a sinful man. And he dwells in the midst of
a sinful people. Daniel. Daniel says all his comeliness
in him turns into corruption when he sees something of the
glories of God. And it's not only in the Old
Testament, we see it in the New Testament. When the Lord performs
a remarkable miracle, what does Peter say there in the opening
part of Luke chapter 5? Depart from me, O Lord, for I
am a sinful man. And we know how John, when he
sees Christ glorified, falls at his feet as dead. The godly are unaware, just like
Moses, he wished not that the skin of his face shone when the
Lord was communing with him. And we know how modest this man
is, and we see something of his modesty here when he does veil
his face. The children of Israel saw the
face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses
put the veil upon his face until he went in to speak with him,
to speak again with the Lord God. The man Moses, he was a
very meek man above all men that were upon the face of the earth,
we're told. He was renowned for his meekness,
his lowliness of heart. The humble don't want to draw
attention to themselves, they desire only to bear their testimony
to God and the goodness of God and the grace of God. Those words
of the Lord Jesus in his sermon, let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Oh God grant them that we might
learn some profitable lesson from the man Moses and his experience
here. The shining of his face, the
significance of it. As we said, it is in many ways
so prophetic of the future blindness of the children of Israel. The
vow that is yet upon their faces whenever they read the word of
God. But also And we see a comparison between law on the one hand and
gospel on the other. And the glory that excels is
that that we have in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And so we desire to submit to
him and to embrace all his holy commandments and to delight in
all his gospel precepts, even as we would feed upon those great,
exceeding great, and precious promises. Will the Lord be pleased
to bless His word to us? We're going to sing our second
praise before we come to prayer. It's the hymn 544, the tune Auburn
734. By nature can no man be just,
since all are conceived in sin. No room is there left us to boast,
for works cannot God's favor win. But such who in Jesus believe
are justified freely by grace, united to Jesus their head is
made unto them righteousness. Now Jesus, the true light is
come, the path is far brighter than day, nor can that fair body
the sun shine equal to Jesus the way the light that in Moses
appeared, though great, was but dim at the best, when with that
divine light compared with which the true church is now blessed. The Hymn 544, the tune 734. By nature can no man be just
In form or conceived in sin The realm is to lift us to boast
Of where the Son of God came away How just if I trade my grace
in love and brighter and brighter shall
shine. To Adam be the electric horse,
to Abraham the holy lamb. in shadows and tights so sublime. Now Jesus, the true light is
come, the path is far brighter than day, nor can the fair body,
the soul, surely We wish the truth