Exodus 34 closes with Moses coming down Mount Sinai carrying the two tablets, unaware that the skin of his face is shining from having spoken with God. This sermon works through verses 29 to 35, setting the scene against the golden calf and the renewal of the covenant, and asking what that strange, borrowed brightness was meant to teach Israel.

The argument is that Moses only reflected a glory that came from outside him, and that the glory faded and had to be veiled. Matthew 17 shows Jesus on a mountain with a face shining like the sun, glory that belongs to him as the eternal Son, while John 1:14 says that glory took on flesh and came down to us. Paul's commentary in 2 Corinthians 3 then names the law as a ministry of death that nonetheless came with glory, and contrasts it with the greater and abiding glory of the ministry of the Spirit.

The application turns on one word: behold. Believers are not told to transform themselves but to look intently at Christ, and the Spirit does the transforming, from glory to glory. The sermon ends with the already and not yet, glorified in Christ now, waiting to see him face to face, and a plain warning against answering conviction with resolutions to try harder.

In this sermon

• God is glorious whether or not our eyes are opened to see it
• The renewed covenant comes to a people fresh from the golden calf
• Why the two tablets were likely two copies of the same covenant
• The Hebrew behind "his face shone" and Michelangelo's horned Moses
• Moses reflected a glory he did not possess and had to veil it
• The shining face marked Moses as the mediator with God's authority
• Matthew 17: Jesus radiates the glory that Moses only reflected
• The Father silences Peter's three tabernacles: listen to him alone
• John 1:14 and the gospel as God coming down, not man climbing up
• 2 Corinthians 3: the ministry of death and the surpassing ministry of the Spirit
• The veil is removed in Christ, not by works or information
• Beholding Christ, and the Spirit transforming us from glory to glory

Chapters
0:00 Created to behold the glory of God
3:59 Context: covenant renewed after the calf
5:35 Reading Exodus 34:29-35
8:12 The two tablets of the testimony
11:24 Why medieval art gave Moses horns
13:03 Moses reflects glory he does not possess
17:34 The veil and the fading brightness
22:30 Matthew 17 and the transfiguration
28:20 John 1:14, the Word became flesh
31:31 2 Corinthians 3 and the ministry of death
38:20 The veil removed in Christ
43:06 Beholding with unveiled face
48:45 Already glorified, not yet face to face
51:24 Behold Christ instead of trying harder
57:22 Closing prayer

Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35 · Matthew 17:1-8 · John 1:14 · 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 · 2 Corinthians 4:6 · Romans 8:30

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Exodus 34:18-28 sets out what God requires of Israel after the golden calf: keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, redeem the firstborn, rest on the Sabbath, appear before the Lord three times a year, and bring the first of the first fruits. Having spent the previous verses telling Israel what not to do, God now tells them what to do instead.

The sermon argues that these commands are not a new covenant but a reiteration of Exodus 20, given because Israel is a stubborn people heading into a land full of foreign worship. Numbers 25 and the incident with Phinehas show how quickly the warning was ignored, and the New Testament warnings about apostasy in 1 Timothy, Hebrews and 1 John are held up alongside it. A distinction is drawn between a lapse or season of doubt and a final, willful turning away.

The closing section works out how these ordinances come to the church. Christ is the Passover lamb, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the fulfillment of the feasts, and the Lord's Supper is where the church now feeds on him. The call is to sweep out the old yeast, tear down present-day idols, and honor the Lord's Day.

In this sermon

• The setting: God renews the covenant after the golden calf and Moses' plea in Exodus 33
• Verses 10-17 say what not to do; verse 18 onward says what to do instead
• The feasts as corporate, not private, worship, rooted in God's deliverance from Egypt
• Playing the harlot and spiritual adultery, and Jeroboam's two calves in 1 Kings
• Apostasy defined, and the difference between final apostasy and backsliding
• Numbers 25, Phinehas and the spear, and the plague that killed 24,000
• Redeeming the donkey with a lamb, and redeeming every firstborn son
• Why God's law leaves no room for the sacrifice of children
• Sabbath rest even during plowing and harvest, and Jesus' answer to the Pharisees
• Boiling a goat in its mother's milk as a Canaanite fertility rite
• Christ as Passover lamb, first fruits, and the meaning of the Lord's Supper

Chapters
0:00 Where we are in Exodus 34
4:32 Reading Exodus 34:18-28
9:42 Corporate worship and the three feasts
15:41 Why God must repeat himself to Israel
19:27 Numbers 25, Phinehas and the plague
24:58 New Testament warnings about falling away
27:16 Unleavened bread and remembering deliverance
28:16 Redemption of donkeys and firstborn sons
34:40 No place for sacrificing children
36:23 Sabbath rest even at plowing and harvest
43:05 Three pilgrimages and God's protection of the land
47:55 First fruits and the boiled goat
52:45 Moses writes the words of the covenant
54:19 Christ our Passover lamb and first fruits
1:02:55 The Lord's Supper as the seal of grace

Scripture: Exodus 34:18-28 · Exodus 33:16 · Exodus 20 · 1 Kings · Numbers 25:1-9 · 1 Timothy 4:1-3 · Hebrews 6:4-6 · 1 John 2 · Exodus 12-13 · Exodus 22 · Exodus 23 · Luke 14 · Proverbs 28 · Luke · 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 · 1 Corinthians 15

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Exodus 34:10-17 comes immediately after the golden calf, when Israel had broken the covenant in the most flagrant way imaginable, and God says, "Behold, I am going to make a covenant." This sermon asks why God would renew his promise with such a people, and answers that the reason lies not in Israel's worth but in God's character and in the promise he had made to Abraham centuries earlier in Genesis 15.

From there the sermon shows that God's mercy never means indifference to sin. The same God who renews the covenant commands Israel to tear down the altars, smash the pillars, cut down the Asherim, and make no covenant with the people of the land, because those idols will become a snare. Paul makes the same argument to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10, telling believers who already knew doctrine and shared the Lord's table to flee from idolatry and to let Israel's failures in the wilderness serve as a warning.

The application turns personal: work, money, sports, entertainment, comfort, family, and personal preference can all take the place that belongs to God, and the Lord's Day often exposes which of them rules the calendar. But the sermon insists the answer is not trying harder. It is Christ, the rock in the wilderness, the true seed of Abraham, the faithful Israelite and better mediator of a new covenant in his blood.

In this sermon

• Exodus 34 follows the golden calf, Israel's most treacherous act of rebellion
• Genesis 15 and the promise that Abraham's descendants would be enslaved and then delivered
• Israel's redemption from Egypt as the fulfillment of a promise made centuries before
• Moses as the author of the Pentateuch, writing Israel's history during the wilderness journey
• God renews the covenant with a people who could not keep it
• The command to destroy altars, pillars, and Asherim rather than manage them
• Grace in the Old Testament, and the false split between a God of law and a God of grace
• Paul in 1 Corinthians 10: the rock was Christ, and these things were written for our instruction
• The Corinthians' argument that an idol is nothing, and Paul's warning about the table of demons
• Calvin on the heart as an idol factory, and how good things become ultimate things
• The Lord's Day as a means of grace, not a negotiable appointment
• What Christian parents teach their children by what they rearrange
• Christ tempted and obedient where Israel grumbled and failed
• Israel rejecting God at Sinai and rejecting him again at the cross for Barabbas

Chapters
0:00 Introducing a stiff-necked people
2:08 Five things to watch for
3:29 Reading Exodus 34:10-17
6:14 Back to the promise to Abraham
11:16 Israel's redemption fulfills God's promise
12:52 Behold, I am going to make a covenant
15:04 Tear down their altars and idols
19:26 Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 10
28:25 Flee from idolatry
33:25 Where are our golden calves
36:13 The Lord's Day exposes our idols
45:09 God is faithful, we are weak
46:47 Christ the better mediator
55:47 Three closing applications

Scripture: Exodus 34:10-17 · Genesis 15:12-16 · Exodus 34:6-7 · 1 Corinthians 10 · Exodus 32 · John 1 · Acts 3 · Luke 22:20 · Hebrews 9:15 · Galatians 3

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com