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Well welcome back to Anam Cara, which means "soul friend".
I want us to think a little bit today about the glory of God.
You know in the thirty third chapter of Exodus, Moses prayed to see
God's glory. And God's response to him was really, really interesting.
God said to him that 'you can not see my face and live'.
And then in Exodus chapter thirty four, the bible talks
about God coming down on the mountain and manifesting His glory to Moses.
Think about this.
When God told Moses you can not see my face and live, what did He really mean?
Well, the bible tells us that when Moses asked God for Him to show him His glory,
God told him these words. He said 'I will make all of my goodness pass before you'.
And then in Exodus 34 we have a description of that event.
It says that 'God passed in front of Moses and proclaimed
the Lord, the Lord, the Compassionate One, which is goodness
manifested in compassion and mercy.
The one who is gracious goodness manifested in grace, God who is slow to anger
which is goodness that is manifested in patience and longsuffering.
Abounding in love, goodness that is manifest and expressed in love.
One who is faithful, a goodness that is manifested in
trustworthiness and dependenability and maintaining love He says
to thousands and thousands or literally to a thousand generations
which is an unlimited time that God's love extends to.
And then forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin
which God's goodness is manifested in pardon, forgiveness and releasing people from their sin.
And yet, it says He does not leave the guility unpunished, but He punishes the children
and their children and the children of the father and the sins of the fathers to the third and the fourth generations.
Which means goodness would be manifested in justice, but it is limited, just for a short time.
Not unlimited like His love.
Remember this, His mercy is just and His justice is merciful.
You see, God was saying that 'my glory is my goodness'.
Now all of this goodness, where was it radiating from?
God said it was radiating from His face.
That God said 'You can not see my face. Where my glory is being expressed, my goodness
is shining out and live'.
When David prayed to God and he said 'God make your face shine upon me'.
David was saying, God let all of your goodness shine down upon me and all of the
manifestations of your goodness.
John says in the first chapter of his gospel, that we beheld His glory, speaking of Jesus.
We beheld the goodness of God.
And the glory, the goodnesses of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth, which grace and truth are expressions of the goodness of God.
Paul said that the light of the gospel, the outshining of this
great wonderful news that the bible says we have to share with the world,
that this gospel shines in one place.
It shines in the face of Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of the goodness and glory of God.
If you want to see all of the goodness, and all that it entails, of God you look into the face of Jesus.
Later on John would have an encounter with Jesus in the book
of Revelation where he said that His face was shining like the sun shining in its strength.
All of this great goodness shining out from the face of the Lord Jesus.
Brighter than the very sun itself.
When you think about that, God is saying to us this.
He is saying you know what?
My goodness is so awesome, so tremendous, that if you were to
get exposed to it in all of its splendor in glory it would kill you.
That here is nothing, nothing that we can compare His goodness to.
Our human frame could not be exposed to it.
That is why in the ages to come the bible talks about the fact that we are going to have
to have a new body.
So that we will not only be able to contain and express that goodness
in creation, but we will be able to bask in it, we will be able to behold
the goodness of God as we look upon the Son of God.
God really is better than you and I could ever concieve or ever imagine.
And He wants us to each and every day, live in the reality of His goodness and His love for us.
And to let that goodness and love flow out from us to a world around us
that is desperately in need to be touched by the goodness and the glory of God.
That glory, by His spirit, the goodness of God lives within you and I.
And let me encourage you today, think about this.
God really is better than you could ever dream or imagine.
And no thought you and I have ever had of Him is better than He actually is.
And this God of goodness loves you with a love that is eternal and never ending.
As we close today remember this.
Take some time to behold the one who is beholding you and smiling.
God bless you.