Annie
Scriptures Exodus 33:12-23; 34:6-7 John 17:1-4; 20-26 2 Corinthians 3:18 Ephesians 1:17-18; When Moses asked God who he should tell Pharaoh had sent him, God told him simply to say “I AM has sent me”. The simplicity of this stirred something in Moses that he couldn’t ignore, from within his soul, he longed to know this great and wonderful “I AM”? This yearning gave him the courage, later in this history, to cry out to God that God would show him His Glory. And there, in the cleft of a rock, God answered Moses’ prayer and Moses was transformed forever.
This is such a familiar part of Biblical history, it may seem unlikely that we could see anything new within it, yet, as always, there is fresh dew to refresh and inspire us when we seek with our hearts truly open.
What was it that Moses was granted, what was the essence of God’s glory that was revealed to him in that profound moment? God told him that He would cause His goodness to pass before him. There was no great fanfare, or bolts of lightning, this was not a fleeting experience, this was life changing. The Goodness of God is His Glory. As the story progresses, God meets again with Moses and declares: “6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin”.
This was the foreshadowing example of what Jesus prayed, speaking of His disciples and of us: “This is life eternal, that they might know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ who You sent.” The Glory Moses needed to know is the very Person, the nature, the characteristics of God Himself, and this is the Glory we need to know. Jesus continued in that prayer to say He had glorified God on earth, He had revealed the Father for all to see. And He was returning to the Father, to be glorified with the Glory they had shared since before time began.
It is the very holiness of God that encompasses His Grace, His Mercy, His Goodness and Truth, a Glory unlike any other found in our human frame, and our only hope of ever growing from glory to Glory, is to be transformed by Holy Spirit. By the precious Blood of the Lamb we can enter into the Holy of Holies, and we can, by the power of Holy Spirit, be filled with the Life of Christ. All of this then enables us to have the awe-inspiring privilege of seeing His Glory, and partaking in His Glory forever.
In Psalm 23, David recounts that Goodness and Mercy shall pursue us all the days of our lives. God in His Glory is constantly pursuing us, never ceasing to express His longing for us, not with great shows of power or magnificence, although He could so easily do this, but with personal, unique acts of Love that display His goodness, His mercy. Allowing us to glimpse His Glory.
Not long before His final hours, Jesus prayed, declaring that He had given His disciples the Glory given to Him from God. For three and a half years Jesus had displayed all the goodness, the mercy, the long-suffering of His Father as they walked and talked with Him. The Glory of God had lived among them, they had been alongside Him as He ministered, the Servant King overflowing with the Love of God that resulted in miracles, healings and deliverances, the Glory of God on earth, but His people rejected Him.
In His Holiness, God’s Glory is made manifest, through all the goodness and mercy that He is we will find a peace and a joy that will never fade, never diminish. May we always open the eyes of our hearts to see this amazing Glory that He is.
Prayer: Father God, in the words of Moses, show us Your Glory, reveal Yourself to us as we humbly, in total awe and reverence bow before You, knowing how much Your Goodness and Mercy will never let us go. In Jesus mighty name, we pray. Amen
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