Daily Devotion

Scripture: Exodus 34:29–35 (ESV)

Date: January 2, 2026

Speaker: Pastor Chen（陈约翰牧师）

Translated & annotated by: JosephWang（Yufan）

Dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. We thank God for His grace that we have come to a new day to study our daily devotion together. The passage we are studying today is Exodus 34:29–35. Today, we will talk about the veil on Moses’ face.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank You. We thank You that in Christ You have removed this veil, so that we may know how we ought to face the law. Thank You for Your grace. May You be with us, guide us, and lead us, so that we may glorify Your name throughout our lives. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

Now let us look at the passage itself.

In the previous verses, Moses had already received the tablets of the law. God had written on them; the Ten Commandments had been written again. Moses then came down from the mountain holding the two tablets of the testimony. Because the LORD had spoken with him, the skin of his face shone. When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. This is a very normal reaction, is it not? If a person’s face were shining, it would indeed be a frightening thing.

So Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. You must remember that while Moses was speaking to the people, his face was unveiled. After he finished speaking, he covered his face with a veil, because the people of Israel were afraid of the glory on Moses’ face.

When Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. 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. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with the LORD.

So what exactly is this veil? What does this veil signify?

Second Corinthians chapter 3 explains this very clearly. This veil represents a person’s understanding of God in his heart. On the surface, it appears that Moses is covering his face with a veil, but in reality, the veil is in the hearts of the people of Israel.

That is, when the Israelites read the Old Testament law, they can only read the letter. They read it as, “I must keep this regulation, I must observe this festival, I must keep these ordinances, I must keep the Ten Commandments.” They focus on obeying the literal statutes and rules.

But what does Paul mean? Paul says that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. What does this mean? Today, we need to spend some time sharing this theme.

When people have not been renewed by the Holy Spirit, have not been illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and are not guided by the Holy Spirit, they indeed read the Old Testament with a veil. Throughout church history, there have been many people who read Scripture in this way, including some in our own day.

For example, the so-called Dallas School and dispensationalists read the Bible with a veil. Their reasoning sounds very reasonable. How do they argue? They say that we should read the words of Scripture one by one, carefully and seriously. We should not read into Scripture things that are not there. We should say exactly what Scripture says.

This interpretive approach sounds very reasonable, does it not? Yes, we must follow Scripture. However, their interpretation is entirely according to the letter. They lack the spiritual meaning. What is this spiritual meaning? It refers to Jesus Christ.

When they read each passage of Scripture, they do not read it with Christ at the center. As a result, when they finish reading, they arrive at the same conclusion as the Israelites did when they read the law.

If we talk about familiarity with Scripture, if we talk about emphasis on the law, if we talk about careful study of every word, the rabbis of the Old Testament—and even modern Jewish rabbis—are far more meticulous than we are. They analyze Scripture letter by letter, word by word, even assigning numerical values to each letter. Their method of reading Scripture is a strictly literal method.

In this sense, dispensationalists and the Dallas School share a similar tendency. On the surface, they appear very devout. Whatever the text says, they interpret it exactly as written. They refuse to make further interpretation. They say that reading Christ out of every passage is something we add ourselves. “The text does not mention Christ,” they say, “so how can you say Christ is there?”

Even after the Lord Jesus Christ came, why did the Old Testament rabbis—Pharisees and scribes who copied Scripture for a living and were extremely familiar with it—fail to recognize Him as the Messiah? Why? Because they did not understand that Christ would come twice.

They did not understand that Christ’s first coming was not to judge the world, nor to establish the kingdom immediately, but to bear judgment, save His people, and shed His precious blood. Only at His second coming would He consummate the Messianic kingdom. They did not read this from Scripture.

You may say that Scripture does not clearly write this out. You may also say that it is written there. It is indeed present in Scripture. But because they did not read Scripture with Christ at the center, they were blinded, failed to recognize Jesus as the Christ, and ultimately condemned themselves.

A classic example of this is recorded in Luke 24. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus knew that Jesus had risen, yet they were still returning to Emmaus. Why? Because they felt there was no hope. But when the Lord Jesus Himself appeared and explained the Scriptures to them—showing that the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms all spoke of Him—their eyes were opened.

This is what it means to read Scripture with the veil removed. What does it mean to remove the veil in reading Scripture? It means that in every passage, one reads its true meaning, and that meaning is Christ.

This is not the kind of subjective “spiritual interpretation” that we invent ourselves. Rather, it is seeing Christ in every passage. The veil is the barrier in the human heart—a barrier to understanding God’s Word, God’s law, and Scripture itself—so that people cannot see Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.

Christ came to remove this veil. This veil is like the curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. That curtain blocked the glory of the Most Holy Place from shining outward. The Most Holy Place was, in fact, the brightest place in the world, yet its light could not shine out.

Why? Because humanity is sinful and dark. If that light were to shine forth, all people would be blinded and judged. Therefore, a long sacrificial path was necessary to bring blessing from the throne of mercy, for that is the source of blessing for all humanity.

So the veil on Moses’ face serves as a small symbol of the same reality. Moses brought heavenly glory down, but the people could not look directly at it, so it was covered. Now, in Christ, this veil has been removed. In Christ, the veil is removed, and we may behold the glory of Christ with unveiled faces, being transformed from glory to glory.

This is precisely what Second Corinthians chapter 3 teaches about the function of the veil. The veil represents the barrier between God and humanity. When we read Scripture with a veil in our hearts, we fail to understand it. True hermeneutics is reading Scripture with Christ.

If you cannot see Christ, cannot see redemption, cannot see the gospel, and cannot see the law that you are called to obey, then you have not truly understood Scripture. The removal of the veil cannot be achieved by human effort. Without the blood of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, the veil cannot be removed.

Therefore, we thank the Lord that He has already removed this veil from us.

Paul then goes on to say in Second Corinthians that if the ministry of condemnation had such glory, how much more glorious is the ministry of the new covenant. He says that God has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The ministry carved in letters on stone brought death, yet it came with glory, so that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end. How much more will the ministry of the Spirit have glory? If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

I will not read the entire passage here. You may read Second Corinthians chapter 3 yourselves. What it teaches is that we are entrusted with the ministry of justification—that is, proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ so that people may receive eternal life. This ministry far surpasses the ministry of condemnation.

Why is Moses’ ministry called a ministry of condemnation? Because Moses brought the law down to condemn Israel for their sin. Yet in Christ, the law can no longer condemn us. In Christ, we have already been justified.

However, brothers and sisters, I must emphasize that there is a widespread misunderstanding of the law in the church today. When reading the New Testament, many people fall into a false perception. They think the law is useless, bad, or only condemning, and that now that they are in Christ, they no longer need the law.

Many people—even many preachers—teach this way. They say, “It’s fine if you sin; you have Christ. His blood covers you. Just confess and you’re forgiven.” This teaching is absurd.

Why? Because it only focuses on the condemning function of the law and completely ignores the sanctifying function of the law.

Paul goes on to say in Second Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” And in verse 18, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”

This tells us that after justification, a Christian must live a sanctified life. The standard of sanctification is being transformed into the image of Christ. According to the Puritans, this means earnestly obeying the law.

So what is a holy life? Is it merely attending church, reading the Bible, praying, and pursuing spiritual activities? No, brothers and sisters. Those are means. The true holy life is living in obedience to God’s law in every aspect of life.

To obey the law is holiness. To violate the law is impurity.

Some may say, “Pastor Chen, the law is too demanding. We cannot keep it.” I believe this is an excuse. I am not saying that anyone can achieve perfect sanctification in this life. Our confessions are very clear about that. But the key point is that we must strive with all our strength to obey the law.

If trials have not even arrived and you have already retreated, that is the most dangerous state.

In fact, I have said many times before: if you do not obey the law, then there is no cross for you to bear. There is nothing to sacrifice. You can bribe, cheat, flee after causing an accident—then say, “Lord, forgive me.” Such thinking brings shame to God.

For us as Christians, the law can no longer condemn us, but as children of God, we must earnestly obey the law.

Sanctification means that in every aspect of life, we die to the old self, even at great cost, even risking our lives, in order to obey God’s commands. This is the value and meaning of our lives.

Brothers and sisters, I am not saying that you cannot enter heaven. But do you truly want only a “small bench” in heaven? If that were the case, when you see the saints rewarded with great glory, you would be dissatisfied.

This passage may seem as though we have strayed from the text, but I want to make this clear: Christ is at the center of ministry. The law can no longer condemn us, but it has become the guide for our sanctified lives.

May God help us, at the beginning of this new year, through today’s daily devotion, to truly know the true God, to live holy lives, and not to be careless Christians. God is not pleased with such lives.

May we, by the hope of the kingdom of heaven, strive for maturity and greater crowns, and live lives that glorify God.

That concludes today’s sharing. Thank you, brothers and sisters.