Radiant

One of my favorite times of the day is the sunrise. 20 or 30 years ago I wouldn’t have imagined that to be so, but this morning’s sunrise was absolutely beautiful. Radiant is a word that could be used to describe the beauty of the sunrise. By definition, the light radiates from its source - a star that we know as the Sun. This morning, I want to talk with you about our mission as the Beacon of Hope - to radiate the beauty of God’s presence to the world around us.

Exodus 34:29–35 NLT

29 When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. 30 So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called out to them and asked Aaron and all the leaders of the community to come over, and he talked with them. 32 Then all the people of Israel approached him, and Moses gave them all the instructions the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil. 34 But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, 35 and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord.

A. W. Tozer once said, "I’m afraid we modern Christians are long on talk and short on conduct. We use the language of power but our deeds are the deeds of weakness. We settle for words in religion because deeds are too costly. It is easier to pray, "Lord, help me to carry my cross daily" than to pick it up and carry it; but since the mere request for help to do something we do not actually intend to do has a certain degree of religious comfort, we are content with repetition of the words."

What a difference from the first time down the mountain! The first time, as Moses returned from his time with God up on the mountain, he found the people of God worshipping a golden calf and having given up on Moses’ return. Moses threw the stone tablets into the golden calf and they were destroyed.

You would think that, as the people had chosen to reject Yahweh and Moses, His representative, it would have all been over. After all, what kind of God would give these people another opportunity? And yet, that is exactly the kind of God that we serve. Yahweh gave the people another chance—Moses returns to the mountain—God once again writes His law on two stone tablets—and finally, Moses returns down the mountain to find the people waiting, even though he had been gone for 40 days.

This time there is no anger and no reason to destroy the stone tablets. But now, there is another issue. Moses was oblivious to the fact that he was blinding the people as he approached them. He didn’t even realize that his countenance had changed so drastically!

I. The radiance was the direct result of Moses spending time in the presence of Yahweh.

It wasn’t something that was worked up or made up or exaggerated.

There is a similar story from the New Testament - we call it the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus goes up on the mountain with his inner circle of disciples, Peter, James, and John. While there, Jesus’ face became so bright that the disciples couldn’t look at him. The radiance, though, came from within - whereas for Moses, the radiance comes from spending time with God.

Moses wasn’t even looking for the radiance, he was looking to spend time with God.

As he spent the 40 days with God, he didn’t even need to eat or drink—he found his sustenance in God alone.

This is a miraculous result.

Although it is possible to go 40 days without food (many people have fasted that long). It is absolutely impossible for the human body to go that long without water—it had to be the miraculous!

Today, it seems that people try to work up “the radiance”.

We can do it with technology—we can add lighting and make things seem more spectacular than they really are.

All the time, people are disappointed at seeing something in person that they have seen on TV as something larger than life itself.

We can do it with savvy advertising. How many times have you seen an advertisement and think, wow, I have to have that, only to find that the real thing doesn’t come close to matching the hype?

Moses just spent time with God—the radiance was simply the result of spending 40 days with the almighty.

How often, and for how long do you seek to be in the presence of God? Do you come to church in order to experience His presence, but then leave Him here until you come back again?

A young college student was searching for a summer job to help defray the rising cost of his education. He finally found one with the State Transportation Department, where he was given the task of hand-painting the white lines in the middle of the road.

The supervisor informed him that she expected him to complete ten miles per week, and took him to the job site.

"Place your paint buckets right here," she instructed, "and begin painting white lines from this spot."

The first day went very well. The student covered four miles of lonely highway. The supervisor was pleased. The next day he was only able to extend the white line by one-half mile. Day three ended with merely a quarter mile painted. Day four was even worse. The student was able to add only one hundred feet to his white line. Finally, at the end of the fifth and last day of the work week, the exhausted and disheveled student sadly informed his supervisor that he had barely completed ten additional yards of white line.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "You started out with four miles and then you could not even complete one mile in the next four days combined."

"Well," the student replied, "I put down my supplies and began exactly where you told me. The first day did go smoothly. But, each day, I kept getting farther and farther from my paint bucket."

How far do you allow yourself to get “away from the paint bucket?” How far do you allow yourself go from God’s presence in your life?

II. Moses didn’t use the radiance for his own glory.

When he was in God’s presence, he would remove the veil so that there was no veil between them.

When he spoke God’s word to the people he left the veil off, so that they could experience some of God’s glory.

Yet, at all other times, he would cover his face with a veil.

Anytime he was representing himself, the veil was covering his face.

I am convinced that most people today would hire an advertising firm and make sure that everybody knew that they had this glory.

At the very least, they would post selfies and videos all over Facebook, Instagram, and any other social media platforms that they use.

III. At this point I hope you are asking a question: Why hadn't Moses' face shined before?

This is certainly not his first time in the Presence of Yahweh. It's not even his first time down from meeting with Yahweh on Sinai. You might say that it was because this time he had such a glorious experience with Yahweh - Yahweh proclaimed His Name while covering Moses in the cleft of a rock with the palm of His hand. But still, Moses had other glorious Name proclaiming experiences with Yahweh that did not result in a glowing face. The burning bush encounter wasn't exactly a small thing. So why a radiant face this time?

The radiance was a new gift and sign from Yahweh, affirming Moses as Yahweh's chosen leader of Israel.

Remember back in chapter 4 when Moses asked for a sign to demonstrate to the leaders of Israel that Yahweh really had appeared to him and called him to liberate the people? You might know the story about how Moses threw down his rod and it became a snake and then he picked it up by the tail and it turned back into a rod. Just as Yahweh turned Moses' rod into a sign that Moses was indeed Yahweh's leader for the exodus, so now Yahweh has given Moses a radiant face as a sign that he continues to be Yahweh's leader for this covenant people. The radiant face is Yahweh's seal of approval of Moses, a sign that Yahweh's authority continues to be invested in Moses.

IV. What are you reflecting?

Moses had experienced God, and reflected His holiness and radiance, even though he was oblivious to it.

As we experience God, we are to be changed as well.

We do not experience change in order to increase our radiance, we experience God, and are changed so that we can reflect Him to those around us.

V. There are at least two myths, or downright lies for which this passage provides answers.

The first lie that I wish to expose this morning is that the goal of our faith is to learn more about God.

It is certainly important for us to learn truths about God. Please don’t go out of here and say that the pastor said it isn’t important to learn about God, because that is not what I am saying. In fact, I am so happy that next Sunday we will once again be meeting at 9:30 for Sunday School. We need that time to learn together about God.

What I am getting at, though, is that sometimes I think the enemy would love to have us just knowing about God rather than truly knowing Him.

Head knowledge is important, but it is no replacement for heart knowledge.

The second lie that I wish to expose this morning is that the goal of faith is to know, as in meet, God.

The problem here comes with our English word “to know.”

It is common for us to have just met someone and when a common friend will ask us, “do you know ‘so & so’”? Our response is “yes, I just met him.” But, in reality, we may have just met them, but we don’t really “know them.”

So, we use the term “know” in a very casual way.

We will transfer this idea over into our spiritual lives and ask people if they know Jesus. The answer is often “yes, I know Him”. Meaning, “yes, I have met Him.”

Certainly that is an important aspect of the faith, but it is not the only goal of the faith. We begin a relationship with Him in a glorious moment of repentance, and a new life in Christ begins—but that is not the goal of faith.

Moses spent time with God, and He was transformed by the experience. Our goal is not, as Moses’ goal was not to be transformed so that our faces glow. The goal of faith is not just to meet our savior, but to let Him transform us in whatever way He desires to transform us.

This will only happen as we come to truly “know” Him. That word “know” is far from a casual word. It was used of sexual intimacy in the Old Testament. That is why we will read that Adam “knew” Eve, and she conceived a child. It is a deep and life-changing knowledge.

Conclusion:

Knowledge, in this respect is not head knowledge, or a casual acquaintance. To know God in this way will always result in transformational change in our lives. So, let me ask you some questions this morning—“do you know Him?” “If not, would you like to?” If so, “are you spending the time with Him that is required to get to know Him better?”

This week begins the season of lent. Lent begins on Wednesday, a day that is referred to as “Ash Wednesday” in the church calendar. It is the 40 day period leading up to Easter Sunday during which Christians traditionally have spent preparing themselves for the celebration of Easter. The Sundays during lent do not count in the 40 days because every Sunday is a mini celebration of Easter. Lent is an incredibly special time of the church year. We are always to seek to know Him more, but this is a time of year that is set aside specifically to do so. Many times it is important for us to get away from the routines of our lives in order to truly get to know Him. Maybe through times of fasting, but certainly through times of intense prayer and time in God’s Word, not just for information, but reading it for transformation. What will you do in order to come to know Him better—to let Him transform you as He desires?