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.

God with Skin On

A little girl was told to go upstairs to bed during a rain storm. The wind howled against a tree branch so it scraped against the little girl’s bedroom window. Soon thunder and lightning rocked the house. The little girl jumped from her bed and ran to the top of the stairs.

Mother heard her daughter’s feet on the wooden floor and chided, “Sally, you’re supposed to be in bed.” 

Sally’s tiny voice echoed down the staircase, “But Mommy, I’m scared.” 

Remembering her own childhood fears during storms, Mother mustered all her gentleness and compassion possible. “Honey, you’ll be safe. Remember that Jesus is with you.”

There was a short pause before the tiny voice replied, “I know. But Mommy, I want someone with skin on.”

The Bible teaches that Jesus came into this world from eternity. He stepped forth from ivory palaces to be “someone with skin on”, or as the Bible describes Him, Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He came to physically reveal God the Father, who is spirit (John 4:24), since we mortals have a hard time understanding and accepting what we cannot see, taste, hear, smell, and touch.

If you want to know what the invisible God is like, you must look to Jesus.

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