Find your way to the last 7 verses of Exodus chapter 34. Tonight, we get to see a really lovely example of the power of an intimate relationship with God. And how, when we live in communion with the Lord, it’s going to have profound effects on who we are and how we’re used, sometimes in ways we don’t even realize.

It’s all demonstrated for us in the life of Moses. Moses is someone whose story has an incredible amount of depth and encouragement for us. He was by no means perfect, but he was a man who developed a real, personal intimacy with God and in that way he is a  great encouragement to me, not just because of the miracles that the Lord worked through him, which of course are remarkable and awe-inspiring, but more so because of the small, subtle things we see about him and how he served the Lord.

Tonight, in one of the more unique stories of the Old Testament, the Lord is going to put Himself on display through Moses and along the way we get to see the kinds of heart-change that communion with God produces.

Let’s start at verse 29, where we read:

Exodus 34.29 – Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.

A little background. Moses had been going up and down Mount Sinai, getting instructions from the Lord on the new system He was establishing over Israel now that they had been saved out of Egypt. One of those trips lasted for 40 days. During that time, the people down the hill came to Aaron and said, “Hey, Moses is gone. Make us new gods to worship.” Aaron makes the Golden Calf, then God tells Moses, “You need to get down there and take control of the situation.” Moses goes down, smashes the tablets God had given him, destroys the Calf. The Levites separate themselves to God, there’s judgment for sin.
A little while after that, Moses heads back up to the top of Sinai to meet with the Lord again for 40 days, and the Lord renews the covenant and they write it 2 new tablets of stone.

Here in verse 29, that second 40 day period had come to a close and the Lord sent Moses to go share what He had said with the people.

I wonder how hard it was for Moses to turn and start heading down the hill. He had spent weeks and weeks in the very presence of the Lord and, we’re told that it was so fulfilling and so enriching and so supernatural that he didn’t need food or water the whole time he was there. It says that God had stood with him and shown him His very glory and shouted out His name. Who would’ve wanted to leave all of that? Think of a similar scene in the New Testament – the transfiguration of Jesus. Peter, James and John got a very small dosage of what Moses had been experiencing for 40 days and Peter’s response was to say, “Man, it’s so good to be here. Let’s stay! And let’s build tabernacles for you 3 guys.”

But there was a life and a calling down the mountain that the Lord wanted Moses to attend to. So, he dutifully and faithfully picked up the two tablets and left the splendor of the peak for the service in the valley. And one of the things that is most prominent about Moses as a man is that he devoted himself to serve people, people who didn’t deserve it, when it meant sacrifice and self-denial and discouragement and disappointment. In that small way he represents to us what Christ did in leaving heaven to come down to us below, to love and serve an undeserving people who were already guilty, who would consistently reject and rebel and complain. But Christ is faithful even when we are not and Moses was faithful to serve the Lord.

Now, something else about this whole scenario. Sometimes we talk about mountain-top experiences in our spiritual lives and they are great. It’s a good thing to get away with the Lord from time to time and to have that special, uninterrupted interaction with Him at a conference or a retreat. But one of the things that Moses as a character points out so profoundly is that you and I can experience real intimacy and contact and connection with God in our regular lives as well as in those special mountain-top experiences. Moses was able to commune with the Lord and hear from Him and be directed by Him whether he was on Sinai or down below. And that’s a good reminder for us. Connecting with God can happen in a special way at a conference or a retreat, and those are good things to attend and be a part of, but the Lord isn’t relegated to those places only. He is ready to be found in our day-to-day, ordinary lives as well and, in fact, the bulk of our time is to be spent serving the Lord and serving others, not serving ourselves.

Notice this too about verse 29 – it’s somewhat comical – “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone.” That must’ve been a funny scene when he got back to camp.

But it reminds us of Moses’ humility. The Bible calls him the humblest man on the face of the earth. He didn’t stop to check his reflection. He wasn’t a self-involved person. He wasn’t obsessed with his look or his presentation. He had made it to a point in his walk with the Lord where he wasn’t concerned with what other people thought. Instead he cared about obeying the Lord. As a servant of God, you see that he was quick to do what he had been asked to do. He would run. He would rise early. He would make haste. And, in this circumstance, he had a message that needed to be delivered and he didn’t stop by the tent first to deck himself out.  Vanity, self-obsession, those are things that should decrease as we grow in the Lord.

Exodus 34.30 – So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

You find in the book of Exodus that the people in general were pretty skittish of the Lord. Earlier, when they first arrived at Mount Sinai, the Lord’s voice thunders out and their response was fear. So much so that they told Moses they didn’t want to talk to God directly. Here, they see Moses’ face glowing and it freaks them out. They scatter when he gets back to camp because they’re worried that this is somehow going to cause problems for them.

Now, granted, they had a very serious and intense relationship to God. I mean, He’s sending plagues and death angels down to kill people. But, He’s also been very clear that if you honored and obeyed Him, there was really nothing to be afraid of. He would save you from slavery and part seas for you and feed you and protect you. This reveals that their fear was rooted in the fact that they weren’t really surrendered to the Lord and were still keeping a relationship with Him at arms length. A guy shows up with a glowing face and the response is, “What’s THIS going to mean? When stuff like this happens, God usually seems to be none-too-happy with people who disobey Him, so I better clear out!” As if God is abusive or spiteful or uncaring toward these people that He’s done so much for.

As usual, we point out that we’re not Israel. But I admit that their reaction reminded me of ways that I get skittish around the Lord too. Usually it’s in the realm of prayer. I thinking about some situation and what how I’m going to pray about it, and then I think, “Uh oh, if I pray that, then God will probably do something BAD! He’ll probably send me to Sri Lanka or make me give up a bunch of money or kill one of my kids!” I’ve had those thoughts before. And, if I’m honest, it’s the same attitude that the Israelites consistently had in this period of their history. “Moses, YOU go hear from God, we’d rather not. We’re worried He’s going to do something bad to us. He’s going to take advantage of us or abuse us or jerk us around.” And it was a very sad thing. Because God had told these people back in chapter 18, “I want you to be My special people. I bore you on eagles’ wings to bring you to Myself so I could make you My special treasure.”

You know, we’re told to fear God as His children, who are beloved and accepted by our heavenly Father. We’re not to be afraid of God, as if He’s an abuser. That means we shouldn’t be afraid to hear God speak in our lives. If we’re afraid to hear God speak, it could be because we’ve got a schedule set up that we don’t want interrupted with His plans. And that’s not where we want to be. We want to be in God’s will, saying and doing and going in the way that He asks us to go.

Exodus 34.31 – Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.

So they had skedaddled away from Moses, then Moses called them back and, I like this, it says he “talked with them.” This is a pretty supernatural situation, with the glowing face and everything, but Moses shared with them very naturally. And it says he talked with them. I’m sure they had questions that needed answering and Moses was able to address each one. Remember, he had been up top getting this new system from the Lord for 40 days, having already spent 40 days talking with the Lord about it before the Golden Calf incident. So, Moses was very well-versed in what God had said. And he talked with the rulers of the people.

Devotionally speaking, it’s a good model of personal evangelism. Like Moses, we have a message from God. Like Moses, we have a place and people where God has sent us to. Like Moses, we learn and absorb the Word so that we can talk with people about it, answering questions and explaining what the Lord means. Peter says in his epistle that’s exactly what we’re to do and that we should do it in meekness.

The Gospel goes out in a lot of different ways, but in the end there is no substitute for personal evangelism. And we’re the people with the message who have been sent to share with the unbelievers around us. Tonight, we should each pray for an opportunity to talk with someone soon about the Lord and what He has said.

Exodus 34.32 – Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

Moses gave all that the Lord had spoken. We live in a time and a culture where lots of words and ideas and sections of God’s word are being edited out because of their content. Not just by the world, but by the Church as well. Christians and churches and whole denominations are jettisoning many of the plain teachings of the Bible in favor of what’s acceptable in the secular culture.

Now, imagine Moses, setting out this new system that God was establishing. There were a lot of things that weren’t comfortable or normal compared to what they had been exposed to for the last 400 years in Egypt. Much to the contrary, the Israelites were being asked by God to live in a way that was in complete contradiction what the culture around them had been all about. On top of that, the people had already demonstrated that they weren’t really on board with even the first of the 10 commandments. And now, Moses has to come down the hill with all these rule and regulations and changes and capital offenses. “By the way, if you work on the Sabbath, you die. You need to show love to your enemies. You have to give your first and your best to God every single year. You’ve got a new calendar and a specific yearly schedule. You need to change your understanding about possessions and the rights of women and servants and debts.” These are not subtle things. They’re not crowdpleasers. But Moses didn’t shy away from any of it. He gave it all. And it says that he gave them as commandments. It was very clear and very definite that this is what God wants.

We need to be careful to not shy away from what God has said. We know God is loving and gracious and abounding in mercy, and along with that, He also has very definite requirements and commands that He expects us to follow. And the Lord doesn’t need us to be His PR out in the world. I think this is where a lot of Christians or churches or movements may get into trouble, because they decide they need to spin or adapt or edit or massage what God has said so that He doesn’t seem demanding to people, because, after all, we want people to know how good God is. But the fact that the Lord has boundaries and laws and expectations of mankind doesn’t make Him less good. His truth and His system is part of His goodness. Our job is to deliver the message, not adjust the message.

Here’s an example that I’ve heard in real life. The woman caught in adultery in John 8. I’ve heard Christians use that passage as a proof text to defend the fact that they are doing something that is in plain opposition to the commands of God in His word. Their sin is pointed out and then they say, “Oh but Jesus said ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,’ and, ‘Neither do I condemn you.’” And they stop there and try to use that portion of Jesus’ words to say “You can’t judge what I’m doing or tell me that my activity or behavior is wrong.” But the problem is: They’re editing! They’re massaging. Jesus did say that, which is one reason why we don’t stone people for things that they could be stoned for in a previous dispensation. But you can’t stop at “Neither do I condemn you.” If you say you want to hear Jesus speak, you have to let Him speak. And after He said that to the woman, He said, “Go and sin no more!” He, in a very gracious and loving way, identified what she was doing as sin. And He said, “Ok, now stop doing that! I expect you to not commit adultery anymore!” That portion shouldn’t be edited out. And yet, we find God’s word being altered and adjusted, sometimes even by Christians, in order to strip out God’s requirements and boundaries.

Our commission is to deliver the message as it was given to us. And the Lord gives His message clearly. There are difficult areas of the Bible to be sure. The Bible is a book that needs to be studied, but it can be understood, because the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures instructs us on what they mean if we’re willing to submit to it and ask the Lord to give us wisdom. So, as we share the message with others, our job is not to change it, or massage it or make it culturally palatable, but to say what God has said with the same love and the grace that God shows us, so that the people the Lord has us ministering to can know what He expects of them and how to be in right relationship with Him.

Exodus 34.33 – And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

We’re told why Moses did this in Second Corinthians chapter 3. There it says:

2 Corinthians 3.13 – unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.

So, as is explained here in a moment, Moses would speak to God, which would charge up his face, and then over time the glow would fade away. Moses covered his face so that the people wouldn’t see the radiance fading.

I think we can understand the reasoning of this decision by remembering the context of what was going on in the camp. Remember – in wake of the Golden Calf, the Lord had said, “I can’t travel in your midst anymore. I’m going outside the camp.” And, to Moses, that was really bad news. He pleaded with the Lord to change His mind. So, I think he covered up so that people didn’t get the impression that God was abandoning them. He wasn’t, but someone might have come to that conclusion. “Moses’ face is fading? Ok then God’s power is leaving. We’re alone out here!” That wasn’t the case. God was with them, He wasn’t going to leave them, but they still needed to regularly interact with Him. Being a Christian isn’t a one-and-done arrangement. We need daily communion with the Lord and His regular ministry in our lives in order to experience growth and be continually conformed from glory to glory into the image of Christ.

Exodus 34.34 – But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded.

When Moses stood before the Lord he was unveiled. There was no hiding, no pretense, no veneer that he tried to put up. He was exposed before God. In our earthly relationships we have all kinds of different levels of intimacy and familiarity. We sometimes say of specific friendships, “I can be my real self with them.” That’s a natural thing. Ironically, we’re prone to pretense in our spiritual lives. The Lord is the One Person who knows more about us than we know ourselves. Every thought. Every motive. Every word. But, sometimes, like Adam and Eve after the fall, we try to hide from God.

The Book of Hebrews says that nothing in creation is hidden from God but all is laid bare. And, looking at the examples of Scripture, we find that one of the best things we can do spiritually speaking is unveil ourselves before God and invite Him to search us and examine us and adjust us. Not pretending, not kicking against the Master, but receiving from Him what He wants to say and what He wants to do. Guys like Moses and David and Daniel and the Prophets did that and it was effective not only in their ministry, but in transforming them to be uncommonly Godly people, experiencing profound intimacy with the Lord.

Exodus 34.35 – And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.

If this was happening to a preacher today, the tendency, I think, would be to highlight the face-light. It would be on posters and videos and animated GIFs on your Facebook wall. But here we see that Moses intentionally covered up. The glow of his face was simply a byproduct of His encounters with God. It was what God had said that was forefront and the focus. The spectacle, the emotional wasn’t the crucial thing. It was the voice of God speaking His desires and His directions to His people that was significant.

And what that reminds us is that an emotional experience isn’t going to change a person’s life. It’s the power of God’s word that will change a person’s life. Emotional experiences aren’t bad, but they’re not what we should be chasing after. We should be chasing after the Word of the Lord, Him speaking to us from the Scriptures and by His Spirit. And we can have that kind of communion and intimacy with God, even in our ordinary lives. Moses had a very unique calling, but God didn’t only want intimacy with him. All the people were invited to hear from the Lord and seek Him and go to the tent to worship. It was Moses and Joshua who took the Lord up on that access, rather than keep Him at arms length.

As we commune with God and lay our hearts bare before Him, He will meet us. And from that communion we will find God impacting our lives in ways we might not even realize. The Lord shining His radiance in certain ways that, like Moses, we’re not even aware of, but others can notice as we obey God and trust Him and walk with Him. It’s that kind of openness and obedience and nearness to the Lord that will make us uncommonly Godly people, who the Lord can use in profound ways as He fills us and transforms us, His face shining upon us and we shining as lights in a dark world.