Unveiled Face

“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.”—2 Corinthians 3:18

We are created in God’s image, meant to reflect His presence to our world. But, because of the tarnishing power of sin the image was marred and we cannot reflect His presence in the way God desires. As a means of helping man to understand what it meant to reflect His image, God instituted the law at Sinai under the leadership of Moses. The law was meant to bring man to the end of himself by showing the absolute purity and perfection God required as well as the inability of man to keep it.

At the time of the law’s institution, God spoke to His servant Moses. Moses was the mediator between God and His people. He would go into the presence of God with an unveiled face. But, after leaving God’s presence, his face would shine brightly, or glow, causing the Israelites to shy away in fear (Exodus 34:29-30). In an effort to keep them from staying away from him, he put on a veil (Exodus 34:33), taking it off only in God’s presence.

In the New Testament, Paul explains that the Israelites couldn’t gaze at Moses’ face because of the brilliance of God’s glory emanating from him. It was too much for them to handle. However, in the New Testament, God’s glory is on display in an even greater capacity, because Christ has come! He came to fulfill the law by living the perfect life we could not, while at the same time, imputing His righteous standing in the sight of God to us.

The glory of Moses was fading because it was based on the Old Covenant and it was meant for only him. But we are beneficiaries and participants in the New Covenant. By our faith in Christ, we are able to view God in a new and profound way—with an unveiled face. And as we behold Him we are being transformed in ways that we can’t possibly understand! But this transformation will not be completed until we enter into the presence of Christ and see Him face to face! As the apostle John wrote, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is”—1 John 3:2. We shall be like Him! We will be transformed in such a way that we will be like Him in His glorified state! What a day of celebration that will be! We will be transformed! Our old bodies that are broken down—that are plagued by sin and suffering—will be gone. Suffering and sorrow will be no more because they will flee at the presence of the Lord of life! Take heart, my brothers and sisters! This life is not all there is, there is a hope beyond this life that is greater than we can imagine! Amen.