We now endeavor to trace the story of the mediator and his mediatorship in relation to the glory of God, although fully conscious that it is unique in the book of most wonderful stories – the Bible.
Israel’s apostasy was at the first discovered to Moses by Jehovah Himself upon the fiery mount, in words which refused to acknowledge them as His people, and in wrath which threatened to consume them. This occurred at the very time Moses had received the complete instruction for the formation of the divine sanctuary in the midst of Israel, and immediately upon the tables of the covenant being placed in his hands. Thus, just as the grand end was reached for which Moses had been called “to the top of the mount,” the purpose of God in relation to his presence there was frustrated.
At once the greatness of Moses rises before us – a greatness to be accounted for by the revelations he had received of the divine purpose and glory. He pleaded for Israel upon the basis of God’s own promise to the fathers, and of His glory in the fulfillment of those promises. In response to his intercession, Israel was not immediately consumed. Then, as we have seen, Moses descended to the camp and entered it, not with the tables of the covenant, but empty handed. Pursuing the story, we find that although the golden calf and the chief of the idolaters were no more, still Moses knew too well that the people as a whole had corrupted themselves, and that consequently the camp was unfit for God’s dwelling-place.
The first night he spent in the camp with the Israel he loved was a dark and terrible experience, contrasting with the calm and holiness of the time he had been alone with Jehovah on the mount. How did he fill up the long hours of that night of anguish? We can well suppose in humiliation and in prayer, and in thinking out God’s thoughts respecting Israel, and Israel’s sin.
Sin requires expiation, righteousness demands atonement. Moses had not received the instructions from Jehovah as to His sanctuary, with His laws precisely ordering the sacrifices for sin; nor the tables of His holy law; without acquiring a deep sense of God’s absolute and infinite purity; and the needs-be on man’s side if man would approach God for atonement. Moses would go up to the mount burning with fire, and into the divine Presence, and would stand before Jehovah. He would confess Israel’s sin yes, he would take it upon himself if that could be; and he would propose to Jehovah an offering more excellent than that of beasts and birds, he would lay before Him as an offering, a human victim in satisfaction for human sin; he himself would stand in Israel’s stead. Such was his peradventure.
“Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold,” he mourned. “Yet now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin and, if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy Book which Thou hast written.” (Ex. 32:31-3231And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:31‑32).)
Noble as was his purpose, far reaching into the requirements of divine holiness as it was, the offering of himself was inadequate to meet the perfection of the divine standard of righteousness; the Son of Man alone could make atonement for man’s sin acceptable with God. Nevertheless, the mediatorial ways of Moses were based upon the fullest allegiance to the absolute righteousness of God, and, as we follow him, his purpose respecting atonement must be regarded as the moral basis upon which he bowed before Jehovah in intercession.
We think of Israel. Jehovah could only be at a distance from Israel. Their idolatry had wronged His majesty and glory in the gravest way. But in response to the mediator He could allow that His Angel should go before them and lead them to the land given by promise to their fathers; while as for His presence in the camp, “I will not go up in the midst of thee,” He said; “for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way” (Ex. 33:33Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. (Exodus 33:3)).
Israel was indeed saved from destruction, but they were still separated from the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and the house of bondage. No longer were they to be joyfully adorned as they had left Egypt in their freedom and bridal relationship to Jehovah. Jehovah bade them put off their ornaments, and thus, with the sign of humiliation and grief upon them, they watched the fulfillment of Jehovah’s words, “that I may know what to do unto thee.” We cannot doubt that these ornaments savored of Egypt and its idolatries, and that when Israel had danced around the golden calf, the emblems of Egypt’s gods worn upon their persons carried a dark significance with them. Let the reader examine the “ornaments” given upon this page, and note their symbolic character.
There was no escape from Jehovah’s decision of not being in their midst, and these “evil tidings” were followed by a solemn act of Moses. He took the tent, in which Jehovah had been wont to commune with him, and, removing it “afar” from the camp, pitched it outside their tents (Ex. 33:77And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. (Exodus 33:7)). Such of Israel as sought Jehovah must now go outside Israel to find Him. This act was unquestionably performed in accordance with the revelation Moses had received upon the mount in reference to the sanctuary of Jehovah, the realization of which, with the camp polluted by idolatry, was impossible.
Having performed this act, Moses returned to the camp. We then see him leave the people, over whom the anger of God still hung, to present himself in the wonted tent of meeting. It was a critical moment. Israel in themselves could not hope for the divine favor, but in Moses they could still hope, and with deep concern the whole congregation arose and stood at their tent doors and watched him. All eyes were fixed on him. Presently he passed into the tent, and, as he did so, lo! “the cloudy pillar descended” – it would appear that it had been removed from the camp – “and stood at the door of the tabernacle” (Ex. 33:99And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. (Exodus 33:9)). The mediator was acceptable to Jehovah! Immediately every Israelite arose and worshipped at his tent door.
Then from the cloud of His glory “Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”
The place of meeting was significant. God came down to the tent that pertained to Moses, though it was pitched outside Israel’s camp; Jehovah, in His supreme grace, placed Himself on man’s platform as it were. Moses, we may be sure, was not slow to perceive this way of God.
Here the striking type of the “One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5)), demands our consideration. The people were utterly estranged from God, and He in His holiness, because of their sin, could but remain at a distance from them; but atonement (which in Christ was made) was proffered, and the next thing we learn is the perfect freedom, the absolute intimacy, with which the mediator communicated with God in reference to the people. It is a very fine figure of Christ, Who, having made “propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:1717Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17) RV) is in the presence of God for us.
He had been the means of saving Israel from immediate destruction, but Jehovah was still outside their camp. His anger was not appeased. Let us endeavor to follow Moses. Careful attention is necessary. The Scriptures are not written on the lines of mere history or narrative. Very frequently a gap as regards time occurs between two sentences, and we are left to supply the reason for it. How long a time was Moses in the camp? What was his attitude there? How was he engaged there?
We should like to know, but Exodus gives us no help in the matter. In Moses’ own words to Israel in later years upon these occurrences, we have hints which stimulate our inquiries, if they do not supply perfectly clear answers to them. When thus speaking to Israel, Moses was not merely recounting historic incidents: he was pressing upon them with intense earnestness their responsibility to Jehovah, and in so doing he enforced the moral side of the events now under our consideration.”
After speaking of the nation’s sin, he adds: “And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger” (Deut. 9:1818And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. (Deuteronomy 9:18)). “Thus I fell down before Jehovah forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because Jehovah had said He would destroy you. I prayed therefore unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord God, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed....” (Deut. (:25-29).
It may be that Moses, on his return from speaking with Jehovah face to face, spent his visit to the camp as he here describes. He had taken, so far as a human being could do, Israel’s sin upon himself; he had been, so far as a human being could be, in absolute intimacy with Jehovah; and he returned as mediator into the very circumstances and separation of the sin-polluted camp, to lie upon his face, to take up the case of the people, and to pray for them. Whether he was thus in the camp for forty days and forty nights – which would involve his being this period of time on three occasions before Jehovah – is a matter on which there is difference of opinion; but on the moral side of the subject, and on his manner of pleading for Israel, there can be no question, and this is, perhaps, the more important consideration for practical instruction.
The prayer of Moses was based upon the character of God – a most important matter in true mediatorship between God and man. He pleaded for God’s people, because they were His; because He had redeemed them, and had brought them forth from bonds with His powerful hand; because of His promise to the fathers; because the heathen might otherwise declare that Jehovah was not true to His word; and because they were – despite their sin and their stubbornness – His inheritance; since He had made them so to be. Such were his arguments, and arguments used while fully acknowledging the depth of Israel’s sin.
We resume the story as it proceeds from the twelfth verse of Ex. 33 Jehovah dealt with Moses according to his faith, according to his spiritual perception and apprehension of Himself. We see in Moses a standard of moral greatness which is absolutely sublime. He appeared before Jehovah verily as a man, yet a man so fashioned by the knowledge of God as to think, to speak, to act, in perfect accordance with the divine mind. In complete nearness to God, he interchanged words and thoughts with the Infinite. With exalted human dignity, with holy freedom, yet ever with deepest reverence, he approached Jehovah, and ever in all his communications bore Israel in his bosom. He was accepted by God to be in a peculiarly intimate relationship with Himself – “I know thee by name”; and his intercession was received – he found grace in God’s sight.
Jehovah’s way on behalf of Israel, since He had first manifested Himself in the burning bush, had been a display of wonders. What would be His way now? What would be His way of once again leading Israel, and of doing no less than dwelling in their midst? What would be His way by which He should yet consider guilty, idolatrous Israel as His people? There were heights and depths in God which had not yet been revealed. There were secrets belonging to Him of which Moses was ignorant, but which he perceived existed. Moses pressed forward, that, by the light of the revelation of what God would do to Israel, he might know God.
He used his mediatorial position to seek to reverse that designation of Israel – “thy (Moses’) people” (Ex. 32:77And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: (Exodus 32:7)) – by which Jehovah had described them, and to restore to them the name of Jehovah’s people, with all its attendant benefits.
He was honored as the mediator. His bold faith prevailed, and Jehovah said, “My presence [or face] shall go, and I will give thee rest.”
Upon receiving this longed-for assurance, Moses immediately proceeded “Wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated [or distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Ex. 33:1616For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. (Exodus 33:16)).
Jehovah answered: “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace ace in My sight,” again repeating the personal assurance, “and I know thee by name” (Ex. 33:1717And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. (Exodus 33:17)). And thus, by virtue of the personal worth and faith of the mediator, Jehovah Himself once more would go with Israel. The cloud of the divine presence should once more be over them.
The mediator succeeded, step by step. Israel’s cause, from the human side, was lost from the first, and he succeeded by appealing to the divine nature. He never made light of Israel’s sin; he never pleaded with human excuses for Israel; lie never attempted to lower God to man. Indeed, in the presence of God, such a ground for hope is utterly impossible. On the contrary, stage by stage, came fresh unveilings of God to Moses, and brighter and still brighter – according to each succeeding communication – shone before him, who and what God is. In the power of these revelations, he threw himself on God, and on His resources. And by drawing upon the divine fullness, he won his cause for man, who had lost all.
This is God’s way of blessing for man, and this is the truth God teaches us respecting mediatorship. Now, what do we see in those sections of Christendom where mediators are multiplied? We see a chain of intercessors reaching from earth to heaven, and stretching through heaven’s courts, link by link, up to the throne of the divine majesty; and every one of these intercessors is regarded as seeking to influence God from a human, or a creature, standpoint. Human tears, human love, human pleas, are supposed to allay the heat of divine wrath; and a soft human hand is supposed to arrest the divine arm. God is regarded as being influenced against Himself to show mercy! The character and glory of God are absolutely shut out of view in this system of mediatorship. It contravenes the glory of the One Mediator between God and men; it conceals the glory of God.
Having obtained his desires for his people, Moses yearned for a yet more full apprehension of God for himself – “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory,” he said, – a step bolder than “Show me Thy way.” He perceived that there was in God, glory beyond that which had been expressed, by the burning bush, the rod of power, the cloud; the manna, the rock, the victory; or even by the fire on Sinai; or, again, by the glory into which he had been admitted already for forty days and forty nights; and Moses would fain behold it. He rose to the highest heights in his Godward desires, and though “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)) was not then to be seen as it now is, still so far as the display of divine glory was compatible with the divine purpose, and with the mighty fact that the Son of God had not yet become incarnate, the request of Moses was granted.
(“The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Of the Son it is said: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Speaking of Himself in the eternity to come, the Son says: “I will.... that they may behold My glory.” (John 1:17,14; 17:2417For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
24Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24).))
But this glory could not be witnessed from the level of the camp, only from the mount of God. God comes down to man in grace, but to behold His glory He brings man up to Himself. Neither was the sight to be witnessed where Israel could take knowledge of it. No one whatever was permitted to be upon the mount with Moses, and even Israel’s flocks and herds were not allowed to feed before it. The name and the glory of Jehovah about to be discovered to Moses were revealed to him privately and personally, and he communicated the revelation to others through his writings. Since the world was, no man had ever before asked Jehovah that he might see His glory, and we stand amazed at the faith and the spiritual perception of this mighty servant of God.
We may justly consider that the greatness of the spiritual desires of Moses is to be attributed to the revelations he had received when alone with Jehovah.
For in the plan of the sanctuary, divine holiness was as evidently manifested as it was in the fire upon Sinai, yet with this great difference the revelation in the fire and the ten commandments offered no manner of access to God; the revelation in the sanctuary made known the way of access. The law condemned sin, but made no provision for the sinner. The law did not so much as suggest man’s abiding in God’s presence. But in the sanctuary, God would dwell amongst men, and the great principles of forgiveness, and cleansing, and drawing near to God, were all manifested. Moses never let slip from his mind the great and glorious purpose of the sanctuary when pleading for Israel. All this was stored up in the heart of Moses when he descended from Sinai to the Israelites in their idolatry, and when he broke the tables of the law, and when he called for the avenging sword. Yet not one word of it did he utter to Israel. Then he was determined to cleanse the camp for God’s glory. Still, none the less was the reality in his heart all the while, influencing him in his boldness before Jehovah. Faith is ever built upon a revelation from God. It acts unaccountably to men, but before God, its ways are ordered according to His Word. Glorious as was the revelation of the sanctuary, it could not be realized unless Jehovah would indeed dwell in the midst of Israel; and until assured of this Moses could not cease his intercession.
Moses was to see Jehovah’s glory. What would that discover to him? Something concerning God Himself, which even Moses had not heard or seen! He was bidden to take up to the crown of Sinai two tables of stone, upon which Jehovah would write the ten commandments (Ex. 34:11And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. (Exodus 34:1)), and which were to take the place of those he had broken. Since he could not see Jehovah’s face for no man could see His face and live Jehovah promised to hide him in a rock, and to cover him with His hand while He passed before him, and that then Moses should see His “back parts” (Ex. 33:22-2322And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Exodus 33:22‑23)). It may be said that the Old Testament revelations of God are of “His back parts,” and that in the New Testament alone is God’s face seen. The ways, the steps of God, as it were, His path in government, His dealings with man, are there manifested; but in the New Testament, in the Son, “the brightness of glory, and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)), His face is seen.
On high, upon the mount, alone with God, Moses waited; and “Jehovah descended in the cloud and stood with him there.” He proclaimed His Name, “Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin”; and then He spoke of His judgment: He “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.” (Ex. 34:5-75And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 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. (Exodus 34:5‑7)).
A very different revelation from that of the fiery law. Mercy and grace were mingled with judgment in His government, but the order was – first, mercy, goodness, and pardon; next, judgment. The glory of God was vested in His mercy and His judgment; not in judgment only.
As these words fell into his eager heart Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped; he seized upon the words – merciful – gracious forgiving, and again he pleaded for Israel, with whom, as mediator, he was one; “pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance” (Ex.34:9). All that his intercession had already accomplished did not suffice for his desires; nothing less than the dwelling of Jehovah in Israel’s midst could satisfy him.
The answer of Jehovah was: “Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done [literally, created] in all the earth nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of Jehovah: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee” (Ex. 34:1010And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. (Exodus 34:10)).
Such was the covenant upon which Jehovah would take Israel to be His inheritance. He would act towards them in an entirely different manner from every other nation. Israel’s history bears out these words; while that which has yet to be fulfilled, will complete the “terrible thing” which Jehovah will do with that people. And in the end, by the intercession of Christ, all Israel’s iniquity and sin shall be pardoned, and the nation shall be Jehovah’s inheritance upon this earth.
For forty days and nights Moses was once more upon the mount with God, “with Jehovah” (Ex. 34:2828And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Exodus 34:28)), we know comparatively little of all that he learned there after Jehovah had spoken the words we have just read. If we long to know how he spent his time of sorrowing in the camp, how much more do we long to know how he spent his rejoicing period with Jehovah on the mount. Still, we have an indication of what transpired. During that period, as he saw the glory of Jehovah, unknown to himself, a mighty change came over him. His face became bright with the reflection of the divine glory. “The skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Ex. 34:2929And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. (Exodus 34:29)).
The mediator had prevailed. Israel was not only preserved from destruction; Jehovah was not only once more their guide; He would dwell in their midst. He had indeed shown to Moses His way, and thus Moses knew Him. His way was to send Moses back to Israel with His divine glory shining from his countenance.
We can imagine the holy fervor and gladness of the mediator as he prepared to be the bearer of the mercy and goodness of God to Israel. He descended from God, and with joyful steps approached the camp with the tables containing the ten commandments in his hands – but both Aaron and the people fled from him! They had braved his countenance and read the anger that flashed out of him when he approached the camp on the former descent from Jehovah. Then the wrath of a man, filled with holy fear of God, darkened his face; Aaron sought to alleviate it, the swords of the Levites responded to it, and thousands of Israel fell under it, but now terror seized them, Now the light of divine glory beamed from his countenance and Moses was an enigma. Neither Aaron nor Israel could read the brightness of the glory of his countenance; what it meant they knew not, and “they were afraid to come nigh him” (Ex. 34:3030And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. (Exodus 34:30)). They fled from the light of divine goodness and mercy, from the reflection of the divine glory of mingled grace and judgment.
Then Moses called them. He was still a man, though filled with divine understanding. He was the mediator who had striven for them, and who had been willing – could such an atonement for them have been availing – to be blotted out of the book of life on their account; he was the living witness to the divine glory in its relation to man. At the sound of his voice Aaron and the rulers returned to him, and “Moses talked with them”; and then the children of Israel came near to him.
Were it not that the apostle Paul, inspired by God, teaches us, we should not perceive the profound signification of the shining countenance and the veil. Mere nature trembles at the sight of beings mightier than, and of another order from, those of earth, as the keepers trembled at the lightning-like countenance of the angel at the empty grave of Christ (Matt. 28:3-43His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (Matthew 28:3‑4)). But there was vastly more than merely the supernatural, which Moses’ shining face introduced amongst men. He brought to them the token of the glory of God in his own person. The “ministry of death” (see 2 Cor. 3:7-18; 4:4-67But 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. 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But 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 3:7‑18)
4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4‑6)), the “ministry of condemnation,” “engraven in stones,” was in his hands – a ministry introduced with glory – but “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance” – the glory of divine goodness. The signification of the shining countenance was veiled from their hearts, hence they failed to perceive what the meaning of heavenly light upon a human countenance meant. “Their minds were blinded.” He “put a veil over his face [so] that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” And to this day Israel does not see Christ in the writings of Moses, but reads his words with a veil over them! They boast in Moses who told them of God; they reject the Christ of God of whom Moses testified.
But if glory attended the “ministry of condemnation,” how “much more doth the ministry of righteousness exceed in glory! “If the law opened with glory, the gospel abounds with glory. There God is fully revealed. All that He is, is made known. Under the law He expressed His righteousness in the condemnation of sinful man; in the gospel He has expressed His righteousness in justifying the ungodly. In the law He commanded man to do that which is right, and condemned the wrongdoer; in the gospel He brings salvation to the sinful and the helpless. No veil hides from the eye of faith the face of the Son, by whom grace and truth came; instead of fear, there is holy liberty to draw near to Him.
The glory of God in its full magnificence is manifested in the face of Jesus Christ, the once crucified, but now exalted Son of Man upon the divine throne. The signification of that glory is evident to faith; divine righteousness and mercy for man are there. The great purpose of God is realized. God can bring man in to share the glory that beams from His Son. “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” is made manifest.