The events surrounding the veiling of Moses’ face expose the condition of two groups of people: Moses and the children of Israel. Unlike Moses, the children of Israel did not have the same heart and longing for the presence of God. They were a people who wanted their living conditions improved, their daily needs met, their comfort and safety guaranteed and their access to the Promised Land secured. They wanted God for what He would do for them. But they had no yearning to know Him or His ways.
Much like the children of Israel, there are many today who are satisfied with two things: the fact they have a God who meets their need and that their destiny in heaven is secured. These have no desire to press upward in the things of the kingdom of God and think it irrelevant theological or spiritual gymnastics to delve into the word of God. Thus they often ask: “how is this relevant to me?” The issue is just that: “ME”. Self is elevated and crowned as lord. And when self is not implicated (often in terms of benefits) then their attention and interest diminishes. I believe this was why the children of Israel could not look steadily at Moses fixing their attention and mind on the glory of God. Their heart and attention was fixed on preserving self.
Remember, this was the same company who previously complained to Moses saying: “you speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exo. 20:19)? You see the people understood one thing – that no flesh lives having heard God’s voice and having encountered His glory. They declared: “for who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived” (Deut. 5:26). In God’s presence, man doesn’t simply rejoice and worship, his flesh and carnality is devoured by the fire of God. God’s divine fire purges everything the is not of Christ. Thus the people rejected the presence of God having seen His glory and greatness, and having heard His voice in the midst of the fire. They said to Moses: “why should we die… you go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you“ (Deut. 5:25, 27).
The children of Israel ordained Moses as mediator because they wanted to preserve their life and also reap all the benefits of being God’s people. This was a utilitarian devotion to God designed to benefit their fleshly gratification. They knew hearing God speak would bring death to self and all their self-centered passions. So in their folly of self-preservation, they rejected God and elevated man over themselves knowing man would veil the full expression of His glory diminishing the authority of His voice and the power of His purging fire.
But is this not emblematic of the religious climate of our day? Just as the children of Israel looked to Moses as a mediator, many saints today look to a mediator they call “pastor” to speak to them all that God has said. “My pastor” has thus become a common phrase among many believers. Indeed we too once had pastors that we elevated over ourselves and who lorded it over us. Without exception, every “pastor” I’ve ever encountered has veiled the glory of God, watered-down God’s word, hidden God’s ways, concealed Christ and weakened the all-consuming fire of God. Is this not why Paul says “we know in part and we prophesy in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). For when the Perfect has come, then will the in-part be done away. No pastor can gratify a believer’s spiritual hunger. Only Jesus Christ, the true Pastor, is the Living Bread that can gratify our deep spiritual yearning.
But oh how the saints love and esteem their hired pastor. Many think allegiance to their pastor is allegiance to God. And so these men have become highly exalted in the heart and mind of the people. Often you will notice that what the congregation believes is precisely what the pastor believes. Thus, the pastor molds the congregation according to his own belief system. No wonder then, if you challenge what these saints believe, they will to go to their pastor to get a validation. And if ever a controversial topic comes up, the final word is whatever the pastor says.
What can we call this but a betrayal of the Spirit of Truth who has been given to us to guide us into all Truth. Think of it, how is this any different from that rebellious company who cried: “speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us” (Exo. 20:19). It is unfortunately that very few today have the spiritual fortitude to seek God for themselves and to stand on the Truth without validation from men. The fear tactic that the saints will lose their spiritual standing or “spiritual covering” if they do not submit to the leadership of the church is a lie of Babylonish religion that millions today have bought into. Oh how these men need to be usurped from the elevated place they hold in the saints’ heart. Rest assured one of the greatest veils today is called Christianity.
Any ministry that demands that the people of God be submitted to the leadership of men is unequivocally opposed to the word of God. This is the fruit of the ecclesiastical order that has become norm in the institutional church system. The carnal nature in any ministry strives to establish itself over the saints. But true ministers works themselves out of a position and out of the heart of people so that all come to the stature and the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:12-13). Paul’s labor was to birth Christ in the people, not to subordinate them to his ministry. He opposed those who said; ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I am of Apollos,’ and ‘I am of Cephas’. But the way some people talk about their pastor you would think their pastor was crucified for them or that they were baptized in the name of their pastor.
Beloved, do you want Moses’ to relay to you the word of God with a veil over his face or would you rather climb the heights of Horeb to encounter God face to face? We can all agree that directly hearing the voice of God and hearing the message relayed through Moses were not the same thing for the children of Israel. Moses did indeed communicate to the people the words he heard from God, but it was a veiled message – a word that was void of the Spirit and power. The natural man (pastor or not) will veil and diminish the power of God’s word.
You see, Moses had no choice but to veil His face. It was in Moses’ nature to veil. In the events that transpired in Sinai, we see duality in Moses. In him were two natures manifested: one that always outrays the divine and another that covers. This bespeaks the corruptible veiling the incorruptible, of flesh overshadowing the spirit, of the mortal limiting the full manifestation of the immortal. Indeed the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish (Gal. 5:17). These two natures in Moses reflect not only every pastor’s condition but ours also. We are not to consult or place on our very own carnal nature/thinking as a mediator. This is a mixture that produces confusion.
Notice also that these natures found expression in Moses as he ministered as a priest (Psa. 99:6). The priest has two ministries; one to God and another to people. It is in his priestly service that we witness the manifestation of duality; the first in relation to the Lord and the second in relation to the children of Israel. Within the Tabernacle, whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with God, he would take the veil off until he came out to meet with the people (Exo. 34:34). Thus the full expression of God’s glory in Moses’s priestly ministry was not only inhibited but it was a fading (in-part) glory (2 Cor. 3:7). It’s no wonder then that majority of the people failed to encounter the glory of God and to overcome the wilderness journey to possess the Promised Land. As His elect priesthood, we are individually called to encounter the Lord in the realm of the Spirit just as Moses encountered God in the Tabernacle. To wait outside the Tabernacle to hear the message of the Lord from a man who veils God’s glory is an inferior experience. And yet many today seem content with such an in-part ministry.
Of a truth I tell you will full assurance, the ministry of the in-part church system will not birth Christ in a people. Organized religion will not usher in the manifestation of sons. Though many do not have the spiritual awareness to see it, God has sent a strong delusion to every person who has elevated man over the indwelling Christ (2 Thes. 2:11). To those who pay homage to a man, a ministry or a denomination, the divine ways and purpose of God have been veiled today. When God steps down to reveal His eternal purpose many will not hear it, they will reject it because it will not align with their pastor’s dogma. This is the betrayal of the ages! Indeed we are witnessing this rebellion today. But when the revelation of God’s word penetrates the heart, the saints will have no choice but to sever ties with organized religion and their beloved pastor who has kept them under their wings as a dependent toddler.
Beloved, we are a new covenant people called to turn inward to drink from the living waters of His life and to draw nourishment from the hidden manna within. Call on Me says the Lord and I will show you great and unsearchable things you do not know (Jer. 33:3). It’s high time for the children of God to burn their idols of organized religion and to follow after God seeking His glory apart from a mediator. For in this is union with the Spirit of God. This is the mark of a son (Rom. 8:14). Every son who follows this Way is apprehended to kingly-priesthood and is commissioned to minister reconciliation to creation.
However, sons will not carry froth the power of this mandate under the guardianship of men. God is now revealing Himself and preparing His sons in the cleft of the Rock (in Christ), training them to move and live and have their being in Him so that in the hour of their unveiling they may minister in the power of His glory. The appointed time is drawing near when creation will behold the full radiance of God’s glory unveiled in a company of manifested sons and experience the glorious liberty of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19, 21). Oh how we long for this day!
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make Yourself known!
Kingdom Truths 
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