It is important to see that there were two distinct occasions in which we find tables of stone committed to man according to God's command. On the first occasion there was total ruin, and when God uttered His commands, there was no shining of the face whatever—no Moses transfigured by the power of glory. The law never made the face of man to shine: it is not the intention of the law, nor is it the result of the law. The law is characterized by darkness and tempest, by thunder and lightning, by the voice of God dealing with the guilty. And so it was on the first occasion when the law was announced by God Himself and the tables were broken by the indignant lawgiver before they ever reached man.
(In the second occasion, when the tables of stone are made, what a difference there is The lawgiver was called into the presence of God who was pleased to give a mingling of mercy along with the law. There was a covenant expressly made of this combined composite character—not law alone, and not grace alone, but rather the mingling of grace along with law. It would have been perfectly impossible for God to have carried on dealings with Israel, or to have brought them even into the land, unless there had been this mingling of grace and mercy with law.
Mingling of Grace and Mercy with Law
Consequently, the law was still committed to man, but it was shut up in the ark, not displayed with all its terrors before the eyes of men; it was enclosed in the testimony.
There are many, even of God's children, who think that such is exactly the tenor of the dealings of God with us now; that is, law and grace mingled—grace hindering the action of law—the law bringing us in guilty, but grace interposing to screen the guilty according to the words we read in the early part of Ex. 34. There Jehovah proclaims Himself in the character of lawgiver, though He declares His long-suffering and mercy, as it is said: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." But it is also added: "And that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Now, you will observe that while such is the principle of God's dealings—that it is not law alone, nor grace alone, but the two together—while this is the case, whenever the mediator comes forward to speak to the people, he has to put a veil upon his face. When he goes into the presence of God the veil is taken off; in the presence of glory there is no veil. But as long as man had to do with the law, even though there was mercy and grace mingled with it, the veil must be put on when he spoke with the people.
In contrast, our position is neither having to do with law alone, nor with law mingled with grace.
Grace and Glory without Law
We are in the presence of grace and glory without law at all. The Apostle shows this in 2 Cor. 3. Here he does not refer to the contrast of Ex. 19 or 20, but solely to the occasion of mingled law and grace in Ex. 34 and he lets us see that the ministration on that day was one of death and condemnation. The reason is this: if the law enters in at all, I have to do with it as that which governs me and under which I am subject, then the more mercy that is shown, the guiltier I am, and He will by no means clear the guilty.
The all-condemning character of the law did not come out while God was dealing with men before Christ. When Christ came God fully manifested Himself and His principles. In Christ there was One who could solve all difficulties, meet all need, and deliver from all distress and danger. It was because the Son of God was now become the Son of man, and the Son of man was willing to suffer on the cross.
Hence, our position is put in distinct and positive contrast with one under law.
Draw Near Into the Presence of God
The Apostle says: "If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." 2 Cor. 3:7-97But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. (2 Corinthians 3:7‑9). He does not put us in the place of the children of Israel, but he shows our place to be like that of Moses when he drew near into the presence of God without a veil. This is our position now, and not as that of the children of Israel. In short, it is not the man veiled, and the children of Israel afraid of him because of the glory of his countenance which they could not look upon, but the man unveiled in the presence of God, when he turns, not to the people with a veil upon his face, but to God in glory without the veil.
Such is our position now; such is the position of all Christians if they only knew it. This comes out fully when Paul writes, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18). "We all" is in contrast with the one man. Moses—not with all Israel. The position of the Christian is typified by Moses in the presence of God, not by the children of Israel in the presence of Moses veiled. It is "We all" —for God makes not the smallest difference in this respect: the weakest Christian has exactly the same position before God.
The Same Position before God
Whenever it is a question of position or the simple result of what the Lord Jesus has accomplished and given to us by grace, there is no difference whatever.
When it is a question of spiritual power, there is a difference and all possible room for variety. Just as in the first Adam there is no difference in the general fact that nil have sinned, yet, when you look at the extent to which people have gone in sin, there are differences.
The second Man, the last Adam, has brought all who belong to Him now into this common place of blessing. We are all with open, or unveiled face (for this is the true force of it) beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. This was what Moses saw, and only Moses, and he merely for a moment, whereas it is our constant position. A Christian, all the time he is here below, is, as far as the work of Christ is concerned, entitled to draw near to God, to look up into the glory, and to be there himself. The veil is gone; Christ is without a veil. There was a veil, but it is rent. Now there is none—none on the heart of the believer—none on the face of Christ, or on our faces. It is completely gone. "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
What the Holy Spirit now ministers to us is not merely a Savior who came down into our woe and misery to bear our iniquities and sins, but that same Savior after the work of grace is done, when He is gone up as the witness of its perfection into the presence of God. We are invited by the Holy Spirit to keep our eye fixed upon Him there, glorified according to the excellency of redemption.
A Savior Who Came Down and Is Gone up
That will not make His grace in coming down here to be less precious, nor will it make redemption to be prized less, but, rather, much more. It will imprint a heavenly character upon all our ways, and this, nothing less, is our place. "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly," and, "As we have borne the image of the heavenly." Then it will be perfect; now is it only partial, and according to the measure in which self is judged.
It is the un-judged activity of our nature that hinders the practical effect of heavenly power's being reflected from us. Do we not know it? When is it that we do wrong? When is it that we form mistaken judgments and become careless and worldly? It is when we take our eyes off Christ as He is now in glory. I grant you that Christ anywhere before the soul is a means of preservation. Nevertheless, there is no power like occupation with Christ in the glory for overcoming the seductions of the world and for discerning the evil in that which looks fair and religious in the world. As far as leading out our souls in love and devotedness is concerned, Christ here below will do it.
But Christ in glory extinguishes the light of earth's best religion and makes it appear pale and tawdry by the side of His surpassing brightness.
Earth's Best Religion
We are invited; we are called upon as Christians, to behold Him in that glory continually now. The Lord give us so to walk, and we shall find the fruit of it, "changed into the same image from glory to glory.”
One word more: there is nothing so dangerous as to trifle with the truth; there is nothing more ruinous than for men to use the brightest truth and to be careless about the matters of everyday life. I beseech you to remember this. There is something even of a disgusting character about it when we fail in ordinary duties and yet are at the same time talking about resurrection and glory—life and all the special blessedness of the Christian position. I beseech you, my brethren and sisters, especially those of you who are young (though indeed it is a snare for old as well as young) to think seriously of this. It is the natural snare of those who are accustomed to an atmosphere of truth, where the words of God are (so to speak) the common household bread. It is a danger because the eye and heart arc not on Jesus. Where there is simplicity with self-judgment there will be power. It will be found nowhere else. W. Kelly