Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Shining of the Face of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35) | Charles Spurgeon

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The Shining of the Face of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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So I want you to picture a world leader, right?
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They're walking out of this highly classified private.
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Meeting. Yeah, the heavy doors swing
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open, right? But as they step out, there is
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this terrifying, radiant, just blinding glow coming directly
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from their skin. Like actually radiating light.
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Yeah, to the point where the press corps, the security
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guards, everyone in the room physically backs away and sheer
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panic just shielding their eyes. Which I mean is a total natural
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reaction. Oh, for sure.
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Today, if you saw that on the news, your first assumption
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would be, I don't know, a dangerous radiation leak.
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Right. Or maybe some highly
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sophisticated trick of the light?
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Yeah, you would look for a technological or scientific
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explanation, but the historical text we're looking at today
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presents a literal physical manifestation of a spiritual
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reality. And it's a wild thing to unpack.
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It really is welcome to reformed thinking.
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For this deep dive, we are unpacking A fascinating
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historical and theological event recorded in the Book of Exodus,
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this chapter 34, verses 29 through 35.
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We're looking at a 2019 republished analysis of this
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text by the preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
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Right. His sermon titled The Shining of
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the Face of Moses. Our mission here is to figure
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out the bizarre supernatural event of Moses coming down from
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Mount Sinai with a face that literally glowed.
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Because it wasn't just a metaphor, no.
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No, not at all. We are going to unpack the
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physical reality of this event, the theological meaning behind
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the veil he eventually wore, and what this ancient text reveals
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about human pride. And divine judgment.
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Yeah, and the blinding nature of true holiness.
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Setting the stage with that physical reality is honestly the
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best way to approach this text. Yeah, Moses has been up on the
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mountain, meeting with God, receiving the law.
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The literal, inflexible rules for how this new nation is going
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to operate. Right.
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And he has been fasting for an unthinkable amount of time.
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And this is not some neat little Sunday school story to tell
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children. No, it's intense.
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It is a dense, heavily layered historical reality communicating
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the absolute, unapproachable holiness of God and the actual
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mechanics of human salvation. We are looking at a moment where
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the invisible spiritual realm bled over into the physical,
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biological realm in a way that just terrified an entire nation.
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Yeah, terrified them. Let's.
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Pause on the physical ordeal that produced this glow, because
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the timeline laid out in the historical record is grueling.
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To say the least. Moses fasted for 40 days, quite
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possibly twice, and perhaps even a third time in quick
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succession. We are talking about 40 days
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with absolutely no food. And, crucially, no water.
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Right, no water. I have to push back on the
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reality of this because we see modern health fads, you know,
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extreme survival stunts where people try to go days without
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food. But water is a different story.
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Absolutely. A human being physically cannot
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survive without water for that long.
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The body shuts down in a matter of days.
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Yeah, blood volume drops. Kidneys fail.
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Delirium sets in. A person does not casually walk
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down a mountain after 40 days without a single drop of water.
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They just don't. So what is the text actually
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saying about the physical toll versus divine sustenance?
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Well, your physiological breakdown of dehydration hits
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the nail on the head. A normal fast of that length,
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assuming someone could even survive it through some medical
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anomaly, would leave a person looking starved.
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Just completely emaciated. Right Wrinkled, haggard.
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Their body would be cannibalizing its own muscle
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tissue and organs just to keep the brain functioning.
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They would be a walking skeleton.
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Yeah, but Moses did not come down looking like a skeleton.
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Instead, his face possessed this unusual, brilliant light.
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So the fast didn't ruin him. No.
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The point the text makes is that God sustained Moses so
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thoroughly that the fast did 0 harm to his physical
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constitution. God suspended the natural
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biological decay of his body. So the divine sustenance
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replaced his need for physical water and food.
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Spot on. The spiritual communion
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literally overrode his biological requirements.
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That concept alone completely shatters our modern, purely
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materialistic view of the human body.
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It really does. We think of ourselves as these
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closed biological systems, right?
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Requiring a constant input of calories and hydration.
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Just meat machines basically. Yeah, yet here is a man whose
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physical system was kept running at peak efficiency by a direct
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influx of divine energy. And that suspension of decay, It
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had long term biological effects too.
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Wait, really? Like what?
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Well. If you look at the end of his
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life, the historical record notes that this specific
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communion explains Moses's astonishing vitality decades
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later. When he died at 120.
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Yeah, when Moses died at the age of 120, the text says, his eyes
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were not dim and his natural force was unabated.
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So he wasn't weak at all. Right.
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And during the vision of the supernatural on that mountain
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hardened his physical frame against natural biological
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breakdown. The divine sustenance left a
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permanent mark on his constitution.
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That is wild. It is.
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But the rarity of this visible mark is staggering, too.
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I mean, you read through the entire biblical record spanning
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thousands of years of history, and God rarely does this.
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Almost never. He rarely makes people's faces
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literally shine. According to the text, only two
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men are noted for having this happen to them.
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Right Moses in the Old Testament.
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And then centuries later, Stephen in the New Testament,
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right before he is martyred. Two men out of millions.
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Why keep this phenomenon so scarce?
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Well, Spurgeon's psychological analysis of human nature answers
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that question clearly. God cannot afford to make our
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faces shine because we would simply grow too proud.
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Oh, human nature couldn't handle it.
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Not at all. We cannot handle that kind of
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visible glory without turning it into an ego trip.
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We would become insufferable. I mean, I would probably take
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selfies, right? Both Moses and Stephen shared
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one specific overriding trade, extraordinary meekness.
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Meekness. Yeah.
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Stephen, while he was literally being crushed to death by stones
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thrown by an angry mob, used his final breaths to pray for the
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forgiveness of his executioners. He pleaded that the sin of
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murder would not be held against.
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Them exactly. I mean, absolutely.
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And Moses, when he wrote down the account of his own shining
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face, did so with immense reluctance.
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He didn't write it to brag. No, he wrote it because God
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commanded him to record the history.
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He documented his own shining face with the same objective
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detachment he used to document his own massive failures.
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Think about your own life for a second.
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Just think about your natural desire for recognition, for
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applause, for validation. We all have it.
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If you possessed a visible glowing mark of divine favor,
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something that made everyone stop and stare at you in awe,
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could you handle it without vanity?
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Most of us couldn't. I know I couldn't.
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Would you be monetizing the glow on social media?
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Starting a lifestyle brand? Charging speaking fees?
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Oh for sure. It is a terrifying mirror to
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hold up to our own hearts, but since we have established that
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Moses had the required humility to bear this light, we have to
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look at the logical next question.
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How did it happen? Right.
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What were the specific mechanics that transferred this blinding
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light onto his skin in the first place?
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Well, the text uses a brilliant physical analogy here.
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The face of Moses was to God what the moon is to the sun.
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OK, so reflection. Yeah, the moon generates
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absolutely no light of its own. It is just a massive cold rock
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floating in space. But when it is positioned
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correctly. Right, with nothing obstructing
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the view, it perfectly reflects the blazing light of the sun.
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Moses was a pure reflection. He generated nothing internally.
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But there is a massive theological insight regarding
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the timing of this event too. What do you mean?
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Earlier in the narrative, Moses had prayed an incredibly bold
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prayer. He asked God, show me thy glory.
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And God told him, you cannot see my face and live.
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It seemed like a hard no. It did, but Spurgeon suggests
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this prayer was actually a delayed answer.
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It was answered to its utmost bounds 1400 years later.
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Wait 1400 years later, explain the mechanics of that delowe
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because you know most of us give up on a prayer if it isn't
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answered by next Tuesday. Right.
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Well, Moses asked. To see the full, unfiltered
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glory of God at Sinai, God gave him a partial glimpse.
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Hiding him in the cleft of a rock.
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Yeah, and only showing him his back parts, so to speak, because
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the full weight of that glory would have vaporized him.
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So when does he see the full glory?
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On Mount Tabor, recorded in the New Testament Gospels, Moses
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appears from heaven, standing on the mountain with Jesus, the Son
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of God, who is entirely transfigured and liked.
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Oh wow. Moses, now possessing A
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glorified state capable of handling the site, finally saw
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the full blazing glory he had asked for centuries prior.
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It is a stunning picture of delayed but complete fulfillment
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that just blows my mind. It's incredible.
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But going back to the reflection on Sinai, we have to look at the
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environmental factors that allowed this initial reflection
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to happen. The isolation.
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Yes, Moses was completely isolated for at least 80 days.
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He was far away from the hum of the camp.
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No distractions. He couldn't hear the bleeding of
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the sheep, the bitter arguments of the people, the daily grind
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of family interests. Or the political maneuvering of
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the elders. Right, he was totally,
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completely alone in the freezing cold and searing heat of a
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desert mountain. Which is hard for us to even
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fathom. It really is, I think, about our
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modern attempts at focus. We give a hurried, distracted 15
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minutes to reading a book or meditating while constantly
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checking our phones. And we think we have achieved a
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state of enlightenment. We want the glow without the
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isolation. Moses was completely saturated
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morning and evening, and divine influence for months.
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And that isolation allowed for total absorption.
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But, you know, it wasn't just empty, mindless meditation
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either. What was he doing?
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We have to look at the nature of his prayers during that time.
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Moses wasn't up there praying for his own success, his own
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wealth, or his historical legacy.
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He exhibited a sublime self abnegation.
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Absolutely. While he was on the mountain
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receiving the law, the Israelites down below were
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breaking every single rule God had just given.
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Them worshipping a golden calf. Yeah, and God told Moses, step
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aside, let me destroy these idolaters and I will make a new
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great nation out of your family line.
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God offered Moses the ultimate promotion.
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He offered to wipe the slate clean and make Moses the new
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Abraham. And he refused.
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That is the part that stops you in your tracks.
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Anyone else would have taken the deal for sure.
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I mean the people down there were complaining, rebellious,
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ungrateful, and currently throwing a Pagan party.
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Moses had every reason to say yes.
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Start over with me. Yeah, and instead he stood in
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the gap and said, Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book.
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He offered his own eternal soul. His own name, yeah.
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In exchange to the guilty people, he has God to destroy
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him instead of them. This is flawless, selfless
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intercession. He completely abandoned any
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sense of personal preservation for the sake of a people who
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hated him half the time. But wait, I have to point out a
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massive contradiction in the text here.
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OK, what's that? We're talking about a deeply
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meek man, a man who just offered to be blotted out of existence
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for his people, yet he comes down from the mountain and is
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fiercely on bending. He doesn't coddle them.
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No, he does not pull them into a therapeutic circle to talk about
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their feelings. He sees the golden calf, grinds
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the solid gold idle into fine powder, dissolves in the
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drinking water, and physically forces the idolaters to drink
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it. It's brutal.
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He made them swallow the very dust of their own sin.
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That does not sound like a soft, overly tolerant, meek guy.
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Well, this raises A vital distinction about how we view
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uniqueness. We often confuse meekness with
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weakness. Which Spurgeon pushes back
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against right? Oh, the text is brutal in its
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critique of modern men. Here it specifically states that
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God does not choose milksops destitute of backbone or men
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made of sugar to wear his glory. Men mode of sugar.
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I love that. Right men who just melt into
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whatever the popular cultural opinion of the day happens to
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be. True fellowship with God in
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private requires unbending, rigid truthfulness in public.
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So meekness before God, but boldness before men.
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Spot on. Moses was meek before God,
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meaning he submitted entirely to God's will without complaint.
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But he was an absolute lion when it came to defending justice
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among men. You cannot separate the 2.
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No, his private communion fueled his public courage.
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When you spend 80 days staring at absolute holiness, you do not
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tolerate a golden calf in the camp.
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Submitting to God made him fearless before men.
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That completely flips our modern understanding of leadership.
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We think leadership is about constantly reading the room.
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Adjusting your message to keep the crowd happy.
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Managing public relations. Moses did not care about public
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relations. He forced them to drink the gold
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dust. He really did.
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So Moses acquired this literal physical glow through intense,
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selfless communion and fierce loyalty to justice.
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But what did this terrifying light actually communicate to
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the Israelites who witnessed it? Because they were running away
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from him. The light functioned as God's
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physical signature. It was an undeniable, visible
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seal of approval. It proved that God's special
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favor was resting entirely on Moses.
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Yeah, nobody could argue with a guy whose face was shooting out
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beams of blinding light. You cannot mount a political
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rebellion against a man who radiates the sheer authority of
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the cosmos. Right.
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But what is fascinating here is how this favor function by
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proxy. Yes, because God accepted the
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intercessor Moses, He was signaling favor for the entire
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nation of Israel. The text notes that pardon was
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literally written across Moses's shining brow.
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Let's break down that concept of proxy favor because it is
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central to Protestant Christian theology.
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The idea that someone else's perfection covers your failure.
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Exactly. Well, absolutely, it's the.
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Core doctrine of substitution. The Israelites deserve total
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annihilation for the golden calf incident.
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They really did. But Moses went up the mountain,
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interceded for them, offered himself in their place, and God
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accepted his mediation. So when Moses came down shining,
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that light told the Israelites, God has accepted your
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representative. Yes, when God looks at the face
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of his anointed Christ, he looks with favor on all the people
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that Christ represents. Moses was acting as a flawless
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historical prototype for that mechanism.
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The people lived not because they were good, but because
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their mediator was accepted. It's a massive theological
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point. I love that piece of historical
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trivia brought up at this point regarding the visual reality of
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that life, by the way. Oh, the Michelangelo statue.
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Yeah, if you go to Rome today and look at Michelangelo's
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famous massive marble statue of Moses, you'll notice something
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incredibly weird. Moses has literal horns growing
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out of his head. It looks almost demonic.
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People look at it and wonder what Michelangelo was thinking.
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But there's a reason for. It right it is due to a
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translation error in the Latin Vulgate, which was the primary
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Bible of the Middle Ages. The original Hebrew word used to
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describe Moses's face is Karen. And Karen can mean horns, right?
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It can, but in this specific context it means beams of light
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shooting out. It was a Halo of glory.
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Rays of light piercing the air. Yeah, projecting outward like
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horns of light, not physical horns of bone protruding from
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his skull. Right, and those piercing beams
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of light had an immense overawing effect on the camp.
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Think about the psychology of the Israelites at this moment.
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This was a rebellious, stubborn, hard headed group of people.
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They had just thrown off all moral restraint.
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But when Moses spoke, they trembled.
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His speech was like fire because his face was ablaze.
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It established an absolute, undeniable authority over them.
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They could not argue with the visual evidence of the
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supernatural. The light silenced all dissent
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instantly. But let's dig into the
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typological meaning. This is the heavy theological
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layer we need to unpack. What Paul writes about centuries
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later. Yeah, what does Paul in the New
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Testament say this glow actually meant?
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Because he writes extensively about this exact moment in his
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letters to the Corinthians. Paul breaks down what he calls
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the glory of the law. The rules given on Sinai, the 10
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commandments and the accompanying civil codes have
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their own glory. The law is spiritual, it is
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just, and it is holy. Right.
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It shows the perfect standard of God's character, but its primary
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function is not to save people. No, its function is to be a
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harsh schoolmaster. It is designed to whip us to
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expose our total failure to measure up so that we are driven
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toward Christ for mercy. The tragedy of the Israelites is
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that they saw the outward rituals, the animal sacrifices,
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the anointing oil, the washing with water.
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But they completely missed the great sacrifice those rituals
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pointed to. The law is covered in the glory
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of Christ, just as Moses's face was covered with light.
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The people were terrified by the brightness of the standard, but
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they could not see the grace hiding behind it.
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That distinction between the terrifying standard and the
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hidden grace is crucial. The law demands perfection.
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Do this and live. But no one can do it.
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So the law just becomes an instrument of condemnation.
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No wonder they ran away. The light on Moses face
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represented a standard they had just violently broken with the
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golden calf. They were looking at their own
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death sentence written in light. The light exposed their guilt.
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When you were sitting in a dark room covered in filth, you might
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feel fine. But when someone turns on a
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million candle power spotlight, I mean every single stain is
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visible. The law turns on the spotlight
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for sure. This brings us to one of the
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most baffling details in the entire narrative.
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Is ignorance of it, Yeah. The people are terrified.
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They are physically running away from Moses, shielding their
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eyes, but Moses himself has absolutely no idea he is
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glowing. The ancient text says he
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whisked, not that his face shown.
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How in the world could someone possess such a blinding, radiant
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brilliance right on their own skin and remain completely,
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totally ignorant of it? Well, there is the obvious
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literal reason there were no looking glasses in the desert.
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He didn't have a mirror. Right.
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He had not seen his own face in 80 days.
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But Spurgeon takes that physical fact and turns it into a
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devastating metaphor for human psychology.
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How so? He argues that it is incredibly
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difficult, almost impossible, for a human being to form an
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accurate, unbiased judgement of their own character.
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We do not have accurate spiritual mirrors.
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We really don't. We have a natural, almost
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inescapable tendency to a gross self flattery.
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We are our own biggest fans. We dream of strength in
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ourselves, where all is actually weakness.
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We think we are incredibly wise when we are acting foolishly.
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We judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge
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everyone else by their actions. And if we rely on our own
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judgement or even the bias flattering opinions of our
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friends and family, we get a completely distorted view.
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A fun house mirror view of who we actually are.
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Absolutely. And beyond the lack of mirrors,
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there is a second, much heavier reason Moses didn't know he was
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glowing. The quietest of boasting.
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Yes, Moses had just spent 80 days looking at the absolute
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perfection of God. When a man gets a clear,
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unfiltered view of flawless holiness, it obliterates any
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claim of personal excellence. He abhors himself in dust and
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ashes. He realizes that his best deeds,
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his most righteous acts, are stained and flawed compared to
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the blazing purity of God. I think of it like this.
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Imagine someone who paints a little watercolor in their
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kitchen and thinks they are the greatest artist of their
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generation. They're incredibly proud of it.
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They show it to everyone, but then you drop them into the
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middle of the Louvre Museum. You surround them with the
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masterpieces of Da Vinci, Rembrandt and Michelangelo.
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Suddenly, seeing pure perfection completely kills their personal
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claims of excellence. They want to hide their little
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watercolor. Yeah, he that has looked into
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the face of the sun is blinded to all minor lights.
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Moses had been staring at the sun.
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He could not even perceive his own minor glow because his eyes
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were adjusted to the infinite. This brings up a piercing
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psychological insight regarding his motives too.
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The main reason Moses didn't know his face shown was because
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it never once entered his thoughts to wish it would shine.
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He wasn't looking for a reward. He wasn't looking for status.
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The text launches into a massive critique of religious vanity
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here. Think about people who pray for
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holiness, but they only do it because they want other people
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to consider them holy. They want the reputation of
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being a St. Or think about the person who
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prays fervently and loudly in a public setting using eloquent
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words, secretly hoping someone comes up afterward and says,
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wow, what a prayer. You are so spiritually mature.
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Moses was entirely immune to that trap.
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He had no desire for personal repute.
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He was entirely consumed with God's glory, not his own.
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Plus he has 0 context for this happening about his peer group.
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Aaron's face never shown. Joshua's face never shown.
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Nobody in the entire history of the world up to that point had a
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glowing face. He had no baseline to compare
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his experience against. The analysis brings in a
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fantastic reference to John Bunyan's classic book Pilgrim's
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Progress to illustrate this dynamic.
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Oh, with Christiana and mercy. Yeah, there is a scene where the
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characters Christiana and Mercy come out of a purifying bath.
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They look at each other and are completely terrified because
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each woman can see a shining glory on the other person, but
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they cannot see it on themselves.
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And naturally esteem each other better than themselves.
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They assume the other person is holier.
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Moses did not even have that. His elders, the people who were
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supposed to be his peers, had just failed miserably by
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building a golden calf. He was entirely isolated in his
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experience of excellence. It is a beautiful picture of
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unconscious excellence. True spiritual beauty is
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entirely unconscious of itself. The moment you start admiring
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your own humility, you have lost it.
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The moment you notice your own face shining, the light starts
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to fade. It requires a total
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forgetfulness of self. The man who is truly holy is the
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last person in the room to know it.
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So true. So eventually Moses is made
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aware of the light because the people are literally fleeing
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from him in terror. Aaron has to come and tell him
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what is going on. And once Moses he realizes what
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is happening, he takes a very specific physical action.
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He takes a piece of cloth and covers his face.
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He puts on a veil. Why hide the very thing that
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proves your authority? On the surface, the text notes
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that Moses veiled his face out of his natural meekness.
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He shrank from the public gaze. He.
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Didn't want to monopolize power. Right.
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Or use this terrifying light to turn himself into a dictator.
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He could have used that glow to rule them with an iron fist,
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demanding absolute compliance based on fear.
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But he also did it out of tender condescension.
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He wanted to win the people, to speak with them normally, to
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guide them. As a shepherd.
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He did not want to constantly terrify them into submission.
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He veiled his glory so he could communicate with them.
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But you know, we should push back on that A.
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Bit I was just going to say I have to push back on that.
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Moses had every right, every legal and moral right, to demand
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that they stand there and look at the glory.
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It was their fault. They were afraid.
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Their fear was a direct result of their own guilt from
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worshipping the golden calf. The light was just exposing
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their. Treason.
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Yet Moses voluntarily yielded his right.
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He accommodated their weakness. He covered the glory so he could
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stay close to the people he loved, even though they were the
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ones in the wrong. That is true, but Spurgeon
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introduces the heaviest, most severe concept in the entire
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narrative right here. The judicial symbol.
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Yes, the primary overarching reason for the veil was not just
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Moses being a nice guy or accommodating their feelings.
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The veil was a judicial symbol. It was a physical representation
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of the sentence of God upon the people.
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God was essentially saying, You are so rebellious, you are so
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given to your idols, that you shall not see the brightness of
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my glory. The veil was an act of divine
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judgment. This is the terrifying concept
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of judicial blindness. The veil was literally
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physically sitting on Moses face blocking the light.
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But. Spiritually, the veil was
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covering the Israelites hearts. Justice makes foolish those who
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refuse to understand. The text uses a chilling
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comparison here. It compares this dynamic to a
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prisoner of war being blindfolded right before the
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fatal firing squad volley is fired.
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Wow, the blindfold isn't there for comfort.
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The blindness is the precursor to destruction.
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The mechanics of this insensibility are severe.
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God gives men up to their own chosen darkness.
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If you continually shut your eyes to the truth, if you
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continually choose the golden calf over the law of God,
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eventually justice will ensure that you cannot open your eyes
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even if you try. The veil becomes permanent.
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You lose the capacity to perceive the light.
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The spiritual receptors burnout. Think about your own life.
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Think about the people around you.
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Is there a deeply principled, godly person in your life?
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Someone whose character is rock solid, whose virtues you
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secretly despise. Do you avoid them because their
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goodness irritates you? Does their integrity make you
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feel condemned? So you them or push them.
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Away or think about the historical text of the Bible
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itself. Is it just a massive boring book
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of ancient history to you? Does the message of the gospel
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completely fail to move your emotions or your intellect?
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Do you hear the most profound truths, the heaviest truths of
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the universe and feel absolutely nothing?
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The conclusion on this is a heavy warning.
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If the truth fails to charm you, if the light irritates you
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rather than warms you, it is a sad, dangerous omen.
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It means the veil is currently resting over your heart.
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You are in a state of spiritual insensibility and the only cure
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for this condition is external. You cannot reach up and remove
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the veil yourself because you don't even know it's there.
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The only cure is for the Holy Ghost to intervene and
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forcefully remove the scales from your eyes so you can
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perceive the reality of your situation.
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It requires an outside rescue. That is a grim reality to sit
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with. Very grim.
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The idea that we might be completely blind to the most
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glorious realities in the universe, walking around with a
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veil over our hearts, totally unaware.
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But the narrative doesn't end in the dark.
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No, it moves from the grim reality of additional blindness
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to the ultimate hope presented in the text, the promise of a
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light that cannot and will not be veiled.
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It contrasts Moses with Jesus. And the contrast is striking,
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focusing entirely on the physics of the glory, Mitens had a light
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that existed only on the very surface of his skin.
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It was a reflection bouncing off the epidermis, and it could be
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easily covered by a simple piece of linen cloth.
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Jesus, however, during the transfiguration on Mount Tabor
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was altered completely. Spurgeon uses a very specific a
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deliberate word to describe Jesus, glory, incandescence.
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Incandescence like a filament in a light bulb, burning from the
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inside out, generating its own heat and light.
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Yes, Jesus's light was not a reflection bouncing off his skin
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from an external source. It was his core divine nature
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pushing outward through his humanity.
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The light streams right through his physical body, right through
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his seamless garment, making the physical fabric white and
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glistening. He was all light, with
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absolutely no darkness at all. Moses was merely the moon
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reflecting the sun. Jesus is the blazing sun itself.
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Moses could cover his face with a veil, but you cannot throw a
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blanket over the sun and expect to hide its heat.
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The source of the glory is entirely different and therefore
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it cannot be contained. And here is where the text takes
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this ancient history and applies it to human destiny.
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It looks at the future promise for the physical bodies of
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believers. Think about the logic here.
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If a dry, bronzed, wrinkled 80 year old face beaten by the wind
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of the Arabian desert could shine like a minor sun just by
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reflecting God's glory for a few weeks.
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What will happen to the human body at the resurrection?
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Exactly. I mean, absolutely.
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If a temporary reflection caused that much terror in awe, what
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will the permanent state be like?
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That is the promise of the resurrection body, raised in
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incorruption, endowed with permanent glory.
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The theological argument is that our physical bodies will be
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entirely luminous, shining forth like the sun and the Kingdom.
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The biological decay we experience now, the sickness,
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the aging, the breakdown of cells is temporary.
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The ultimate state of the physical body for those united
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to Christ is 1 of blinding, incandescent glory.
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There's a brilliant analogy used here involving A crocus bulb.
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I love this part if you have ever seen one, a procus bulb
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looks like a dead brown ugly Little Rock.
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It has no beauty. You bury it in the freezing
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soil, completely hiding it in the dirt.
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During the dead of winter. It looks like you are burying a
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stone. But when the season changes,
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when the spring sun hits the soil, it pushes up through the
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earth and opens into a bright golden cup that the sun fills
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with glory. The dead ugly bulb becomes a
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living vessel for the light. That is the exact promise for
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the physical bodies of those who belong to Christ.
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They are sown in dishonor, buried in the dirt of a
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graveyard, but raised in blazing glory.
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The dirt is not the end, it is just the necessary planting
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phase for the glory that follows.
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And while we wait for that future reality, the analysis
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points out the practical application for today.
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A life that is entirely consecrated to God produces an
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unconscious influence in the present moment.
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You do not have to try to shine. You do not have to manufacture a
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spiritual aura. The light just happens as a
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natural byproduct of staring at the right source.
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And that unconscious influence does two things in the world.
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First it AWS the wicked. Just like King Herod was
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terrified of John the Baptist because he knew John was a holy
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man, right? A truly righteous life makes
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corrupt people incredibly uncomfortable.
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They cannot explain it, but they fear it.
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Second, it acts as a guiding star to those who are seeking
30:00
truth. It draws people out of the
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darkness and toward the source of the light.
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Consider this one final thought as we close.
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We have spent this entire time talking about the physical glow
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on Moses's face and how he had to cover it with a veil because
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the people could not handle the light.
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The terror of it. Yeah, but centuries later, when
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the apostle John writes about the final state of human
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destiny, the new heavens and the new earth and the Book of
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Revelation, he knows it's a fascinating detail about the
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physical environment. That's it.
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He says that in that eternal city there will be absolutely no
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need for the sun or the moon to shine in it.
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Why? Because the glory of God will
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illuminate the entire city, and the Lamb is its light.
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The terrifying brilliance that sent the Israelites running for
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their lives at Sinai will become the ambient daily lighting of
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the new creation. The ambient lighting, that's a
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great way to put it. Moses Shining Face was just a 40
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day preview of the permanent cosmic lighting system of human
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destiny. There will be no veils, no
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running away and No Fear, because the people will finally
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be equipped to handle the full weight of the light.
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That's incredible. Something to think about as you
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step out into the sun today. Thank you for joining us on this
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deep dive. We will see you next time.