Exodus 34, April 10th

Exodus 34

Prayer Requests:

Carol, continued prayer for Jamison.

Carol, Wyatt family have the flu

Camille!

Judy Denzer family

Cheryl daughter new job

Nancy Rogers’ sister passed away

Miguel, oldest son’s family, spiritual battles. Seth and family

Exodus 34:18–24 “18 “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. 21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in…”

This is a matter of Sabbath, of regular feast-day rest and celebration throughout the year, as well as the regular weekly practice of Sabbath. But all the while, it is YHWH that stands at the center of the worship and center of their celebrations and feasts, and all at one location. Because God literally dwells with them. You appear before the Lord because he lives with you. This is a rejection of the pagan worship of the day that used idols to represent gods at many different locations. There is no need for that when your God lives in your midst.

And the final section for us today:

Exodus 34:25–28 ESV

25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” 27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

We’ve heard these things before, but it is a reminder and an affirmation of God’s covenant with the people.

We have reminders of our own covenant—every month when we take communion. This is God’s grace to remind them, not to shame them, but to bring them back into the covenant after their transgressions.

OK, so what I really want to focus on today is the Shining Face of Moses.

Exodus 34:29–35 ESV

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

This is the effect of fellowship with God. For Moses there is a literal transformational element of communion with God, when we are in God’s presence we are changed. And what is that we observe about Moses’ transformation?

First, look at v. 29, He did not know that the skin of his face shone. He was unaware of this transformation, in some ways this is the mark of true spiritual maturity; he is not reveling in his own greatness, but rather so focused on the presence of YHWH. Numbers 12:3 “3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Moses was a meek leader, it’s a good thing, and I think this here in Ex. 34 is an example of his meekness! There is a humility in the not knowing.

It’s also important to note this: Moses is reflecting the glory of YHWH. Something different happened on this trip up Mt. Sinai. Moses has been up there before, he’s spent a long time up there, but never has he come down the mountain with a shiny face. But now, after seeing the glory, the weightiness, of YHWH pass by him, Moses reflects the glory of the Lord in this unique way. Moses is not the source of this radiance, but merely a reflection of God’s great radiating glory.

This is what we’re all called to do, maybe not in this way, but to reflect the glory of the one to whom we look! We are meant to look to Jesus and then has His light shines on us, that light would shine to the people around us.

The people were afraid, they had never seen anything like this; this is a common theme throughout the Sinai narrative, that the Israelites were fearful of YHWH. Too fearful to go up the mountain themselves, too fearful to go into His presence, and there is a certain level of reverent, good common sense fear going on here. But now there is one who was able to go into His presence and they don’t want to come near Moses.

Moses calls the people to himself to give the good report that he had spoken with YHWH on the top of Sinai, that he had the new tablets, the covenant has been renewed! This is good news and Moses speaks to the Israelites all the Lord had commanded. And when he finished, Moses veiled His face. Not while he was speaking, he let them see his shiny face while he spoke, but veiled when finished.

V. 34, it says taht whenever MOses went before the Lord he would remove the veil. OK, so he doesn’t need to be veiled in the presence of YHWH. When he came out he would veil his face, but when he was not commanding the people or in YHWH’s presence, the veil was up.

It’s almost as if the veil was for whenever Moses was doing common things, hanging out with his children in the encampment, when with people in the ordinary day-to-day. But when He heard from or spoke the word of the Lord, he unveiled. As if this part was reserved for this unique aspect of Moses’ relationship to both God and to Israel.

We will not see another reference to Moses’ veil after this chapter and we’re meant to understand that he lives for another 40 years or so. Some scholars believe that Moses’ veil is replaced by the veil curtain in the Holy of Holies once the tabernacle is built.

I want to land here today with a passage form 2 Corinthians 3:7-18

2 Corinthians 3:7–18 ESV

7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

You see, Paul has a lot to say about Moses’ shining face, and a deep theological understanding of what’s happening. Moses’ face is a reflection of the glory of God, which the Israelites could not look upon. And that, Paul sees the Israelites’ hearts as being hardened such that they should not, because of the veil, regularly look upon that transforming work that God was doing in Moses.

Paul reflects on the glory of the old covenant, the glory of the law, the glory of God’s presence at Sinai in this mediated way. But he also understands the covenant of Christ, the revelation of God in Christ Jesus as a far surpassing glory. We no longer need to look for the shining face of Moses, for we have access to the truly radiant face of Jesus Himself.

And look at that last verse, 18, to see what Paul says about each of us:

2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

As we behold the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image—into Christlikeness—from one degree of glory to another. Over our lives, one degree at a time, we are growing in Christlikeness. And I want to point out, it’s as we behold the Lord. Not as we work harder or try harder or do anything to earn this spiritual maturity or transformation for ourselves. It’s as we behold Jesus.

We’re meant to be in the presence of the Lord. How do we do that? We cultivate practices, spiritual disciplines. Time in prayer, time in scripture. Not in order to check a box on a reading plan, but rather to enjoy resting in the presence of our God.

This doesn’t happen overnight—Moses is on the mountain a long time before his face is transformed. Real spiritual maturity and transformation does not happen for those who treat the presence of God or time with him like a drive through window, as one commentator put it.

And again, there is a humility to Moses here, unaware of his own maturity for how focused he was on the Lord. We should worry less about checking the right boxes, and focus more energy on beholding our precious savior.

Amen.

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.