Our Lord had hidden the extent of His love. First, He had
hidden His Messiah:
·
“He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the
shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid
me away.” (Isaiah 49:2; 51:16)
God also hid His Gospel, even if in plain sight. There was
one object that any Israelite could not look upon without being struck dead. It
was located in the Holy of Holies. It could only be approached once a year, on
the Day of Atonement and only by the High Priest, who could only enter after he
had made elaborate preparations. This object was overshadowed by the
outstretched wings of two Cherubim lest it be seen. When the High Priest
entered, he could only do so with billows of smoke, lest he see this object (Leviticus
16).
Nevertheless, this is where he would go to receive the mercy
of God. It was therefore called the “mercy seat” or the “atonement cover,” just
the cover over the Ark containing the Ten Commandments. But this was the
mysterious place where the High Priest would go to receive mercy for His nation
Israel.
There was one other Thing that could not be seen. It too was
shielded by the threat of death. No one could look upon the Face of God and
live.
After Moses had disappeared for 40 days on Mt, Sinai, the
Israelites had constructed a Golden Calf to worship, resulting in God’s first judgment
against Israel. Thousands of Israelites died, and Moses was devastated:
·
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he [God]
said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you
my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face,
for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a
place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I
will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I
have passed 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)
God provided a minimal disclosure of His glory, but Moses
was satisfied. Why could God’s face not be seen? The face revealed more clearly
than any other body part the character and intentions. Therefore, we often wear
a psychological mask so others will not be able to see the “real me.” Of
course, God the Father doesn’t have a face or a body. Instead, He was disclosing
that He had priceless secrets that had to remain hidden at all costs.
What is His glory? Jesus revealed the glory that had
been hidden for millennia:
·
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John
12:23–24)
Surprisingly, Jesus’ glory was to be seen in His humiliation
and death, not in His creation of the world or even the establishment of His Everlasting
Kingdom. Instead, it was His death which had proved His love for us more
clearly that anything else could. More than in His omniscience or omnipotence,
our Lord wants us to grasp His love for us, a love that transcends all of our
puny understanding!
I “believed” in God’s love but believing came with great
difficulty. I had been suffering beyond anything words could describe. Consequently,
I couldn’t shake the doubt that God might be the greatest deceiver who enjoyed watching
our suffering. What else could account for my suffering!
Then He revealed to me that He had demonstrated His love for
us by dying for our sins. It became clear that a sadistic deceiver would never
have done this for me – only the God of love! Thank you, Lord!
But why had God hidden the extent of His love? There
are many reasons for this. For one thing, God had to keep His plan secret to
prevent His enemies from interfering:
·
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, I think that Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ disclosure reflects
the weightiest reason. Peter was unwilling to receive Jesus’ revelation. It was
the first and only time that Peter had rebuked his Master. After He
acknowledged to them that He is the promised Messiah:
·
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This
shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me,
Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the
things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21–23)
They had little appreciation of Jesus’ mission and love.
Therefore, they were appalled by His disclosure – the heart of God’s plan, the
demonstration of the extent of His love for us unworthy sinners. No wonder,
Jesus had revealed to His Apostles:
·
“I still have many things to say to you, but you
cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into
all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he
hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He
will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John
16:12–14)
If Jesus’ Apostles were unable to receive what Jesus had wanted
to reveal to them about Himself, we are left to wonder, “What are we now
failing to comprehend?” Paul tells us that the love of God is so vast that we
cannot comprehend it, but we must. He therefore prayed that we:
·
may have strength to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18–19)
To know the love of God is to be filled with His fullness.
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