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Your
Weekly I-Mail Vol. 32 May 11,
2006
 T his past Sunday we further examined the God's face to face
communication with Moses in Exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Corinthians 3 - 4. We
discovered that when God spoke to Moses, His glory accompanied His Word!
This was evidenced by the light of God's glory shining from Moses
face whenever he went in to speak with Him. When Moses rejoined the
people, however, they wanted Moses to cover his face with a veil.
They didn't want the personal transformation that accompanies exposure
to God's glory. All they wanted to know from Moses is
what God said in order to do it. The safety of
external obedience without the internal demands that come
with intimacy with the Holy One. In short, they wanted the word
without the glory.
When the glory
of God is revealed the pride of men is laid low. God shares His glory with
no man. The people of God at that time devised a way that they could
remain in control of their lives apart from the glory and yet seek to
maintain covenant favor with God. According to 2 Corinthians
3:15 this affected the way they related to Scripture for generations to
come:
"to
this day a whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their
heart."
There is a profound lesson here
in how we hear God through the Bible
today. In desiring to hear
God's voice when reading Scripture, we should anticipate a
personal communication of His glory to accompany His Word. His
glory is the radiance of His person. He wants us to hear His voice
and personally encounter His person when we read the
Bible. Bible reading is to be more than comprehending words
written in ink on a page. The Holy Spirit who inspired the
Scripture desires to personally reveal the glory of God into our hearts in
increasing measure. C. S. Lewis gives good advice in this
regard:
"when we come to the
Scripture it’s not a “question of learning a subject but of steeping ourselves in a Personality.” I'd like to
remind us that we are a lot like the people of Israel when Moses spoke to
them. We also separate to the word from glory. Too often in reading
the Bible we are more anxious to discover
what we should be doing than to personally meet and hear the
voice of the One who empowers us to do it through His glory. Here's
a Biblical challenge to inspire us to seek for more in our
devotions:
but whenever a man turns to the LORD the veil is taken
away.
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...
for God who said 'Light shall shine out
of darkness is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of
the knowledge of God in the face of
Christ."
2 Corinthians
3:16,18 In closing, according to
this passage, our access to God's glorious presence in Christ is to be
greater than the access Moses had to God on Mt. Sinai! This access
is now open to all of God's people, not just church leaders. The affect of
hearing His word today in the face of Christ is to be more profound than
when God spoke with Moses. When you hear His voice today
through the Scripture, know that His transformation into His likeness and
increasing glory are at hand. Are you ready radiate? I pray you
are!
This Week at
Immanuel
Don't forget our second
DVD presentation and discussion on the Da Vinci Code Friday Night.
Faith Hall @
7:30pm
Youth and Adults are
invited.
Also, Dee and Elaine Kiah will be dedicating baby Darius to the
Lord this coming Sunday! Let's join as the family of God to bless them
during this special occasion.
Remember to Honor Thy Mother!
Pastor Mark
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