Series: Exodus
Title: The Shining and the Vail
Text: Ex 34: 28-35
Date: Nov 29,2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Exodus 34: 28: And he
was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread,
nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the
ten commandments. 29: And 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 wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked
with him. 30: And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold,
the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31: And
Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation
returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32: And afterward all the children
of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had
spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33: And till Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a vail on his face. 34: But when Moses went in before the
LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came
out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35: And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’
face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to
speak with him.
Moses is a type of Christ
our Mediator. Like Moses, Christ fasted
forty days and forty nights when was tempted of the devil. Like Moses, Christ was there with the LORD
those forty days and forty nights in prayer and communion with the Father. Like Moses, Christ did neither eat bread,
nor drink water but was sustained by every word that proceeded from the
Father. The Word of God is our Life, not
any temporal things. Temporal things are
temporary things.
Moses came down with the
old covenant—the ten commandments—written on stones. Be sure to note that God says those ten
commandments were the covenant—he wrote upon the tables the words of the
covenant, the ten commandments.
The stone tablets had been
broken previously. We broke the ten
commandments in the garden, even the whole law of God. Only God in Christ restores and honors and
magnifies his law. Christ came down with
the law in his heart. Like as Moses put
those tablets in the ark, the law was in Christ’s heart.
Proposition:
God foreshadowed Christ as the end of the law and the everlasting covenant of
grace when God gave the law through Moses.
Subject: The
Shining and the Vail
THE GLORY IN THE FACE
Exodus 34: 29: And 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 wist not
that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
What was the point of
Moses’ face shining?
One, it is picture of God’s
glory in the face of Christ Jesus. It is
Christ who teaches us what the ten commandments say to us. It is Christ who teaches us he obeyed it for God’s
elect. It is Christ who writes his new
covenant of grace on our hearts.
Two, the shining on Moses
face also declared that the old covenant—the ten commandments—was glorious.
2 Corinthians 3: 7:…the
ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the
glory of his countenance;
The ten commandments were a
covenant glorious as a killing letter, as a ministration of death, as a
ministration of condemnation. That was
its purpose. Paul said I thought it was
ordained to life but when the commandment came I found God ordained it to
minister death to me and my self-righteous self, died. That was the purpose of the ten commandments. God gave it as a ministration of death not as
a rule of life.
Also, the glory on Moses’
face foreshadowed that if the old covenant of ten commandments was glorious
then the new covenant of grace excels in glory.
The new covenant of grace excels the covenant of law, in that, through
it Christ gives spiritual, eternal life, by ministering to his people his
righteousness. Then the ten commandments
cease being precepts and become promises of what we have done in Christ. He says thou shalt worship God only, thou
shalt love your neighbor as yourself. It
is a promise because we have done so in Christ.
If a man is righteous by Christ then he has fulfilled the law. The new covenant of grace gives life by
giving a perfect standing before the law in Christ our Righteousness. That is why the law is not made for a
righteous man. It is because robed in Christ’s righteousness God says we cannot
break his law. God will not remember our sin. God will not impute sin to the
believer.
The old covenant, including
the ten commandments written on stone, was glorious but it was a glory to be
done away—the everlasting covenant excels because it is everlasting.
2 Corinthians 3: 7:
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses
for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8: How shall
not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9: For if the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. 10: For even that which was made glorious had no
glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11: For if that
which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
The law of Sinai was a
carnal commandment. The everlasting covenant
of grace is spiritual. The old covenant
law had carnal, temporary priests and promises.
The everlasting covenant of grace is worked by our everlasting, eternal
High Priest, Christ Jesus. All its
promises are spiritual and eternal. The
old is disannulled for the believer while the new covenant last eternally.
Hebrews 7: 15…after
the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16: Who is made, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. 17:
For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 18:
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the
weakness and unprofitableness thereof. 19: For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
Moses came down with the
two tables of testimony—the old covenant—the ten commandments—in his hand. Preachers say the believer is under the ten
commandments in Christ’s hand. Well, at first
Christ did come down with the law in his hands and in his heart. But he never put it in our hands. Christ came to fulfill the ten commandments for
God and for his people, as well as all the law and the prophets. Christ said not one jot or tittle shall pass
away till all be fulfilled. He fulfilled
it all. He is the holy, just and good
one who alone has fulfilled the holy, just and good law.
In Christ we see the
magnification of holiness it took to fulfill the holy law—a sinless GodMan who
served God from a perfect, holy nature. In
Christ crucified we see the strictness of justice magnified because God spared
not his own Son but delivered him up for all his elect people, declaring
himself just and justifying us from our sins.
In Christ we see a magnification of the goodness of the law in how
Christ went about doing only good to all about him and how he makes us hear it
and kills our self-righteous self by it by his goodness.
Now, by his obedience, all who believe on Christ, have
fulfilled the law. We are complete in
Christ. Every believer in Christ is unchangeably
righteous. The old covenant, including
the ten commandments, is now done away as a covenant. It is abolished for those in Christ. In no way does the law speak to a believer
because in Christ we are not under the law.
By his blood, Christ,
Colossians 2:14: Blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
We are to obey Christ
commandments. His commandments are not
the ten commandments as a covenant. He
writes the law of faith on our hearts. Therefore,
we believe on him, trusting that Christ has fulfilled the ten commandments on
our behalf and we are righteous and just before the law. The Spirit sheds his love in our hearts. Therefore, we love God our Savior and our brethren.
It is Christ’s glory that
he alone is the righteous fulfillment of the law. Moses face shined without Moses knowing it. It speaks to the truth that God’s glory
shines in Christ’s face because he is the glory of God. Everything Christ accomplished is glorious
but Christ himself is the express image of God, the brightness of his glory. When we speak of righteousness we are not
simply speaking of a legal matter or a doctrine but of Christ. He is the Righteousness of God. Christ is the glory of God. By God given faith every believer in Christ
has been brought to the end of the ten commandments. All the law, for every true believer, is fulfilled
by Christ and Christ is our Righteousness.
FEAR OF THE LIGHT
Exodus 34: 30: And when
Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face
shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
While dead in our vain
works we are like Aaron and the children of Israel, we are afraid of this
message. Self-righteous law mongers are
afraid to come to Christ the Light, the Glory of God because all our vain
attempts at law-keeping will be exposed as sin.
John 3:20: For every
one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved.
To speak of Christ being
the end of the law to the believer makes the will-worker afraid because it tears
down his false refuge. But Christ calls
his redeemed to himself.
Exodus 34: 31: And Moses
called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto
him: and Moses talked with them. 32: And afterward all the children of Israel
came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with
him in mount Sinai.
Christ is the great
Mediator, our Prophet. Aaron and the
rulers returned first and afterward all the children of Israel came nigh. Christ first called his apostles and
preachers. Afterward Christ calls all
his children nigh.
Moses’ face shined because
God had shown his glory in the face of Christ Jesus so Moses spoke to them of
Christ. This is what Christ does when he
teaches his preacher and his child. We
declare the truth of the ten commandments.
The commandment comes and all our righteousness die as we behold we are guilty
before God. We cannot keep the ten
commandments by our doing ever. Christ
declares the truth revealed in the ceremonial law, teaching us that Christ is
the Lamb, the High Priest, the Mercy Seat, the way to God.
But Moses, like us, had that treasure in an earthen
vessel that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Only God can make the light shine in the
heart and reveal Christ’s glorious face.
We learn that next.
THE VAIL ON AND OFF
Exodus 34: 33: And till
Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
First, the vail on Moses
face was to typify the blindness of the natural mind, it is the vail on the
heart of the carnal sinner.
2 Corinthians 3: 12:
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13: And not
as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not
stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14: But their minds were
blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading
of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15: But even unto this
day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
When we preach that Christ
has fulfilled the law so that the old covenant, with its ten commandments, is
abolished, why will folks not bow and rejoice with us that this is true in
Christ?
2 Corinthians 4: 3: But
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4: In whom the god of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Yet, when Moses went before
the Lord he took the vail off.
Exodus 34: 34: But when
Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he
came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that
which he was commanded. 35: And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again,
until he went in to speak with him.
Only when our heart is
turned by the Spirit to behold the glory of God in Christ’s face is the vail on
our heart removed.
2 Corinthians 3: 14…which
vail is done away in Christ…16: Nevertheless when it [the heart] shall turn to
the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17: Now the Lord is that Spirit: and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18: But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory [of the old covenant law] to glory [of Christ our Righteousness
himself], even as by the Spirit of the Lord
Only Christ can conform us
to him in the inward man. He turns us
from the glory of the curse to the glory of Christ our Covenant in whom we are righteous
and holy. Then we see the vail rent in
the temple declaring Christ is the Way. It is finished!
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus is that
Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is
there is liberty. If the Son shall make
you free from the law. He brings you under
the law of liberty, the gospel of God’s grace.
Then you are free indeed. Then we
are under the light and easy rule of faith and love. Then we are not under the law but under grace. We are not under the law as a covenant, a
curse or a command. We are under
Christ command and we follow him walking by faith constrained by his love.
You cannot be under the law’s precept as a rule of
life without being under its penalty. And
to say we have kept the law is to say we are righteous by our doing. It is impossible.
Christ’s commandments are
not the ten commandments. His commandment
is believe on me. Thus we
establish the ten commandments and all the law.
We do so, not by our works, but by the Faithful One who did it for
us. His abiding in our new heart makes
us believe on him and walk by the faith of the Son of God. By Christ alone have we have kept the law. His commandment is love one another. We do so perfectly only in Christ. And by the love of God shed abroad in the new
heart we are constrained in the inward man not to love one another.
But the veil on Moses face
also reminds us that right now, even as believers, we see through a glass
darkly. This change will come in
perfection when we see Christ face to face and are changed into his image
perfectly.
1 Corinthians 13:12: For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 John 3:2: Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as
he is.
Amen!