Exodus 34:29

The Bible says in Exodus 34:29-31, “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.” The fact that Moses’ face did shine after he spent time with God tells us something very important about the Christian life in this world. Once we believe in Jesus, Jesus wants us to be witnesses for Him in this world. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

In this passage in Matthew Jesus called believers the light of the world. In order to understand how we become a “light,” there are some other truths that we need to know. The Bible says in John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The Bible also says about Jesus in John 1:9, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The real Light is Jesus. The best that we can do is what Moses did: spend time with Jesus, and then His light will reflect from us. But it is His light, not ours. Spend less time with Jesus and less time in His Word, and the light will begin to dim.

The Bible says in Exodus 34:32-35, “And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.” Notice that Exodus 34:32 says that Moses, “gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.” And it also says in Exodus 34:34, “But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.” When someone is called of God to preach the Gospel, there are two very important truths to remember that these verses remind us of. The first truth is that a preacher must get his messages from God.

Moses gave “all that the Lord had spoken.” That is one reason that expository messages are so good at helping to follow this principle. If you go through a passage verse-by-verse, it can really help to dig into the Word of God and deliver the teachings that come from God. Some people give out too much of their own words and too many of their own ideas. This can become sermons that are made up of man’s wisdom and a certain kind of Christian humanism. We are told to preach “the Word,” not our own ideas. Paul wrote in Second Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” That is what God told Moses to do also.

Here is one of the problems that can arise in churches and which causes the messages to be weak and to not have the power of God behind them: a new pastor arrives at an established church. Often when a new pastor accepts a church position, they have to deal with controlling church members who consider themselves to be the boss of that pastor because they pay the bills and because they hired the pastor. The church members may not have even sought God’s will in choosing the pastor that they selected, but be that as it may, the dynamic of the situation is that the pastor knows and the people know that the pastor is beholding to them. What can easily happen as a result of this is that the pastor ends up preaching messages that the people want to hear, instead of messages that God wants him to give. Once that happens, you end up with the situation as described in Second Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift, and every Christian has a calling from God. You cannot do whatever you want in the service of God. You must do what Jesus wants you to do. It says in Second Peter 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” It also says in Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” It says about Jesus in Ephesians 4:8, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” And it says in First Corinthians 12:4, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” Do you know what your gift is? Are you using your gift to serve the Lord? Some Christians make a big mistake by trying to do something for which they are not gifted. A good example of that is when someone wants to be a teacher of the Word, but that is not their gift. Maybe they have the gift of administration or the gift of helps, but they are trying to do something for which they are not gifted.

Another example of a misuse of spiritual gifts happens when someone attempts to use their gift, but they use it incorrectly. One example of this is when someone has an ability to sing, but they do not sing spiritual songs with sound doctrine. Instead of becoming someone who ministers the Gospel, they make the mistake of being an entertainer. When preachers or teachers do not follow Moses’ example, they fail to use their gift properly. Because whenever they do not get their message from God, like Moses did; then they will speak too much their own words of wisdom instead of speaking forth the Word of God.

One more time the children of Israel are told the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day. They had to keep the Sabbath Day in order to obey the Law and keep their side of the agreement of the Covenant of the Law, what we call also the Old Testament. The Bible says in Exodus 35:1-3, “And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.”

The last couple of chapters of Exodus keep coming back to the concept of the Sabbath Day. If the Holy Spirit keeps re-emphasizing something, then we want to be sure we meditate again on that topic. That is one of the values and benefits of going through a book of the Bible verse by verse: you end up getting the emphasis that the Holy Spirit wanted to give by mentioning a particular subject with the same frequency that God wants it to be mentioned. Some preachers have their own favorite topics to preach on and they sometimes mention them much too often. It is much better to mention something as often as God does. How often one speaks about a particular topic is a good indicator of if that preacher is led by his own will or by the Spirit of God.

The Sabbath Day was emphasized in the Old Testament law of Moses because it was the great outward evidence that someone was attempting to keep the law and live under the law. It says in the New Testament in Galatians 5:18, “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” It also says in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” One of the problems with the Sabbath Day as it was observed under the law was the fact that “death” was the punishment for not properly keeping it. That is why the Pharisees wanted Jesus put to death: they said that He was breaking the Sabbath Day and therefore deserved to die. But since Jesus is the only One who perfectly kept the law, it was the Pharisees who were at fault. The Pharisees were at fault because they tried to make themselves lords of the Sabbath, and only Jesus is “Lord of the Sabbath.” When religious leaders tried to dictate the Sabbath restrictions to others, they made serious mistakes. It is never wrong to do right. If something is good to do on one day of the week, then it is good to do on the Sabbath also. Jesus did the same things on the Sabbath Day as He did on other days, and He lived under the law. When Jesus was accused of doing what He should not on the Sabbath Day, Jesus asked, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?”

God established the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament in order to provide a benefit to man, not a restriction. Jesus said to those who were under the law: “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” It is good to have a time of rest after a number of days of very hard work. That was the physical benefit that the Sabbath Day provided. But more importantly, the Sabbath Day symbolized a very important spiritual benefit. The Sabbath Day symbolized spiritual rest. In the fourth of the Ten Commandments God said to the children of Israel, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” “To remember” refers to what you think about and what you know. There is something to know about the Sabbath Day that is very important to know: its spiritual significance. The first Sabbath Day took place in the beginning. God created for six days, and then He rested from His work. He ceased working and entered into rest. When a person ceases from his or her own works and turns to Christ to receive imputed righteousness by faith alone, that person has ceased from their works and rested in Christ for salvation. Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is one thing to have peace with God in regards to salvation, but it is another to experience the peace of God through the daily afflictions and challenges. That is why it says in Hebrews 4:1, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” A believer must make a real effort inside their heart and inside their soul in order to avoid reacting according to their human nature to their difficulties. It takes a real effort to look to Jesus and to trust in Him. That is why it says in Hebrews 4:11, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Jesus is our rest: Jesus is our Sabbath.

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