“Don Campbell – GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH – Exodus 33-35 Ref: 2 Corinthians 4:3-4”

From February 10th, 2019

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Rev. Don Campbell

Exodus 33-35

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2019

GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH

The time had come for Israel to leave Sinai and make their way to the promised land. Moses had to return to the mountain with two more tablets of stone on which God would write the Ten Commandments because when he had seen and heard the idolatrous worship of the calf, Moses had thrown the tablets down, breaking them at the foot of the mountain. The covenant was renewed and the rules restated. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets his face shone because he had been in God’s presence. Each time Moses would meet with God his face would shine and Moses put a veil over his face so they could not see his fading glory.

The apostle Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. We will use the NLT for this quotation: “The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

Not even Joshua who would accompany Moses when he would go to meet God could sharein Moses’ fading glory. In contrast, when the veil is removed from hearts today by faith in Christ, believers partake of that glory. Rather than a fading glory, it is an increasing glory, as we are made more and more like Christ. The world cannot see our glory not because we have a veil over our faces, but because Satan has blinded their eyes: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4). Even we do not see the glory in ourselves and in others sometimes because we focus on ourselves and not the face of Christ. Not only so, but the full glory is yet to be revealed: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:18-21). John says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).

CONNECTIONS

1. “Seeing is believing” we are told. In Paul’s explanation of the of our transformation into the image of Christ, isn’t it the opposite: “Believing is seeing”?

2. Can we focus on ourselves, whether our positive or negative attributes, and focus on Jesus at the same time?