The Glory of God for All to See

But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord , he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord . -- Exodus 34: 34-35 (NLT)

Moses communed directly with God Himself. The result of being in His presence however was evident when he would come back to the people of Israel. So much so that he had to cover the glow up with a veil. This was because the people were afraid to come near to Moses with his face glowing so brightly. Breaking this down for us today we can see that the manifest presence of God caused the glow and the glow disturbed the people. Today, we do not have to have a representative meet with God we have His Spirit living within us every second of the day! We are constantly in the presence of God! Thus, the application from these verses for us today is twofold. First -- can people tell that we have been in the presence of God and secondly -- do we tend to cover it up so we will not disturb them?

Can people tell we have been in the presence of God? Are we secret agent Christians? Is our Christianity the best kept secret in the office or at the PTA meetings? Jesus taught directly about this:

"You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. -- Matthew 5: 14-16 (NLT)

The Bible describes the world as walking in darkness. People are blind and flailing about as they go through this life. We are supposed to be a light penetrating that darkness for Christ. It is not our own light of course but the light within us from Christ! It is not supposed to be hidden. So what should people see when they see us? It is not like our faces will glow but our lives should glow with the fruit of the Spirit.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! -- Galatians 5: 22-23 (NLT)

This is the glow our lives are supposed to be reflecting to a world walking in utter darkness. They should see us returning love for the hate of this world. They should see joy in the face of persecution, peace in the face of adversity, and patience in the face of intolerance. In a world that is mean we should be kind. In a world that is rotten and faithless they need to see goodness and follow through. In a world spinning out of control and harsh beyond measure they need to see someone in complete control and gentle as a lamb. They are to see Christ glowing through our lives beloved!

The second application for us deals with whether we are hiding the glory of God from people. There are two possible ways we do this. First we can make a calculated effort to not live out our Christianity within the world we walk in. The secret agent Christian considers their faith apart from their life instead of making their life all about Christ. The defense of course, whether consciously rationalized or not, is that it simply is not anyone's business. This is wrong of course.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -- Galatians 2: 20 (NIV)

Are we living for Christ or living our life with a little corner set aside for Jesus? The second way we can hide the glory of God is by the actions we take in our lives. We are the light of Christ but we are not supposed to put that light under a basket of ungodliness or a basket of worldliness. The sad truth is that the church has blended so much with the world through secularization and compromise that you often can't tell the difference anymore. The same happens in our walk if we are not careful. We are supposed to sound different, talk different, care different, appear different and behave different. Our intentions do not matter. Our "heart" does not matter. What matters is our obedience because the world desperately needs to see Jesus Christ and you might be their only chance! I am not saying that everything our of our mouths needs to be verbatim Scripture but our lives should at least align with the Word of God! Moses had to hide his face because it bothered the people of Israel. Our reflection of the glory of the King of Kings might bother some people too but we need to be His ambassadors anyway. The apostle Paul wrote about this:

We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. -- 2Corinthians 3: 13-18 (NLT)

We are not like Moses beloved. Instead of hiding the glory of God from the people we are to show them His glory to bring them to the cross for salvation. We are being changed into His glorious image day by day. We should be proud of that -- not trying to cover it up. We need to watch what it is that we do and say because worldliness hides the glory of God even more effectively. There is too much at stake beloved... to be secret agent Christians.

Rev. Anthony.