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Moses' Shining Face Descending in Glory And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount
Sinai with Robert Kinney One of the most memorable incidents recorded in the Bible is when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of tablets written with the ten commandments, and with his face radiant from his contact with God. Supernatural brightness, such as Moses saw and radiated, is associated with the spirit nature. For example, we read of the light connected with the apostle Paul’s conversion: “About noon [it was already full light], suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. … And they that were with me saw indeed the light,” etc. (Acts 22:6,9). So bright was this light that Paul was blinded by the experience (Acts 22:11). In Exodus, when Moses asked Jehovah to show him his glory, a similar phenomenon was avoided by God hiding Moses in a cleft of the rock: “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 shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy ... [but] Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:19,20). Saul was required to see Jesus in connection with his apostolic calling. In both these cases, just enough of the manifestation of the spirit was used to accomplish the transforming results; too much would result in death. Jesus’ voice, out of the blinding brightness, told Saul: “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest” (Acts 22:8). Saul was persecuting Jesus in that he was persecuting Jesus’ followers, his body members (and therefore him) to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prison. Obviously, Jesus was already clothed with his divine spirit body so Saul could not persecute him in the flesh as had the scribes and Pharisees. This power and brightness of the divine nature is alluded to in the book of Daniel also: “And they that be wise [the wise virgin class] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament [the sun]” (Daniel 12:3). Another familiar example is recorded in Matthew 17:2 where Jesus was transfigured, his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light. A “bright cloud” overshadowed the scene, and a voice was heard out of the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5). Matthew 17:9 reports that this transfiguration scene was a “vision” (Strong’s #3705, “a spectacle, especially supernatural, to be gazed at”). This is affirmed further by the content of the vision because two of the ancient worthies, Moses and Elijah, appeared in this vision. Yet both Moses and Elijah died centuries earlier and the time of their resurrection had still not arrived. Jesus was the firstborn from the dead, so none preceded him (cf. John 3:13). God has graciously provided some better thing for us, the Christian Church, that they, the ancient worthies, should not be made perfect without us who are still being developed (Hebrews 11:37-40). The Glory of Moses’ Shining Face Our hope is greater than theirs. We have a spiritual ministry and the privilege of offering redemption to the world: “Seeing then that we have such hope [the ministry of righteousness], we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished” (2 Corinthians 3:12,13). Later Paul connects the glory that is our privilege with the glory reflected by Moses, by stating, “Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory [Amplified: in ever increasing splendor], just as from the Lord, the Spirit [pneuma, an invisible, powerful spirit being]” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, NASB). If what was fading came with glory (the glory of the Law), how much greater is the glory of that which lasts (the glory of the Gospel) (see 2 Corinthians 3:9). Those of us called to come in contact with the true light must be changed or transformed inwardly as Moses was changed: “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 ... though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:6,16). Though our faces may not glow, others should discern a difference in our behavior because the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22, 23). This will have an effect on our countenance. Even so, it will not keep us from trials. When Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, “all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). But this did not soften their hearts: “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the holy [spirit], looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God” (Acts 7:54,55). Then he was stoned to death. Written on Tablets There were two writings of the ten commandments. The first set of tablets was provided and written by God (Exodus 32:16). But when Moses descended the mount and observed the golden calf Aaron had made in his absence, and the dancing, “Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount” (Exodus 32:19). The breaking of the first set typified the failure of Israel respecting the old law covenant. Because it was the standard of a perfect man, the Israelites could not keep it perfectly. Sadly they did not keep even the spirit of it when they killed the Messiah, the “Greater than Moses,” predicted to come. The Millennial age in God’s plan has the noble purpose to rewrite this law, broken by sin, in the hearts of Israel, and in the hearts of the billions that “sleep,” waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. God was dealing exclusively
with natural Israel during the whole Jewish age, giving the Israelites the
written law through Moses. They had a higher standing with God than the world;
however, they were only raised to a plane of typical justification rather
than actual justification. This lasted from their agreement to keep the law at
Mount Sinai until Jesus ended that exclusive arrangement by nailing it to his
cross as a Jew. Its precepts were good, and were used as a “schoolmaster” to
bring some of them to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Moses, a Special Picture In the book of Exodus God dealt with Moses in a special way, making of him a type of a greater mediator to come. The first four ascents of Mount Sinai were comparatively short periods of time (see Seven Ascents, p. 8). On those occasions …
On that fourth trip the time required would doubtless increase because of the sheer volume of information given, but we are not told how long it was. It was not until what appears to be Moses’ fifth ascent that he stayed in the mount forty days for the first time. On this occasion he received detailed instructions about the building of the tabernacle with its furniture, the priesthood arrangement, and of course received the first set of tablets that were subsequently broken (Exodus 24:12 to 31:18). Just prior to this fifth ascent the Israelites had ratified their covenant with God through blood sacrifices, agreeing, “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7). Then they fell away to riot and idolatry during Moses’ absence for forty days. On the sixth ascent Moses made his famous pleading for Israel, as the typical mediator: “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written” (Exodus 32:32). This brings us to that seventh trip up the mount, which lasted another forty days without bread or water (Exodus 34:28). This reminds us of our Savior’s testing in the wilderness for a similar period, during which he studied the Scriptures available to him, of which the first five books of Moses would have been a significant part (Matthew 4:1-4; John 5:45-47). During this second forty-day period Moses got a glimpse of God. Since he had been instructed to hew two tablets of stone like the first pair, he brought them with him (Exodus 34:1; Deuteronomy 10:1). Moses in this instance not only provided the tablets, but we suggest he did the writing on them as well, at the direction of God. This would represent a new law covenant, with The Christ in glory as its perfect and effective mediator who will intervene between mankind and God until the world is restored to perfection and able to obey perfectly (1 Timothy 2:4,5; Revelation 21:3,4). There might be a difference of opinion whether God did the second writing as the text of Exodus 34:1 has it, or the mediator, Moses, did the writing as Exodus 34:27,28 suggests: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel ... And he [Moses] wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” Moses simply followed God’s leading, as did Jesus. Repository for the Tablets Exodus 25:10-22 gives the detailed instructions for making the ark of the testimony that became the repository for these tablets. Moses is credited with making the ark (Deuteronomy 10:1-3,5), whereas Bible critics could point to Exodus 37:1 where it says Bezaleel made the ark. There is no contradiction. In our day we might say God was the architect, Moses the general contractor, and Bezaleel one of the sub-contractors who worked in metals to carry out the instructions Moses received. Hence one can say Moses built it. After the ark was constructed it subsequently held not only the two tables of the law, but also Aaron’s rod that budded, and the golden pot of manna that did not spoil (Hebrews 9:4). This ark, taken as a whole, represents The Christ, and there was a glory connected with it shown in the “shekinah light” glowing between the cherubim. All of this was part of the “mercy seat” representing God as the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). Of the items in the ark, two of them—the pot of manna and the rod—were not to be found when the ark was placed in the temple built by Solomon. That temple typified the church in glory and the stones of the temple represent the members of the body of Christ. When they were all in place, it represents the completion of the church in glory. When that spiritual temple
is complete, the opportunity to seek for immortality (Romans 2:7), represented
by the incorruptible manna, will be over. The special “high calling”
(Philippians 3:14; Hebrews 5:4), represented by Aaron’s rod that budded, will
also be finished with the close of the present Gospel age (Matthew 25:10). This
leaves only the “law,” the measure of a perfect human being, the standard as
originally intended, operative in the ages to come. Moses’ Vail Moses’ vail (veil in most translations) is mentioned three times (Exodus 34:33-35). The Hebrew word is Strong’s #4533 and means “to cover.” It appears only in these three verses. (Other instances of “vail” come from different Hebrew words.) It was not a feminine covering such as the veil (Strong’s #4304) of Ruth 3:15. Perhaps it was more a flap of his coat or clothing ample enough to cover his head like a hood. One thought we might apply from this covering is that the world as human beings will never be able to see the glory of the greater mediator. Of Jesus it was said, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Another thought is that the veil could represent the ancient worthies through whom the spiritual phase of the kingdom will communicate with the earthly, the spiritual glory being hidden. The fading aspect shows it was not God’s intention to let the old law covenant continue. Rather, a Melchizedek priesthood would be raised up to replace the Levitical priesthood, and a greater mediator would be raised up instead of Moses. In both of these aspects the saints, as members of the body of Christ, will be together with the Lord in bringing blessings to the world in the kingdom. The Jew to this day has not recognized this fundamental change. Though shrewd, intelligent, distinguished in commercial and professional life, nevertheless there remains upon today’s Jews the same religious blindness of which Paul wrote so long ago. So the fading was also symbolic of the judicial blindness that fell upon Israel, obscuring the transient nature of its brightness and glory to those under it. The veil is therefore both punitive and providential, only to be done away when one turns to the Lord Jesus on an individual basis. But soon all Israel will know her Messiah: “When it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16). |