Today we'll continue on in Chapter 24 with the account of the confirmation of the Lord's covenant with the people. So far Moses has conducted a ceremony in which he read the words of the Lord from a scroll and the people agreed to abide by them. Sacrifices and offerings were made. Now Moses, Aaron and Aaron's two sons, and seventy elders of Israel go further up the mountain to be closer to the presence of God. We are going to use today's study time to discuss what Moses and the men with him may have seen.
"Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel." (Exodus 24:9-10a) I believe they saw some sort of manifestation of God's glory, but certainly not the fullness of His glory and majesty. Whatever they saw, I don't feel they could possibly have seen Him exactly as He is, because later in Exodus Moses will ask to see God in all His splendor and the Lord will answer, "I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence...But you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live...When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen." (Exodus 33:19a,20,22-23) For Moses' own protection he won't be allowed to see God exactly as He is. God's holiness would consume Moses in his frail human condition.
So what do these men see? We'll take a brief look at what other men saw when they were presented with a manifestation of God. Isaiah, when describing the encounter in the temple in which the Lord called him to be a prophet, said, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke." (Isaiah 6:1-4) After this announcement by the seraphim the Lord speaks to Isaiah and commissions him to be a prophet. But Isaiah doesn't describe the Lord in detail. In fact, he describes the seraphim better than he describes the Lord. I think this is because his vision of the Lord was hazy or obscured by the smoke or that the brightness of His appearance kept Isaiah from being able to make out His features. The only thing Isaiah can say about Him is He appears to be seated on a high throne and that His long robe (a symbol of power and authority) was stretched from one end of the temple to the other. You've probably all seen a wedding, either in person or on TV, in which a bride wears a train that trails all the way down the church aisle behind her. I think this may be what Isaiah means when He says the Lord's robe filled the temple.
The prophet Ezekiel also saw the Lord. Prior to His appearance Ezekiel says it was like the heavens opened. Then he saw an enormous windstorm coming, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Then four living creatures appeared, and by their description I believe they are the same four seraphim Isaiah saw. A vault (or floor) manifested above them and above this vault Ezekiel saw the Lord seated on a throne the color of lapis lazuli, which is a deep blue. Ezekiel says the One seated on the throne was shaped like a man, but that He glowed like fire and was surrounded by a brilliant light. Ezekiel concludes his description of the Lord by saying, "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of One speaking." (Ezekiel 1:28b) The glory of the Lord shone so brightly that all Ezekiel could say of Him is that He has the form of a human being. I think all Ezekiel saw was the outline of the One on the throne. I think that's all he could see and be able to endure it in his mortal flesh.
When the Apostle John was given a vision of the enthroned Lord, all he could describe was the color and brightness surrounding the throne. He said, "The One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne." (Revelation 4:3) John does not seem to actually see the Lord's form at all, just a glorious and colorful manifestation of light and goodness. Other than that, all John can say about the throne in heaven is that he saw "someone sitting on it". (Revelation 4:2) By this I think we can safely assume that John uses the word "someone" because the Lord has the shape or outline of a man; otherwise I think he would have referred to the One he saw as a "creature", as he describes the four living creatures around the throne in Revelation 4. (By their description, these are almost certainly the same four creatures Ezekiel and Isaiah saw.) To add to the theory that the Lord is shaped like man, in Revelation 5 John says He holds a scroll in His right hand. Throughout the book of Revelation we find the One seated on the throne speaking with a voice that is understandable by man. Beyond this, though, John is unable to describe the Lord for us in detail. I think the Lord revealed to John as much as John was able to handle, but anything more than that would have overwhelmed his earthly body.
I think Moses and the men with him likely saw something similar to what Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John saw. They may have seen the outline of a man's shape, seated on a throne, surrounded by glorious light. Just as in Ezekiel's vision, the color blue features prominently, for Moses tells us, "Under His feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky." (Exodus 24:10b)
The Bible began by telling us that we are made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27) From what we've studied in our time together today, there's a good chance this means the Lord has always possessed a humanoid shape, long before He ever "became flesh and made His dwelling among us." (John 1:14) But His righteousness and holiness and glory and power are so great that no man---while still residing in a mortal human body---can see Him in His fullness and survive. This may be why they can only see the light of His goodness but not any specific features of His face. The Apostle John speaks of the light of the Lord in this manner: "In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5) Ezekiel was filled with so much joy by the appearance of the Lord's light that he said, "Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him." (Ezekiel 1:28) Doesn't it lift our hearts to see the sun peeking through the clouds after a dark and heavy rain, forming a lovely rainbow in the vapors in the air? In this same way the heart of Ezekiel was lifted when he saw what little he could see of the Lord. Imagine the joy that's going to fill our hearts when we are able to see Him face to face someday! No wonder the Apostle Paul, when thinking ahead to that day, said that the troubles of this life are going to seem like nothing when the glory of the Lord (and our glorious future) will be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)
No matter how we envision God in our minds, He's so much more! No matter how we've pictured His appearance, and no matter how wonderful we think heaven will be, our expectations are going to be exceeded to such an extent that the Bible says no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9) Amen! Thank You, Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment