Commentary on "The Prophetic Gift"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 3: Monday, January 5, 2009

This lesson begins thus: "The first person called a prophet in the nation of Israel was Moses. Concerning his death, the statement is made, "since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10, NKJV). Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel, but Moses was the first prophet in Israel's history—an example for all the prophets who followed him.”

The study continues by stating Moses was equipped to lead Israel by three qualifications: "his upbringing in Egypt, his strong faith in God, and his personal experience with the Almighty at the burning bush". Moreover, it explains that after the golden calf apostasy, Moses spent 40 days with God on Sinai and returned with his face shining (Exodus 34:28-35). It states this shining "was but a reflection of the divine glory (2 Cor. 3:7)" but further comments that this glorious shining served as evidence of his communion with God and served to restore "him to his rightful place of leadership. When the people realized where he had been, his role of leader and mediator that had been questioned was restored."

The Teachers Comments, p. 21, under "Step 1—Motivate" compare human flaws with the irritants around which pearls form in mollusks. In the next paragraph of the Teachers Comments, Moses' fear of speaking to Pharaoh is compared to the flaws of other Bible leaders that God helped them overcome, thus turning them into "pearls".

On page 23 of the Teachers Comments, the second paragraph under "II. Moses' intercession: The Work of a Prophet" says this: "We also learn that during the time that Moses related God's words to the people, his face was veiled. The veiling of Moses' face makes him a type of Christ. Jesus veiled His divinity with humanity in order to dwell with us. Veiled, Moses represented how God must reveal Himself to us; unveiled, God could not fellowship with us without destroying us. But veiled in humanity, He could fellowship freely with sinners in order to reunite humanity to heaven. The glory reflected in Moses' face equals the blessings to be received by God's commandment-keeping people through the mediation of Christ."

Finally, the E. G. White Notes for Monday, January 5, include this quotation from Signs of the Times, March 31, 1881: "For his transgression, Moses came under the dominion of death. Had his life not been marred with that one sin, in failing to give to God the glory of bringing water from the rock, he would have entered the promised land, and would have been translated without seeing death. But the servant of God was not long permitted to remain in the tomb. Christ himself with the angels who buried Moses, came down from Heaven, and called forth the sleeping saint, and bore him up in triumph to the city of God."

 

Problems:

First, to be sure, Moses' experiences were part of his preparation for his work of leading Israel. None of his experiences, however, would have equipped him for this work apart from God's call of him. In spite of his 40 years in Pharaoh's court, in spite of the burning bush, in spite of his faith in God, Moses still feared confronting Pharaoh. These experiences were not what qualified him to lead Israel. God Himself equipped Moses.

Moreover, Moses' fear of speaking to Pharaoh was not a modest flaw from which God made a "pearl". His reluctance was not humility but a lack of trust. God did not comfort Moses and reassure him; instead, Exodus 4:14 states, "Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart" (ESV).

God did not make a "pearl" out of Moses fear; He bypassed Moses as spokesperson to Pharaoh. He did not miraculously remove Moses' fear and make him eloquent. Rather, He provided Aaron to speak for him. God did not thwart His own purposes because of Moses' fear. Moreover, the Bible clearly states that the Lord's anger was kindled against Moses. This event was not initially a moment of God "redeeming" a weakness. It was an insight into Moses' lack of faith, into God's anger against Moses' reluctance, and into God's gracious provision to accomplish His purposes to have Moses become the leader of Israel without Moses' reluctance to speak crippling God's purposes.

 

Jesus' body not a veil for God

One of the most glaringly unbiblical teachings in this lesson is the Teachers Comment analyzing Moses' shining face. First, God did not send Jesus as a veiled presence of Himself in order to fellowship with us without destroying us and thus to "reunite humanity to heaven". Rather, Jesus came as a human in order to redeem humans, not to make God "unthreatening" and accessible. Jesus' humanity was for the purpose of delivering "all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery"(Hebrews 2:15, ESV). Jesus had to become human in order to pay for humanity's sin. Hebrews 2, especially verses 14-18, explain why Jesus had to be human. There was no way for Jesus to bring God directly into fellowship with humans apart from His shedding blood (Hebrews 9:16-28). Only Jesus' human blood and broken body could open a new, living way for us to the Father (Hebrews 10:19-22). Jesus came as a man, yet all of Deity was in Him even as He was human, making peace through His blood (Colossians 1:19).

Jesus did not come to make God accessible to us by veiling Him for us. Rather, He came as a man in order to redeem mankind and to pay for man's sin, making peace by the shedding of perfect human blood and opening a way to the Father through His broken human body which He gave as a substitute for ours.

 

Veil not for hiding God's glory

The second unbiblical point is that Moses' veiled face "makes him a type of Christ." In fact, the Bible overtly states why Moses face was veiled and what that represents to Christians. It had nothing to do with making him a type of Christ.

Exodus 34:29-35 tells the story of Moses descending from Mt. Sinai, not realizing his face was shining with God's glory. The text does not say that Moses put the veil over his face in order to conceal the glory. It does say that Aaron and the people were afraid when they saw the glory, but Moses called them and talked to them.

"And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face." Moses donned the veil not before he spoke in order to calm their fear but after he spoke to Israel. The passage continues: "Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him."

Contrary to what we were taught, Moses did not put a veil over his face to protect the people. He kept his face uncovered after talking with God until he spoke to Israel so all the people would see his face shining. He put the veil on only after he finished speaking and wore it until the next time he met God in the tabernacle.

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 explains this phenomenon further. Verse 13 explains that Moses would put the veil over his face so people would not see that the glory was fading. Indeed, the Exodus passage supports Paul's analysis.

Further, this passage from 2 Corinthians explicitly states that Moses' veil represents the fading glory of the Sinai covenant. The "letters on stone" were a "ministry of death" (v. 7). It came with great glory, so much glory that Israel could not gaze on Moses' face. But, Paul argues, if this ministry was glorious, "will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?"(v. 8). The ministry of condemnation (the law—v. 9; Romans 3:20) had glory, but "the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory" (v. 9).

The Mosaic covenant—the old covenant— "once had glory" but "has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it" (v. 10). The old covenant "was being brought to an end" even though it came with glory. The ministry of the Spirit, the new covenant, "is permanent", and how much more will it have glory (v. 11).

Because we have "such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end" (v. 12-13).

Next comes one of Paul's clearest, most powerful statements of the difference between the old covenant and the new, and the reason we cannot "live" in both at once:

"But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (v. 14-17).

Whenever Moses—the Law— is read, a veil covers the heart! When one turns to the Lord Jesus, that veil is removed. If we look backwards at the Law from knowing Jesus, the Law is shown for what it is: a mere shadow of the reality that is in Christ Jesus (Colossians 2:17). Focus on the law keeps us from experiencing the reality and freedom of Jesus and of living by the Spirit.

Moses' veil did not symbolize Jesus veiling the presence of God so He could commune with us. On the contrary, Moses' veil represented the fading glory of the old covenant—the fading glory of the "letters on stone"—and Moses hid his face from Israel in a symbolic action that represented his hiding from them the fading glory of their Sinai covenant with God. Until Jesus came, that covenant was the covenant they were morally obligated to keep. When Jesus came, however, that covenant was fulfilled, and the ministry of the Spirit replaced the ministry of death over which the law presided.

Now "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" (v. 18).

The lesson states that the glory on Moses face "equals the blessings to be received by God's commandment-keeping people through the mediation of Christ." This statement overtly contradicts 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. The glory on Moses' face had nothing to do with any supposed blessings for God's "commandment-keeping people through the mediation of Christ." The biblical passages reveal that the glory was a reflection of God's own glory, and 2 Corinthians explains that the surpassing glory God's people receive is from the new covenant, from the ministry of the Spirit by whom we live—not from reading and living by the law. Even during the time of Israel the law "was being brought to and end" (v. 12), and the fading glory on Moses face represented the eventual ending of the Sinai covenant with the law at its heart. Never does the Bible say that Moses' shining face represents the blessings that come from keeping the commandments.

 

Moses didn't "miss" translation

Finally, the E. G. White quotation above from Signs of the Times is blatantly extra-biblical. Nowhere does the Bible suggest that Moses would have been "translated" if he hadn't failed to give God the glory of bringing water from the rock. Never is such an idea even hinted. Further, the Bible does not say or suggest that Moses was resurrected. The statement that "Christ himself with the angels who buried Moses, came down from Heaven, and called forth the sleeping saint, and bore him up in triumph to the city of God" is an invention without Biblical support.

This notion is attached to a somewhat obscured but powerful foundational teaching of Adventism, that Jesus is Michael the archangel in Jude 9 who contended with the devil over the body of Moses. Jude does not state that Moses was resurrected; the contention over his body is never clarified, nor does the passage say that Moses was raised from death.

The further argument that Moses appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, thus assuming that he must have been resurrected, is also unfounded in the Bible. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 and in Philippians 1:22-23 Paul clearly states that upon death, believers are with Jesus—a condition very much better than remaining in the mortal tent of the body.

If one takes the words of the Bible at face value without the interpretation of Ellen White to re-state the clear meaning of the words, the presence of Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration is understood as an act of God that is possible because the spirit of Moses never stopped existing.

If one insists that Moses was resurrected, one must rewrite multiple Bible passages. It requires identifying Michael the archangel as Jesus. Daniel 10:13, however, identifies Michael as "one of the chief princes". Jesus is not "one of" any group. He is the One and Only begotten Son of God. Further, Jesus is not in any sense an angel, nor did He ever take on angelic form to help them. Hebrews 2:16 states, "for surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham." Moreover, Jesus was never an angel whom God exalted and established as His Son (see Hebrews 1:3-5).

The notions that Moses would have been translated had he not sinned at the rock, that Moses was resurrected, that Christ and the angels came and "bore him up in triumph to the city of God" are fictions never remotely supported by Scripture.

 

Summary

1. Moses' fear of speaking to Pharaoh is not an example of humility or of a flaw which God redeemed by transforming it into a pearl of strength or other value. Rather, it was a lack of faith which elicited God's anger but also His provision. God did not excuse Moses, but He provided a way that Moses would still have to go before Pharaoh and become the leader of Israel even though he feared speaking.
2. The veil over Moses' face was never a symbol of Jesus veiling divinity so God could fellowship with mankind. Rather, Jesus came as a man in order to provide a subsitutionary atonement for each person who believes in Jesus. Because humanity sinned, the penalty required a perfect human sacrifice. Jesus—God the Son—came as a sinless man to offer a sinless human sacrifice. God could not fellowship openly with mankind unless the claim of sin and the curse of death were removed from man. Jesus came as a man in order to live as a sinless human and to die as a perfect sacrifice for the sin of all mankind—thus opening a new, living way to the Father (Hebrews 10:19-22; 9:16-28).
3. Moses' veil represented the fading glory of the law and the old covenant. Second Corinthians 3:7-18 explains that a veil remains over the heart of any who turn to the law and read Moses, but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. We reflect increasing glory—glory that surpasses the fading glory of Moses' face—as we live in the ministry of the Spirit instead of under the glory of the law that has come to an end in Christ (Galatians 3:15-17).
4. The Bible never hints that Moses would have been translated if he hadn't acted in anger and pride when he struck the rock. Further, the Bible never hints that Moses was resurrected—or that Michael the archangel was Jesus in Jude 9. Rather, Daniel 10:13 identifies Michael as "one of the princes", merely one archangel among others. Believing that Moses was resurrected or that God intended for him to be translated adds to the Bible.

 

Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 5, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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