“Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with them, he would remove the veil until he came out and when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, the skin of Moses face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went into speak with him.”
– Exodus 34:34–35
What a picture we see in Exodus 34:34–35. Moses meeting with God and then when he comes out he delivers the commands of God and his face is shining. A reflection of the glory of God. What a powerful picture.
Now it’s interesting when we get to the New Testament, you go and you look at 2 Corinthians 3 and Paul talks about this picture in the Old Testament. But then he talks about how we through Christ come before God and we see and know God in even greater ways and we behold the Glory of God. You get into 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we behold his glory in the face of Jesus. The whole picture is the more we are with God, the more we will reflect God. The more we behold Jesus. The glory of God in the face of Jesus, the more our lives will look like Jesus.
Exodus 34:34–35 Reminds Us to Focus On Christ
We become like what we behold. The more we focus on Christ, the more He will be reflected in our lives.
So really it’s a picture of sanctification or the process of growing to become more and more and more like Jesus. The whole principal is pretty clear. You become like what you behold. So Moses would go in the presence of God, be with God and his face would shine, like radiate because he was beholding the glory of God. The more we behold Jesus, the more we look to Jesus and his word, the more we spend time with him in prayer, the more our lives will look like him. Not necessarily like a physical shining of our face, but the more our countenance, our character, our words, our thoughts, our desires, our lives, our marriages, our relationships, our work, our everything we do, the more we spend time with Jesus, focus on Jesus in his word, worship Jesus, the more Jesus will be reflected in all these ways.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray For Help
Oh God may it be so we pray. We want to reflect your glory in Jesus, in every facet of our lives. Jesus we want to reflect you in our thoughts and our desires to love like you love. To desire what you desire. To think like you think. Our words to speak like you speak and our actions to make decisions according to your will. In our relationships to love like you love. God all throughout today, tomorrow, in our work place. Lord help us to radiate you. Help us to radiate you. Help us to live like you would live. Like in and through us God, may it be so. In our homes. Help us to love our spouses like you love our spouses. Help us to radiate you in our homes with our children and our parents and with friends around us. In our neighborhood.
God everywhere we go, help us to radiate you. Help us to be salt and light in the world. They may see us and glorify you. Oh God please may it be so. We pray for this reality to be a reality in us. We pray that your glory shining would be a reality in our lives more and more and more. Every day may it be so more today than it was yesterday. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
