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GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
June 30, 2001 RADIO MESSAGE #378
Christ in Exodus #71
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I. Moses was not content with even the extra-ordinary manifestations of God's glory he had already witnessed. He had witnessed the very singular manifestation of God's glory when "the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from midst of a bush" (Exodus 3:2ff). He had further beheld the glory of God when "the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai" and "called Moses to the top of the mountain" (Exodus 19:20). He had further beheld the glory of God when "the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). Moses by this time had beheld God's glory to a degree experienced by no one else since Adam before the fall. But he still was not content! He therefore prayed, "Please show me Your glory."
Moses in this regard exemplifies all the saints. The more they hear and see and know of God's glory, the more they desire to hear and see and know of it. But they realize that the full manifestation of His glory will never be viewed in this life, and that it is reserved for the beatific vision in heaven. Each of them therefore prays, "As the hart pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:1f). Each of them concludes, "I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness", when "I will see Your face in righteousness" (Psalm 17:15; cp. 15:11). Each of them therefore longs for the day when "[God] is revealed" and "we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2) - when they shall see Him "face to face" and "know just as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
II. God revealed His glory to Moses in a two-fold manner.
1. God revealed to a very limited degree His essential glory, that which pertains to His existence. This glory is compared to the "unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:16). The full view of it would slay the mortal beholder, for God says of it, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live" (33:20; cp. Judges 13:22). But God graciously placed Moses in a cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand while He passed by, and then permitted Moses to behold His afterglow or a reflection of His glory (vv.21-23).
2. God revealed to a far greater degree His ethical glory, that which pertains to His character. This glory is revealed in God's goodness, and His goodness is manifested in His holy name and sovereign grace (33:19). He is in these identified as "The LORD [Jehovah, "The Self-Existent One"; see 3:13-15], the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation" (34:6f).God likewise reveals His glory to all His saints in this same two-fold manner.
1. To a very limited degree, He reveals His essential glory, that which pertains to His existence, in the creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ..." (Psalm 19:1-6). The creation is therefore a universal reflection of God's essential glory and a declaration of His existence.2. To a far greater degree, He reveals His ethical glory, that which pertains to His character, in the preaching of the gospel. The heart of the gospel is the glorious declaration "Behold your God!" (Isaiah 40:9). Behold His absolute goodness to those who trust in Him for salvation (Psalm 34:8): "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" (cp. Nahum 1:7). Behold His holy name through which sinners are saved (Romans 10:13): "For whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved" (cp. Acts 2:21). Behold His sovereign grace in saving whom He will (Romans 9:13-21): "As it is written, 'Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.' ... Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. ... Does not the potter have power over the clay ...?" Behold Christ! (2 Corinthians 4:6): "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of 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."
(To be continued.)