Bible Talks

 
Exodus 34:1-341And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 10And he said, 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. 11Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 13But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 18The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 20But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. 21Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. 23Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. 25Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 26The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. 27And 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. 28And 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. 29And 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. 30And 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. 31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32And 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. 33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34But 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. (Exodus 34:1‑34)
Let us notice a little about how God used Moses as a mediator for the people. Since Moses could not make atonement for them on the top of the mount, the law could not be removed and so Moses went up into the mount again and God wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone the second time. Moses did not however bring these second tables of stone into the camp as he had started to do with the first. This time he put them into the ark which typifies Christ. He was the only One who could keep God’s holy law. Faith must look on to Him. God did, however, because of Moses’ work as a mediator, put the people under a mixture of law and grace. God revealed Himself to Moses as merciful arid gracious, but He said that He could not clear the guilty—this awaited the glorious and perfect work the Lord Jesus was going to accomplish on Calvary.
God then told Moses how that He was going to bring the people into the land (in grace) but warns them that they were to walk in separation from the people of Canaan and not to make any covenants with them.
When they entered the land they were to appear before the Lord three times in a year. When they went up to keep these feasts they might have feared that the enemy would come in and possess their land but God said that He would keep anyone from even wanting it. What an encouragement this should be for us, for if we put the Lord first He will surely look after our interests for us. He is too rich to be any man’s debtor, and though we are not promised earthly prosperity as the Jew was, we know He will care for us in His own way while we lay up our treasures in heaven.
After Moses had received these second tables of stone, and the revelation of God’s mercy and grace, his face shone when he came back into the camp. Moses did not know it, however, but this partial revelation of God’s grace which he received was so wonderful that the children of Israel could not look at him. They had to ask him to put a veil over his face. How little the natural heart of man knows about grace—it is contrary to all his thoughts! Even the smallest child, if not taught from the Word of God, thinks of obtaining God’s favor through works of his own. It is hard for the sinner to acknowledge that he deserves eternal judgment, and that the only way he can be saved is by grace alone. The children of Israel could not stand even this little bit of God’s grace reflecting from “Moses’ face. Surely “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:1414But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14).
We know that now the veil is gone, for “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17). Surely as we think of it our faces should shine too! After Moses had been in the presence of God receiving this wonderful revelation he came to the people with a shining face, arid undoubtedly if we keep company with Jesus our faces will shine too. Moses did not know, however, that his face was shining, and so we should never try to put on an appearance of godliness to others but if we are enjoying the love of Christ others will see it and we will not have to put it on. Oh, for more shining-face Christians today—those who are living in the company of Jesus so as to reflect His love and grace to others!
ML 06/18/1950