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.
