The glory of Edmonton. What is it? The Oilers? The Eskimos? The Legislative Building? Whyte Ave.? How about West Edmonton Mall? Before Sarah and I moved to this area the one thing we heard the most about was West Ed. After all, it’s supposedly the largest mall in the world! If West Ed is the glory of Edmonton which phase of the mall do you think is most glorious? The phase with the skating rink? The one with the aquarium? How about the phase with the new movie theatres, or the one with the water park? I imagine that as the mall was being built each new phase was designed to outshine the one before it.
If the glory of Edmonton is West Ed, what do you think the glory of God is? Through our Old Testament and Gospel lessons we’ll discover that the glory of God is often portrayed with a dazzling display of light. We’ll also learn that, like West Ed, God’s dazzling glory has distinct phases. Today we’ll reflect on two phases of God’s glory by gazing at Moses’ face on Mt. Sinai, and at Jesus’ face on the Mt. of Transfiguration.
When someone is in a good mood their face glows doesn’t it? Not literally of course, but their smile and the sparkle in their eyes reflect a sunny disposition towards life. Similarly when someone is angry their face will burn – again not literally but as the blood rushes to their head their face will get red. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai clutching the Ten Commandments his face was radiant - literally. The Hebrew text tells us that his skin was shooting out rays of light. That sounds like a sight you might want to see but Aaron and the rest of the Israelites didn’t think so. They ran when they saw Moses!
In order to understand their reaction it’s necessary to review what had all happened at Mt. Sinai. You see this wasn’t the first time that Moses had descended the mountain clutching a set of commandments. The last time he came down from the mountain he ended up smashing a similar set of stone tablets because the Israelites had smashed God’s commands by making and worshipping a golden calf. Moses proceeded to grind up the golden calf, mix it with water, and make the people drink their idol. While that was happening the Levites went through the camp putting to death those who had worshipped the calf, killing 3,000 in all. Now you can understand why the Israelites were leery of Moses, especially now that his face was shining! What did it mean? No one knew and no one wanted to stick around to find out!
The fact that Moses’ face was radiant had nothing to do with his emotions. It had nothing to do with Moses at all. Moses’ face was shining because he had been talking with God, not in prayer as you and I do, but face to face. Because Moses stood face to face with God his face began to reflect the dazzling glory that was God’s. The Israelites had seen that glory in the pillar of fire that led them by night, and the fire and smoke that had descended on Mt. Sinai when God spoke. By allowing Moses’ face to reflect his glory God wanted the people to respect Moses and to pay close attention to the words that he would share with them.
Whenever Moses was done sharing God’s word, however, he covered his face with a veil. When you read the Old Testament account you get the impression that Moses did this so that the people wouldn’t be frightened to look at him. But that can’t be the case because when Moses shared God’s word with the people he spoke without the veil. The Apostle Paul tells us that Moses wore a veil because he wanted to cover the fact that the glory he reflected was a fading glory (2 Cor. 3). You see Moses’ face was like one of those glow in the dark toys. As soon as he left God’s presence the brightness in his face gradually faded away until the next time he stood before God. Moses didn’t want the people to see that fading glory because he wanted them to continue to take his words seriously.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul also tells us that Moses’ fading glory symbolized the fading glory of the words that he shared with the Israelites. The words that Moses spoke to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai make up the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was a two-way agreement between God and the Children of Israel. It basically stated that if the Israelites would keep God’s commands things would go well for them in the Promised Land. This covenant was a fading covenant, however, because it was not God’s final word. It did not show the Israelites how to be saved but how they couldn’t keep God’s requirements and how they needed a Saviour from their sins.
Not all of the Old Covenant has faded however. God’s moral law, his will for all people of all time, still applies to us today. What God said about loving and obeying our parents still stands. What God said about marriage and adultery still applies. When God says that the marriage bed is to be kept pure by all (Heb 13:4) he means that sex before marriage is always out of line with his will. Using God’s name in vain, making our jobs, our families, and our free time more important than our relationship with God are all serious offences that God will not leave unpunished.
Although God’s moral law still applies to us today its glory is also fading. God’s law can’t lead to salvation. It can only point out our sinfulness and a need for a Saviour. Therefore as glorious as the moral law and the Old Covenant is it cannot match the glory that is the New Covenant – God’s promise that our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus.
While the fading glory of the Old Covenant is reflected in Moses’ face the surpassing glory of the New Covenant is reflected in the face of Jesus’. That happened literally on the Mt. of Transfiguration when Jesus’ face became as bright as lightening. The difference between Jesus’ glory and Moses’ glory is that the glory of Jesus wasn’t a reflection; it was self-generated because he is God.
But didn’t Jesus’ glory fade like Moses’ glory? I mean the transfiguration didn’t last very long did it? Only long enough for Peter to blurt out a few things that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Jesus’ glory didn’t last on the Mt. of Transfiguration because he didn’t want it to. His work of winning salvation was not finished. He still had six months to go before he would climb another mountain to be crucified for the sins of the world. Once his work of salvation was finished Jesus did show off his surpassing glory once again. Do you remember how Paul became blind on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:9)? He became blind because he saw Jesus arrayed in his glory. While he was on the island of Patmos the Apostle John saw a vision of Jesus and described his face as “shining like the sun in all its brilliance” (Rev. 1:16).
Lest we think that this glory was something Jesus acquired once his work of salvation was done I want you to think back to the sermon text from a couple weeks ago. The text was from Isaiah and it was about Isaiah’s call into the ministry and an awesome vision he had. Remember how in that vision Isaiah saw the awesome glory of God and heard the awesomely loud six-winged seraphs sing? Well, I didn’t share this with you two weeks ago but the person that Isaiah saw seated on the throne high above the temple was Jesus. That’s what the Apostle John tells us in his gospel (12:41). You see Jesus’ glory is a surpassing glory because it’s from eternity and it will last into eternity.
Jesus’ glory is not just surpassing because it’s an eternal one but because his glory is our glory. When Jesus sealed the New Covenant with his blood he won forgiveness for all people. Therefore instead of condemning us like the Old Covenant, the New Covenant brings us to life. It assures us that when we die our souls will go directly to heaven.
Even more than that, the New Covenant assures us that our bodies will be raised on the last day and become glorious like Jesus’ body. We have proof of that from the Mt. of Transfiguration. Who was it that appeared with Jesus in bright shiny clothes? Wasn’t it Moses and Elijah? Two men who had already gone to heaven? Just as Moses and Elijah shone with the splendour of the sun so we too will shine like that on the last day. That’s something that the Old Covenant could never give us.
But you know what? We don’t have to wait to get to heaven to shine. Whenever we do God’s will thankfully and cheerfully we shine with God’s love. Isn’t it nice to know that we don’t have to wear a Christian T-shirt, or slap a bumper sticker on our car to show others that we are Christians? Of course the glory that we reflect now is proportionate to the amount of time we spend basking in the glow of God’s Word. Like Moses on Mt. Sinai, and those glow in the dark toys we need to continue to stand in God’s light if we want to reflect that light to others.
Sure it may seem as if it would be a lot easier to shine if we could speak face to face with God as Moses did. But Paul tells us that as glorious as Moses’ ministry was it’s nothing compared to the ministry of the New Covenant that we have been called to carry out. Our message is one of forgiveness, life and peace, not one of condemnation. Therefore be bold when you share God’s Word with your unbelieving friends and family. Remember that you aren’t reflecting a fading glory like Moses, but the surpassing glory of Christ. Amen.
