Glory...

It is said that the Old Testament is Jesus concealed and the New Testament is Jesus revealed. Either way, Old and New, it is Jesus. Wherever we look He is there.

Moses was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh and taught the ways of Egypt and when he was called to lead he tried to do it in his own strength. The result was that he found himself in the desert and he was there for forty years. Why was he there for forty years? Because it took forty years for him to be turned aside; it took forty years for him to be turned aside by the burning bush, the bush that burnt but was not consumed. [Exodus 3: 2 – 4] The bush that burnt but was not consumed, what is that?  Jesus endured the fire of the wrath of God against our sin even to death but He was not consumed. He bore it even to death and He rose again. Jesus was forty days in the wilderness in Luke 4 and at the end ‘He became hungry.’ [Luke 4: 2] For Moses it took forty years for the hunger to come and for him to be turned aside by the burning bush. It took a long time for Moses.

I think it is obvious that the leadership call upon Moses came much earlier than the call that he received from the Lord in the burning bush. Moses knew the burn of his call (it revealed itself as his zeal took the life of the Egyptian [Exodus 2: 11 – 12]) but as he pursued it in his own strength it very nearly consumed him and he ended up in the Midian desert for forty years. Finally, he was turned aside from himself to see the ‘marvelous sight’ of the burning bush which was not consumed. Here was a power other than himself and it took Moses forty years to see it. It sometimes takes us a long time to turn aside. But turn aside we must.

If you then come to Exodus 33 we find Moses outside the camp. He took his tent and he pitched it outside the camp, ‘a good distance from the camp.’ This was where he met with God. He called it the ‘tent of meeting.’ If anyone wanted to ‘meet’ God they must go outside the camp to the tent of meeting. Having turned aside to the burning bush that is not consumed it is then necessary that we go outside the camp. This is the ‘let us go over to the other side’ of Mark 4: 35. The meeting place with God was outside the camp. Do not forget that Hebrews 13: 12 – 13 says, ‘Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.’ There He is again, Jesus, our meeting place, outside the camp. Whenever Moses went to the tent of meeting outside the camp the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses and ‘the Lord used to speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.’ [Exodus 33: 11] The Lord is willing to speak if we are willing to go outside the camp to meet with Him, and He will speak to us face to face. Hold that glorious thought.

Yesterday, in my Facebook post, I shared a scripture from Exodus 33: 12 – 23.  Think of all that Moses had seen. He had seen the mighty hand of God and yet he is asking the Lord to show him His ways and that he might see the glory of the Lord. The Lord says that you can’t see My face and live but He says to Moses to come stand ‘in a place by Me’ on the rock. And as God passed by Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock and he was covered with the hand of God. There He is again – Jesus, our Rock; Jesus, the Hand of God who covers us and in whom we can declare in truth that we are the righteousness of God. [2 Corinthians 5: 21]. Moses was to stand on the rock which, God said, was ‘in a place by Me.’ [Exodus 33: 21] God passed by and Moses saw His back only. Moses could only see His back and yet he came down so aglow with glory that the people could not look upon him. He covered his face; why? So the people could not see the glory passing away, for it was passing to give way to a greater glory.

There is so much to receive here and I can only touch it.

Let me ask us some questions.

Do you desire to see the glory of the Lord? Do you desire His ways? I desire these things without doubt! We must turn aside to the Burning Bush that is not consumed. We must go outside the camp to the Meeting Place with God. We must stand on the Rock. He will hide us in the cleft of the Rock. He will show us His ways and He will show us His glory.

Now the Bible is clear that a greater than Moses is here. Moses was only able to see the back of the Lord, but what of you and I? Can we only see His back? Is our view of His glory just His back? I learnt from my pastor, John Woolhouse at Dorrigo Life Springs Church, just last weekend that the word in the Hebrew for ‘presence’ is the same word as for ‘face.’ There is no separate Hebrew word for presence and so the presence of the Lord is to see His face.  My goodness!  Our advantage is that whereas Moses had Christ concealed we have Christ revealed. (I hope I am making sense!)

More questions. What is His glory? A friend asked me that question this very morning. Wow! What a question! I feel that it is impossible to declare and even after eternity has run its course (which is impossible) we will still be amazed at His glory. The only description I have is the four living creatures of Revelation 1 who declare’ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty’ perpetually for all eternity. Each time they look up they see more glory, more revelation of Him, more, and more, and more for all eternity. That is His glory, so how can I describe it? But it is a good question, despite the difficulty of the answer. For Moses it could be suggested that the glory of the Lord was His goodness and His name because as the Lord passed by he saw the back of God and He revealed to him ‘all His goodness’ and He proclaimed ‘His name.’ But for us is His glory limited (if that could be described as limit!) to His goodness or does God want us to see more?

Another question.  Is it possible for us to see His face? Well, certainly it isn’t possible to see His face and live, God’s word never changes! So, then it must be possible to see His face if we die. In Christ, and it is declared in our baptism, we died and we no longer live to ourselves but Christ lives in us. [Galatians 2: 20] So to see His glory we must die. I do not speak of physical death, although if we die in Christ we will certainly see His glory! But I speak of death to ourselves. Someone said to me recently that ‘it is hard to receive Jesus 100%; what do I think?’ My response was that it isn’t hard to receive Jesus 100% (because He is more than willing to reveal Himself, by His Spirit) but it is hard for us to die 100%. So are we to work hard at dying 100%? No. It is pointless because the harder you try the more of you rises. What did the Lord say to Moses in Exodus 33? He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ [Exodus 33: 14] Wow! Glory is to see His face and His presence went with Moses, so how much more for us? And for Moses it wasn’t in his striving to die but more in his resting to receive.

So what do we see when we see His glory? What does He want to show us of His glory? Yes, we see His glory in His goodness as He calms our storms. [Mark 4: 39 – 41] We see His glory in His greatness as He brings liberty from the legion of enemies that seek to bring us into bondage. [Mark 5: 15] But He wants us to see His face. His face, His presence, this is His glory. There He is again - Jesus, the revealed face of God declaring His glory. Read on with me. Certainly His character and His nature as described in Galatians 5: 22 – 23 are glorious and are a declaration of Hisglory but these things are fruit of the Spirit, they are fall-out of us seeing His glory. And as we see His face, His presence, they are by-products that we cannot contain as we fix our eyes on Him. But, how can we see His face and live? We must die to ourselves and live to Him.

Listen to this. ‘For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I am fully known.’ [1 Corinthians 13: 12] We are fully known but it is also possible to fully know. Many would say this is only a heavenly experience but I disagree. The Lord wants us to see His glory and I want to see it. It is in His face, His presence – same word. As a child we seek our own way and we live on milk but when we feed on meat [Hebrews 5: 13 – 14] then the veil is lifted and our dim view becomes a face to face view and face to face then I will fully know. If you read 2 Corinthians 3 carefully you will see clearly the veil, it is the Law. What is revealed when the veil is lifted? Grace. Read on in 1 Corinthians 13 and you will see the glory of His face to face presence. Listen. ‘But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.’ [1 Corinthians 13: 13] Hear this also, ‘After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.’ [1 Peter 5: 10] It is His grace, His love that calls us to perfection and strength, in His grace are we confirmed and established. Why? Because we are sons.

We have a Father. He wants to be our Dad. He wants us to see His glory. It is His love. He wants us to pitch our tent there. Pitched there we will lack for nothing. In fact pitched there we will have five times more than our brethren. But that isn’t the point either. There we see His Love. That is the point. He wants us to live in His glory, His glory is His LOVE.

How can we perceive the magnitude of living in this place but as we see His face can even logic say that there is any limit? Does lack live in the face of God? No way! I don’t know what to say now. Maybe the Lord will show more another day but for me now I must just get up and move forward into His Love, move forward into His presence, move forward into His call and move forward into His provision. Obviously His greatest Love expression is Love, the person, Jesus Christ spared not and in Him how is it conceivable that with Him freely given all things could not be ours? [Romans 8: 32] But even that, for me, is not the point. I just want to see His glory and to walk in His ways. To see His glory is to walk in His ways. Walking in His ways suggests something I do but totally absorbed by His glory the walk is guaranteed.

For me, for my family, for WTL and the families of WTL it is time to stand up and walk in His glory, His LOVE for us. This is the key that opens the lock.

If you are reading this it is no different for you.

Have a great day.