Unveiled

There is a contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament but yet there is still a connection between them. In the reading of Exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 we see that most clearly.

Contrast:

In Exodus 34 Moses was going to Mount Sinai to have God remake the Ten Commandments. The first ones were smashed because of Moses’ anger of the Israelites sin.  When Moses was on Mount Sinai God descended in the cloud and stood with him there.  (Exodus 34:5) Moses stayed up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 34:28) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments his skin on his face shone because he had been talking to God. (Exodus 34:29) This is just another affirmation that Moses would be the one that God used and with whom he would talk to. When he came down with his face glowing the people of Israelites were afraid to come near him. (verse 30) But Moses called them to him so he could tell him all that he had heard from God. Once he had finished telling them he put a veil over his face. He would only remove the veil over his face when he would go in the presence of God and talk to him. When he came out from talking to God he would put the veil back on. (verse 34-35) He did this every time.

Now lets look at the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. Paul writes about the very thing we just talked about with Moses but in a different light. His interpretation of Exodus 34 is that Moses’s ministry was the ministry of death. (2 Corinthians 3:7-8) He says this because of the Israelites hard hearts or stubbornness to God Moses had to cover his face so they would not see God’s glory through Moses lest it hurt them. That was the old covenant of God. Paul talks about the difference between that old covenant with God and this new one he is experiencing. This new covenant he is experiencing of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Connection:

The dividing factor between the Old Testament or the New Testament (which is often referred to as the Old and New Covenants) is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for our sins.

In Luke 24:44-49 “Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written that he Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and the repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.””

When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven he told the disciples he would send a promise of his father upon them, meaning the Holy Spirit. That is the “ministry of the Spirit” that Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 3:7. Paul talks about that the power and the glory that the Israelites experienced from seeing Moses’s skin glowing is nothing to the glory and the power of the Spirit of the Lord. (verse 9-11) We can experience that glory that Moses shown but ten times more because of Jesus Christ dying and breaking the barrier between God and us. This is what Paul is saying the difference is between the ministry of Moses and the new ministry of the Spirit.  “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (verse 18) Once Jesus Christ died for us and ascended to heaven we no longer have to be veiled like Moses was. Because of Jesus we can show God’s glory with His Spirit to others around us. We no longer have to be afraid of his glory like the Israelites were…all because of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the difference and the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

I don’t know about you but I want to be unveiled and show God’s glory instead of veiling it.

In Him.