THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF THE SPIRIT || EXODUS 34:29-35
THE BRIGHT RADIANCE OF GOD’S HOLINESS
God’s radiant, holy, glory is far more than we can handle as frail, imperfect humans.
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is
; in him there is no darkness at all.” —1 John 1:5 (NLT)
“The Son radiates God’s own
and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” —Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)
MOSES SPENT TIME ALONE WITH GOD
Even though God is this holy and powerful, God made a way for Moses to literally meet with Him on the mountain, one on one. God longs for us to regularly set aside time alone with Him to pour out our hearts to Him in prayer and worship and to listen to God speak to us through the Bible.
“But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often
to the wilderness for prayer.” —Luke 5:15-16 (NLT)
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the
of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” —Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT)
MOSES RADIATED GOD’S GLORY
Moses couldn’t meet with God without being changed. We cannot produce the light of God’s glory ourselves, but we can reflect God’s glory with our lives.
“The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the
is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are into his glorious image.” —2 Corinthians 3:7-18 (NLT)