Good Morning.
But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20)
As we discussed yesterday, no human has been permitted to see the face of God for to do so would mean death. If we can comprehend and embrace the fact that flesh cannot “glory in His Presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29), then we can better understand why to look directly upon His Face (which is synonymous with His Presence) would be too much for any human to handle. His Face is the part of His nature that is beyond human comprehension, either to behold it or to define it. In Judaism, this concept of incomprehension of God on our part is expressed in the term Ein Sof — “There is no end (limit).”
That we cannot see His face is thus likened to the notion that we cannot comprehend the Eternal and All Powerful God. Yet it is this same God who speaks into our lives to counsel and guide us through this journey called life. It only makes sense that we, like Moses, would long to see the expression of the Face that goes with the Word He speaks to us. It would seem, in fact, that on occasion God allowed that to happen in some form or fashion albeit not in the way that Moses requested. For example, after wrestling the man who pulled his hip out of socket, Jacob declared, ““For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).
This line of thinking brings us to this fact: Messiah was God’s ultimate answer to all those who desired to see His face. That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us is indication that God gave opportunity for man to see God’s glory. Yeshua said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). That is not to say that we are to be fixated on the similitude but on the expression of God’s heart through the words and actions of Messiah. Thus John says of the Word made flesh, “and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
As followers of Messiah, we are to be an expression of Him in the earth just as He expressed the Father’s heart and will to mankind. While we cannot emulate God’s Omnipotence, Omniscience or Omnipresence, we can emulate those attributes we see in Messiah — mercy, graciousness, truth and faith. And so, when we live our life in obedience to His Will, we demonstrate a reflection of His glory in the earth. One day the glory of the LORD will shine upon His people in unprecedented fashion and all the earth shall see it. Until then, we must live in such a way that those we encounter might begin to encounter and comprehend the One and Only God — and live.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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