2013 Advent Devotions from the Lutheran Hour Ministries – Monday,
30 December 2013 "LOOKING UPON GOD - Sixth Day of Christmas" Read
Exodus 33: Moses’ Intercession
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said 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 favor in my sight.’ 13
Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know
you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your
people.” 14 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from
here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and
your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and
your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you
have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18
Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my
goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’;[a]
and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall
see me and live.” 21 And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where
you shall stand on the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in
a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by;
23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall
not be seen.”
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 33:19 Heb YHWH; see note at 3.15. TEXT: No one has
ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known
(John 1:18).
Is John correct that no human has ever seen God? What about
Moses? In today's reading Moses made a special request; he asked to look upon
God. The Lord permitted him to see His "back" but not His
"face." The gracious God was protecting His servant Moses when He
told him, "You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and
live." Like staring into the sun, the sinner Moses could not tolerate
looking upon the full expression of God's holiness and glory, only a portion of
it. So John is correct, no sinful human ever sat gazing upon the fullness of
God's glory.
But Christmas marks the birth of a new Man, One who is holy and
spotless-the Word who has spent all eternity looking upon the beauty of God's
glorious face. For the first time in his Gospel, John names the first person of
the Trinity: he calls Him the "Father." The Word has come to make His
Father known to us.
None of us has ever seen God. Left to our own experience and
imagination none of us even comes close to knowing what God is really like. The
struggles and difficulties of life distort His true image. He comes off looking
angry and vindictive on one hand, or unknowing and uncaring on the other.
But Jesus came at Christmas to make God known to us. He revealed
Him as our merciful, gracious, loving Heavenly Father-the God who so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for revealing the true, loving
nature of Your Father through Your words and actions. Continue to declare to us
our Father's love and compassion. Amen
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Mail:
Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, MO 63141 United States
Telephone: (800)876-9880
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