In chapter 9 of my book, The Laws of the Second Coming, I recorded how Moses went up the mount eight times and how these eight trips correlate with the feast of Tabernacles. Though I cannot prove it, I believe that Moses came off the mount for the eighth time on the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles.
This eighth trip up the mount is recorded in Exodus 34. After his sixth trip, Moses had broken the tablets of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments, after he saw the people worshiping the golden calf. On his seventh trip, Moses interceded for the people, yet when he returned, he removed the Ark of the Covenant from the camp and pitched it outside the camp. Ex. 33:7 says,
7 And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, far away from the camp and called it the Tabernacle of the Church. And it came about that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the Tabernacle of the Church which was outside the camp.
A few verses later, we read in Exodus 33:11 that after pitching the tabernacle outside the camp, “Joshua the son of Nun would not depart from the tent.” This pictures prophetically the presence of Jesus (Joshua) in the tabernacle that is outside the camp.
That action set an interesting pattern not only for the church in the wilderness but also for the present-day organized church. The Old Testament church was centered around the temple in Jerusalem, and when they were found worshiping the golden calf (so to speak), Jesus threw out the bankers (Matt. 21:12) and took the presence of God outside the camp. He was crucified outside the camp (Heb. 13:12), and set up His own “Ark of the Covenant” there. From then on, anyone who wanted to seek the Lord had to go outside the camp to find Him. In other words, the presence of God was no longer in Judaism.
Jesus then set up a New Testament Church on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. But this New Testament Church was to be established in two stages. The first stage was to be under a Pentecostal anointing, while the second stage was to be under a Tabernacles anointing.
The Church under Pentecost (in the past 2,000 years) ended up worshiping the golden calf as much as the Old Testament Church did under Judaism. And so God removed His presence from it, and even the basic idea of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was lost for many centuries. During the Middle Ages, if any believer wanted to seek God, it was as if he had to go “outside the camp” to find Him. That was a dangerous place to be, for many such people were persecuted, threatened, and even tortured for daring to seek God elsewhere.
A century ago God re-instated the revelation of Pentecost in the Church. Once again, things seemed to be back on track, and there was great optimism among the people. But by the end of the 20th century Pentecost and its offspring movements had once again degenerated into the worship of money—the golden calf. It occurred in the guise of the Prosperity Movement. Spirituality and faith began to be measured by one’s bank account, size of house, and make of one’s automobile.
So once again, the presence of God (the Ark) has been removed and placed outside the camp, and anyone who wants to seek God, it seems, must find Him outside the organized Church. Of course, I am speaking in generalities now, for each denomination and each individual group has to be considered on its own merits.
Furthermore, most people are unaware that there is so much more to learn about God outside of their group. They have been taught that all truth worth knowing resides within the teachings of their particular denomination, and if their educated leaders do not know some new idea, then certainly it must not be true.
But the bottom line is that God is now in the process of establishing the THIRD Church. The first was a Passover Church under Moses; the second was a Pentecostal Church in Acts 2; and now the third is a Tabernacles Church for the Age to come.
Of course, when God established the second Church, the first did not go away. Judaism remained for those who had rejected Jesus as the Christ and King of Israel. In the same manner also, though the Ark of God’s presence has been removed from the realm of the Church under Pentecost, the second church continues to function in the world among those who are unaware of the biblical pattern of prophecy.
Does this mean that those who want to be part of the Tabernacles Church must leave all churches organized under Pentecost? Not at all. Even in the early Church in Jerusalem, the Christians remained part of the temple for the next 40 years until God brought in the Romans to destroy that temple. There was a 40-year transition in that sense, before historical events made clear the wisdom written in Hebrews 13:12 and 13,
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate, 13 Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
The book of Hebrews was written to cut the ties between the Church and the temple in Jerusalem. It was written to show that under the New Covenant, we have better things and ought not to revert back to the worse things, as some are prone to do today.
Moses’ Discussion with God
In taking the Ark of the Covenant outside the camp, Moses was showing the people a deeper problem. It was the problem of God’s presence. Now, the Hebrew word for “presence” is panah, which is also the word for “face.” The word panah always appears in the plural in Scripture, paniym.
After Moses destroyed the golden calf, he returned to the mount for the seventh time to intercede for them. The discussion went like this, if I may use the JOV, which is the Jones Opinionated Version of Exodus 33:13-17,
13 . . . I know that I have found grace in your sight, but consider also that this nation is Your people. 14 God responded, “Shall my presence go with you as a nation? Shall I let all of you enter My rest?” 15 Then Moses said, “If your presence [face] does NOT go with us, don’t even lead us to the Promised Land. 16 For how can anyone tell us apart from all the other people on the earth, except by seeing Your face in us?” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “Alright, I will do this for you, because you yourself have found grace in My sight.”
Moses was primarily concerned about the presence, or FACE of God. But then Moses asked God for another favor in verse 18: “Show me Your glory.” God then made all of His goodness to pass before Moses. Pastor Dick King pointed out recently that the glory of God is His goodness. God demonstrates His goodness by giving us His glory, and conversely, God’s glory is His goodness. It is His goodness to us in spite of our worship of the golden calf that is the reason we praise and glorify Him.
Though Moses was unable to see God’s face (33:20), He did get the revelation of the glory of God in the afterglow that followed Him. At that point, Moses was nearly ready to set the prophetic pattern for the eighth day of Tabernacles.
Moses’ Eighth Trip in Exodus 34
In Exodus 34:1 God told Moses to cut two stone tablets and bring them up the mount, where God would write the same law upon them which had been broken earlier.
This is the second giving of the law. The first time the law was written on tables of stone that God Himself had hewn out of the mountain (Ex. 31:18). These were broken (Ex. 32:19). So for this second set of laws, God told Moses to bring two tablets of stone into the mount. These were not broken.
This speaks prophetically of the two forms of the law that were given to us. The first under Moses were external, given by God as an outside command—and these were broken, for “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23).
The second stones represented the heart of Moses and the people, and for this reason, Moses was to bring the stones to God for inscription. It was an act that symbolized the presentation of our hearts to God, so that He might write His laws upon our hearts.
This is also explained further in the fact that God gave two laws to Israel. The first is recorded in the book of Exodus, given at the beginning of Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. The second is the book of Deuteronomy, which means the “second law.” This was a series of speeches Moses gave Israel just before he died and just before Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land.
There were 40 years between the two laws, and the intervening time was Israel’s “Pentecostal Age.” It appears that we have the same kind of situation under the New Covenant, where Christ was the Passover Lamb to bring the Church out of “Egypt,” the bondage to sin. Then He brought the disciples to the upper room for Pentecost, which was the “Exodus” law.
After 40 Jubilees, at the end of the Pentecostal Age for the New Covenant Church, we are receiving the second law at Tabernacles, to be written on our hearts.
This is the purpose of the feast of Tabernacles. It is not to set aside the law, but to write it on the tables of our heart. So by going up the mount to receive the second set of laws, Moses established the pattern for us today, where the law is being given to us corporately through the Sons of God. This is the meaning of Moses’ eighth trip up the mount, where his face was glorified.
This is also the occasion whereby God made another covenant. Exodus 34:10 says,
10 Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth, nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.”
This is the Covenant of Miracles to which Jesus referred in John 14:12, saying,
12 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.
This, I believe, is to be fulfilled through the fulfillment of the eighth day of Tabernacles, for this is the occasion when God made this covenant in Exodus 34:10.
Under Moses, this covenant received partial fulfillment in the Canaanite wars, as we find in Ex. 34:11-17. These verses immediately follow the Covenant of Miracles. But in our day, we who have a better sword—the Sword of the Spirit—this Covenant will be fulfilled in the Great Commission. The Great Commission is the New Covenant method of destroying God’s enemies. Under the New Covenant, God’s enemies are destroyed not by physical violence or force, but by converting them by the demonstration of the power of the Spirit.
In other words, the Covenant of Miracles is for the purpose of converting the world and bringing all things under the feet of Jesus Christ.
Moses Returns with the Face of God
Moses returned after spending 40 days in the mount on his eighth trip. We read this in Ex. 34:28,
28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Although this was in the overall context of the Old Covenant, it pictures the New Covenant by which the second law was being written on our hearts. Even as the book of Deuteronomy was given to Israel after 40 years in the wilderness, so also was this second law given after Moses had spent 40 days in the mount. Both prophetically speak of the 40 Jubilees of the Church, which is the biblical time frame for the Age of Pentecost, as we have shown in other studies.
29 And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.
This gives us the pattern of the glorified body that will be given to those who appear before the Father at the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. The Sons of God will be “born” on the first day of the feast. In the middle of the feast Christ will come as the Head to join the body of this New Creation Man. And then, because this New Man will then be complete, that corporate Man will be presented to the Father on the eighth day of Tabernacles.
That New Man will then descend to earth, even as Moses came down from the mount, with glorified bodies to do the work of bringing the rest of the people into the Promised Land by means of the Covenant of Miracles.
But this is not the end of the story. It is only the start of a new chapter in the progressive history of the Kingdom of God. Whereas many have been taught that the second coming of Christ will mark the end of men’s opportunity to be saved, the truth is precisely the opposite. This will mark the beginning of the greatest work of evangelism the world has ever seen.
The Veil over Moses’ Face
It is of special interest to us that the people were frightened by the glow upon Moses’ face. So Moses put a veil over his face while he talked to the people.
33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, 35 the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.
In other words, Moses put a veil over his face because of the people’s FEAR. Their love was not yet perfected, for perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). They were still in an Old Covenant mentality. The law still needed to be imposed upon them from the outside through some measure of fear, for the law was not yet written on their hearts. And this fear was the cause of the veil.
This has two primary meanings.
The first meaning is the obvious: the purpose of the veil was to hide the glory of God. The veil served the same purpose as the cloud upon the mount. The veil in the temple served to hide the glory of God in the Most Holy Place from the people.
This veil in the temple represented Jesus’ earthly body as well (Hebrews 10:20), which split apart when Jesus died on the cross.
But each of us is a picture of the temple of God, and we know that the presence of God indwells this flesh. It is presently hidden behind a veil of flesh, but it is still there. And so when Moses put a veil over his face to speak with the people, it speaks prophetically of that day when the Sons of God will be manifested. They will have to appear before men with the glory of God veiled in a body, much like Jesus when He appeared to men after His resurrection. He did such a good job hiding His glory that men did not immediately recognize Him.
So it will be in the fulfillment of Tabernacles. The Sons of God will return from the Mount of Transfiguration, but will be veiled when speaking to those yet living in the Old Covenant realm of fear.
A Different Perspective from Paul
The second purpose of the veil is discussed by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, where he speaks of the two covenants.
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, 13 and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away [i.e., the Old Covenant]. 14 But their minds were hardened[blinded]; for until this very day at the reading of the Old Covenant the same veil remained unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Though the veil was literally upon Moses face, its purpose was not to hinder Moses’ view, but to prevent the people from seeing the glory of God. They are the ones who were blinded by the veil—not Moses. As long as men remain under the Old Covenant, a veil is over their eyes. This veil is only removed in Christ. The solution is the New Covenant.
When we come into the New Covenant through Christ, then we can read Moses without looking at Him through a veil with partial blindness. Moses is not the problem, nor is the law which he transmitted from God to the people. The problem is the Old Covenant and its perspective. The problem is that love has not yet replaced fear in men’s relationship with God. The problem is that men still think that an external law imposed upon men through fear has the power to make men righteous before God. The problem is that men still think that a physical sword is the only way to subdue the earth under the feet of God.
This Old Covenant mentality prevents men from knowing the heart of God and the intent of the law which proceeds out of His mouth.
But we are today fortunate to be living in the end of the Pentecostal Age and the beginning of the Tabernacles Age. We are living in the time where these historic changes are ready to take place. We are living in the “third day” of Hosea 6:2, where God is about to raise the dead.
Meanwhile, He has used Pentecost to begin the process of removing the veil and opening our eyes to understand the law, the prophets, and the gospel. Today, He has begun to intensify this process by actually teaching us how to interpret the Law of Moses through the eyes of Christ. The second law is being unveiled. The “Deuteronomy” law is now being spoken, and God is calling people to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Tabernacles Church that He is now forming out of the Pentecostal realm.
Yet there remains a greater manifestation yet to come. There is coming a day when the Covenant of Miracles will hit the earth like an avalanche, making all the previous miracle ministries look like beginners.
Right now we are seeing the early stages of this new type of ministry work. We have been seeing the increase of this over a period of many years. Each new increase is brought about by new revelation of truth, whose purpose is to change our character and replace the heart of fear with the heart of Love.
I believe that history will reach a culmination point that will be a “flash point” like we have read about first in the days of Moses and then again in the New Testament. I have no reason to believe that it will be different in our day. The feast of Tabernacles is something we should already be living and experiencing, but at the appointed time it will be fulfilled on a historic level on a particular day that can be recorded in history.
When that day dawns, history will be changed, and God will begin to remove the veil from all nations (Is. 25:7). The veil can only be removed in Christ, Paul tells us, and so this indicates that the nations will begin to receive Christ in a new way not seen in the history of the world.
