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The Glory That Fadeth Not Away (Exodus 34:28-35)
I. It Is Permanent, Not Temporal
II. It Is Righteousness, Not Condemnation
III. It Is Opened, Not Veiled
Context & Hook
Have you ever felt trapped in a cycle of spiritual performance, constantly worried about how you measure up? This sermon delves into the profound story of Moses descending Mount Sinai with a face so radiant from God's presence that he had to wear a veil. But this glory was fading.
The preacher masterfully uses this Old Testament account, explained by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, to reveal a stunning contrast: the difference between the fading glory of the law and the permanent, transformative glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not a dry theological lesson; it is a liberating truth about moving from a relationship based on performance to one grounded in the finished work of Christ. Discover how the gospel offers a glory that "fadeth not away" and how you can live in the freedom and boldness it provides.
Read on to be reminded that true change doesn't come from looking at yourself, but from looking at Him.
Meditation Questions
- Self-Examination: The sermon states that Moses was so "captivated and preoccupied with God that he was totally unaware of himself." In your own Christian walk, where are you most prone to a "performance-based approach"? What would it look like for you to shift your focus from evaluating your own spiritual performance to being captivated by the glory and grace of Christ?
- Transformation Testimony: The message makes the point that people should see our lives and say, "See how his/her life has been transformed by the gospel," not by the law. When you look at your life, can you identify specific areas where the gospel—the internal work of the Spirit and the imputed righteousness of Christ—has genuinely transformed you, rather than just external behaviour modification? What is the evidence of this internal change?
- Veil Removal: The "veil" that prevents people from seeing the truth of Christ can only be removed by the Holy Spirit. Think about the unbelieving loved ones you are burdened for. How does the truth that salvation is the Spirit's work, and not reliant on your perfect presentation of the gospel, change your approach to praying for them and sharing your faith with them? Does this bring you a sense of relief and confidence?
Transcript:
Tonight we have come to a familiar passage in Exodus 34, verses 28 to 35.
Remember the first time Moses had communed with God for forty days and forty nights at Mount Sinai, and after that he was given the two tablets of stone which contained the Ten Commandments. But Moses broke them when he came down from the mountain and saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf.
So verse 28 tells us that this was the second time Moses went up to Mount Sinai and communed with God for forty days and forty nights without eating any bread or drinking any water. He was supernaturally sustained by God as he wrote upon the two tablets of stone the Ten Commandments.
Verse 29: "And 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."
In other words, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, even he himself was unaware that his face shone with glory. The reason was because he was so captivated and preoccupied with God that he was totally unaware of himself. One important lesson we can learn from here is that you and I cannot glorify God by looking at ourselves, but rather we should look at Him.
It is so easy to get distracted into a performance-based approach to our Christian lives. We can easily become so concerned about how we are doing or how others are perceiving the things we do—whether it be our preaching, our chairing, our singing, our worship, our services, the clothes we wear, the way we speak—and we forget about the only Person that really matters, and that is God.
But that was not the case with Moses. He was totally captivated and preoccupied with God that he forgot about himself, or he did not care how he looked like or how others are perceiving him.
Moses was a mere human being, so most certainly the glory did not come from himself. He had been in the glorious presence of God, and as a result, his face shone because it was a reflection or an afterglow of God’s glory.
Verse 30: "And 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."
They were not even looking at the glory of God. All they saw was the reflection or afterglow of God’s glory in the face of a mortal man, yet they could not stand it and they were all afraid to come near to him, including his own brother Aaron.
Sometimes we hear people say things like, "If only God were to show Himself to me, that would be enough. God, if You are really there, show Yourself to me." In reality, they do not know what they are asking for. No man can see the glory of God and live. They cannot even stand the reflected glory of God, let alone His actual glory.
Verse 31: "And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai."
You can imagine how fearful the people were as Moses told them all the things God had commanded him to say. They could see his glorious face. This was God’s way of authenticating His word that He had revealed through His prophet Moses.
How do we know this was the case? Well, each time Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. He did it twice. As verses 34 and 35 tell us, that the moment he spoke the word of God again, the people could see his glorious face, and the moment he finished speaking, he put the veil upon his face again.
Now there are many questions as to why God would allow Moses’ face to shine with glory at this point in time and not the time when he received the first set of the Ten Commandments. What is the significance of his face shining? Was it only because of the fact that he was communing with God? Did the glory remain on his face permanently? Most certainly not. And why not?
Many theologians have tried to give their own interpretations as to the significance of Moses’ face shining with glory. But I believe it is best to let Scriptures interpret Scriptures. In the New Testament, in 2 Corinthians 3:7–17, the Apostle Paul gave the answer to all these questions.
So I would like to approach this passage with this perspective. Remember, Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, or sometimes known as the law of God, and Paul was speaking about the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Corinthians, and he gave his commentary on this passage in Exodus 34:28–35 to distinguish the difference between the gospel and the law, and how the gospel exceeds the law in glory.
I have titled the message as "The Glory That Fadeth Not Away," referring to the gospel.
Let us consider the commentary of Paul on this passage. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 7 to 17.
Our first point is: the gospel exceeds the law in glory because it is permanent, not temporal.
Beginning with 2 Corinthians 3:7: "But 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."
The ministration or ministry of death, written and engraven in stones, is a reference to the law or the Ten Commandments. Here Paul was clearly referring to the passage in Exodus chapter 34 where the people could not look straight at the face of Moses. They could not even withstand a glimpse of the reflected glory of God, or the partial glory of God.
You see, Paul did not deny the glory of the law. He acknowledged that it was a glorious event. When God gave the law to Moses, even his face shone with glory. But did that glory remain on his face all the time? No. That is the meaning of the phrase "which glory was to be done away."
Therefore, after Moses had finished speaking to the people, he put on the veil again. Why? It was for the purpose of preventing the people from seeing the glory disappear. That is why verse 13 says: "And 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."
In other words, with the covering of the veil upon his face, the people will not be able to see the last part where the glory disappeared or faded away.
Now it is important for us to clarify that some people, especially the classic dispensationalists, would take this word "abolished" to mean that the law has been abolished or abrogated or done away. So they say the law is no longer applicable to us today. Most certainly this is not what it means.
Surely the Ten Commandments—"Thou shalt have no other gods before me," or "Thou shalt not kill," or "Thou shalt not commit adultery," or "Thou shalt not steal"—they are still applicable to us today. Here, this verse was referring to Moses physically putting the veil over his face so that the children of Israel would not see the glory disappear.
But even if you want to take the meaning of this verse in a symbolic sense, because the word "abolish" means to be of no effect, John Calvin says it is a reference to the power of the law. Remember, the law kills. There is a penalty when you and I do not keep the law, but it will be of no effect. Why? Because of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
That is why 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 56 says: "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
So the false teachers, the Judaizers during Paul’s time, wanted the Corinthian believers to go back under the law—to mix the two together, the gospel and the law. "You believe in the gospel, that is good, but you must also keep the law for salvation." But Paul was arguing: when God gave the law to Moses, his face shone with glory, but soon it faded away. Why do you go back to that which glory is temporal and fadeth away? Why don’t you live in the glory of the gospel which is permanent and fadeth not away?
You see, like the glory on Moses’ face, the law was never intended to be permanent. By that I mean, the law will fade away when its function is completed. After it has produced conviction and repentance in the life of the believer, it will fade away. But the gospel remains permanent with the believer.
Let us take a moment and consider our lives. There was a time when we were convicted of our sins through the law of God. We were remorseful. We repented of our sins. We turned to the gospel of Christ for salvation, and we were saved.
Today, though the law of God is still applicable to us, but you and I no longer live in the power of the law. We live in the power of the gospel. Today, when the people look at your life, they will not say, "See how his life has been transformed by the law," or "See how his life is so holy and righteous because he has kept the Ten Commandments." No, they will not say that, but rather they will say, "See how his life has been transformed by the gospel."
So Paul says in verse 8: "How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" The ministration or ministry of the spirit is a reference to the new covenant, the ministry of grace, the transforming work of the gospel. In other words, how shall the gospel not be even more glorious?
Verse 11 says: "For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." If the law, whose glory has faded away, is glorious, how much more the gospel, whose glory remains?
Our second point is: the gospel exceeds the law in glory because it is righteousness, not condemnation.
Look at verse 9: "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."
Notice the law was called the ministry of condemnation. Verse 7 it says the ministry of death. Verse 6 says the letter that killeth. Remember, the law kills us, and it kills us in two ways.
Firstly, it accuses all our attempts to try to keep it. If you and I are honest to ourselves, we know that we break the law of God all the time, and it kills us in the sense it brings about grief, frustration, sadness, guilt, and shame whenever we break the law.
Secondly, it kills us in that there is a penalty for not keeping the law, and that is eternal death, condemnation in hell.
The law was never intended to be a means of salvation. It cannot save the people. The law provides no grace, no mercy, no forgiveness. The purpose of the law is to reveal God’s holy standards and to reveal to us how sinful we are. It is like a mirror that shows us how dirty our face really is. We cannot wash our face with the mirror; that would be ridiculous. It is not designed for that.
The purpose of the law is to condemn us and then point us to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The law cannot transform the sinner, and it cannot enable the sinner to be righteous. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.
The law was written and engraven in stones. It was physical and external, something tangible you can hold in your hands and read for yourself. But the gospel is written and engraven in the heart. And through the gospel, God writes His laws in the hearts of those whom He redeems—you and I who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is internal. It is a transformation.
And He gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to keep His laws. And He gives us the righteousness of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be imputed upon us to cover us whenever we violate His laws, so that we will be righteous in the sight of God. When God sees us, He sees us clothed with the righteousness of His Son.
As one pastor said, it is a spiritual heart operation. Many years ago, the first surgeon ever to do a heart transplant, Dr. Christian Barnard, asked one of his patients, "Would you like to see your old heart?" He then went into the cupboard, took a glass container, and handed it to him. Inside the container was his old heart. For the moment, the man stood there in total silence—the first man in history ever to hold his own heart in his hands. Finally he spoke: "So this is my old heart that caused me so much trouble." He handed it back, turned away, and left it forever.
In a similar sense, that is what God has done to us. No doubt we still have the same heart, but it is radically new. God has written His laws within us. He has transformed our lives and made us partakers of His divine nature.
As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Though as long as we live in this mortal body, we will still be troubled by sin, but all of a sudden something has changed. God’s law is no longer external; it is internal. All of a sudden, we are no longer condemned by the law. And we do not keep the law to be saved; we are already saved. We keep the law because it is our source of blessing and joy.
As the psalmist says: "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." And: "I love thy law, and it is much more desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:10; Psalm 119:97, 127)
Have you ever encountered someone saying to you, "You Christians are like slaves to your God. You must do this and you must do that. You cannot do this and you cannot do that. It is so troublesome and burdensome to obey all those laws"? And then you try to explain to the person that it is not troublesome and burdensome; it is a blessing and joy to obey the laws of God. It is beneficial for you, and you do it because you love it—you love the laws of God.
Well, they will not understand, but the believers will understand. Why? Because we know that it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Spirit takes the gospel and produces righteousness in our lives and transforms us to the glory of God.
So verse 10 says: "For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth." Which means, when compared to the exceeding glory of the new covenant—the gospel—the law seems to have no glory. Again, Paul was not saying that the law has absolutely no glory at all; he was saying there is simply no comparison.
Allow me to give you an illustration. Imagine one day you are out in the wilderness on a stormy night. You do not have any torchlight, and you are relying on the light of the moon and the stars to guide you along the way. Suddenly the clouds have covered the light of the moon and the stars, and you cannot see within three inches in front of you. You are totally lost, and you don’t know how to take the next step.
After hours of waiting, the clouds begin to divide, and you see the moon and the stars again. You see the light; there’s hope. And you begin to make your way back home. To a person wandering in the wilderness, the guiding light of the moon and the stars is glorious, right? But as you walk and walk, morning comes; the sun comes up, and you see the exceeding glory of the sun that outshines the glory of the moon and the stars.
When the sun comes up, the moon and the stars are still out there; they are still shining in the heavens, but to you, they are just not as bright as the light of the sun.
That is what happens to us. There was a time when we were wandering in spiritual darkness, and we saw the light of the law. It was our guiding light out of the darkness of sin. Then we experienced the light of the gospel, which is exceeding in its glory. But that does not mean that the light of the law is no longer shining anymore. It is still shining out there as a guiding light to those who are lost in spiritual darkness, so that they could find their way to the light of the gospel and be saved. But for us, that light has faded away because the light of the gospel is shining so brightly.
Our third and final point is: the gospel exceeds the law in its glory because it is opened, not veiled.
Look at verse 12: "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech." In other words, knowing that we have such a blessed hope in the gospel, which provides the forgiveness of sin and complete redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ, what do we do? Keep it to ourselves? Is that what we do? No. We preach this gospel confidently with great boldness and courage. That is what it means.
We have already considered verse 13. Let us look at verse 14: "But 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. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart."
When the Jews gathered together in the synagogues for the Sabbath worship, the law of Moses, or the Old Testament, will be read. Using the image of the veil, the Apostle Paul explained that until this day, whenever the Old Testament was read, they could not understand the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures. They could not understand that Christ was the fulfilment of the old covenant. All the sacrifices, the signs, and the symbols were pointing to Christ, yet they could not understand because of this veil covering their hearts.
As an apostle to the Gentiles, Paul had seen many Gentiles trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Jews, his own people, were rejecting and persecuting the church. Paul had a great love for Israel, for his people, for the Jews, and he had a burden to see them being saved.
Most of us would be able to understand how Paul felt for his own people. Whenever we hear of people sharing about how their unbelieving loved ones have come to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are happy for them; we give thanks to God for them. But when we look at our own unbelieving loved ones, whether it be our parents, grandparents, or children, and their hearts are still hardened, and they refuse even to hear the gospel, we are so sad, right?
But how can this spiritual veil be removed from the hardened heart? Verse 16: "Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." Which means, when the person turns to the Lord, that is when the veil is taken away, and then he will begin to understand spiritual things.
But how can the person turn to the Lord? Finally, verse 17: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
This spiritual veil can only be removed by the Holy Spirit. No sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, can turn to Jesus Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. "The Lord is that Spirit" is a reference to the deity of the Spirit, which means the Spirit is God—the third Person in the triune God.
The false teachers were teaching that the people should depend on the law for salvation, and they were trusting in themselves as spiritual leaders to open the minds of the people to understand God’s truth. But no man can ever do that. Only the Spirit of the Lord can bring about spiritual understanding. Only the Spirit of the Lord can illumine and convict our hearts. Only through the Spirit of the Lord there is this liberty of freedom, whereby we cry out to God, "Abba, Father."
As Romans 8:15 says: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
Today, if you and I are able to call out, "Our Father which art in heaven," it is all because of the wonder-working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God may use human instruments to bring the gospel to us, but ultimately it is the Spirit’s work.
So, dear friend, when we share the gospel with our unbelieving loved ones, we do not trust in our own wisdom and understanding. It is not our ability; we are just instruments. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is why we must always pray that the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of our unbelieving loved ones, that they may come to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, today there are many people out there, even in evangelical churches, who trust in the church for salvation, or in the priest for salvation, or in the sacraments in order to be saved. They would say, "You must be baptized. You must partake of the Lord’s Supper. Or you must be a member of a particular denomination. Or you must serve in this ministry. Or you must do good works."
The moment we believe in the gospel plus something else, that makes it a false gospel. And it is so easy for the church to turn away from the pure gospel to a false gospel, because sinful men always want to trust in their own works. They always want to earn their ways to salvation, rather than trusting in the cross, in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Remember the Philippian jailer who cried out to Paul and Silas? He said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" It is always, "What must I do?" And what did Paul and Silas say? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:30–31)
If you are an unbeliever still lingering outside the kingdom of God, there’s no salvation except the gospel of Jesus Christ. Come and believe in the only Saviour today, for tomorrow may never come. Come and believe in the Lord Jesus today, so that the law will not be a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation to you, but it will be a source of blessing and joy to you.
Come and believe, and it will be the blessed gospel—the gospel that is able to transform your life, that you will be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and it will remain with you forever and ever.
This is the exceeding glory of the gospel: the glory that fadeth not away.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we give Thee thanks for enabling us to consider both portions of Scriptures from Exodus chapter 34, whereby we read of the account of Moses whose face shone with glory when he received Thy laws, and how it was expounded unto us by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, and how he taught us the difference between the law and the gospel, and how the gospel exceeds the law in glory.
Indeed, the law is still applicable to us today. We love the law; it is the source of our blessing and joy. It is beneficial for us. Thou hast given it to us so that we can walk on the path of righteousness. But because of the gospel, all of a sudden, we are no longer condemned by the law. Instead, we keep the law not to be saved, but because we are saved. We keep the law because we love it. And we know Thou hast given it to us for our spiritual well-being.
We pray for those who are still outside Thy kingdom, that as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we share with them about Thy commandments—how as sinners we have all broken Thy commandments; none of us is righteous, none of us is good; we have all fallen short of Thy glory—and the only way that we can be saved is through Thy gospel: that Jesus came, He died on the cross and shed His precious blood, He was buried, but on the third day He rose again from the dead. For He is the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Him.
O Lord, we pray that we do not trust in our own wisdom and understanding. It is not our abilities; we are just instruments. And as we share the gospel with our unbelieving loved ones and friends, may the Spirit of God convict their hearts just as Thou hast convicted our hearts, that they may believe in the gospel and be saved.
We praise and thank Thee, and give Thee thanks, and pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.