Glory
Mountain-Top Experiences
There’s something in all of us that craves that “mountain top” experience. That feeling of having transcended the humdrum of everyday life and feeling truly “alive”. We want to feel a “high”. This is (at least part of) why people take drugs. Or go to concerts. Or go to major sporting events. Or go on fancy holidays. Or climb to the top of a mountain. We want that mountain-top experience. We want that high. We want that sense of transcendence.
In this article, we’re going to go to an actual “mountain top” experience. Moses is on a mountain and experiences a high that makes all other highs seem underground. He’s going to experience God’s glory.
The theme of “glory” appears a lot in the Bible, and it’s really important. In Isaiah 43:7, God tells his people that they were created for his glory. In Ephesians 1:3-14, we discover that the history of the universe—from God’s plans before creation, to the sending of his Son and Spirit—all revolve around the idea of his glory. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we’re told that whatever we do should be for God’s glory.
But what is this glory? What’s its place in the Bible story? How can we experience it, today? In this article, we’ll explore how the theme comes up in Exodus, in the person of Jesus, and what it means for our lives today.
Glory and Exodus
God reveals and radiates his glory to and through Moses and in the tabernacle. So, Moses and the tabernacle are good places to start thinking about God’s glory.
To begin with, God reveals his glory to Moses. In Exodus 33:18–22 (NIVUK), just after Moses has interceded for Israel, we read:
18 Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’ 19 And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’ 21 Then the LORD said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 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.
There’s a fair bit of weight to what we read in this passage.
Firstly, Moses’s request in verse 18, to be shown God’s glory, is a very bold thing to ask for. But it’s a really good thing to ask for. Moses wants to get to the core of who God is. He wants to dig deeper, to know God more dearly, clearly and nearly. It’s good that he asks for this.
Secondly, God’s response tells us a lot. While Bible dictionaries will generally define glory as “weightiness” or “brightness”, God himself explains his glory in terms of his goodness and his name. His glory taps into what God is like—he is good, compassionate and merciful—and it taps into who he truly is, as represented by his name. In other words, to behold God’s glory is to know who God is and what he’s like.
Thirdly, God’s glory is beyond us. To see God face-to-face in his glory is beyond what Moses—or anyone—can handle. If Moses sees God in his glory, he’ll die. Therefore, when God’s glory passes by, Moses has to hang in a cleft in a rock (i.e., a narrow opening or crevice in the rock face) so that he doesn’t die.
God will reveal something of his glory, but Moses won’t be able to handle it in its entirety. It’s too … glorious.
So, Moses goes up Mount Sinai and has the ultimate mountain-top experience. God passes in front of Moses. God reveals his name to Moses. God reveals what he is like and the kinds of things he does. In Exodus 34, we read:
5 The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
Do you notice what is happening here? How is God revealing his glory to Moses? God reveals his glory not by showing his full visual radiance, but by sharing his name and identity with Moses. He shares who he is, what he’s like, and the kinds of things he does. That’s what it means for Moses to taste God’s glory.
Moses can’t help but fall to his knees and worship God.
Then, God radiates his glory through Moses. Moses has had his mountain-top experience. What he doesn’t realise is that his mountain-top experience has transformed him. As we read, in Exodus 34:
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterwards all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
Moses has been transformed. His face is radiant. It is radiating God’s glory. So much so that he has to chuck a veil over his face so that he doesn’t freak everyone out. When you start to comprehend God’s glory, you can’t possibly stay the same. Whenever Moses would later see God, the same thing would happen (Exodus 34:34-35).
We have this great tension. In these latter chapters of Exodus, God is so accessible and “near” that Moses is able to speak with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). Yet moments later, we’re given a taste of God’s incomprehensible transcendence and holiness. He says, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). This tension continues in the final chapter of Exodus.
We don’t just find God’s glory on the mountain and on Moses’ face. We also now find it in the tabernacle. This is how the book of Exodus finishes:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
The LORD’s glory continues to appear in the tabernacle. It fills the place up, so much so that Moses can’t even enter—too glorious! Cloud by day, fire by night. God continues to dwell with his people in his glory. But, because God is so transcendent and holy, Moses is kept at a distance.
So, joining the threads back together: God reveals and radiates his glory to and through Moses and in the tabernacle.
Glory and Jesus
This theme of God’s glory ultimately takes us to Jesus, the ultimate display of God’s glory. God ultimately reveals and radiates his glory through his Son.
In response to seeing Jesus taking on flesh and “dwelling” or “tabernacling” among us, the apostle John tells us that he and his friends “have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus reveals God’s glory.
Just after mentioning Moses in John 1:17, John returns to the God-visibility theme. Remember how Moses couldn’t see God face to face? Well, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” Jesus is in a much closer relationship with the Father than Moses was, and he has made God known. Jesus reveals God’s glory.
Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read that “the God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness ’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” In other words, Jesus’ face puts God’s glory on full display. Jesus reveals God’s glory.
And Jesus radiates God’s glory. In Hebrews 1:3a, we read:
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Not only does Jesus reveal God’s glory, he radiates it. Just like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. He is the exact representation of God’s being. We were created in God’s image, but we didn’t do a great job of “imaging” God. But then Jesus came, “Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4), the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), perfectly representing God and being the image we could never be. Moreover, he is powerful, just like the Father, sustaining everything by his word, which makes sense given that he is God’s Word (John 1:1).
So, how does the theme of God’s glory in Exodus point us to Jesus? God ultimately reveals and radiates his glory through his Son.
Glory and Me
Now what does this have to do with us? Well, we are being transformed to reveal and radiate God’s glory. I find 2 Corinthians 3:13-18 really interesting on this front. There we read:
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
A few things that stand out to me in this passage:
Veils. We’re not like Moses, who needed a veil. His face radiated glory, of course, but it also showed the people something that was passing away. There was a sense in which the Israelites had a veil over their hearts too, because their hearts couldn’t see what Moses shining face was pointing them to: Christ. But, when we hear about Jesus, that veil is taken away. What does that mean?
Glory. Because the veil over our hearts has been taken away, we get to contemplate the Lord’s glory. We become exposed to the very thing we were created for (Isaiah 43:7); the very thing we live for (1 Corinthians 10:31); the very thing the universe was created for (Ephesians 1:3-14): God’s glory.
Transformation. Just as Moses was transformed by his encounter with God’s glory (the radiating thing), now we are transformed by our encounter with God’s glory. We haven’t done so well at reflecting God’s image and being like him. But now we’re being transformed into the image of Jesus, who has much more successfully imaged God. The Spirit enables this transformation to take place in us. We’re being transformed to radiate God’s glory, as his representatives.
Ever-increasing glory. And we’re transformed with ever-increasing glory (literally from “glory to glory”). We move from the initial glory of knowing the Lord’s glory to becoming someone more like Jesus. And since Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, the more we become like Jesus, the more we radiate his glory.
The Spirit. The Spirit enables this transformation to take place in us. We’re being transformed to radiate God’s glory, as his representatives.
Know and share the gospel. Finally, if we really want to reveal and radiate God’s glory, we can do no better than knowing the gospel and sharing it. In 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, Paul writes:
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Therefore, the gospel displays the glory of Christ. Therefore, the glory of Christ is displayed when someone preaches it. Now imagine how much glory might be on display if someone being transformed into Christ’s glory preaches the message that displays Christ’s glory. The glory-factor would be off the charts, right?
Back to the Mountain-Top
At the start of this article, we talked about mountain-top experiences. I said that there’s something in us that wants that “high”. I said that what Moses experienced on Mt Sinai makes all other highs look like they’re underground. But in truth, the high that is on offer to us buries Moses’ mountain-top experience as well.
Moses, for all his facial radiance, never got to contemplate Christ’s glory the way we do. He never heard the gospel with the level of definition we’re given in the New Testament. Therefore, his encounter of God’s glory was inferior to ours.
If you want to know true transcendence, let me introduce you to Jesus Christ. He radiates God’s glory. His message reveals God’s glory.
If you want to know true transcendence, share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Radiate and reveal God’s glory to anyone who will listen.
God’s glory is why the universe was created. God’s glory is what we were created for. God’s glory is what we live for. So let’s reveal and radiate it as God transforms us and uses us to share his message.
Other articles in this series:
Disclaimer: I use Grammarly and ChatGPT to catch my typos. Let me know if they missed any.
