If you have turned in your Bibles to Exodus, before we read something from the New Testament, I just want to read a few more verses from Exodus 34. After God revealed Himself to Moses, the Scriptures record for us what happened to Moses in Exodus 34:29-35. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining, and Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with Him.
And now, if you turn all the way towards the end of the Bible to 1 John, we'll start in 1 John chapter 2 verse 28 and we'll read to chapter 3 verse 10. 1 John 2:28: "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that You would come down and help us this morning. We thank You for speaking to us through Your word and for giving us such richness, such a beautiful view of Your glory through Your word. But Lord, we know that our eyes are dark and even as we heard last week, Lord, we need You to open our eyes that we might see and behold the wonders of Your word. And so we pray that You would be with us now. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Well, it's the first Sunday of 2025, and I've got an offer for you. I want to offer you the following deal: You can have a 2025 where you have success in all of your spiritual goals. I'm not talking about worldly success; I'm talking about good success. You will stick at your Bible reading plan. You will overcome the sins you hate in your life. Your anger will turn to gracious peace. Your lust will turn to selfless faithfulness. Your greed will turn to generosity. Your grumbling will turn into contentment and thankfulness. You'll have better relationships with God's people. You'll even find that your friends and family, who you've been praying for that they'd come to the Lord, you'll find that they come to the Lord. God will furnish you with all you need to succeed in these ways. He will lead you to the right people to speak into your life. He'll ensure you read the right scriptures at the right time to speak to the issues of your heart. He'll surround you with His angels to protect you from spiritual dangers. Not only this, but God will give you all that you need in your physical material needs as well. Your job will go really well. You'll get a promotion, or your business will grow. You'll be able to stop worrying about paying bills, and you'll be able to support the church more and missionaries, and be generous to the people around you who are in need. Your relationships in life will improve. The tensions in your marriage will resolve. Your failures in parenting will be repaired. Your children will listen to you, and you'll find new levels of patience and grace in the face of their constant need. How's this sounding? Good so far? Here's the catch: You can have all these blessings, but you will not get the presence of God. Okay? God will bless you. It'll be all good things, but He will hide His face from you. Would you take that deal? Well, I think we all instinctively say no. I know we should say no, but I think our behavior often says yes. This is roughly what was offered to Moses in Exodus 33. We didn't read this section, but I'll be sitting in Exodus 33 and 34 for a little while, so you might as well turn there if you want to follow along. Exodus 33:13, this is what God offers Moses and Israel. The Lord said to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you've brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' Go, go inherit the blessings. I will send an angel before you. I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I will give you success over all your enemies. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; provision everywhere. You'll have it all. All good things. Things that God had promised. I'm even sending an angel with you. It's not like I'm against you. I'm just saying go and be blessed. It's all there." Exodus 33:3, "But I will not go up among you." And the reason God gives is in the same verse, "Lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." See, God's actually being kind to them. "If I go with you, you'll die." In this case, Israel's just built the golden calf and worshipped it in a lust-fueled revelry in Exodus 32, which resulted in the Levites killing 3,000 Israelites in an afternoon, and a plague breaking out among the people. Israel is in a perfectly prime situation to sense the danger of having God with them. But they knew this before anyway. About 40 days prior, they'd sensed their sinfulness in the presence of a holy God. In Exodus 20, when God spoke the Ten Commandments audibly from the mountain of fire and thunder, when the people heard Him speak, what did they say? They cried out, "Moses, you speak to us; we'll listen. But do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Israel knew it was dangerous to live in the presence of a holy God. And so, was it really all that bad that God would give them all the blessings but wouldn't go with them? He's protecting them. They know the danger of it. Maybe this is a good deal. They'd get all the good stuff, all the blessings of God, and they don't have all the danger of living with God. It's the same offer I put on the table for you. But the people of Israel, like you, knew that this deal was not worth taking. Back in Exodus 33:4, when the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. And as we keep reading, Moses goes to meet with God and negotiate on behalf of the Israelites. And Moses' requests in this section that we read should absolutely blow our minds. There are depths in this passage in Exodus 33 and 34 that reward deep meditation. But I just want to draw your attention to one aspect this morning. As Moses approaches God, and Moses says, "we don't want to go anywhere without you," God actually gives in. And He says to Moses, "I'll come with you, but only you, Moses." You can't quite catch it in the English, but it's there in the Hebrew in Exodus 33:14. And God said, "My presence will go with you." That "you" is singular in the Hebrew. God's saying to Moses, "I'll go with you, Moses, but I'm not going with Israel. I'm only going with you." And Moses, the staggering man that he is, responds, "if your presence will not go with us, do not bring us up from here." Did you catch the plural? See what he's saying? "I'm not going anywhere if you don't come with me, God. I don't care if you give me all the blessings. I'm not moving from this place unless you come too." "Okay," He says, "God, I'll come with you, Moses, but not with them." And he says, "no, that's not good enough. You must come with all of us, or none of us will go. I'm not interested in your special blessing, Lord. We want your blessing. We want your presence. It's your presence that makes us special. It's your presence that we want." And so God gives into this request as well. "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name," He says in Exodus 33:17. And you'd think Moses would stop there. He's just got it; God's going to go with him. Next verse, Exodus 33:18, "And Moses said, 'Please show me your glory.'" "Please show me your glory." This is an incredible request. God's presence was not enough for Moses; He wanted more. He wanted to see God's glory more. And keep in mind that this is coming from a man who has had probably the closest experiences of God as anyone recorded in the Old Testament. He was up on the mountain talking with God for 40 days and 40 nights just prior to this incident. He has just spoken with God for 40 days and 40 nights on a mountain that's so fearful that the Israelites can't stand being in the presence of it. And he says, "I want more of your glory." In the previous few verses of chapter 33, we start at verse 12, but look at verse 11. We read of how when Moses went out to the tent of meeting just outside the camp of the Israelites, he used to speak to God face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Incredible access. Not only that, but in one of the most underrated texts of Scripture in Exodus 24, Moses had sat down for a meal with 70 elders of Israel with God. Seated on his throne, it describes God in incredible majesty. And Moses had sat there and ate and drank and been in the presence of God Himself. Let me read it to you. "Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel, He did not lay His hand, so they saw God, and they ate and drank." Moses had had all of these experiences, and yet he's not satisfied. He's not satisfied with days on the mountain alone with God. He's not satisfied with face-to-face communication. He's not satisfied with eating and drinking in the presence of holy glory. He says, "show me your glory." "I want more." Can you imagine God hearing this request? "Moses, how unthankful are you? Seriously, I've given you so much. Who else do you think has had as much access to me as you have? Why aren't you just thankful, Moses? Why can't you just enjoy what I've given you? Can't you see you're more privileged than anyone else?" But Moses' request was actually right and good, wasn't it? And God honors his request and gives him more. He hides Moses in a rock and passes by while covering the rock with His hand, and then uncovers the rock just after He's passed. A graphic display of how He's saying, "I'll show you more, but not everything. I'll show you my back, but not my face." And the warning to Moses is this, Exodus 33:20, "You cannot see my face, for no man shall see my face and live." And I want you to notice a couple of more things about this text at this point. Because when Moses asks to see God's glory, we see a few other ways that Moses makes this request in the text, and it displays to us something of how you see God's glory. In verse 13 of Exodus 33, Moses says this, "Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you." Literally, Moses says, "let me know your ways that I may know you." How am I going to know God? By knowing His ways. And the idea here is that he wants to know God's law. Moses' father-in-law uses the same phrase in Exodus 18:20 when he tells Moses to teach the Israelites the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. And it's interesting to me that God's display of His glory in Exodus 33, I don't know if you caught it, it's interwoven with the second giving of the Ten Commandments. "Take some tablets up as you come to see my glory," and when he comes down from seeing his glory, he's got these tablets again. It's God's law that expresses His way, and when read by faith, it shows us something of God's glory. Psalm 19 speaks of this truth. In that psalm, David declares that the glory of God can be seen in the created world. The heavens scream out the glory of God. And then he shifts in the second half of the psalm and says, "The law of God, though, wow. Now that's something else. It's more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold. It's sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb." The idea is you look up at the stars, and they'll scream to you of God's glory. But do you want more? Go read His law. Know His ways, and you'll know Him.
And then in verse 18, Moses says something; he asks for God's glory explicitly, and in verse 19, we see God answer in a slightly unusual way again. God says, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I'll show mercy." And then in verse 5 of chapter 34, God declares His name to Moses in a more full way. The word "goodness" there, "I'll make my goodness pass before you," you could translate that "kindness" or even "beauty." "I'll make my beauty pass before you." And as God goes on to explain, His name is His character, His nature. It describes what He's like, who He is. It's an expression of His personality. That's how Moses sees God's glory, by knowing who God is and what He's like, and what He has revealed in His name. But as we keep reading the scriptures, we find that God keeps on revealing His glory to His people. Skipping over a lot, we get to John chapter 1, and we find that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And John goes on, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known." Can you hear the connections that John's drawing on here? Seeing God, seeing His glory, law coming, grace and truth in Jesus Christ. "No one's ever seen God." But here's the point: creation declares the glory of God. The law shows the glory of God. The names of God show us the glory of God. And Moses enjoyed more and more of this glory than almost any other saint in the Old Testament. And yet, even Moses' sight of the glory of God is described by John with these words, "No one has seen God at any time." John knows his Old Testament; he knows Moses saw God, but he's saying no. What Moses saw was not much. Moses did not have the same sort of sight of God that we have when we see God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Josh mentions 2 Corinthians 3. We're going to go there just for a moment as well. In that passage in 2 Corinthians 3, Paul recalls to our minds the events of Exodus 33 and 34 again. It's clearly an important passage. You see echoes of it all the way through 2 Corinthians 3 and 4. He speaks of the new covenant and how the glory of God's law is no longer written on tablets of stone but is now written on the hearts of those who are converted by the power of the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 says, "If the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what was passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious." Paul's point is the same as John's. The law written on stone could never save. It was a transient glory; it was a glory that was pointing forward. The sacrificial system could never save. It was passing away. But what it pointed to had come. John speaks of it coming, and Paul looks back on the fact that it has come and says it all was building to Jesus Christ. And in Him, we see a greater glory. We see Him fulfilling all the types and the shadows of the sacrifices and priesthood and washings. We see Him fulfilling what Jeremiah promised: the law of God being moved from tablets of stone that just condemn outwardly to being written on the hearts of God's people so that they would love God as they see Him. But notice the words that Paul uses. Paul explains that we actually have become like Moses as we gaze on this greater glory. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." How? 2 Corinthians 4:6, "For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We see the knowledge of the glory of Jesus Christ as God reveals it to us by His Spirit through His Word in our hearts. And it changes us. There's something amazing in 2 Corinthians as well. Verse 14-16 of chapter 3, Paul says, "For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And the whole Old Testament opens up as this glorious display of Jesus Christ Himself. And we don't just see Him in the New Testament; we see Him everywhere. And the glory of God screams to us from the pages of Scripture as we see Jesus laid out all through it. We see Him in the stories, and we see Him in the sacrifices, and we see Him in the laws, and we see Him in the imagery. We see Him fulfilling and bringing all of these things to their full culmination, and we see Him in all His glory all through the Word of God, as His Spirit shows it to us as we read.
But go back to verse 18 that we skipped over in 2 Corinthians 3. We are changed as we gaze on the glory of God in Jesus. Verse 18 again, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." We saw this with Moses. As he came away from seeing God's glory and speaking with God, his face shone. He was so radiant that the Israelites asked him to cover his face. They couldn't handle the glory of God unmediated. They couldn't even handle the glory of God as it was reflected in Moses' face. But Paul in 2 Corinthians is reminding us that we gaze on a greater glory, and so we will shine with a brighter light. That's again staggering truths. We read the account of Moses and often we will read it and we think, "Oh, I want that." Paul is saying, "You've got better than that. You shine brighter."
This is what Jesus is pointing us to when He says in John 9:5, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." He's the light of the world for how long? Well, while He's in the world, He's the light of the world. Then what happens? Matthew 5:14, as He speaks to His disciples, and He says, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." How does that work? Why is it that you're the light? Well, you see the light by faith, by the Spirit, in the Word. You see Jesus Christ, and you shine the light that you see. You're transformed as you see Jesus. You're the other moon to Jesus' Sun. And we're transformed, Paul says, from glory into glory. And it's an interesting phrase, that "transformed from glory into glory." What's he getting at? Well, I think he's helping us to see that there are always more depths to the glory. There's always further to go. You might say, "Well, I can see the progress in my life. I can see that my life has become more glorious so far." And God says, "There's more glory to go." You might say, "Oh my goodness, have you read this passage of Scripture? Have you seen the glory of Jesus here?" And God says, "Oh yeah, and there's more." Moses knew that, right? That's what we saw. He keeps seeing more and more of God's glory. And what does he say? "Show me more. Show me more. Show me more."
Now, finally, I want to just spend a few minutes thinking about 1 John 3, particularly verse 2, where we read, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." And this answers the tension that you may well be feeling as we look at these truths. Yes, you say, "I believe that in the new covenant, as God works in my heart by His Spirit, I see the glory of Jesus, and it is more majestic than Moses." Why is it that when I read Moses, I go, "Yeah, but I kind of want that"? My life doesn't feel like that. Well, it's because what you have been has not yet been revealed. Yes, we have the great privilege of seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit. And we're changed from glory into glory. But what we have been has not yet been revealed. You and I, in all the tastes of glory that we have access to, have absolutely no idea of the depths of glory that will be shown to us in the triune God in eternity.
To borrow an analogy that Josh shared with me earlier this week, we are snorkelers swimming in the shallow waters of the deep blue ocean of the glory of God that's shown to us in Jesus Christ. We stick our heads in and dive down from time to time. And when we do, it just reminds us that we have no idea how deep this thing goes. We plunge ourselves headlong into the waters only to have the unsearchable depths make us wonder if we know anything of the ocean that we're diving in. But our goal is nothing short of Moses' goal. We are destined for looking at God's glory. We are destined for seeing God. We are created to gaze at Him. It's the right ocean to swim in. Our human desires to be overwhelmed, I think, point us to these truths. There's something in humans that makes us want to be filled with wonder at something larger than us, something glorious, something that is just unattainably big. I think this is why humans look at mountains and go, "I want to climb that." I think it's why the explorers have headed off into the oceans, into uncharted waters, where they have no idea what they're going through. They don't even know if they're going to get home. What's driving them to do that? Why do we trek into deep jungles? Why? Well, maybe you're not a deep jungle trekker, right? But why do you go to the beach? Why do you go and stare out at the boundless ocean and see the horizon and know that there's more beyond that that you couldn't even dream of? Why is that soothing to our soul to stand there and be overwhelmed by the vastness of it all? Why do we look up at the stars and decide to fire rockets into them and send people up there? It's because glory is what we're made for. Vast, unmeasured, boundless glory. But these desires all find their culmination in Jesus Christ because He is the ocean of God's love. He's the mountain of God's goodness. He's the jungle of God's mercy. He is the fullness of God's justice and God's rule and God's grace and God's nature and character. Nothing else will satisfy the human soul. Nothing else is worth pursuing. Nothing else will change you and make you righteous and pure. But do you believe this?
Let me ask you the 2025 deal in the reverse. Would you have all of the blessings that I described fall to pieces? Would you have the worst 2025 on record but have the presence of God in your life? But see more of the glory of God? Your relationships are falling apart. You can't pay your bills. Your Bible reading is just disintegrating. You can't keep a schedule, and everything's falling apart, but you're tasting something of the glory of God. Would you take that deal? Maybe that will change how you see trials this year. Because trials are often where you meet God. Thomas Watson understands the heart of Moses, the heart of a Christian, when he says, "If God should say, 'I will put you into hell,' I would leap into it. If God should say, 'I will put you into heaven,' I would leap at it. But if God should say, 'I will put you into heaven, but I will hide my face from you,' I would not care for it." But the opposite is also true. If God should say, "I will put you into hell, but I will be there with you. I will show to you my light. My face will shine upon you. I'll unveil grace and might," then hell would become heaven. For my heart would joy to see the glory of my Maker and my Redeemer next to me. Just that sight would satisfy the longings of my soul. Nothing else would matter, for my God, He is my all.
C.S. Lewis understood the beauty and the glory of God and how God Himself is worth looking upon, even though to look upon Him is death. He puts this idea into several of his characters in the Narnia series. Here's what a horse named Hwin said when she met Aslan: "Please," she said, "you're so beautiful. You may eat me if you like. I'd sooner be eaten by you than be fed by anyone else." Here it is again in the mouth of another character: "It is better to see the lion and die than to be Tisrock of the world and live and not have seen him." In fact, I think that Lewis is caught on to something deeper here. I believe that when we look at God, we do die. "No man shall see Him and live," and yet you see Him. God's glory is dangerous. Seeing God's glory means death. Notice 1 John 3:3, "And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure." If you hope in seeing God, you become pure. It's a purifying thing to pursue the sight of God because sin dies in the presence of the glory of God; fire flashes out from His temple, and impurities are removed. Selfishness, pettiness, greed, lust, anger, covetousness, lies, irreverence, laziness, irritability—all of these things die when we see God. And because our sin is so much a part of us, it often feels like we are dying. It often feels like Isaiah: "Woe is me!" And yet, what does Isaiah find? "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And yet the purifying fire of God cleanses him as he beholds His glory.
Paul describes this as the death of the old man, the mortification of the flesh, or the putting off of sin. Our God is a consuming fire, and our sin is consumed by His glory. But it's worth it. It's painful, but it's worth it because seeing His glory is so majestic. It's also worth it because Jesus knows how to raise the dead. Those who look upon the glory of God and die, trusting in Jesus, Jesus raises them up to newness of life. You come and you worship, and you see something of the glory of God, and you say, "Woe is me! This is a disaster. My life's a wreck in comparison to His glory." And Jesus says, "Don't worry. Stay there. Die. Don't run, don't hide, don't cover. Let the sin die as you're convicted of it in the presence of the glory of God, and I will raise you to life." This is not just something that happens at the end of history. It's something that happens every day in the life of the Christian. As we look at the face of Jesus Christ, our sinful self is convicted and dies through the acts of repentance and confession. And the new man, the image of the glory of Christ, rises from the ashes.
And I know that this is something we go through time and time again because what we will be has not yet been revealed. You haven't seen it all yet. You've had just but a taste of His glory. But another reason that living righteously and seeing God has something to do with each other is that glory is our destiny. And so gazing on Him now gets us used to the glory that we will gaze on for all eternity. 1 John 2:28-29, "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." John is essentially saying, learn to live near to God so that when He appears, it won't be a shock. You'll be gazing at glory for all eternity. Get your eyes accustomed to it now, or you'll be blinded when God appears.
This is really the gospel. This is why we call people to come to the glory of Jesus Christ now because we're all going to look at it one day. And if you haven't learned to find joy in the death that comes when you gaze at glory, then you will die. As Josh said, it's the same glory. It's the same glory that judges the sinner and saves the saint. So if you don't hear of the glory of Jesus Christ and something wells up in your soul that says, "I want that," if you don't know what it is to be like Moses and say, "This is scary, but show me more," then I plead with you, gaze at the glory of Jesus Christ now. Because you will one day. And if you do it now, He will raise you from the dead, and you'll get accustomed to seeing glory so that when He appears, you will not shrink from Him in fear and shame. But you will say, "Oh yes, I know this feeling. Oh yes, Lord, take Him away. Take the sins. Take my weakness. Take my animosity towards You. I know what it is to see Your glory and desire more, even though it's fearful. Take it all. Take me deeper."
One of the first steps to teaching a child to swim is to acclimatize them to water. You put them in water and you let them feel it on their skin, and you splash some on their face. And you do it all whilst holding them firmly in your arms. They're not really swimming. But before they can hold their breath and plunge beneath the waves, or dive down to explore the inky darkness of the deep, they must first get used to the idea of being in water. This life is to be used in getting used to glory, in getting used to swimming in the glory of God. As we see Christ in the created order, in the scriptures, as we taste more and more of the wonder of His character and nature and person and work, as we revel in His glory now—and I'm sure if you're a Christian, you've had something of that experience of just being filled with a wonder at Jesus—well, you're just like a toddler. You're sitting on the beach, having the smallest ripples wash over your feet. And that mature Christian who you look at and you go, "Oh my goodness, that guy, he sees the glory of God," well, he's just up to his ankles. And he's standing there saying, "Hey, it's really good out here. Like, this water's nice." But there is so much more coming.
What we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Then we will plunge headlong into the waves and start diving down. This ought to be our only goal in 2025. To see God more. Let our prayer, let our New Year's resolutions, let our hearts long for what Moses longed for: "Please, show me Your glory." May we see Christ more clearly by the power of His Spirit who He has poured into our hearts. May we have our eyes opened to the wonders and glory of Christ as they're shown to us in this world we live in, in the words of Scripture, and in the stories even of our Christian brothers and sisters. May we see Jesus' hand at work in and through one another. May we see Jesus. May we see Jesus everywhere and in everything. May we see Him tabernacling among us. May we see His humiliation, His glorious character in nature, His compassion, His protection, His life, His delight in His people, His words of grace and truth, His beautiful death in all its glory, bearing the awful weight of our sin, suffering under the wrath of God. May we see just a little bit more of the wonder of this act of love. May we see His resurrection. May we put our hands of faith and touch His hands and put our hands in His side. May we see Him as Thomas did, a wounded, resurrected, glorified Savior, God Himself taken on flesh forever so that He might live with His people and reign with them. And may we cry out with every fiber of our soul, "My Lord and my God, show me more of Your glory." May we see Jesus as Stephen did, standing up by the Father's side. May we see Him as Paul did, the very image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. May we see Jesus as John did, robed in dazzling white, crowned with glory and honor, with a sword thundering from His mouth, ruling already on high, bringing His captives to freedom, walking among the lampstands of His churches, shepherding His flock, disciplining the unruly. Holy, holy, holy, worthy of all praise. May we see His fearsome judgment, His merciful kindness, His zeal for the glory of God, His hot anger at the effects of sin and death upon His beloved people. May we see His love for His bride, wooing her, washing her, pursuing her until she is clothed in glory like Him. Lord, give us eyes to see. Lord, show us Your glory. Fill our every thought, that every word, every person, every created thing be a window into Your beauty. For when we see Your glory, we will be made like You. When we see even a fraction of Your beauty, we will be beautified. As we gaze in wonder at Your goodness, we will shine like lights in this world of darkness. We will become like the moon, reflecting the glory of the sun. Unveil Yourself, Lord God. We do not care if we die. We desire to see Your glory. Show us more, we pray. Amen.