WHEN MOSES came down from the mount, after those forty days alone in communion with God, his face shone with the reflection of the glory of Jehovah’s presence. His face did not shine when he was up in the mount the first time, for then it was pure law, and the law never made any one’s face to shine.
But now the second time it was not pure law but the grace and goodness of God mingled with it. Occupation with God and His Word caused Moses’ face to shine, though he was not aware of it himself. If we too are occupied with Christ and the glory of God’s grace which now shines in Jesus’ face, our faces will shine too. We may not be aware of it, but others will not fail to see it.
However when Aaron and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses shine, they were afraid to come near to him. They were afraid of the glory that brought God down to them and they could not bear to be in His holy presence. They felt no doubt as Adam did, when he hid himself in the trees of the garden because he heard the voice of God. There was nothing in their hearts that appreciated that glory, so they wished to keep away from it. That glory demanded holiness and obedience, and they did not like to be holy and obedient.
How blessed to know that Jesus the Son of God, who came into this world to save sinners, came out of the glory of God, that He might take away all fear out of our hearts, and teach us that the God of glory loved poor sinners. If we were to look up at that bright glory now we should see a Saviour in the midst of it, and we should be able to say what by faith all the children of God can say, that is, that there is a Man in the glory who has put all our sins away.
When Moses spoke to the children of Israel he put a veil upon his face. They were afraid because they knew they were sinners and could not stand before him from whose presence Moses had come. This was the effect of the law, which the apostle speaks of as “the ministry of death,” or “the ministration of condemnation” (2 Cor. 3). But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off.
How wonderful that now all is changed for the Christian, since the Lord Jesus has died and gone back into the glory of God. Moses before God without the veil on his face is now the position of the Christian through grace. Instead of fearing, we rejoice as we behold the glory in the face of Jesus Christ at the right hand of. God, because His presence there is a proof that He has accomplished redemption, that our sins, all that stood against us before God, are gone, and gone forever. The rays of that glory which once searched out and showed our sin, now only show how perfect is the work of Christ, whose precious blood has cleansed all those sins away. The believer is “clean every whit,” and now rejoices to stand in the presence of Him who has washed him whiter than snow.
ML-04/11/1971