"And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face." (Ex. 34:33).
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days and nights in the presence of the Lord, his face shined with the reflected glory of his heavenly Father. He was not aware of how his face shined until he came into the midst of the people and they reacted in fear. Realizing what was happening, Moses comforted the people and called them to him so that he could give them the commandments of the Lord. After he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Some think that Moses put the veil on so the people would not be afraid of the glory of God. But this was not the case, for he kept the veil off while he talked to them. It was only when he was finished that he put the veil on. We learn from the apostle Paul why Moses covered his face. He writes in 2 Corinthians 3 that Moses put a veil over his face “so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.” The Mosaic covenant had a temporary character because it was only a shadow of what was to come. The ceremonial laws, the theocracy of Israel, the externalities of their religion would one day pass away, and a mediator, greater and better than Moses, would establish a new covenant. This new covenant would never fade and would never pass away; it would be the fulfillment of everything that the old covenant foreshadowed.
Paul taught the Corinthians that Moses put a veil over his face so the Israelites would not see the glory passing away. But those who will one day look on the face of Christ, who put their faith in the Gospel, will behold an unfading glory. Now, if that light is veiled to those who hear the Gospel today, it is because they do not believe, and some still put their hope in the old covenant, in its externals and ceremonies. Those whose minds doggedly rebel against the truth of God’s existence and glory revealed through general revelation do not see the “light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The Israelites saw the reflected glory of God in the face of Moses, a glory that did not last. But those who have faith in Jesus Christ, who live under the new covenant, no longer live in darkness, but a light has dawned in our hearts—“the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
The glory of the new covenant is that Jesus Christ is its mediator. In Him, we have a better and greater Mediator because His sacrifice is sufficient once and for all. It does not need to be repeated daily as in the old covenant. Because of this finality, the new covenant is a better covenant. Praise God today for revealing the Gospel to you.
