A Glorious Ministry

2 Corinthians 3:7-8,13,18, Exodus 34:29

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God’s ministry is glorious. That’s what the Apostle Paul tells us in Second Corinthians chapter three. He begins by saying,

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? (2 Corinthians 3:7-8)

He compares two different kinds of ministry the ministry that Moses brought into the world through God, and then the ministry of the Spirit. Now there’s a glorious minister there, Moses. You’ve looked through the Old Testament, you’ve seen just how popular and important Moses was.

One of my favorite artistic representations of Moses is by Michelangelo, and it’s a marble statue. And you look at this statue and Moses looks glorious. He is powerful. You take a close look at his arms and his hands, and you can see the veins and the muscles on them. It’s real life, larger than life. He’s enormous. He’s huge. He’s powerful. And then you take a closer look at Moses, and you even see horns? All right, what’s going on there? So this is actually when Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists portrayed Moses, they would use a translation from Exodus chapter 34, verse 29 that said,

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. (Exodus 34:29)

Moses had had a glowing, radiant face, beams of light.

But there was also a mistranslation of that word in the Latin Bible, where it said Moses had not beams but horns protruding from his head. (Exodus 34:29 DRA) So sometimes you’ll see that. Paul gives us what it really meant here, because it talks about how the face of Moses was glorious. And that glory would fade. Moses would put a veil over his face so the Israelites wouldn’t see that glory fading away. (2 Corinthians 3:13) But God’s law was glorious. It was wonderful. And so was he.

But there was a problem. God’s law that tells us what to do and not to do, how to follow God can only really result in condemnation because we can’t do it perfectly. It’s a glorious ministry. It’s important for us to know God’s standards in the world would be a much better place if everybody followed what the Lord and what Moses told them to do, but it can only lead to condemnation on its own, because we can’t keep it perfectly.

Thankfully, there’s another ministry, and there’s another minister that is even more glorious. Picture Christ, picture him, maybe you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when he’s with Moses and Jesus lets a little bit of his glory shine through and his face erupts in light and his clothing is bright. He’s glorious. Think of him when he rises from the dead in all of his glory, when he ascended into heaven and now rules over all things. Jesus is the glorious minister who came not just with a message of be better, do better, make this world a better place. But he came with a message of how he is perfectly kept the Law of Moses in our place, how he gives us his righteousness, how he transforms us from the inside out with his word of forgiveness and peace.

And now Paul goes on to say that as we are forgiven by Christ, as he’s given us his righteousness, not only was Moses transformed, not only is Jesus transformed and we got to see a glimpse of his glory, but we are transformed. Verse 18 says,

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

You’re transformed from the inside out. It might not always look like it to everyone around you, but God sees you as holy, righteous, and he gives you a glorious ministry to share the good news of Jesus, the Gospel.