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.

If God Did It in the Bible He’ll Do it Today

Me talking to a donkey, but the donkey didn’t talk back (2015)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

You’ve heard the preacher insist that if God did it in the Bible we must expect God to do it again today. If God worked miracles in the days of Elijah and Elisha, we should live with the same miracles taking place now.

The Bible tells about a false prophet named Balaam who thought he could manipulate God into doing what he wanted. God warned Balaam that He is sovereign and the unchanging God can’t be changed by man’s maneuvers. He caused Balaam’s steady and trustworthy donkey to rebuke him (Numbers 22).

Just because God performed a miracle in the Bible doesn’t mean we should expect or demand He repeat the same miracle today. I’m still waiting for false preachers to say we must expect serpents and donkeys to have conversations with us too!

The context of Hebrews 13:8 is not that we should walk on water, raise the dead from their coffins, or cast out demons. The context is that of daily Christ-like living. The truth of Jesus being the same throughout time and eternity can be applied in three beautiful and practical ways.

First, Jesus is still saving sin-wrecked sinners. He was blasphemed, beaten, and brought to a cross for a brutal death so that by faith in Him, our sins might be forgiven and we be reconciled to a holy God.

Second, just as He is unchanging in His redemptive ministry, Christ’s commands for living the Christian life are unchanged no matter how the world around us changes. For example, both His commands are valid: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28) and If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Matthew 16:24).

Third, God doesn’t change, but times do. Still, the daily Christian experience isn’t one of miracle-working, jaw-dropping, head-exploding power. It’s the steady internal daily power of the Spirit through the Scriptures changing the saint from glory to glory, living a life of ever-increasing Christlikeness that honors Him.

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).

What is a Christian?

Kimberly Mathembe

And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26).

My friend and brother from another mother became a father for the third time almost a year ago. When Isaac and Tabitha found out they were pregnant, they decided to name the baby after either myself or my wife Kimberly, a name rarely heard of in Kenya.

And so little Kimberly Mathembe was born last May.

It is a great honor to have someone named after you. It signifies a bond between the two people of the same name and even between two families. That bond endures as long as the name continues. It is my hope and desire that little Kimberly will grow to be a godly woman like her namesake.

Christians are so named, not because they were raised going to church or believe in God. The name Christian literally means one who is like Christ. A Christian, then, is one who is like Jesus.

The Bible records that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians in the city of Antioch in present-day Turkey, as a term of ridicule. Soon after, believers gladly took the name as a symbol of being persecuted and martyred like Jesus.

What does it mean to be a Christian, but to follow after Jesus and be made day-by-day more in His likeness.

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).