OUR GLORIOUS LORD

EXODUS 33:12–23

And he said, “Please, show me Your glory”

(Ex. 33:18).

The Hebrew word for glory is kabod, which means heaviness or weightiness, implying importance. Of all the leaders who have walked the earth, only Christ, the King of kings, is truly glorious. Not Solomon, not Nebuchadnezzar, not Caesar can compare with the glory of the Lord. Only God’s glory is pure and holy.

The Scriptures associate the glory of the Lord with fire and light—representations of purity.

When God led His people out of Egypt, He manifested His presence among them by a cloud, the Shekinah glory: “The cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the lord filled the tabernacle.… For the cloud of the lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night” (Ex. 40:34–38).

God’s glory is described as a “consuming fire” (Ex. 24:17; Isa. 66:15). Ezekiel witnessed the glory of God as flashing lightning and brilliant light: “I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire and that from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him” (Ezek. 1:4ff niv).

This is the glory Moses longed to see when God met with him on the mountain, and this should be the desire of every Christian who sincerely wants to come face to face with Christ and worship Him in all His glory. So often we do not even think of Christ in these terms, but what on earth can compare to His glory, to His purity, to His majesty? When we come face to face with the reality of Christ’s glorious identity, who except the most hardened sinners could ever be content to remain in the darkness?

Three of Christ’s disciples had the privilege of seeing His glory unveiled (Matt. 17), and like Ezekiel, they fell on their faces, terrified. Yet, like Moses they needed to behold God’s glory. Only when we see Christ for who He is, only when we see His glory with the eye of faith, will we find peace and fulfillment, for this is the place where man was created to dwell. Without it, he is in darkness. But through Christ, the light of God shines into our hearts, transforming us into the likeness of Christ, that we can behold His glory and rejoice.

CORAM DEO

Deuteronomy 31–32

Luke 1:1–23

Read Exodus 33:12–23. What is the relationship between God’s presence and our rest? What does this imply about those who do not live in God’s presence? Why did God cover Moses with the cleft? Our covering is Christ. Do you desire to see the glory of God? If so, are you covered by Jesus Christ?

For further study: Matt. 16:21–28 • Luke 9:28–36 • John 17:1–5

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