"I KNOW YOU BY NAME"

[Reformer]

"I KNOW YOU BY NAME"
 
Buff Scott, Jr.

   "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name" (Exodus 33:17).

     It was at this juncture that Moses requested that God show him His personal glory. I understand this appeal to mean that Moses wanted to see God's personal presence. The Lord told Moses, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you...but you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (19-20). Then God said to Moses:

     "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 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" (21-23).

     What an experience that must have been—to be able to see God's backside! Surely it must have thrilled Moses' spirit. Talk about an encounter! Movie producers could never come close to capturing on film that prodigious spectacle. "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" doesn't even touch the helm of the garment.

     I feel a little disappointed that few details about this glorious event are recorded. For some unknown reason, heaven failed to chronicle Moses' reactions. We might conjecture that his reactions were something like the following:

    "Then God placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand until His glory passed by. God then removed His hand and Moses looked upon God's backside. He was awe-struck and submerged in fear. At this, Moses fell prostrate upon the ground and hid his face, because he was afraid to look upon God any longer."

    I have often wondered why we cannot look upon God's face and live. Is it because God's glory is so awe-inspiring, so superb, so incredible and unimaginable, so amazing and so colossal that mere human flesh cannot gaze upon such splendor and survive? Perhaps.

    Only when God transformed Himself into human flesh in the personage of His Son did man look upon Him. It seems that Abraham might have talked with the Lord when He appeared to him as Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18).

     The apostle John says, "No one has ever seen God" (2 John 4:12). Apparently, John is talking about a face-to-face encounter. In his Gospel, John quotes Jesus as saying, "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father" (John 6:45). Jesus seems to be alluding to a face-to-face experience.

     When our lowly bodies are transformed to be like Jesus' glorious body (Phil. 3:21), will we be able to see God face-to-face? I believe we will. But even if we are not permitted to gaze upon His face, I'm confident His glory will be utterly delightful. Moses got a glimpse of God's glory. What a foretaste of divinity!

     But why Moses? Why would God choose to show part of His glory to a man who tried to refuse the calling for which he was chosen? The answer seems to surface in God's  announcement, "I know you by name." God had established a special relationship with His servant Moses. Actually, God knew Moses by name long before He was born. Mere acquaintance is not what is meant, but rather an exceptional union between two persons—one human, the other divine.

    Throughout scripture, it is common to find God the Father and God the Son establishing unique relationships with certain people. Jesus had an exceptional relationship with Peter, James, and John. John often referred to himself as the "disciple whom Jesus loved." Our Lord loved all of His followers, but He felt a special closeness to John. And so, before dying on a Roman tree, Jesus assigned John as care-taken of His earthly mother. To put it another way, Jesus knew John by name.

     And this brings me to a question or two. What is our status with God? Is the relationship close or distant? Does God know us by name? Perhaps He does not know us as intimately as He knew Moses, but He knows us by name in that He has chosen us to lead His fallen creation out of the bondage of sin and into His marvelous light. What a privilege! "Rejoice and be glad."

[Reformer]

READERS:

Thanks for reading my posts. I'll have an additional post in a couple days. Your reactions to each post is invited.

Buff