By Philip L. Powell
As we saw in my previous article Please God Make Your Goodness Pass Before Us (CETF # 50 December 2009 pp 9-12) the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:18 evoked a response from God which evidences much about the character and nature of both the PRAY-ER and the GOD to whom he prayed. But there were restrictions.
To Moses, in the Old Testament, in His prelude to the more complete answer, God said:
You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live - Exodus 33:20.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the New Testament, it is recorded:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him – John 1:18 (NKJV).
In my On-Line Bible rendition of the above verse, immediately after “only begotten Son”, and in parenthesis, we read “{NU-Text reads only begotten God}.” The bracketed quote raises a moot point in respect of Christ's deity, for logical interpretation brings you to the same conclusion irrespective of the manuscript source. If Jesus were a mere man then He could not dwell in the “bosom of the Father”, seeing no man can look on God and live, nor could He fully declare God the Father.
The fact is He was more than a man. He was “God manifest in the flesh” (1st Timothy 3:16) in whom “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In my view the NU-Text is suspect in that the rendering “only begotten God” reflects upon Christ's absolute humanity. He was fully man but He was not a mere man. He was“Emmanuel – God with us” (Matthew 1:23) – “God manifest in the flesh!” The doctrine of the deity of Christ is the only basis on which you can reconcile the Old and New Testaments. Christ saw what no mere man could ever see! He saw GOD. He saw much more than Moses could see and so He can “declare” all that there is to declare of and in God.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. - Hebrews 1:1-4.
You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.'Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people – Exodus 33:12-13.
It is always the presence of God among His people that makes the difference. God's response to Moses was:
“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he {MOSES} said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."
It seems clear that this dialogue between God and Moses occurred in The Tent of Meeting also known as The Tabernacle which was temporarily positioned at the foot of Mt Sinai, outside the camp. This foreshadowed The Tabernacle in the Wilderness the detailed construction of which had been given to Moses, in Exodus chapters 25 to 31, during his first 40 days sojourn in the Mountain , but obviously Hebrews 1:1-4. carried out afterwards. It took almost six weeks to communicate the detailed instructions regarding the Tabernacle and its furniture and the selection, clothing and anointing of the High Priest and his associate priests, plus the first writing of the “law” on the two tablets of stone. All of this appears to have taken place during the fifth ascent of Moses into the Mountain, after which Moses returned to the camp only to discover the people's idolatry and rebellion. In anger he smashed the two stone tablets on the mountainside, burned and ground the golden calf to powder, scattered it into the water and forced the people to drink it. They literally drank the fruit of their sin. Then Moses called for the Levites to execute the vengeance of God on Israel so that about 3,000 people were killed by the sword. After this Moses ascended the Mountain again, probably for the sixth time. It was of short duration.
Exodus chapter 32 verse 31 to chapter 33 verse 8:
Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.' And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.'" So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
Then in Exodus 34:1-10 we read:
And the LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout the entire mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, 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." So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. Then he said, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance." And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. …”
Verses 27 to 29:
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
How do you read that – “while he (Moses) talked with Him (God)” OR “while He (God) talked with him (Moses)”? It's a moot point, for clearly it was a dialogue and during that dialogue something happened that was reflected in the countenance of Moses—his face SHONE.
In comparison and in contrast, of our Lord Jesus Christ, we read in Luke 9:28-31:
Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
In the case of Moses it was only his face that shone. In the case of the far greater than Moses His whole person and clothing radiated the brightness of God's Glory. Matthew says:
He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light - Matthew 17:2.
G. Campbell Morgan, who was often called “the prince of preachers”, makes the point that each of the Gospel narrators expresses what occurred slightly differently. Dr. G C Morgan writes:
Matthew describes the change that passed over Him as one of light – “His face did shine as the sun and His garments became white as the light.” (Matt 17:2). Mark gives the impression of snow: “His garments became glistering, exceeding white.” The word “glistering” suggests the sparkling of snow as light falls upon it. Luke writes, “His raiment became white and dazzling ” , the word “dazzling ” suggesting the blinding light of the lightning's flash.
That which is common to all the descriptions is the thought of whiteness and light. “White as light”, says Matthew. “White as snow glistering in the light” is Mark's utterance. Not as light merely, not even as snow glistering upon the mountain heights, but as lightning flashing forth in glory, dazzling in it brilliancy, is Luke's account.
The one fact of white light is here declared in threefold statement—the beneficence of light, the purity of snow, the majesty of lightning. With what overwhelming awe must these men have looked upon their Master!
In the prologue of his Gospel (John 1:1-18), which can be summarised as being a statement to the effect that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the “logos” or expression of God, who was eternally with God, as Creator and as God, who became flesh and resided as a man among mankind, “full of grace and truth”, John writes, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” The glory that they saw was effectively the Glory of God as verse 18 implies:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
The Greek “kolpos” translated “bosom” in most English renderings (Strong 2859) appears six times in the New Testament and is employed by Luke four times—three in his gospel (6:38; 16:22 & 23) and once in Acts (27:39)—and by John twice (1:18 & 13:23). It contains the ideas of intimacy, protection and safety. John the beloved disciple “was leaning on Jesus' bosom” (John 13:23). The beggar of Luke 16 was safe and protected in Abraham's “bosom” in the after-life (Luke 16:22 & 23). The peril at sea described in Acts 27 was averted when the seafarers found a certain “kolpos” rendered “creek” (KJV) or “bay” (NKJV) in verse 39. The Greek “kolpos” is defined as:
1) the front of the body between the arms; or 2) the bosom of a garment, i.e. the hollow formed by the upper forepart of a rather loose garment bound by a girdle or sash, used for keeping and carrying things (the fold or pocket); or 3) a bay of the sea.
Jesus who dwelt in the “bosom of the Father” in His incarnate state and who now “dwells in the bosom of the Father” in His ascended state, when He was here upon earth “declared” or “set forth, revealed, manifested” His glory which was in reality the Glory of God. John says, “We beheld His glory". When and where did John and his fellow disciples behold the glory of Christ, which was as we have seen nothing less than the glory of God?
Obviously it was supremely set-forth in what we know as the Transfiguration of Christ. The word rendered “transfigured” (Strong 3339 “metamorphoo”) suggests the idea of a metamorphosis taking place, as when a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly – a creature of the earth becomes a creature of the air, a thing of rare beauty. In transfiguration Christ's appearance was changed, becoming resplendent with divine brightness. It was not an external light reflected and in this it differed from the glory that shone from Moses. With Christ it was something internal that was bursting forth. Christ was seen in who and what He truly was and is— LORD please Show us your Glory.
The answer to our question, “When and where did John and his fellow disciples behold the glory of God?” involves a deep study of the earthly life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can but trace the high lights in the space allotted.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and His disciples believed on Him -John 2:11.
Our English language employs three distinct and different words to describe the mighty works that Jesus performed while He was upon earth. These are brought together by Peter in his marvellous sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs …
The word rendered “miracles” is the Greek “dunamis”, which embodies the idea of power in the sense of energy. Christ promised “dunamis” to His followers to do the work of the Gospel and the will of God upon earth (Acts 1:8). The Greek “teras” here in Acts 2:22 rendered “wonders” is somewhat obscure. It appears 16 times in the New Testament and is always translated “wonder(s)” in the King James Version, which is probably the best English word to describe the impact that Christ's mighty works made upon those who witnessed them. They were filled with awe and “wondered”, as for example we read in Matthew 8:27:
But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!
The word rendered “signs” in Acts 2:22, when used in this way is more frequently translated “miracle”, but a sign is more than a miracle. The Greek “semeion” (STRONG 4592) signifies a “sign, mark or token”—a “portent”. It is used in John 2:11 and translated to “sign” in the New King James and several other versions. A miracle is a display of supernatural power so that the end result is different from what it would otherwise have been. It is the touch of God. A sign miracle is a miracle in itself but it “signifies” something beyond itself. In the case of Christ it points to His true identity as well as illustrating some great spiritual truth. All six “physical” miracles performed by Christ and recounted by John were in truth “sign miracles” for John's great theme is the deity or true divinity of Jesus, the Christ.
The first of them presents Jesus of Nazareth in His creative role and links with His great claim later in John's Gospel – “I am the true Vine" (John 15). A vine absorbs the water and nutrients from the soil and turns it into wine. Christ simply sped up the process and produced something better than any wine had ever tasted before.
This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him -John 2:11.
Of the last of His miracles, before His own death and resurrection, which was the greatest of them all our Lord Jesus Christ said:
This sickness is not fatal, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it – John 11:4.
Miracles do not in and of themselves prove deity. Moses, Elijah and Elisha all performed mighty miracles, but none of these claimed to be the source of any of the miracles they performed. In the case of the raising of Lazarus recorded in John chapter 11 we read one of the most amazing claims ever made by anyone. It's contained in the interview Jesus had with Martha:
Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die – John 11:23-26.
The second miracle recounted by John, that of the healing of the man at Bethesda demonstrates the deity of Christ as the God of the fourth commandment. He is Lord of the Sabbath and of every crippling and damning disease that the devil imposes upon human kind. While medical science can and does help, the Lord of Life and Death does not require an intermediary be he an angel or a human to aid Him in His benefits to us - “Oh LORD Let your Goodness pass before us – SHOW US YOUR GLORY!”
The third and fourth sign-miracles are recorded in John chapter 6. The third being the feeding of the 20,000, including men, women and children, demonstrates the glory of Christ, as God, in satisfying hunger and meeting human need. In its extension it relates to the social and welfare clamour of society. Where is social justice in today's world? A corollary to that is another question, “Where is the God of justice?” Justice has long since sunk in the mire of man's rejection of the ONE whose glory they have despised. Atheism creates its own problem and the church simply follows in its wake, not atheists but following them and thus sinking deeper into the slough of their despair. “The poor you always have with you, but ME you do not have always with you.” (Matthew 26:11). The work of the Church is not the pursuit of social justice or welfare aid. Man's Chief end is to Glorify God and if the Church does not show the way in that regard then what hope is there for the world? More importantly, what hope is there for the Church?
The fourth sign-miracle in John's Gospel and the second in chapter six is a development of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The setting is a storm at sea with Christ absent from the boat. The disciples in His absence are fear struck and then even more so by His presence, when He returns and re-enters their lives.
… they … filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. - John 6:13-21
The supernatural Christ in the midst of His people is always the answer, whether it be social welfare, social justice or just simply direction as to our true destiny in the face of life's storms. His Glory can and will be seen in every situation as and when the Church rediscovers the authority and power of His person and of His Word. That may seem simplistic and, to many, it may appear to avoid our responsibilities, in the realm of human need and social service, but it is the only way forward and our only hope. Man's Chief end is to Glorify God not to engage in the conflict of social justice and social welfare apart from that pursuit i.e. detached from our pursuit of the Glory of God.
John chapter 9, the penultimate of the signmiracles, performed by Jesus and recounted in John's Gospel takes us right back to the beginning and demonstrates again the Glory of the creator Christ, who is God. He who stooped to take dust and form man in Eden now mixes spittle from His mouth with the dust that He gathers, anoints the eye sockets of a man born blind, sends him to wash in Siloam and the miracle occurs. No one had ever opened the eyes of a man born blind before. It requires the act of the creator and Christ is the Creator.
The sixth miracle is the greatest of all the “signs” and actually a precursor to Christ's own resurrection:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live – John 11:25.
On the basis of this claim Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. In John 5:28 we read:
Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice.
If the six physical sign-miracles were all that we have of Christ's Glory in the Gospel we would indeed have an enlarged vision of what the Glory of God really is, but we would not have the complete picture. There are more and in a sense greater miracles recorded in John than just those six “signmiracles”. These others are spiritual miracles of transformed (literally “transfigured”) lives.
First, there is the religious Nicodemus all tied up in his traditions and his religious notions:
"Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." – John 3:2-3.
Second, there is the woman of Samaria entangled in her sexual relationships seeking for natural water but searching for something deeper:
Jesus … said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw” – John 4:14-15.
Then there is the John chapter 8 incident—another woman, this one entrenched in sinfulness who would have contrasted in the minds of the religious hypocrites of that time with the woman who had five husbands and was living defacto. This one was caught in adultery “in the very act” (John 8:4):
"Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"… So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." … When Jesus had raised Himself up … He said to her, "… Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
I wonder what happened to each of these and to the many other trophies of grace spoken of in the Gospels? Whatever happened, and we can at best only conjecture, one thing we know for certain is that if they truly followed Christ they would have the light of life and would never again walk in darkness.
John H. Jowett in his Reality and Mystery wrote:
The greatest wonders are not in Nature but in grace. A regenerated soul is a greater marvel than the marvel of the springtime. A transfigured face is a deeper mystery than a sunlit garden. To rear graces in a life once scorched and blasted by sin is more wonderful than to grow flowers on a cinder-heap. If we want to see the realm of surpassing wonders we must look into a soul that has been born again and is now in vital union with the living Christ. Even the angels watch the sight with everdeepening awe and praise.
Look at a brief Summary of those six great sign-miracles which revealed the Glory of the Son of God – the Glory of God Himself.
In the first:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God – Romans 12:1-2.
Man's Chief End is to Glorify God.
In the second:
In the third:
In the fourth:
In the fifth:
In the sixth:
Moses prayed – Show me your Glory. God said, “I will make my goodness pass before you …“ When – where ?
We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father …- John 1:14. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. – John 1:17.
God Willing CETF # 52 will be dedicated to MISSION TO ASIA – reports from Singapore, India, and Bangladesh about Philip and Kathleen's recent ministry tour, “WHAT'S GOING ON IN OUR PART OF THE WORLD”.
