FADED GLORY
II Corinthians 3:9, 13 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
The Glory of the Lord shone from the face of Moses for all to see. Moses, in receiving the Law of God became aware of God’s redemptive plan in a way never before realized. Moses knew there was no man which could keep the Law. Yet the Law was a glorious revelation. In the Law was perfection; a picture of holiness and promise. For man it became a law of condemnation. Who could keep such a law? Every man in sin that hears of the Law of God can only see his condemnation and guilt reflected in its imperatives. But, there is more to God’s commandments than simply rules to follow. Its perfection was never meant to be obtained or attained by sinful man, yet its commission brought the prospect of liberty and an awareness of good will.
Sure, we have broken the Law. Certainly, in God’s eyes we are guilty and deserving of just desserts, neither rich nor sweet. Every single commandment is a bar on our cell that separates us from the presence of God. But, condemnation of primary import doesn’t negate its secondary affect. This secondary affect imparts morality to the relationships of men. God’s Law has brought liberty to peoples; advocated freedom from slavery and tyranny. These commandments are the ingredients in a recipe of brotherly love among men. It is the original document or autograph, if you will, of the “Golden Rule”. Men may not have welcomed God’s commandments but have certainly reaped the benefit. God’s purpose in revealing the Law was multifaceted. Its perfection condemns by our inability to keep it and it brings hope in one who fulfills it.
Moses’ face faded to become bearable to the people once more. The Bible doesn’t record how long this took. What we do know is that the after-glory of God shining in the picture of engraved perfection finally attained its intended fade from glory on a cruel yet momentous and far more glorious day. Though the Law’s light did not dim its glory lessened by a more overwhelming, greater, and abundant light. The moon is a great reflective light in the night sky, its glory great, but when the source of reflection rises with the sun on a new day, its glory fades away. The glory of the Ten Commandments is its picture of perfection; the greater glory is in its fulfillment.
Men throughout the ages have tried to fulfill the Law. Man has embraced it, clothed themselves in its stricture, limited their indulgences by its direction, and given exhaustive effort to attain it. In the end it is a futile attempt by man to gain that which only God can grasp. As soon as children or young adults become aware of God’s Law they have already broken and perverted it. Before anyone ever set out to keep it they had already lost it. It had, in effect, become a suggestive perfection to a pitiful people. Yet, even the suggestion has proved beneficial.
Oh, the picture of perfection the Law portrays! As long as there has been the Law there has been, in the heart of man, a deep seated desire to fulfill it; a desire to be an equal to God. Who can fulfill it? Who would be a god?
God provided more than simply the Ten Commandments. God gave us the other law; the law of redemption; the law that offers the blood of perfection to redeem stained imperfection. Imperfection cannot be redeemed by the less imperfect or the more perfect. Unequivocally, God set forth perfect standards for perfect recourse and remedy. God had a better reason for these standards than our vain effort and frustrated obedience.
God’s utmost desire is for us to be reconciled with Him. God loves us and wishes us to have fellowship. Not only fellowship, but God wants to be our sole beneficiary. Unlike our practice of death beneficiary, God wants to be our life beneficiary. His glorious Law of perfection set the stage for perfect redemption. (Once we start down the path of understanding and enlightenment which only God gives, the fullness and finality of all He has done becomes almost unfathomable.) Having given the Law of perfection and the law of redemption God had set the stage and stacked the cards, per se, in His disfavor. Our redemption was in blood atonement. Blood atonement in God’s court requires a perfect, blameless, unblemished, sacrifice. Once the perfect sacrifice is made, the blood of perfection can wash clean the wound and disease of imperfection. There is a song which brings this message clear, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus!” And there you have it! Jesus was not just another man. Jesus was not imperfect in any way. Imperfection would have ruined the sacrifice. If Jesus is not perfection personified then there is no hope and all is vain. But, Jesus was not simply a good man, though He was a simple man, He was not the good-man but the God-man. The Law faded from glory with the fullness of Christ’s righteousness. The glory of righteousness and liberty through Christ makes faded glory of the Law of perfection. The promise, fulfillment, and evidence of Christ’s atonement made clear that the Law is the standard of our condemnation.
Moses’ face shone with the reflective glory of God just as the Law shines by the reflection of perfection that’s in Christ. In reality it is not the Law which is the standard of perfection, but Christ! The Law is only a reflection of His perfection and holiness. There is the fault in mans outlook and the fallacy in our efforts. Man cannot attain even a glimmer of reflected perfection. Our lives are marred and black with the stain of sin. How much does the emptiness of space reflect the light of stars? Where is the mere pinprick of reflective brightness in the dull, flat, and absolute black of sin-stained souls? How pitiful and self-righteous we must seem to God when we merely hope for perfection in the Law. The manifestation of God’s correction and justice is through the ministration of condemnation by the indictment of the Law of God. The manifestation of God’s pity and love is through the ministration of righteousness by the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Man is in a quandary of unparalleled proportion. We must either receive the ministration of condemnation in penalty or receive the ministration of righteousness in liberty.
Is there really a choice between penalty and liberty?
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
God has been telling us for all history that there is really no choice. We are condemned already. There is only one call when God flips the coin of choice in our presence! Chance is no god of favor and no part of God, so each side of the coin portrays the same and only way.
Liberty is found in Christ Jesus.
