Moses Kneeling in Prayer on the MountainBible World
33:18Exodus 33:18
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
After Israel's idolatry Moses feared to go forward without God's abiding presence, and having received promises of favor he pressed still further to be shown God's glory for strength for his mission. His plea was not curiosity or ambition but a holy longing to know God more fully and represent Him, and God did not rebuke it but graciously granted as much as mortal man can bear. He placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him while His goodness passed by, proclaiming His name and character before him. That glory is God's goodness and character, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving sin yet by no means clearing the guilty. The vision left its impress upon Moses so that his face shone and gave him more for leadership than all earthly learning, and it stands as the daily prayer and transforming beholding by which believers are changed from glory to glory into the same merciful likeness.
Moses' Plea in Context
After the idolatry of the golden calf and Israel's repeated unbelief and murmurings, Moses carried the burden and responsibility of leading the people toward the promised land in Canaan and feared the terrible results if God should leave them to hardness of heart, to dishonor of His name, and to destruction by their enemies. He took that fear and burden directly to God rather than seeking help from people, pleading for the assurance of God's abiding presence and rest to go with Israel and strengthen his fainting heart. His cry to be shown the divine glory was a longing to come still nearer to God and obtain stronger assurance of His favor and presence for that leadership.
The request followed his plea for God's presence to go with Israel and came after God had answered his prayers for guidance with abundant promises and assurances of favor. Even after God promised that His presence would go with him before the people, Moses refused to be satisfied with that promise alone and asked still more for what was needed to face opposition. He held firmly by faith and continued pleading for himself and the people, advancing step by step and taking the people with him.
He asked in order to know God more fully, to commune with Him, and to feel His presence in every emergency of his difficult mission. He needed to know God in order to represent Him to the people, to carry a clearer view of Him into the work, to honor Him and share the blessing with others. His awareness of his own inability and of the responsibility of leading Israel out of Egypt drove him to depend on God as he pleaded for the people, believing that having God's glory with him would help him carry on the great work.
The request was one no human being had ever made before, pressed with intense earnestness and holy familiarity and thirsting for greater tokens of blessing after every prayer had been answered. Emboldened by success in prayer, he ventured with holy familiarity, holding God with a firm hand of faith and refusing to cease importuning. He advanced step by step not selfishly but taking the people with him.
He could make this request because forty years of humble shepherd life in the mountains had pruned impetuous ambition and self-confidence, put away self, overcome natural impatience, and taught him to trust none but God. His living connection with God made the presence of God and the beholding of His glory the one great burden of his soul. That single desire was the real object to be kept before those who would learn to become successful missionaries, not to be sunk out of sight in a variety of studies or in more studies than are absolutely necessary.
The request did not spring from idle curiosity, selfish ambition, or desire for elevation. It was sincere longing for higher and still higher attainment, reaching forward to what is before and seeking day by day to be more like Christ. It belongs to those who value a holy walk with God, who rely simply on the merits and righteousness of Christ, who cherish a meek contrite spirit that trembles at God's word and cherish humility rather than relying on own strength, who keep His words and conform to precepts and example, who enter more deeply into the spirit and meaning of God's requirements and gracious promises, and who refuse to dwell on past experiences or to be satisfied with a few glimmering rays because brighter attainments remain and only an earnest of the blessings has been received.
God's Gracious Protective Answer
The plea was no presumption and no asking too much, and it was not turned aside as overbold importunity. God did not repulse Moses, nor reprove or rebuke him, but welcomed the request, favored it, and graciously granted it. Such clearer revealings are the privilege of those who reach higher and press for a fuller knowledge of the divine character.
The answer came as a promise to make all the divine goodness pass before Moses and to proclaim the divine name before him. That proclamation would show grace and mercy according to God's own will. In this way glory itself would be made known through goodness and through the name declared.
No mortal in this mortal state can look upon unveiled glory, upon the face, and live, so mercy set the limit and the shelter together. God placed Moses by Himself upon a rock, in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with the hand while glory and goodness passed by. Then the hand would be removed so that Moses should behold as much as he could bear in his mortal state, seeing the back parts but not the face.
This was a favor never before given to fallen man. God's excellent glory was manifested to Moses as never to any others on earth, and more than to anyone else. It was granted when the great work of leading the people through to the promised land was laid upon him, bringing him into sacred nearness on the mountain where God's will and statutes and laws were given. He was even permitted to see the bright light and excellent glory enshrouding the Father.
Moses was also privileged to speak with God face to face, as a person speaks with a friend. Hidden in the cleft of the rock he could discern God in that communion. That nearness both sheltered him in time of need and made him great for his commission.
Glory Revealed as Character
Moses' plea to be shown the divine glory was a plea to be shown goodness itself, for the glory is God's character and proclaimed name, to be sought in living faith, contemplated with reverence, and known by beholding. God did not rebuke the request but granted it by promising to cause all His goodness to pass by and to proclaim His name, and that promise defines what was asked and given. The request comes after asking for God's presence to lead, asking still more for what is needed, and belongs especially to those bearing responsibilities who unite in fasting and prayer for the wisdom promised liberally.
That character is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and patient, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. It is love and pity expressed in tenderness, sympathy, compassion, kindness, forbearance, light and truthful faithfulness. The same glory given by the Father to the Son is given to those given to Christ, that they may be one as Father and Son are one, be made perfect in one, cause the world to know the Father sent the Son and loves them, and finally be with Christ where He is to behold His glory given in love from before the foundation of the world.
The revelation holds together goodness and justice, for God by no means clears the guilty but visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation when they follow their fathers' example, and punishes sin. Both mercy and justice reveal His glory, His goodness in mercy, grace, patience, kindness, goodness, truth and forgiveness, and His glory also in justice against sin. This full proclamation led Moses to bow and worship, and was meant to guide the nation in representing God's character to the world.
The answer sweeps back thick darkness and satanic misrepresentation that charges God with satanic attributes and intercepts mercy and love, hiding Him from sight and knowledge. In its place it reveals the Father as tender, compassionate, loving light and love. Christ rolls away that hellish shadow from the throne, reveals the throne and the Father to the world, and by clothing divinity with humanity brings that love into clear evidence of light that humanity can comprehend, so that comprehending it prompts again Moses' petition.
The same character later made known by Christ as the Father's true character had already been shown to Moses, and Christ is its perfect representation. He took humanity and the likeness of sinful flesh so the light and radiance of divine love would not extinguish man, constantly beheld God's character and condemned sin in the flesh, and veiled divine glory in the helpless Child greater than Moses. Through this Moses saw Christ's self-sacrifice where mercy and justice meet, with the sacrifices pointing to Christ's death, and when that character is comprehended as Moses comprehended it the result is haste to bow in adoration and praise and to impart the knowledge of God to others.
Knowing God in this character is necessary for keeping His law, because the law is a transcript of His character and His character is love. That same glory is to be seen in the law, so failing to discern the wondrous things in the law is failing to behold what was revealed to Moses. In like manner the glory of Christ is beheld by beholding His character, and beholding it changes the beholder from character to character into His likeness through the Spirit.
Transformed and Strengthened Leader
The reflected excellent glory left the impress of God upon Moses, so that his face shone with such brightness that the people could not look upon it. That impress made him appear as one of the shining angels from the throne, and when he returned to the people he had to cover his face with a veil when speaking to them. He had been permitted to see the bright light and excellent glory enshrouding the Father, looking upon his Lord as God passed by him in the cleft of the rock.
Above all else the experience gave Moses assurance that God would hear his prayer and attend him with His presence, giving him confidence for the work ahead. This divine revelation and commission made him great and strengthened him for leadership, with his awareness of his own inability driving him to depend on God as he pleaded for the people under him. It was of more value to him as a leader than the learning of Egypt or attainments in military science, than his achievements as statesman or military leader, showing what intimate communion with God man may enjoy. No earthly power or skill or learning can supply the place of God's immediate presence and abiding presence going with him. His soul being in harmony with his Maker's will, he was not afraid to be alone with the Author of the law spoken with awful grandeur from Mount Sinai, though to the transgressor it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The sight was given to give Moses a deeper view of God that would keep him humble despite his elevation and childlike in faith despite his trust. Seeing that glory means losing sight of self and beholding God, hidden in the cleft of the rock and covered by His hand, with refuge in God rather than reliance on personal wisdom or self-exaltation. That hiding cures self-exaltation and forbids overmastering passion, showing human weakness and inefficiency with strength alone in God. God had led Moses in a special way and revealed His glory to him more than to anyone else on earth, and Moses overcame natural impatience by firmly relying on grace and humbly seeking wisdom from heaven until he was called the meekest man on earth, enabled to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
Because he was taken into such close relation and given so great a privilege, his later sin of taking glory to himself was proportionately aggravating. It was highly displeasing and far more offensive than the same defect in those less favored with opportunities and privileges. Others who see failures in those so blessed take license to sin and shelter their own defective characters behind them.
Those who see God's face must be like Him in character. Fitness to see God and behold His glory requires a character built after the Pattern of Christ, in close relation to Jesus with the life hid with Christ in God, hidden in the cleft of the Rock. That character must be formed in this life by looking daily at the manifestation of Him in whose life the grace of the heavenly attributes is revealed full of grace and truth, beholding Jesus until changed into His likeness through daily assimilation to the Saviour's character. Without Christ nothing can be done, but God designs the divine to be united with the human so fallen man need not remain enfeebled and degraded through sin but becomes a partaker of the pure and celestial element, gaining a better understanding of what heaven is like. God answered that Moses could not see His face and live, so He hid him, covered him, and passed by proclaiming His name and character as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth.
Believers' Prayer and Witness
Moses’ plea to see divine glory stands as the daily example and privilege for believers, to be prayed each day with earnest desire and living faith grasping the arm of power. It means reaching forward to what lies before, higher and still higher, for clearer views of the character of God and of Christ, never resting satisfied with past experiences of grace or with a few glimmering rays. Such seeking is done in meekness and dependence, seeking new lessons daily, entering more deeply into the spirit and meaning of God’s requirements and gracious promises, keeping His words and conforming to His precepts and example while relying simply on the merits and righteousness of Christ with holy jealousy of self and vigilant prayer. It is not presumption, boldness, or irreverence, and it is not rebuked but welcomed and granted, for brighter and higher attainments remain, the best days are yet to come, only an earnest of the blessings has yet been received, and the Spirit teaches the mind to enter the deep things of God until changed into the same image from glory to glory. The glory so sought is to be contemplated reverently in living faith, for it is God’s goodness and proclaimed name and character — merciful and gracious, long-suffering and patient, kind and good and true, keeping mercy and forgiving, yet also just in punishing sin.
It is especially the further prayer after asking for God’s presence to lead, asking still more for what is needed, to be prayed by those who bear responsibilities when they meet to counsel. They are to unite in fasting and prayer, make their troubles known to God, and seek the wisdom He promised to give liberally, going directly to God for help and counsel instead of depending on man. They are to fasten upon Him in living faith, constantly looking to God, speaking His praise and turning the mind to eternal realities, clinging in soul-hunger rather than relying on personal wisdom or exalting self. So bringing the will into harmony with the divine will brings harmony with one another, with Christ beside them as counselor.
Such prayer means coming to God in perplexity with a humble, believing heart and the simplicity and clinging faith of a child, making requests known in the certainty that confidence in His word will never be betrayed, since heaven and earth would pass before His promise would fail. It means clinging to Jesus to be hidden as an atom of humanity in the cleft of the Rock and covered by His hand while His glory passes by without consuming, discerning God there and learning to know Him. Even after promise of presence has been given, the seeker refuses to be satisfied with that promise alone but presses to know more of God, feeling to stand on the borders of the eternal world. That hiding of self in God is becoming and necessary for one in trying work and made a target for the enemy, giving shelter in times of need and trial, curing self-exaltation and forbidding overmastering passion, gathering rays of light from divine glory to press back the darkness enshrouding souls, trusting God to walk through the midst with power, giving spiritual power to go forward without doubt with eyes fixed on Jesus.
God’s people today are called to represent that same revealed character to the world, and this is the fruit He desires from them. They demonstrate it in purity of character and holiness of life, in mercy and loving-kindness and kindness, in compassion and patience toward one another, reflecting His merciful, gracious, patient, good, truthful, forgiving character. This revelation was meant to guide in representing God to the world, continuing Christ’s work as His representatives, uprooting self and selfishness and cultivating forgiveness. Thereby they show that the law of the Lord is perfect in converting the soul, for that same glory is to be seen in God’s law, which is a transcript of His character, so that failing to discern the wondrous things in the law is failing to behold what was revealed to Moses, while beholding the glory of Christ by beholding His character changes the beholder from character to character.
Beholding this glory transforms mind and heart and soul into the image of His holiness, for sin darkens minds and dims perceptions, but as sin is purged from the heart that light more and more fully declares Him, illuminating His Word and reflected from nature. Beholding the Lord’s glory by faith draws to Him and changes into His likeness through the Spirit, into the character represented in Jesus’ life — mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, upheld with justice. That same glory which the Father gave the Son is given to those given Him, that they may be one even as Father and Son are one, be made perfect in one, cause the world to know that the Father sent the Son and loves them as He loved the Son, and finally be with Christ where He is to behold His glory given in love from before the foundation of the world, sanctifying the church glorious and without blemish.
The glory asked for is the glory of Jesus the Redeemer in His majesty and preciousness and love, His goodness and tenderness and matchless forbearing love as the Man of Calvary. It is now dimly seen, little felt, and imperfectly experienced when human agents yield to temptation and are irresolute and feeble in practicing the Word, and it must be seen by faith on earth in order ever to be seen in its inexpressible fullness in heaven above. A revelation of that goodness equips a person to speak wisely and to encourage those who are weary, causes self to sink into nothingness and hastens to bow in worship, exalts Jesus and lifts Him up and talks of Him and His love rather than talking doctrines alone, and is sought by one who has surrendered every physical and mental power to God in order to obtain an experimental knowledge of Christ and work after His methods. The revelation includes both goodness and justice, for He proclaims Himself merciful, gracious, patient, truthful, and forgiving, yet not clearing the guilty.
The plea belongs to seeking God’s Spirit in preparation to meet the Lord, when whoever pleads in that way receives the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and the golden oil representing the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ is given to keep the lamp of character supplied and burning brightly. The one great burden of Moses’ soul, that the presence of God might be with him and that he might behold His glory, is the real object for those who come from long distances at great expense to learn how to become successful missionaries, and it is not to be sunk out of sight in a variety of studies or in more studies than are absolutely necessary. For that glory to pass by with memory hung with promises of love and mercy, believers must talk of His glory and power and commit His promises to memory to lift the mind off discouragement in dark and miserable days, gathering rays of light to press back darkness. The same sight is given to those connected with God’s work who associate closely with Him, pray first before taking up the work of the day, invite the heavenly Guest to come in and take possession and control, cry after God in sincerity and soul-hunger and wrestle until victory is gained, putting soul, body, and spirit into the Lord’s hands as living consecrated agencies moved by His will, controlled by His mind, and infused by His Spirit, until motives are raised to higher devotion and the eyes of understanding are anointed to see heavenly things clearly.
After Israel's idolatry Moses feared to go forward without God's abiding presence, and having received promises of favor he pressed still further to be shown God's glory for strength for his mission. His plea was not curiosity or ambition but a holy longing to know God more fully and represent Him, and God did not rebuke it but graciously granted as much as mortal man can bear. He placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him while His goodness passed by, proclaiming His name and character before him. That glory is God's goodness and character, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving sin yet by no means clearing the guilty. The vision left its impress upon Moses so that his face shone and gave him more for leadership than all earthly learning, and it stands as the daily prayer and transforming beholding by which believers are changed from glory to glory into the same merciful likeness.
Moses' Plea in Context
After the idolatry of the golden calf and Israel's repeated unbelief and murmurings, Moses carried the burden and responsibility of leading the people toward the promised land in Canaan and feared the terrible results if God should leave them to hardness of heart, to dishonor of His name, and to destruction by their enemies. He took that fear and burden directly to God rather than seeking help from people, pleading for the assurance of God's abiding presence and rest to go with Israel and strengthen his fainting heart. His cry to be shown the divine glory was a longing to come still nearer to God and obtain stronger assurance of His favor and presence for that leadership.
The request followed his plea for God's presence to go with Israel and came after God had answered his prayers for guidance with abundant promises and assurances of favor. Even after God promised that His presence would go with him before the people, Moses refused to be satisfied with that promise alone and asked still more for what was needed to face opposition. He held firmly by faith and continued pleading for himself and the people, advancing step by step and taking the people with him.
He asked in order to know God more fully, to commune with Him, and to feel His presence in every emergency of his difficult mission. He needed to know God in order to represent Him to the people, to carry a clearer view of Him into the work, to honor Him and share the blessing with others. His awareness of his own inability and of the responsibility of leading Israel out of Egypt drove him to depend on God as he pleaded for the people, believing that having God's glory with him would help him carry on the great work.
The request was one no human being had ever made before, pressed with intense earnestness and holy familiarity and thirsting for greater tokens of blessing after every prayer had been answered. Emboldened by success in prayer, he ventured with holy familiarity, holding God with a firm hand of faith and refusing to cease importuning. He advanced step by step not selfishly but taking the people with him.
He could make this request because forty years of humble shepherd life in the mountains had pruned impetuous ambition and self-confidence, put away self, overcome natural impatience, and taught him to trust none but God. His living connection with God made the presence of God and the beholding of His glory the one great burden of his soul. That single desire was the real object to be kept before those who would learn to become successful missionaries, not to be sunk out of sight in a variety of studies or in more studies than are absolutely necessary.
The request did not spring from idle curiosity, selfish ambition, or desire for elevation. It was sincere longing for higher and still higher attainment, reaching forward to what is before and seeking day by day to be more like Christ. It belongs to those who value a holy walk with God, who rely simply on the merits and righteousness of Christ, who cherish a meek contrite spirit that trembles at God's word and cherish humility rather than relying on own strength, who keep His words and conform to precepts and example, who enter more deeply into the spirit and meaning of God's requirements and gracious promises, and who refuse to dwell on past experiences or to be satisfied with a few glimmering rays because brighter attainments remain and only an earnest of the blessings has been received.
God's Gracious Protective Answer
The plea was no presumption and no asking too much, and it was not turned aside as overbold importunity. God did not repulse Moses, nor reprove or rebuke him, but welcomed the request, favored it, and graciously granted it. Such clearer revealings are the privilege of those who reach higher and press for a fuller knowledge of the divine character.
The answer came as a promise to make all the divine goodness pass before Moses and to proclaim the divine name before him. That proclamation would show grace and mercy according to God's own will. In this way glory itself would be made known through goodness and through the name declared.
No mortal in this mortal state can look upon unveiled glory, upon the face, and live, so mercy set the limit and the shelter together. God placed Moses by Himself upon a rock, in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with the hand while glory and goodness passed by. Then the hand would be removed so that Moses should behold as much as he could bear in his mortal state, seeing the back parts but not the face.
This was a favor never before given to fallen man. God's excellent glory was manifested to Moses as never to any others on earth, and more than to anyone else. It was granted when the great work of leading the people through to the promised land was laid upon him, bringing him into sacred nearness on the mountain where God's will and statutes and laws were given. He was even permitted to see the bright light and excellent glory enshrouding the Father.
Moses was also privileged to speak with God face to face, as a person speaks with a friend. Hidden in the cleft of the rock he could discern God in that communion. That nearness both sheltered him in time of need and made him great for his commission.
Glory Revealed as Character
Moses' plea to be shown the divine glory was a plea to be shown goodness itself, for the glory is God's character and proclaimed name, to be sought in living faith, contemplated with reverence, and known by beholding. God did not rebuke the request but granted it by promising to cause all His goodness to pass by and to proclaim His name, and that promise defines what was asked and given. The request comes after asking for God's presence to lead, asking still more for what is needed, and belongs especially to those bearing responsibilities who unite in fasting and prayer for the wisdom promised liberally.
That character is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and patient, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. It is love and pity expressed in tenderness, sympathy, compassion, kindness, forbearance, light and truthful faithfulness. The same glory given by the Father to the Son is given to those given to Christ, that they may be one as Father and Son are one, be made perfect in one, cause the world to know the Father sent the Son and loves them, and finally be with Christ where He is to behold His glory given in love from before the foundation of the world.
The revelation holds together goodness and justice, for God by no means clears the guilty but visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation when they follow their fathers' example, and punishes sin. Both mercy and justice reveal His glory, His goodness in mercy, grace, patience, kindness, goodness, truth and forgiveness, and His glory also in justice against sin. This full proclamation led Moses to bow and worship, and was meant to guide the nation in representing God's character to the world.
The answer sweeps back thick darkness and satanic misrepresentation that charges God with satanic attributes and intercepts mercy and love, hiding Him from sight and knowledge. In its place it reveals the Father as tender, compassionate, loving light and love. Christ rolls away that hellish shadow from the throne, reveals the throne and the Father to the world, and by clothing divinity with humanity brings that love into clear evidence of light that humanity can comprehend, so that comprehending it prompts again Moses' petition.
The same character later made known by Christ as the Father's true character had already been shown to Moses, and Christ is its perfect representation. He took humanity and the likeness of sinful flesh so the light and radiance of divine love would not extinguish man, constantly beheld God's character and condemned sin in the flesh, and veiled divine glory in the helpless Child greater than Moses. Through this Moses saw Christ's self-sacrifice where mercy and justice meet, with the sacrifices pointing to Christ's death, and when that character is comprehended as Moses comprehended it the result is haste to bow in adoration and praise and to impart the knowledge of God to others.
Knowing God in this character is necessary for keeping His law, because the law is a transcript of His character and His character is love. That same glory is to be seen in the law, so failing to discern the wondrous things in the law is failing to behold what was revealed to Moses. In like manner the glory of Christ is beheld by beholding His character, and beholding it changes the beholder from character to character into His likeness through the Spirit.
Transformed and Strengthened Leader
The reflected excellent glory left the impress of God upon Moses, so that his face shone with such brightness that the people could not look upon it. That impress made him appear as one of the shining angels from the throne, and when he returned to the people he had to cover his face with a veil when speaking to them. He had been permitted to see the bright light and excellent glory enshrouding the Father, looking upon his Lord as God passed by him in the cleft of the rock.
Above all else the experience gave Moses assurance that God would hear his prayer and attend him with His presence, giving him confidence for the work ahead. This divine revelation and commission made him great and strengthened him for leadership, with his awareness of his own inability driving him to depend on God as he pleaded for the people under him. It was of more value to him as a leader than the learning of Egypt or attainments in military science, than his achievements as statesman or military leader, showing what intimate communion with God man may enjoy. No earthly power or skill or learning can supply the place of God's immediate presence and abiding presence going with him. His soul being in harmony with his Maker's will, he was not afraid to be alone with the Author of the law spoken with awful grandeur from Mount Sinai, though to the transgressor it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The sight was given to give Moses a deeper view of God that would keep him humble despite his elevation and childlike in faith despite his trust. Seeing that glory means losing sight of self and beholding God, hidden in the cleft of the rock and covered by His hand, with refuge in God rather than reliance on personal wisdom or self-exaltation. That hiding cures self-exaltation and forbids overmastering passion, showing human weakness and inefficiency with strength alone in God. God had led Moses in a special way and revealed His glory to him more than to anyone else on earth, and Moses overcame natural impatience by firmly relying on grace and humbly seeking wisdom from heaven until he was called the meekest man on earth, enabled to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
Because he was taken into such close relation and given so great a privilege, his later sin of taking glory to himself was proportionately aggravating. It was highly displeasing and far more offensive than the same defect in those less favored with opportunities and privileges. Others who see failures in those so blessed take license to sin and shelter their own defective characters behind them.
Those who see God's face must be like Him in character. Fitness to see God and behold His glory requires a character built after the Pattern of Christ, in close relation to Jesus with the life hid with Christ in God, hidden in the cleft of the Rock. That character must be formed in this life by looking daily at the manifestation of Him in whose life the grace of the heavenly attributes is revealed full of grace and truth, beholding Jesus until changed into His likeness through daily assimilation to the Saviour's character. Without Christ nothing can be done, but God designs the divine to be united with the human so fallen man need not remain enfeebled and degraded through sin but becomes a partaker of the pure and celestial element, gaining a better understanding of what heaven is like. God answered that Moses could not see His face and live, so He hid him, covered him, and passed by proclaiming His name and character as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth.
Believers' Prayer and Witness
Moses’ plea to see divine glory stands as the daily example and privilege for believers, to be prayed each day with earnest desire and living faith grasping the arm of power. It means reaching forward to what lies before, higher and still higher, for clearer views of the character of God and of Christ, never resting satisfied with past experiences of grace or with a few glimmering rays. Such seeking is done in meekness and dependence, seeking new lessons daily, entering more deeply into the spirit and meaning of God’s requirements and gracious promises, keeping His words and conforming to His precepts and example while relying simply on the merits and righteousness of Christ with holy jealousy of self and vigilant prayer. It is not presumption, boldness, or irreverence, and it is not rebuked but welcomed and granted, for brighter and higher attainments remain, the best days are yet to come, only an earnest of the blessings has yet been received, and the Spirit teaches the mind to enter the deep things of God until changed into the same image from glory to glory. The glory so sought is to be contemplated reverently in living faith, for it is God’s goodness and proclaimed name and character — merciful and gracious, long-suffering and patient, kind and good and true, keeping mercy and forgiving, yet also just in punishing sin.
It is especially the further prayer after asking for God’s presence to lead, asking still more for what is needed, to be prayed by those who bear responsibilities when they meet to counsel. They are to unite in fasting and prayer, make their troubles known to God, and seek the wisdom He promised to give liberally, going directly to God for help and counsel instead of depending on man. They are to fasten upon Him in living faith, constantly looking to God, speaking His praise and turning the mind to eternal realities, clinging in soul-hunger rather than relying on personal wisdom or exalting self. So bringing the will into harmony with the divine will brings harmony with one another, with Christ beside them as counselor.
Such prayer means coming to God in perplexity with a humble, believing heart and the simplicity and clinging faith of a child, making requests known in the certainty that confidence in His word will never be betrayed, since heaven and earth would pass before His promise would fail. It means clinging to Jesus to be hidden as an atom of humanity in the cleft of the Rock and covered by His hand while His glory passes by without consuming, discerning God there and learning to know Him. Even after promise of presence has been given, the seeker refuses to be satisfied with that promise alone but presses to know more of God, feeling to stand on the borders of the eternal world. That hiding of self in God is becoming and necessary for one in trying work and made a target for the enemy, giving shelter in times of need and trial, curing self-exaltation and forbidding overmastering passion, gathering rays of light from divine glory to press back the darkness enshrouding souls, trusting God to walk through the midst with power, giving spiritual power to go forward without doubt with eyes fixed on Jesus.
God’s people today are called to represent that same revealed character to the world, and this is the fruit He desires from them. They demonstrate it in purity of character and holiness of life, in mercy and loving-kindness and kindness, in compassion and patience toward one another, reflecting His merciful, gracious, patient, good, truthful, forgiving character. This revelation was meant to guide in representing God to the world, continuing Christ’s work as His representatives, uprooting self and selfishness and cultivating forgiveness. Thereby they show that the law of the Lord is perfect in converting the soul, for that same glory is to be seen in God’s law, which is a transcript of His character, so that failing to discern the wondrous things in the law is failing to behold what was revealed to Moses, while beholding the glory of Christ by beholding His character changes the beholder from character to character.
Beholding this glory transforms mind and heart and soul into the image of His holiness, for sin darkens minds and dims perceptions, but as sin is purged from the heart that light more and more fully declares Him, illuminating His Word and reflected from nature. Beholding the Lord’s glory by faith draws to Him and changes into His likeness through the Spirit, into the character represented in Jesus’ life — mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, upheld with justice. That same glory which the Father gave the Son is given to those given Him, that they may be one even as Father and Son are one, be made perfect in one, cause the world to know that the Father sent the Son and loves them as He loved the Son, and finally be with Christ where He is to behold His glory given in love from before the foundation of the world, sanctifying the church glorious and without blemish.
The glory asked for is the glory of Jesus the Redeemer in His majesty and preciousness and love, His goodness and tenderness and matchless forbearing love as the Man of Calvary. It is now dimly seen, little felt, and imperfectly experienced when human agents yield to temptation and are irresolute and feeble in practicing the Word, and it must be seen by faith on earth in order ever to be seen in its inexpressible fullness in heaven above. A revelation of that goodness equips a person to speak wisely and to encourage those who are weary, causes self to sink into nothingness and hastens to bow in worship, exalts Jesus and lifts Him up and talks of Him and His love rather than talking doctrines alone, and is sought by one who has surrendered every physical and mental power to God in order to obtain an experimental knowledge of Christ and work after His methods. The revelation includes both goodness and justice, for He proclaims Himself merciful, gracious, patient, truthful, and forgiving, yet not clearing the guilty.
The plea belongs to seeking God’s Spirit in preparation to meet the Lord, when whoever pleads in that way receives the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and the golden oil representing the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ is given to keep the lamp of character supplied and burning brightly. The one great burden of Moses’ soul, that the presence of God might be with him and that he might behold His glory, is the real object for those who come from long distances at great expense to learn how to become successful missionaries, and it is not to be sunk out of sight in a variety of studies or in more studies than are absolutely necessary. For that glory to pass by with memory hung with promises of love and mercy, believers must talk of His glory and power and commit His promises to memory to lift the mind off discouragement in dark and miserable days, gathering rays of light to press back darkness. The same sight is given to those connected with God’s work who associate closely with Him, pray first before taking up the work of the day, invite the heavenly Guest to come in and take possession and control, cry after God in sincerity and soul-hunger and wrestle until victory is gained, putting soul, body, and spirit into the Lord’s hands as living consecrated agencies moved by His will, controlled by His mind, and infused by His Spirit, until motives are raised to higher devotion and the eyes of understanding are anointed to see heavenly things clearly.