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Transformed by Communion With God, January 28
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
, NKJV.
During that long time spent in communion with God, the face of Moses had
reflected the glory of the divine Presence; unknown to himself his face shone with
a dazzling light when he descended from the mountain. Such a light illumined the
countenance of Stephen when brought before his judges; “and all that sat in the
council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”
(
Acts 6:15
).
Aaron as well as the people shrank away from Moses, and “they were afraid to
come nigh him.” Seeing their confusion and terror, but ignorant of the cause, he
urged them to come near. He held out to them the pledge of God’s reconciliation,
and assured them of His restored favor. They perceived in his voice nothing but
love and entreaty, and at last one ventured to approach him. Too awed to speak, he
silently pointed to the countenance of Moses, and then toward heaven. The great
leader understood his meaning. In their conscious guilt, feeling themselves still
under the divine displeasure, they could not endure the heavenly light, which, had
they been obedient to God, would have filled them with joy....
By this brightness God designed to impress upon Israel the sacred, exalted
character of His law, and the glory of the gospel revealed through Christ. While
Moses was in the mount, God presented to him, not only the tables of the law, but
also the plan of salvation. He saw that the sacrifice of Christ was prefigured by all
the types and symbols of the Jewish age; and it was the heavenly light streaming
from Calvary, no less than the glory of the law of God, that shed such a radiance
upon the face of Moses. That divine illumination symbolized the glory of the
dispensation of which Moses was the visible mediator, a representative of the one
true Intercessor.
The glory reflected in the countenance of Moses illustrates the blessings to be
received by God’s commandment-keeping people through the mediation of Christ.
It testifies that the closer our communion with God, and the clearer our knowledge
of His requirements, the more fully shall we be conformed to the divine image,
and the more readily do we become partakers of the divine nature.—
Patriarchs and
Prophets, 329, 330
.
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