Saturday, April 27, 2019

THE SECRET OF OUR LORD’S LOVE AND GLORY





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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