MOSES FACE SHONE When Moses came down from mount Sinai behold, the skin of his face shone (Ex. 34: 29,30)

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1 MOSES FACE SHONE When Moses came down from mount Sinai behold, the skin of his face shone (Ex. 34: 29,30) Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power, Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? You remember when first you came to the Lord Jesus Christ and for days and weeks afterwards you were so full of the experience that it showed on your face. People knew a change had taken place. They knew there was something different about you. I want us to consider this evening the circumstances surrounding a man whose face shone after a meeting with God. I hear people say that the secret of true Christianity is to be happy all the time, and to have a smile on your face regardless of any circumstances. No, I don t believe that is a true representation of the Christian faith because there were times when Jesus was sad, and when His heart was breaking. For example, he wept at the death of one of his close friends in Bethany. No, to be a Christian is to have another goal, another aspiration; as Paul points out, Phil. 3: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. If we are seeking after revival, - both personal and corporate, - a deeper understanding and knowledge of God ought to be our goal. Let s take a look at Moses, - taken from his parents at an early age, brought up in the palace of a king, hunted as a murderer, a shepherd on the desert hills, a representative and leader of God s people in times of their hardness and disobedience. How did he cope with the strains and tensions that so often surrounded him? HE TOOK TIME TO BE ALONE WITH GOD Take a look at this man to see how seriously he entered into taking time alone with God. Ex. 24: 15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. 25:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses,

2 D.G. 2 And then, shortly afterwards, he went up the mountain again, again, to be alone with God, Ex. 34: 4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And what were these times like when Moses took time to be alone with God? Ex. 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Forty days and forty nights, and then he came down to the camp to witness the Israelites idolatry, and shortly afterwards again he goes before God for another forty days and forty nights! Think of how he must have looked after such a long time of not eating properly! And yet God so sustained Moses that his long periods of fasting caused him no physical harm. But, think of how he would have looked after two periods of fasting; you wouldn t have expected his face to be shining! Yet, when he stood before his people he had to cover his face, - such was its brightness after taking time to be alone with God. How did his face come to shine? It was a reflection of the Glory he had seen when he was with God in the quiet place. It was an answer to his prayer back in Ex. 33:18 he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. To a certain degree, - but not completely, - Moses saw the glory of God; it wasn t until about 1400 years later that the Gospel writer could record, Jn. 1: 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. The Glory of God is to be seen in the face of Christ and surely it was an Old Testament transfiguration that Moses was privileged to experience on Mount Sinai. The prayer, as in Ps. 31:16, was simple, Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Moses face shone because of being alone in absolute fellowship with God. His conversation with God was intense and so personal.

3 D.G. 3 The noise of the hundreds of thousands of Israelites was closed out, - all the noise of the animals. It didn t matter whether it was night or day, - Moses attention was taken up completely with spending time alone with God. Oh, I m sure there would have been so many other things he could have been doing, - all of them could have been considered as legitimate, - but he was oblivious to all except the presence of God. How long are we willing to spend alone with God? to read His Word and meditate upon it before Him? How long does it take? Ten minutes, twenty, maybe even ½ an hour at the weekend. Our minutes need to change to hours! Wait, God, Moses could have said, I ll be back up again very shortly, when I ve tended to something I just remembered I forgot to do. Wait, God, I can t spare the time to stay long with you, maybe tomorrow. Moses spent forty days and forty nights alone with God on the mountain; and then he spent another forty days and forty nights alone with God on the mountain. He spent it in prayer for his family, friends and his people, - he interceded for the people God had placed in his care. They relegated the holiness and sanctity of God and shaped it into a golden calf, - and yet Moses pleaded for them. Look at how he prayed, and the depth of his feelings for his people, Ex. 32: 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. All the attention wasn t on himself when he prayed,- he wanted to see the glory of the Name of God in evidence through God s people. He had a burden for these people before God, a burden that they saw he had for them, because he was faithful to God among his people. No matter what they did and what they said he loved them; when he saw them in their revelry worshipping the golden calf he pleaded with them, Ex. 32: 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me.

4 D.G. 4 This man who had spent forty days and forty nights alone with God on the mountain didn t lose sight of the fact he was a servant of God and a servant he was called to be. Yes, he took time to be alone with God. HE TOOK TIME TO BE ALONE WITH THE WORD OF GOD He was up the mountain for the purpose of meeting with God and receiving the Word of God for God s people. Notice the preparation in 34:1 he had to make, - and be very sure this wasn t a revised version of those first tablets of stones he had smashed earlier; this was the same version, and it was God s version, no changes had been made to the first edition (and we could draw some very important and significant lessons from that for some of today s modern translations!) He could have sat somewhere in the camp and he could have tried to remember some of the things God told him to write, - and he might have remembered them correctly, and on the hand, he might not have, and what God s people would have been ending up with was not God s Word at all. And another thing he could have done, he could have brought all the elders of Israel together and tried to work out how they thought God s Word should have been presented before the people, But he didn t; he went into the presence of God again, - the Author of the Word, - and for another forty days and forty nights he was alone with God and with the Word of God. I was saddened the other day to hear about an evangelical fellowship that sometimes neglects the reading and studying of God s Word so as to spend more time in worship. No, when you take time to be alone with God and with the Word of God it is your only guiding principle. Moses was given the Word of God for the edification and upbuilding of the people of God, and even far more than that, he was given the Word of God so that the people would live in a manner which would be glorifying and pleasing to the Name of God.

5 D.G. 5 These were a people called to be different to all the other nations; these people of Israel were to have nothing in common with those who worshipped idols; these were God s people, God s possession and responsible only to God. And, you see, nothing else mattered. The world thinks how we serve our God is old-fashioned and out-of-date, what does that matter?! Surely what matters is how we are obedient to Him as He lays it out in His Word. The people thought to be like the rest of the world you would need to get all the gold melted down and then it would be shaped into a calf. NO! said Moses, It says here in the tablets I m holding, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God. And the manna, you are not to gather it on the Sabbath day, for it says here, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God And, you see, these people had to live for the glory of God, and that was why it was necessary for Moses to take time to be alone with God and the Word of God. And it takes time to search the Scriptures in order to determine God s will for how He expects His people to live. HE TOOK TIME TO ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO SEEP INTO HIS CHARACTER Why was his face glowing? Because he took time to be alone with God. It wasn t a one-day-a-week experience; it wasn t just something that occupied a part of his life; God had everything of him there was to have. In the quiet place alone with God he was caused to see what the priorities of life really are. He could have justified himself and his busyness running after the children of Israel and trying to sort out their problems, - after all, was that not why he was called by God when he was a shepherd in the wilderness?

6 D.G. 6 No, he wasn t, he wasn t called to run about after the people; he was called by God for this purpose, Ex. 3: 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever He was called by God for the purpose of making known again amongst the people the name of God and Who He is. You see, when you spend time alone with God and before his Word it makes certain necessities that you must not avoid. If the Bible tells you to do something and it seeps into your character, the Bible convinces you that it is God s Word and God s Word is to be obeyed. If the Bible sets before you a doctrine, no matter how ugly and unattractive it is, it is God s Word, and God s Word is truth, and God s truth is to be abided by. I believe certain things not because I particularly believe it makes sense, but I believe them because the Bible has taken control of how I think. I m waiting some day for a cataclysmic event when there will be such a noise/thundering, the likes of which this world has never experienced, and Jesus Christ will come back to receive His Church unto Himself; now what sense does that make?! Week after week, we pray for Revival and God to save souls in the old-fashioned way, now what sense does that make?! But that is how God s Word teaches, and for you and me to be powerful for God we must spend time to allow the Word of God to seep into our characters, so that the Word of God becomes part of us. And do you notice, Moses didn t see the glory that was on his own face, - he was still enjoying the clear view he had of the holiness of God. He had never expected his face to shine because, you see, when he took time to be with God he thought nothing of himself; remember what John 3:30 says, He must increase, but I must decrease.

7 D.G. 7 Conclusion. Moses face shone. How this points forward to One Who is greater than Moses and in front of His three disciples every part of Him shone. Moses could veil his face when he approached the Israelites, but His Glory shone so brightly on that Mount of Transfiguration; the Bible says, Mk. 9:2,3; Mt. 17:2 he was transfigured before them. His face did shine as the sun, And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. John on the Isle of Patmos remembered, Rev. 14,16, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. When Paul was walking along that road he always included it in his testimony, Acts 22:6 as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. Jesus said about Himself, Jn. 9:5 I am the light of the world. The light of God shone through the face of His servant Moses; how much brighter in Glory when we shall look upon the Saviour for all eternity will the faces of His people shine! Surely this is what Revival is, when God so touches His people that His Glory shines through them. It is something to be worked at and pursued. It won t come to those who aren t looking for it or desiring after it. It will only come to us, as the people of God when, like Moses, we take time to be alone with God and the Word of God and we take time to allow the Word of God to seep through us.