We are not very interested in the glory of God. Instead, we
are desperate to know and experience the love of God. This had been my story
for many years as a Christian, who failed to see the connection between His love
and His glory.
Moses had sought the glory of God during a time of great
disappointment. He had just spent 40 days with God on Mt. Sinai where he had
received the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, down below, Israel had made the
Golden Calf and were partying. As a result, for the first time God’s anger
broke out against Israel, and many died of a plague.
Consequently, Moses requested to see God’s glory. God’s
answer was probably not what Moses had expected:
·
And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then
He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the
name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You
cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the LORD said,
“Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while
My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will
cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall
see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23 NKJV)
God agreed but would demonstrate His glory in the form of a
proclamation, a verbal revelation of His Personhood, His mercy and
righteousness. Instead of a visual display of His glory with lightning and
thunder, God disclosed Himself to
Moses. However, He warned Moses that He would not reveal everything, namely His
face, which reflects more about the person than does the backside
However, “face” shouldn’t be taken literally. Instead, God
is a Spirit who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). He is
omnipresence; the entire universe cannot contain Him as King Solomon has
revealed.
Moses proceeded up to Mt. Sinai by himself, where he would
be blessed with a revelation of God’s mercy and His righteousness:
·
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with
him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and
proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children
and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." And
Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. (Exodus 34:5-8 ESV)
He revealed that His mercy took first place, “abounding in
steadfast love and faithfulness,” but “slow to anger;” extending His love to
“thousands,” while visiting the sins of the parents upon the next three or four
generations. His love is abundant, while His anger is only temporary.
By the time that Moses had descended from the mountain, his
face shone brightly because of the Word of the Lord (Exodus 34:29).
Nevertheless, Moses had only received a very partial revelation, only the backside
of God. Nevertheless, the sight of God’s “backside” had satisfied Moses, and he
worshipped God.
What would His face have revealed? Something that Israel was
not ready to see. It was hidden away at the threat of death! Why death? This
question finds its answer in one other object concealed within the Holy of
Holies that also carried the threat of death to anyone who would look upon it.
This object would shine light upon the “Face” of God.
It was obscured by the massive wings of two cherubim who
were mounted above it. The Holy of Holies could be entered only once a year and
only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Even he was warned
that if he looked upon this object, he would die. Therefore, he had to enter
with great billows of smoke lest he would be struck dead by inadvertently
seeing this object.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Ark of the Covenant, its
contents (including the Ten Commandments), or the Law, which brought death
(Galatians 3:10-12; Matthew 5:21-22). Instead, the forbidden object covered the Ark and its contents – the
“Mercy Seat,” also called the “Atonement Cover” (Romans 3:25), the object that
symbolized life and mercy (Leviticus 16:13), the great and carefully guarded
mystery of our Savior!
How are we to understand this great mystery? I think that
the account of Joseph hiding his identity from his brothers sheds light on this
mystery. Joseph too had concealed himself from his brothers when they came to
buy grain in Egypt during the famine. Perhaps 27 years had transpired since his
brothers had sold Joseph as a slave into Egypt. However, because of the grace
of God, the Pharaoh had made Joseph the administrator over all Egypt and their
life-sustaining grain, which Joseph had carefully stored for the seven years of
famine.
Attired as Joseph was, the brothers did not recognize him. Nor
did he converse with them in Hebrew. Meanwhile, he made them submit to painful
tests over the next years. Finally, when he was convinced that they had passed
his tests by demonstrating that they had become men of character, Joseph broke
down and could no longer conceal his true identity:
·
Then Joseph could not restrain himself before
all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Make everyone go out from
me!" So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his
brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard
it. (Genesis 45:1-2)
Joseph had understood that he could only reveal Himself if
such a revelation would benefit all of the parties. His brothers had to be
ready to receive Joseph’s self-disclosure. Jesus’ mission had also been
concealed. It was only at the end that He began to reveal it more fully:
·
But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour
has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but
if it dies, it produces much grain. (John 12:23-24; 13:31-32)
What glory had our Lord been hiding for millennia? He was
the grain of wheat! He loved us so much that He would die the most horrid and
humiliating death to prove His love for us, even while we were still His
enemies. This was the moment of His glory, the very thing that had been hidden
for millennia until the fullness of time.
Why would He conceal the centerpiece of His glory? There are
many reasons for this. For one thing, the Crucifixion had to be hidden from the
rulers of darkness:
·
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God,
which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age
understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7-8)
However, there were even more important reasons for God’s
Secret. The Law had to precede God’s grace. We need to first be humbled by our moral
failures exposed by the Law (Romans 3:19-20) before we can see the surpassing
beauty of the Cross rather than its horror. It is only in our destitution that
the Cross shines as a glorious light.
Had Joseph returned for his family in the Promised Land
before the great famine, the brothers might again have scorned him. What he
might have offered them would have had little appeal. A life in Egypt?
Submission to their hated brother? However, the more clearly we come to
perceive our damnable status, the more beautiful the Cross!
Jesus had come to an Israel broken by years of Roman
oppression and poverty, to an Israel hungering for a savior.
Besides, God had to first convince Israel of their deserved
condemnation before they would ever be able to receive His all-surpassing mercy,
a love that we still cannot fathom. Therefore, Paul prayed that Jesus’ people
would know
·
…the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that
you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
How could our Lord disclose such love before it could be
appreciated? Nevertheless, He did grant a glimpse of His mercy to those who
were ready to appreciate it:
·
What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall
he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his
seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with them that fear
him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalm 25:12-14 KJV)
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