Moses gave this audacious request: “Now show me Your Glory.” Moses was not wrong to ask. He was very right to demand that the LORD go with them into the land, and he was privileged to have God tell him intimate truths of how He knows Moses by name and that Moses has His favor. Moses continued to meet with God, who spoke with him as one would talk with a friend. And Moses face would be aglow when he emerged from the tent of meeting. It was a beautiful Old Covenant image of what the Lord had every intention of doing for us in the New.
And so it came to pass that God became a human and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
We beheld His glory when Gabriel instructed Mary that He would be Emmanuel, God with us.
We beheld His glory when the angels appeared to the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
We beheld His glory at His baptism, when the Spirit descended on Him visually and a voice of the Father spoke.
We beheld His glory as He spoke and taught as one having authority, and men marveled, saying no one ever spoke this way before.
We beheld His glory as He healed the sick and even raised the dead, and His followers were amazed.
We beheld His glory as He calmed the storm on the sea, and the disciples asked what kind of man this was that the wind and waves obey Him.
We beheld His glory when He declared forgiveness to the lame man, and then proved that He had the power to do so by healing the man instantly.
We beheld His glory on the mountain, when He was transfigured before three disciples and they saw the brightness of the enveloping cloud.
We beheld His glory when He washed the feet of the disciples, as He taught that He was the Son of Man.
We beheld His glory with the Samaritan woman at the well, when He said, “I who speak to you am he.”
We beheld His glory when He blessed the children, and when He was silent before His accusers, and when He rose from the dead, and when He appeared to the twelve and to others, and when He commissioned and ascended and promised that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age.
We beheld His glory when He told His apostles that they would do even greater signs than He had done, because they do them in His name.
We even beheld His glory when Peter healed a man and testified that only in the name of Jesus can such things be done, for salvation is found in no one else but Him.
And so, we conclude, Emmanuel. God with us. And we realize, God is with us still.
How do we know for certain that He is with us still?
1. Because He said so. End of discussion. Any man who can come out of His own grave is good to His Word. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20
2. Because our experience confirms it.
We love other believers supernaturally. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” 1 John 3:14
We have an inner witness. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” Romans 8:16 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 “ “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” 1 John 4:13
We are marked by signs and wonders. “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." Mark 16:17-18
Coming back around again to Moses’ request of the LORD, “Now show me Your Glory.” Is that an appropriate question for us today? Of course, the answer is, “Yes. And no.” God is our loving Father, and in the same way that He spoke to Moses, so He knows each of our names, and we have found favor in His sight. He made us in His image, and we have fellowship with Him, the kind of which is only shared by the member of the Trinity with one another. So of COURSE we can speak with Daddy and ask for a hug or a sign or whatever we want. Whatever we ask in Jesus’ name will be done for us!
But, no. We can get way out of balance with it. Any one truth of the Gospel can never be overemphasized! But other truths can be ignored, because we only take the time to focus on one. Our “Daddy” relationship with God, and our “Friend” relationship with Jesus, is but one facet of a many-sided gem.
He is also our Lord, and we serve Him.
He is also our atonement, and we receive His forgiveness.
He is also our judge, and we confess to Him.
He is also our King, and we fear Him.
You get the point. John did not say, “We behold His glory when we sing songs.” He says, “We beheld” it.
In truth, previous generations have seen Him face-to-face and have been eyewitnesses to it all. We must accept and celebrate the truth of their accounts, rather than to seek manifestation after manifestation. At some point, we become people who are not walking by faith, but by sight. And faith requires NOT seeing; otherwise, it would be called sight.