Moses’ shining face
Ex. 34:29-35; 2 Cor. 3:7-16
Moses was at Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights where the LORD gave him the laws and commandments. Being with the LORD, Moses’ face shone; and when he descended from the mountain, the people dare not come near him. Moses had to put on a veil!
What an amazing thing, to have a face that shines. What if it were to happen today? The incident would be reported by news agencies all over the world and there would be messages and innumerable posts about it. I suspect that there would even be jokes and memes about it too. 2 Corinthians 3:7 also says, “The people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face.” What a sight it would have been!
But, that glory has been set aside and Moses is no more. 2 Corinthians 3:7 also says, “a glory now set aside.”
The laws of Moses has been called by Paul as “ministry of death,” and “ministry of condemnation.” Indeed, it was. Because of the sin of mankind, the laws made for sinners were the “laws that stood against us” (Col. 2:14). But these laws had been fulfilled by Christ. The laws of the Jews, the Jewish religious laws and sacrifices could never give life, and they were merely called ministries of death and condemnation.
Because of this, the great salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ is much greater than the laws that were given before. Its greatness is expressed by Paul this way: “For if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory”(2 Cor. 3:11).
Just look at our salvation. Have we forgotten its glory? How do we regard it today? Has it become a bygone story? Do we see it only as something that happened in the past? Do we still treasure this great salvation, this “ministry of life,” this “ministry of absolution,” or this “ministry ofjustification” as it should be? Is it still important in our lives?
Just think of the amazing salvation that has come to us.
“For is there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory” (2 Cor. 3:9)
Note:
We are not saying that the laws are useless or no longer needed. Since they were given by God, they live forever (Ps. 119:160; Is. 40:8). Even Paul said, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Rom. 3:31).
