Ministry of Condemnation

When God sent Moses back down the mountain with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, Moses returned to the people with a ministry of death which is what it says in 2 Corinthians 3. That chapter is very important to understand what is happening here. When Moses returned to Israel, his face shown. It didn't shine the first time he brought the tablets, because they were not yet judged guilty by that law. When he broke those tablets when he saw their idolatry, it was testimony that they had broken the covenant that they would obey all things that God commanded. This time when he comes with tablets that he carved but God wrote on, his face shined with the glory of the law, which is the glory of condemnation. When Israel saw his face, they knew the message was from God, but they didn't want to see it because it reminded them of the righteous judgment and wrath God had toward Israel. It constrained their sin, but it had no power to change them. The Israelites would listen to him, then they would insist that he cover his face with a veil. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit rather than Moses which is the ministry of life, we can now look with an unveiled face into the law of God and not see our condemnation, but see in the light of the law, the goodness of God's ways and the blessing of it. By joining with Christ in His death, we are dead to the judgment of the law.