Show Me Your Glory

By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister

Colossians 1:15a - The Son is the image of the invisible God…

“Show me your glory,” Moses said. A bold request. He had led the people out of Egypt. He had brought them to Mt. Sinai. He had received the word of the Lord, and he was ready to take the people on to the promised land. But he wanted one thing - to see God’s glory once before the journey began. 

I don’t know exactly what was motivating Moses. Perhaps he just wanted to be sure that God was really all he said he was. Perhaps he wanted a boost to his own courage.

Whatever his motivation, Moses did get the exact answer he wanted. “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live,” said God (Exodus 33:20). It’s not the answer we want either. We want a description, a clear explanation of who God is and what he is like. Something that makes God approachable, understandable, relatable.

Instead, Moses gets a God who is entirely beyond him. A God who is so holy that anyone, even a man as great as Moses, would wither away in front of him. A God who can only be seen as a reflection, his glory too great for anyone to comprehend. God tells Moses he will put him in a cleft of rock and pass by, and Moses can see his “back” - or a reflection only of God’s glory. 

If this is all we ever could know of our God, it would be difficult to love and trust him. We could give him obedience out of fear. We could make offerings to appease him. But adoration? Reliance? Worship? 

The problem is, as sinful human beings, to approach God in all his glory is not just frightening, it’s dangerous. Our sin separates us from a holy God, and with all our sin clinging to us, any attempt to stand face to face with him will destroy us. 

But God wants his people to know him. To trust him. To approach him. He sent prophets to reveal his character and care. He made promises and fulfilled them. He gave the people his words to guide them. But still, God was shrouded in unapproachable glory. 

Until Jesus. The image of God in the flesh. Jesus is the face of God that we can see and live. Not only because he takes on flesh and blood like us, masking his glory behind a human face. But also because by his death and resurrection he takes away the sin that separates us from God. He removes the threat of destruction by removing the sin that brings it. In him and by him, we can stand face to face with God. The thing Moses longed for, God gave to all humanity when Jesus became human. 

But wait, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that Jesus is not with us on earth now. That we can’t see his face. But remember that Jesus isn’t going to spend eternity away from us. He’s coming back. And when he does, we will spend eternity with him… face to face.