And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD. Sermons I. THE PHENOMENON ITSELF. The skin of Moses' face shone. As to the precise manner of this shining, it is of course vain to speculate; but we may be tolerably certain it was not anything in the way of a mere reflection from a mirror. It must surely have been the shining out for a little while of some glorious gift which had entered, if one may say so, into the bodily constitution of Moses. There may be some connection of this glory with the miraculous sustaining of his life without the eating of bread, or the drinking of water. Thus we are led to consider what wondrous capabilities there may be in matter, capabilities beyond our present knowledge to conceive. Even with unorganised matter, man himself has been able to do much. And the God of the physical universe has shown us how many wonders, beauties, and enjoyments rise out of matter under the power of vital action. Think of all that is exquisite in form, colour, and fragrance in plant-life. Think of the refinement which distinguishes the face of a cultivated man from that of some embruted savage. Think of that best of all charms visible in the face of one who is truly good. Then think, on the other side, of the degradations of matter. Think of the physical results of sottishness and sensuality. Think of the putrescence and corruption which seem to dominate a body when its principle of life has passed away. We shall then feel how, beyond anything we can at present conceive, there may be on the one hand an exaltation of matter, and on the other a degradation of it. II. THE UNCONSCIOUSNESS OF MOSES. He wist not that the skin of his face shone in this way. Of some change within him during the time when he was with God in the mount, he was doubtless conscious. He may have felt himself getting a clearer view of Jehovah's purposes, and a heartier fellow-feeling with respect to them. He may have felt himself conscious of a remarkable approach to inward holiness and purity; but of this outward and visible expression of it he knew nothing at all. That which was intolerable to his deeply-polluted brethren, so much alienated in heart from God, was utterly unperceived by him. Thus effectually separated from his brethren, the separation came from no pretension of his own, but from an inevitable confession made by those who once and again tried to repudiate him. He who is filled with the spirit of God becomes more glorious than he can imagine. And from those who live near to God, we may be sure there goes out an influence, which, though they themselves be utterly unconscious of it, is yet most mighty in its effect on others. As Moses came down from the mountain, he would be anxiously thinking how he could convey to the people some sense of that which he himself had been privileged to see. He may have despaired of putting into words the impression made on his mind; but now behold God has taken the matter into his own hands. When we take care to keep right Godwards, God will take care that we are kept right and powerful manwards. Our greatest impression upon men is to be made, not by that which we are labouring to achieve, but by that which we achieve unconsciously, when we become as much as possible mere instruments of the wisdom and power coming from above. III. THE CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE. It is not made clear as to whether the people were unable to gaze upon the splendour of Moses' face through the excess of light which radiated thence, or whether they were filled with superstitious terror because one who hitherto had looked but as themselves had become so changed in appearance. Probably the latter way of accounting for their conduct comes nearest to the truth. They were afraid of Moses, much as the disciples were of Jesus when they saw him walking on the lake and thought it was an apparition. Hence we have another instance of how men, whom God made to be so near to him, yet through their alienation from him, and constant immersion in earthly concerns, start back when there is some overwhelming manifestation of the unearthly and the divine. Presence of mind is lost just when presence of mind would be most helpful. Moses put on the veil in necessary toleration of human weakness; but we should always read of such necessities with a feeling of humiliation. In only too many things these ungodly Israelites are our representatives. God, who is our benefactor, cannot reveal himself in all his glory, because of our weakness. When God honoured and enriched the mediator Moses by putting a divine splendour into his countenance, as he came down among men with the laws of a holy and a happy life, this very splendour became a cause of abject terror rather than of confidence and gladness. Yet when the final Mediator came, full of grace and truth, men rushed to the other extreme. They could see no divinity and authority, and in their contempt and presumption, put the Mediator to death. It is very difficult for men to make a right estimate of the outward shows of things. - Y.
The skin of his face shone. This was the transfiguration of Moses. Let us consider the narrative as a spiritual parable, and try to read in it some of the conditions and privileges of exalted communion with God. Communion with God is the highest prerogative of spiritual beings. It is the instinctive craving of human souls; it is the supreme privilege and joy of the religious life; it is the inspiration and strength of all great service. God redeems us and saves us by drawing us to Himself. By mysterious voices He solicits us; by irrepressible instincts He impels us; by subtle affinities He holds us; by ineffable satisfactions He makes us feel His nearness and fills us with rest and joy.I. WE ARE ADMITTED TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD ONLY THROUGH PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE. Moses builds an altar under the hill, offers sacrifices upon it, and sprinkles the blood thereof before he ascends the holy mount to commune with God. We must seek fellowship with God through the one propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Not only is the sacrifice of Christ the medium through which the forgiving love of God becomes possible; it is the supreme expression of it. II. WE ARE QUALIFIED FOR OUR HIGHEST INTERCOURSE WITH GOD BY THE SPIRITUAL GRACE OF OUR OWN SOULS; Moses was qualified for this revelation of the supreme glory of God by his peculiar magnanimity and self-sacrifice. When God admits us to intercourse with Himself, what we see will depend upon our capability of seeing. Only the pure in heart can see God. III. WE ARE ADMITTED TO VISIONS OF THE HIGHER GLORY OF GOD ONLY WHEN WE SEEK THEM FOR THE USES OF PRACTICAL RELIGIOUS DUTY. If selfishness be a disqualification, so is mere sentiment. A man who seeks God for his own religious gratification merely may see God, but he will not see God's supreme glory. Our chief reason for desiring to know God must be that we may glorify Him in serving others. IV. THE MOST SPIRITUAL VISIONS OF GOD, THE CLOSEST COMMUNION WITH GOD, ARE TO BE REALIZED ONLY WHEN WE SEEK HIM ALONE. In our greatest emotions we seek solitude instinctively. Human presence is intolerable to the intensest moods of the soul. No man can be eminent either in holiness or service who does not often ascend to the mountain-top, that he may be alone with God and behold His glory. V. THE SUPREME REVELATION OF GOD TO WHICH WE ATTAIN THROUGH SUCH FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM IS THE REVELATION OF HIS GRACE AND LOVE. When a man sees this, the glory of God has passed before him. VI. THE REVELATION OF GOD'S GLORIOUS GOODNESS TRANSFIGURES THE MAN WHO BEHOLDS IT. (H. Allon, D. D.) I. THERE ARE MANY UNCONSCIOUS BELIEVERS AND WORKERS IN THE WORLD STILL, WHO MAY GATHER HELPFUL THOUGHTS FROM THIS FACT CONCERNING MOSES. Much time and ability has been devoted to discussing the question of "Christian assurance." To say that if we do not feel that we are saved, we are not saved, is to lose sight of what salvation really means. It is nowhere stated in Scripture that an assurance of that salvation which is a gradual matter, a day-by-day struggle and deliverance, is either universal or necessary. God may think it best that some of us should not have assurance, as on that great day He kept Moses unconscious that the skin of his face shone. II. Perhaps some of us may feel that THERE WERE MOMENTS OF SUCH BRIGHT AND HOPEFUL EXPERIENCE ONCE, BUT THEY ARE PAST NOW, and that seems to us the saddest thought of all. Still we need not despair. We should go back as Moses did to the mount where God had spoken to him, to the source of the old enthusiasm and the former faith. If we go back and stand face to face with the crucified Christ, our life will glow anew with the radiance of His love, even though we ourselves are unconscious of it. III. THIS HOLDS GOOD ALSO REGARDING OUR WORK FOR GOD. Many a splendid silent work is done on earth, and the doer is perhaps unconscious of it, and may remain unconscious till the great day of the Lord shall reveal it. (T. T. Shore, M. A.) Homilist. 1. Man has an instinct for glory.2. Man has sadly perverted this instinct. 3. The Bible rightly directs it. I. THE TRUE GLORY OF MAN INVOLVES FELLOWSHIP WITH THE ETERNAL. The human character is formed on the principle of imitation. To get a perfect character implies — 1. The existence of a perfect model. 2. The love of a perfect model. 3. The knowledge of a perfect model. II. THE TRUE GLORY OF MAN HAS AN EXTERNAL MANIFESTATION. 1. True glory will show itself-in the "face" of our person. 2. Language. 3. Life. III. TRUE GLORY IS NEVER SELF-CONSCIOUS. "Moses wist not." There are several things that necessitate self-obliviousness in a truly great soul. 1. His standard of judgment. 2. His circle of life. He who stands before God feels his nothingness. 3. His spirit of life. Love is a passion that drowns the lover in the loved. "I live, yet not!." IV. TRUE GLORY WILL COMMAND THE REVERENCE OF SOCIETY. 1. The law of conscience will ensure universal respect for it. 2. The law of guilt will ensure trembling homage for it. (Homilist.) I. THE SHINING FACE THE RESULT OF HIS LONG AND CLOSE COMMUNION WITH GOD. The heavenly light within will shine out.II. THE SHINING FACE WAS BEHELD BY THE PEOPLE, The good man's walk and conversation are known of all. III. THE SHINING FACE AWED ALL WHO BEHELD IT. The consciousness of sin makes the wicked fear pious friends, whose presence rebukes them. IV. MOSES KNEW NOT THAT HIS FACE SHONE. The more grace we have the less self-consciousness. The more good others see in us, the less do we see ourselves. Application: 1. If you cannot do anything else for God, you can exhibit a shining face. 2. Do not be discouraged because you are not conscious of any good influence you exert. (J. L. Elderdice.) I. THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.1. It is mediatory. 2. It is individual. 3. It is protracted. 4. It is self-denying. II. THE IRRADIATING POWER OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. 1. Its manifestation. 2. Its unconsciousness. 3. Its effect. (1) (2) (T. Baron.) I. THE NATURE OF THIS BEAUTY, — it is that which shines. 1. Its self-manifestation may be often a passive thing. It was Moses' face that was the index of his mood at the time, — not his tongue nor his hands. So with the child of God; the beauty that bathes him is matter that exists independent of any definite words spoken, or any outward deeds done. The beauty of the believer is the beauty of joy; and joy does not always need speech to express itself, or the word to others, "I am glad." 2. Then, too, we learn that spiritual beauty is often an unwitnessed thing. It is by no means conditioned by the position a man occupies, or the numbers that are there to see. For the glory on Moses' face was not brought there just that others might watch and, admire. His features would have glowed all the same, had there been no one to watch and to marvel in all the plain; and heaven's own light would have glanced and flickered from his face among the bare dead sands and unconscious stones where he trod, making the solitude around him luminous. So again with the child of God. His shining does not need the stimulus of spectators. II. THE SECRET OF THIS BEAUTY. Communion with God, — that is the source it must spring from, lending sanctity to the character, and beauty to the very face. To see God's face is to, shine; to keep seeing it is to keep shining. It is thus that the marvel of the story is repeated, and God's praying saints come forth from this privacy with their faces aglow; and the dying grow luminous on their beds, till the watchers wonder. Why, where is there brightness like the brightness of heaven? They are all lustrous there! Uncover yourselves therefore to the light; keep yourselves up where the light is shining. The struggle will be to do that, and will be over when you have done it. So and so only will you shine yourselves. The manner of this shining is reflection. and the secret of it is communion with God. III. THE CHARACTERISTIC BY WHICH IT IS MARKED. That characteristic is unconsciousness. "Moses," we are told, "wist not that his face shone." It is always most real when it radiates unawares. Is it not the case that many an act which would otherwise have affected us favourably, attracted our admiration, won our esteem, is shorn of its grace and becomes worthless or worse for us, just because vitiated by self-consciousness? For instance, I may be glad to receive a kindness; but if the man who professes to show it me betrays so plainly that he thinks it a kindness, and imposes a debt on myself while he does it, then I refuse to have the favour at his hands, or I grudge the necessity that compels me. Or I may feel that I stand in need of forgiveness; but if the brother at whose door I am suing for it makes it clear, while he gives me his hand, that he counts his act a magnanimous one, his forgiveness is emptied of its grace. Why, there are books one could point to, as well as people, in whose case the principle holds true. In language and in sentiment they are otherwise unexceptional. They treat of moral and religious truth with a freshness of view and a beauty of utterance which in themselves would arrest and stimulate. But you cannot help feeling throughout them the presence of an evil underflavour the while — the taint of the writer's self-consciousness in it all, that maims and defiles his message — the traces of a spiritual ostentation through the whole, that makes you recognize while you read that the question is being asked you — not, "What think ye of the truth merely?" but, "What think ye of me who am saying it?" Nor is this unconsciousness without its directer proofs. Two at least will invariably be found with it — appreciation of others, depreciation of self. Nor is the reason of all this far to seek. This unconsciousness of grace that we speak of, issuing not only in appreciation of others, but in depreciation of self, may be accounted for by converse with a high ideal. For the greater an artist's success, the greater his sense of imperfection. The more that he strives to attain, the further will his standard recede from him, the more unsatisfactory will his attainments appear in the light of it. What, then, must the ease be when the standard is an infinite one, and the mark we reach forth to is the perfection of a God! (W. A. Gray.) I. Let us note, in the first place, THAT THIS QUALITY OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS IS INVARIABLY CONNECTED WITH A PECULIAR ANTECEDENT HISTORY. The facts stated regarding Moses and Samson do not stand out in isolation in their biographies. They are in immediate relation to the preceding incidents in their careers. The new man can form good habits, just as the old man formed evil ones, and in proportion as these habits gain strength, the consciousness of effort after the things which they lead us to do begins to diminish in us. Hence in the details of daily life the character of the believer, as he grows in holiness, shines with a radiance of which he is largely unaware. Now this truth has another side, for it comes in also with fearfully dangerous influence in the continued commission of sin. The more one practises iniquity, the greater facility he acquires in committing it, the stronger becomes the tendency to indulge in it, and the weaker ever is his sense of its enormity. In a manufacturing town in England, some years ago, it became necessary to do some repairs at the top of one of the tallest smoke-stacks in the principal factory, and an expert was engaged for the purpose. He flew his kite over it, and fixed his tackle so that he could hoist himself up. But when he reached the summit, through some accident, the whole tackling fell, and there he stood without any means of coming down again. Every plan was tried to get a rope to him without success. A great crowd collected at the base of the chimney, and among these was the wife of the unfortunate man. A happy thought struck her, in her earnestness for her husband's safety. She knew that he wore at the moment stockings which her own hands had just knitted. So, at her suggestion, they called him to undo the yarn of which they were composed, and by and by a tiny thread came fluttering down on the breeze. When it reached the earth, they tied it to a piece of twine, which he drew up with the yarn. To the twine again they tied a thicker string, and then to that a cord, and to that again a cable, and so he was saved. That was a work of deliverance. But there is a similar gradation in the cord of evil habit by which a sinner is bound. It is first a brittle yarn, then a tiny twine, with which a child might play. II. But I advance another step in the prosecution of my theme, and remark, in the second place, THAT THIS QUALITY OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS MARKS THE CULMINATION OF CHARACTER EITHER IN GOOD OR EVIL. The highest greatness is that which is unconscious of itself. The very forthputting of an effort to be great in any direction indicates that we lack that greatness. So long as we are conscious of an effort to be something, we are not fully that something, therefore we ought to redouble our exertions. When a venerable minister was called upon once unexpectedly to preach, he delivered extempore a sermon of great power. It seemed to come perfectly natural to him. There was no appearance of effort; and one hearer, amazed at the character of the discourse, asked, "How long did it take you to make that sermon? "Forty years," was the reply. And there was deep philosophy in the answer, for had "the old man eloquent" not given these forty years to diligent study and laborious effort, he could not then have preached so easily. Now, in the same way, our conscious endeavours after the Christian life will, if faithfully prosecuted, lead up to a time when, in some emergency, we shall meet it with the most perfect ease, and be hardly aware of any exertion. Let this thought stimulate us to perseverance in our great Christian life-work of building character. The longer we labour the less arduous will our labour become, until by and by we shall lose the sense of labour in the joy and liberty of our happy experience. But note again at the other end of the scale that the deepest degradation is that which is unconscious of its dishonour. Hence, however degraded a man may be there is hope of his recovery if he only knows his condition. That is the handle by which yet, through the grace of God, you may raise him, and you will succeed in lifting the fallen from their defilement only by awakening in them that consciousness. Their fall has stunned them into insensibility, and the first thing you have to do with them is to restore them to consciousness. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) 1. The first remark that I offer to your attention is, that on ascending the mountain to hold intercourse with God, Moses observed the rites of the religious dispensation under which he lived. A devotional spirit must be cherished and cultivated; and it is promised, on the part of the Saviour, that what we ask in prayer, believing, that we shall receive. But in addition to this, God must lift the veil from His own throne. He must give utterance to the voice of mercy and love. He must display reasons to the humble waiting spirit, and must manifest Himself in some clear manner, before we can be made conscious of communion with Him. 2. Moses ascended the mountain alone. This opens to us another principle of religion. It is this — that in all respects it is personal. Our devotional exercises are of this nature. It is true, indeed, that we meet in public fellowship; but there is a sense in which the soul sits solitary and alone in the midst of a mighty multitude. Here I stand, and there you sit; but one character, one faith, one love, one hope, one joy. And our several emotions are all personal, and belong to ourselves. You know not my feelings; I know not yours. 3. As Moses drew a pattern from God on the mountain, so must we derive grace to fill it up from the same source. Now as far as we are employed in building the internal temple of Christianity, we must derive grace and strength from intercourse with God for the discharge of this great duty; and as Moses received the law from God, so we must receive grace and power to obey it from the same source. This remark is applicable both to our personal and public duties. II. The second general observation to be made RELATES TO THE NATURE OF THAT LIGHT, AND BEAUTY, AND GLORY, WHICH RESTED ON THE FACE OF MOSES. I should here remark, that there is a great mystery in this, but that it was intended to be symbolical of a better glory. That intercourse with God will make or cause His beauty to rest upon the soul. There may be no external glory, such as beamed on the face of Moses, but a spiritual glory beaming forth, instead, upon the mind. 1. There must be, for instance, rapturous joy. How can it be otherwise? The impulses of religion, when they exist in the mind, as they should do, by constant fellowship with the eternal Trinity, must be transporting and animating in the highest degree. 2. Intercourse with God must have the effect of expanding the capacity and enlarging the soul. 3. I may also add, that intercourse with God will produce, if not external or physical beauty, yet a beauty of character. Internal purity will be corroborated by outward conduct. III. The final remark which I offer for your attention, relates to THE VAIL WHICH MOSES PUT ON HIS FACE WHEN HE DESCENDED FROM THE MOUNTAIN TO HOLD FELLOWSHIP WITH THE PEOPLE. There is a mystery in this; but the mystery we shall not attempt to unravel. Allow me here to say generally, that religion in its beauty and glory is often in the present life veiled beneath circumstances which obscure its grandeur. (J. Dixon.) 1. That the effulgence of his face, was the result of his eighty days' fellowship with God. I have read somewhere that people who live together through long-wedded years at last grow like each other, not only in their ways of thinking, of looking at things — in their moods and habitudes of mind — but even in their cast of face and feature. Such power, it is said, has long and constant fellowship to make people variously constituted of like temper, and even appearance. I can understand it in the case of the moral and mental dispositions. The stronger nature makes the weaker surrender its own personality and qualities, and borrow from that by which it is swayed. It is, indeed, by the working of this mysterious law of spirit that the Christian believer is renewed into Christ. If, therefore, the face of the sage and seer shone with unwonted lustre, it must have been because of a corresponding purification of his moral nature. It is to this condition alone that a glimpse of the beatific vision and an insight into Divine things are given. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," and discern truth. 2. Did the translucency fade away, as the golden glory fades from the hill-tops when the sun has set; or did it last till the day of his death? Had he ever after kept his spirit up to the moral elevation to which it rose on Sinai's height, the splendour of his visage would have been subject to no eclipse or wane; it would have shone not only with an undiminishing, but with an ever-increasing light. 3. Though the face of Moses shone, he was quite unconscious that there was anything unusual about him; "he wist not that the skin of his face shone when he talked"; he had no knowledge of the marvellous external results which his eighty days' companionship with God had wrought in his appearance. There is a beautiful unconsciousness about the Christian. All the world is applauding and reverencing him; blessing him for the vision of excellence with which he refreshes it; acknowledging that his very existence fertilizes the field of life; but were you to overhear his own estimate of himself, you would find it other and different. Did you listen to his prayers, you would find them full of heart-breaking confessions of unworthiness. (J. Forfar.) 2. Since the people could not bear the shining of the light, it represented how fearful, condemnatory, and fatal the law was for a sinful people. (Otto von Gerlach, D. D.) (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) (Weekly Pulpit.) (T. G. Selby.) (Christian Age.) (G. Kirkham.) (R. McCheyne.) I. WHAT WAS THE GLORY ON MOSES' FACE? St. Paul gives us a remarkable answer to this question. He says, "They could not look steadfastly to the end of that which is abolished." "That which is abolished" is the law, and the end of the law is Christ; therefore the glory upon Moses' face was the Lord Jesus Christ. II. IT WAS NOT IN COMPASSION FOR THE WEAKNESS OF THE ISRAELITES THAT MOSES PUT A VAIL UPON HIS FACE. The jews had lost the power to see the end of that which is abolished, to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ reflected in the law. The vail was judicial, the consequence of sin; it was interposed between them and the beauty, the lustre, of the mighty glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. III. THERE ARE VAILED HEARTS AMONG US NOW; AND THE REASON OF THE VAIL IS SIN. Do you think that like those Israelites you have committed some sins under the mount? It will quite account for the vail, and the vail will be proportioned to that state of life. Every wilful disobedience of conscience, every going against a conviction, will thicken your vail. It will be God's retribution to you — the intellect dulled, the mind warped, the heart hardened, the Spirit hindered, by the sin. What is the remedy? "When it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." Then Christ is the remedy. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) 1. Teaches us a lesson of modesty and humility: we must be content to have our excellences obscured. 2. It teaches ministers to accommodate themselves to the capacities of the people, and to preach to them as they are able to bear it. 3. The vail signified the darkness of that dispensation in which there were only "shadows of good things to come." (A. Nevin, D. D.) (S. Robinson, D. D.) 1651 numbers, 1-2 God Proclaiming his Own Name A Jealous God The Knowledge that God Is, Combined with the Knowledge that He is to be Worshipped. Nature of the Renderings Elijah's Weakness, and Its Cube "That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us. " Moses --Making Haste The Christian's God Jehovah. The "I Am. " The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day. That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful. The Exercise of Mercy Optional with God. The True Tabernacle, and Its Glory of Grace and Peace Because of his Importunity The Mercy of God The Formation of the Old Testament Canon That Deep Things Ought not to be Preached at all to Weak Souls. The Lord of Glory. The Development of the Earlier Old Testament Laws Moses the Type of Christ. Covenant Duties. |
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