These 6 verses in Exo 34:29-35 have value not only in the narrative in Exodus, but in order to fully understand it, we will need to also read a New Testament passage in 2 Cor 3. We need the NT to understand the OT fully, and vice versa. The Bible is to be read as one coherent whole.
(A) Old Covenant Face: glory reflected, veiled and terrifying (Exo 34:29-35)
In Exo 34:29, we read of Moses coming from the top of Mt Sinai to meet the Israelites at the bottom. It is important to understand the context. God confirmed his covenant with His people again and Moses also saw the glory of God when he was hidden in the cleft of the rock.
This is an important section as we approach the end of Exodus. This is the part after the Exodus and deliverance that we may not be familiar with. The people have left Egypt but they are not in the Promised Land yet. There’s so much to learn as they live life on the way home.
Moses had just experience the idolatry of the people and the Golden Calf, and he must have wondered if they will really get to the Promised Land. God’s wrath and judgment against their sin is real, so what is going to happen to them? Moses acted as the great intercessor and mediated for the people in front of God. He appealed to God’s faithful covenantal love.
Here, we read of how Moses came holding the two tablets of the testimony. The first set was smashed by him and the second set was recreated as a testimony to the renewed covenant. It contains the Ten Commandments: the First Table of Law refers to the first four commandments that concern vertical relationships with God, and the Second Table describes relationships with one another.
Moses had already interceded on behalf of the people. When he came down, “behold, the skin of his face shone” (Exo 34:29b). The external part of his face was shining and the writer wanted us to know that it was the encounter with God that allowed his skin to shine. He did not emanate light and glory. This phrase “skin of his face” was repeated about 3 times in this passage.
Moses did not become a human battery but because of who he was with, his face reflected God’s glory. The people were afraid because it was not just unusual, but terrifying because of what they had seen earlier. They had seen the Shekinah glory over the tent of meeting, the parting of the red sea, the pillar of fire and cloud. They had seen glorious signs: they saw the God they already knew rubbing off on this man. This man has a relationship with God that makes him holy and that holiness was terrifying them. It signifies not alien-ness, but redemption. It was like a small part of the glory cloud was walking around with them. Every part of our lives should be under the scrutiny of His judgment. The holiness of God makes us shine with His presence.
This is what communion with God does. This is what a fellowship with God does. This is what peace with God and life in His presence does. It changes us! None of us in relationship with God should walk out of an encounter with Him without any changes. If we know the Living God, we will be changed! It changes the way we see ourselves and how others see us! Is there a place in your life where God does not have oversight? If we know the living God, every part of our lives should be under His judgment. There is no part in life that He does not touch, and we should be changed too. Our faces should shine too.
Moses’ immediate action was to brief the Israelites on the Ten Commandments and he gestured to the people to come to him. Exo 34:31 describes him as “calling to” all the Israelites, but only the leaders came. The people didn’t come because they were afraid of the residual glory of God on Moses’ face. Then he commanded the law: the law that condemns them but also gives them life.
Moses’ long-term action was to cover his face (Exo 34:35). At first he didn’t know his face was shining. In order for God’s people to receive the law, his face had to be veiled. The veil would be on until he went to meet with God (Exo 34:35b). Moses communed with the Lord as a man was with his friend, and was unveiled. This was the way that God’s commands could reach His people.
The question at the end of the OT that’s unresolved is: how does a holy God dwell among an unholy people? Exodus only leaves us with an imperfect, unsatisfactory mediation. The people of the Lord will only know the fear of the Lord because of His overwhelming glory. In some way, we understand this fear in our present climate. God’s trustworthy word describes mortality and holiness clearly. Today, are we more afraid of the covid-19 killing us than being consumed by the holiness of God? Left in our natural state, we will be consumed and killed before this God. We must be able to say with Isaiah, “woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips”. Our sin is ever before us. His holiness, when it comes into our presence, should terrify us.
Exodus shows us that Moses had to cover because God’s holiness will consume the people!
(B) New Covenant Face: glory superior, unveiled and transformed (2 Cor 3:1-18)
In 2 Cor 3:1-18, Paul makes a contrast between the Old and New Testaments. People were questioning Paul’s credentials as a Christian leader: he was persecuting Christians radically, had a weird conversion, and suddenly went in the opposite direction so they were questioning the right he has to speak for God.
Who gets to speak for God? Who gets to speak on behalf of God? In 2 Cor 3:1, he is saying that the people themselves are the proof. They were to reflect on the work that has been done in their lives – was it a work of God?
But how does Paul apply Exo 34? Paul is saying that their hearts are what the living God has written on. The law is no longer written on stones (c.f. Eze 36:26). God promised a new covenant where the law will be written not on the old heart of stone, but on the new heart of flesh. The people will now have a desire to obey. One mark of this change is that when we participate in the new covenant relationship, our desire changes. God causes us to be born again! We no longer do things, but now desire and want holiness. It is so important that we encourage not just rebuking, but also to press on. We may point out our weak desires, but we need to also point out that it is there! The people are therefore the proof of his ministry, the proof that God’s law has been written on the tablets of our hearts (2 Cor 3:3).
In 2 Cor 3:5-6, Paul goes on to write that he comes not with the letter, but with the Spirit. The church is the proof of the gospel. Changed lives is the proof of a living God. This is an amazing shift in paradigm. It should also cause a shift in our hearts. How do we know God is real? Look at Christians. Look at the born-againness of these Christians. Paul doesn’t draw attention to how great they are. Instead, he calls them to look at their newness of life.
Thus, the shape established in the OT is brought to life in the NT. It serves as the outline for us to color within. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the new covenant. It is the means by which sinners can be brought back to a holy God.
What is the ministry of this new covenant minister like? Paul describes a series of contrasts. There’s a ministry of death, carved in letters of stone vs a ministry of spirit. There’s a ministry of condemnation vs ministry of righteousness. Both have a glory but one comes to an end. One will surpass and endure forever.
Why is this important? Paul exhorts us that “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,” (2 Cor 3:12a). Christians should be characterized as people that are bold but yet, it is also a description that we have not grasped. Sometimes, we associate it with being loud. Boldness is simply realizing the truth of what you have. Boldness means that when we participate in the new covenant and when we are ministers of this new covenant, we have courage and confidence in our God. We are bold when we realise what we have. Do you realise what the gospel is, what it means, what it is worth, how long it will last? Do you realise that you have it eternally?
The Israelites are still veiled because the only thing that lifts that veil is Christ (2 Cor 3:14-15). Thus, the new covenant’s minister’s job is also to lift the veil through Christ so that the glory of God may be expressed. The glory of God is on display in the reading of Scripture and teaching of God’s word!
We can now experience and treasure God through Christ! (2 Cor 3:16). When they look at God they are no longer afraid. In Christ, the veil is removed! Jesus, on the cross, in His flesh, took on the soul-destroying, sin-killing wrath of God. Because of Jesus, we can see the glory as joy and life and not bringing about death.
And as the passage ends, we realise that we not only behold, but we also get to become the glory (2 Cor 3:17-18). God’s glory is not just safe to experience, but also safe to participate in. We are being “transformed from one degree of glory to another”. This describes for us progressive sanctification, a process of ongoing glory transformation. The gospel is not the ticket to watch the show. We get this ticket and the ticket is the movie. What we have is itself the thing that changes me to become what I have.
When we go to church, your heart should be stirred by Christ Jesus when you realise who it is that God has given. The glory of God should transform me. How are you being transformed? Has your love for Christ grown? If no, are you experiencing the glory of Christ? Has Christ Jesus ripped your heart? Does he?
Just as Moses came down the mountain, Jesus came down too, doing a work greater than Moses for me. He is a God of compassion that came for the blind, the lame and he hurting. He is merciful and kind, our Jesus. He went to the cross for my sin—my hypocrisy, pride, lust. He hung there because of me. When He rose from the grave, it was for my life.
If the Lord Jesus Christ is that great, our hearts will inevitably change. The dark corners of our lives with the secret sins will pale in comparison to the superior glory of Jesus. If we see no change, what we need is not just to hear gospel-centred teaching. We need to taste it in an “-ing” manner (2 Cor 3:18). We need to experience God’s glory in Christ on a regular basis. Week after week, this tasting and desiring intensifies and years later, we find ourselves looking a little bit more like Jesus.
We are living at a time when we experience a lot of Christian practice, but little Christian power. In our churches, we may do a lot of stuff, but do we get to Christ? Oh, if we do get Christ, it will transform and change our lives! Phil 2:14-16 calls us to shine in a twisted generation by holding fast to the word of life and doing all things without grumbling. It doesn’t mean success in school and thanking God. It means holding on to the gospel and living it out in all parts of life, even in the small bits. Jesus became flesh and blood, like we are, and died on the cross (Heb 2:14-16). Him doing so liberates us from the fear of sin and death that we are all under. Because of Jesus, it is ok to die. It is no mystery when we close our eyes for the last time here on earth, and open them again to see Him. Both here and in Phil 2 show us how to see the glory of Christ, feed it to our hearts and live transformed.