Seeing the Glory of God

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Moses pulverized the golden calf and returned to Sinai to once again receive the 10 Commandments (Exodus 34). On Sinai the Lord passed before Moses, proclaiming His holy character. When Moses descended, he didn’t find Israel frolicking like pagans, but a nation terrified of him.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai … Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him … and they were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-30). And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face (Exodus 34:33). This happened whenever God spoke face to face with Moses with one catch. The glory on Moses’ face dimmed until he met again with God (2 Corinthians 3:7, 13).

Fourteen hundred years later, Jesus stood on Mount Tabor in Israel with three of His apostles. There, the disciples saw the face of the King of Glory, veiled in human flesh, shine like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2). This was a foretaste of what the world will witness when Jesus returns at His Second Coming (Matthew 16:27-28).

This same glory experienced temporarily by Moses, and embodied in the Son of God from eternity, is the future of every child of God. In the chain of salvation Paul said, Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:30). This glory of grace bestowed upon the believer, awaits each of us, yet is experienced by us daily in veiled form. We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God’s glory on Moses created fear in Israel. Seeing Jesus transfigured caused great fear in the disciples (Mark 9:6). I dare say if we saw the glory of God as He sanctifies us from day-to-day, we’d be tempted to worship one another, thus God hides it from us except in His Word on the face of Jesus Christ.

My Soul is Filled with Glory – JM Harris (1905)

Jesus found me when afar I wandered,
Brought me pardon from the throne above,
Gave me peace that passeth understanding,
Joy unspeakable and full of love.
Praise the Lord! My soul is filled with glory!
Praise the Lord! I love to tell the story
Of His grace that justifies me freely,
And I’m shouting, Glory! till I get home.

Thro’ His Word He taught me full salvation—
How His blood could cleanse and sanctify.
Then by faith I plunged into the fountain;
Now I’m looking for that home on high.
Praise the Lord! My soul is filled with glory!
Praise the Lord! I love to tell the story
Of His grace that sanctifies me wholly,
And I’m shouting, Glory! till I get home.

Trials many will beset my pathway,
And temptations I shall surely meet;
But my Savior promised grace to help me
Till I lay my trophies at His feet.
Praise the Lord! My soul is filled with glory!
Praise the Lord! I love to tell the story
Of His grace that keeps and gives me vict’ry,
And I’m shouting, Glory! till I get home.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Lifting the Veil on Sanctification

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Exodus 32-34 details Moses’ response to Israel’s worship of the golden calf. In their false worship, Israel broke the Ten Commandments they’d twice previously agreed to obey. In his anger at their sin, Moses slammed the two tablets of stone to the ground, illustrating Israel’s disobedience.

One result of Israel’s sin was God’s refusal to dwell in the midst of His people. Instead He’d remain far off (Exodus 33:7). Sin separated God and man.

From outside the camp, Moses would enter the tabernacle of meeting to hear from God and then bring God’s message to the people. Moses became the mediator between God and man.

Whenever Moses met with God, his face shone like a lamp, reflecting the majesty and glory of God. The glow terrified the people because it revealed God’s perfect holiness and the darkness of their sin-corrupted hearts. After delivering God’s word, Moses would veil his face – not to hide the glory of God – but to hide the fact that the glory quickly faded from his own face (Exodus 34:30; 2 Corinthians 3:13). Moses’ veil protected the people from God’s judgment but also kept them from being transformed by God’s glory.

In Second Corinthians 3, Paul uses the shining face of Moses as an illustration. Many people only see the Bible as a series of stories, God’s wrath, commandments impossible to comprehend or comply with, and difficult sayings. Sin veils the heart from seeing Jesus in Scripture, the primary reason Scripture exists!

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:16). When we follow where the Scripture leads – which is always to Jesus – we see Him in all His glory and can’t but help to love, adore, obey, and worship Him alone.

Now we all, we who trust in Jesus by faith, have the veil of separation removed and we find ourselves looking in a mirror. The shadows are replaced by a crystal clear revelation of Jesus. As we lovingly gaze at His image revealed in Scripture, something remarkable happens to us: the Bible becomes ever clearer and we find our own image being transformed bit by bit, from glory to glory, into Christ’s moral likeness and character. This is sanctification!

Changed by God’s Grace

Biblical history records that when the ark was completed, God entered first. He didn’t command Noah to “Go into” the ark, but called the man and his family to Come into the ark (Genesis 7:1) where God was already waiting. God never sends His people into a place He has not already prepared and waits.

We’ve all seen the cartoon pictures of Noah standing outside the ark watching the animals go in two by two. The Bible, however, says that after Noah entered the ark the animals went in to join him (Genesis 7:8-9, 15). This work of salvation was not by Noah’s effort or oversight; God was fully in control as Saviour of His creation.

On the very day the last animal entered the ark, the rains began to fall for 40 days and 40 nights. The water falling from the sky was joined by water coming up from within the earth (Genesis 7:11-12). Noah, his family, and representatives of the land animals were in the ark 370 days before the ground was dry.

During that year inside the ark, how was it that life didn’t erupt into utter chaos? What kept Noah’s family from bickering, the dogs from chasing the cats, the goats from butting Mrs Noah, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex from stepping on the mice? All those aboard the ark were changed.

The change in nature of those saved within the ark wasn’t by works of self-effort, the exercise of will-power, or attempted obedience to rules and regulations. Changed behavior wasn’t the result of engaging in religious rituals or Noah’s pleading and preaching. There wasn’t a bit of outward compulsion, threat, or bribery. Each of the creatures God called to Himself in salvation were changed by the power of God at work within them according to His grace, eternal purpose, and absolute power.

God was at work conforming each of those He saved to His will – sanctifying them, if you will. What makes you think He’s not the One at work changing you by the very same means? If you have been born again, He is actively transforming you by the power of His Spirit according to His grace alone.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).