Sunday 27 October, 2013

7 The Law was written in letters on stone. Even though it was a way of serving God, it led to death. But even that way of serving God came with glory. And even though the glory was fading, the people of Israel couldn’t look at Moses’ face very long. 8 Since all of that is true, won’t the work of the Holy Spirit be even more glorious? 9 The Law that sentences people to death is glorious. How much more glorious is the work of the Spirit! His work makes people right with God. 10 The glory of the old covenant is nothing compared with the far greater glory of the new. 11 The glory of the old is fading away. How much greater is the glory of the new! It will last forever. 12 Since we have that kind of hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses. He used to cover his face with a veil. That was to keep the people of Israel from looking at his face while the brightness was fading away. 14 But their minds were made stubborn. To this very day, the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil has not been removed. Only faith in Christ can take it away. 15 To this very day, when the Law of Moses is read, a veil covers the minds of those who hear it. 16 But when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Holy Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, freedom is also there. 18 Our faces are not covered with a veil. We all display the Lord’s glory. We are being changed to become more like him so that we have more and more glory. And the glory comes from the Lord, who is the Holy Spirit.

When Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, he came down from the mountain with a glowing face from being in the presence of God. As the glow began to fade over time, Moses covered his face with a veil to hide from the people of Israel the fact that the glow was fading.

This passage says that Moses’ glory was a transitory glory, symbolic of the fact that the law Moses received not a lasting solution to the problem of sin.

But now we have an eternal glory in Christ, and with the Spirit of the Lord there is freedom. Not freedom to do whatever we like, but freedom from the power of sin. Freedom that lasts and does not fade away.

We no longer need to cover our faces in shame to hide our fading glory, and this should give us boldness! Boldness to approach God’s throne of grace, and boldness to share this good news with others. May we live in this freedom and this boldness every day!

Written by Shelley Witt