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Hebrews 11:23-29
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By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. (ESV)
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The Face of God
Friday of Pentecost 22
18 November 2011
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The God who reveals Himself in Christ in the New Testament is the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament. He who became incarnate of Mary also spoke upon Mount Sinai when the holy law was given to His servant Moses. Moses considered his suffering under the yoke of leadership as service to the Christ, who spoke to him from the burning bush. He preferred the shame of the divine weakness to the power and splendor of the palace of the Pharaoh. Christ led the people of Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Christ was their Rock (1Co 10:4), as He is ours.
Upon Mount Sinai Christ Himself was the Mediator between God and man (1Tm 2:5; Gal 3:19-20), After tracing the words with his own finger upon the tablets of stone, He gave the holy law into the hands of Moses. It is the back of Christ which passes before Moses in the majestic splendor of holiness, that in this hiddenness we might have a glimpse of the age to come, when we shall see him face to face (1Co 13:12).
The face hidden at Sinai is turned to us by the incarnate Christ, the Word whom the Apostles saw with their eyes. In the New Testament the law's author becomes the law's debtor. The law's mediator fulfills the law. He, who with a finger burns the law into stone, has the law burned into His heart and flesh for our sakes. He who hefts the tablets like pebbles on Mount Sinai when He promulgates the law to us is willing to be crushed by them at Mount Calvary for us. The giver of the law is its fulfiller. The God whose back Moses saw reveals His face to us.
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Hilary of Poitiers
"If you believed Moses, you would believe also in God, the Son of God; unless possibly you deny that it was of Him that Moses spoke. If you propose to deny that, you must listen to the words of God: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me" (Jn 5:46). Moses, indeed, will refute you with the whole volume of the Law, ordained through angels, which he received by the hand of the Mediator. Enquire whether He, who gave the Law, would not be true God; for the Mediator was the giver. And was it not to meet God that Moses led out the people to Mount Sinai? Was it not God who came down to the Mount? Or was it, perhaps, only by a fiction or an adoption, and not by right of nature, that He, who did all this, bore the name of God? Mark the blare of the trumpets, the flashing of the torches, the clouds of smoke, as from a furnace, rolling over the mountain, the terror of conscious impotence on the part of man in the presence of God, the confession of the people, when they prayed Moses to be their spokesman, that at the voice of God they would die.
"Is He, in your judgment, not true God, when simple dread that He should speak filled Israel with the fear of death? He whose voice could not be borne by human weakness? In your eyes is He not God, because He addressed you through the weak faculties of a man, that you might hear, and live? Moses went up the Mount. In forty days and nights he gained the knowledge of the mysteries of heaven, and set it all in order according to the vision of the truth which was revealed to him there. From communication with God, who spoke with him, did he not receive the reflected splendor of that glory on which none may gaze? His corruptible countenance was transfigured into the likeness of the unapproachable light of Him, with whom he was dwelling. Of this God Moses bears witness, of this God he speaks; he summons the angels of God to come and worship Him amid the gladness of the Gentiles, and prays that the blessings which please Him may descend upon the head of Joseph. In the face of such evidence as this, dare any man say that He has nothing but the name of God, and deny His true divinity?"
Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 5.23
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Prayer
Lord Christ, You showed Moses only a glimpse of your back hiding Your glory from Him at Mount Sinai. Turn Your face upon us in these last days, that we, seeing You who are incarnate of Mary dying on Mount Calvary for us, would see You face to face in heaven. Amen.
For the family and friends of Maudie Jeske, whom the Lord has called into the kingdom of light that they might look forward to the resurrection of the flesh and a glorious reunion in heaven where they shall see Christ face to face
For the family of Jerry Griffith, who laid a husband, father, and grandfather to rest yesterday, that the Lord would be with them as they grow in the faith in the midst of sorrow
For the members of the Board of Directors of the The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, that they might be strengthened in the work of Lord
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Art: GRÜNEWALD, Matthias Isenheim Altarpiece (c. 1515)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2011
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