“Encountering God”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Friday, May 6, 2022

Exodus 24:1-18 (Forward, p. 8) CEV p. 79

Here I am more than just a wee bit confused. In a later encounter that Moses had with God, God said to him, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). And this passage isn’t alone in stating this: this remark is echoed elsewhere in the Scriptures as well:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father's side, has made Him known.” (John 1:18)

“He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honour and eternal dominion! Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:16)

And certainly, other personages in the Hebrew Scriptures react with horror with even the merest suggestion or possibility that they might have seen God. Here I mention just Jacob and Isaiah for starters, but they are not the only ones:

“So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, ‘Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’" (Genesis 32:30)

“Then I [Isaiah] said: ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.’" (Isaiah 6:5)

And yet, in today’s passage says, “Moses and Aaron, together with Nadab and Abihu and the seventy leaders, went up the mountain and saw the God πof Israel. Under his feet was something that looked like a pavement made out of sapphire and it was as bright as the sky. Even though these leaders of Israel say God, he did not punish them” (verses 9-11).

So, how are we to reconcile these seemingly contradictory passages? Difficult as this may be, a number of solutions have been suggested:

a) One is that they did not see God fully, as in an unimpeded or unmitigated view of His face. In other words, just a glimpse. Or, as Genesis 33:23 suggests, just His back. They saw something of His glory, but not ‘the full meal deal,’ otherwise, they would have been overwhelmed by it. (This idea comes up repeatedly in the Scriptures, as when the priests in the Temple were unable to remain there due to the glory of God residing there.)

b) Another solution comes from a fuller understanding of the word ‘live’ as used in the above verse, ‘no one can see me and live’. Often this Hebrew word has the meaning of ‘one’s earthly, physical existence.’

That is, living life on a purely earthly, unspiritual plane. In other words, no one can experience God, see God, and return to their ordinary, day-to-day, hum-drum lives. They cannot help but be transformed and changed!

c) Or maybe this is a sort of reminder, a sort of caution that we cannot try to be too cozy, too palsy wellies with God. We can know God, and indeed, be friends with Him and be intimate with Him, but we can never treat Him as someone to be taken for granted, someone who is ordinary and ‘familiar.’

d) Or perhaps the answer is simpler. Maybe the truth here is that we can never know anyone fully, whether human or divine. There is always the unknown, the mystery, in all human relationships—and even more so, with God. There is always so much more to be known.

So, we can certainly have ‘glimpses’ of God, and know God in many ways, but there is always so much more. That is why prayer, worship and a study of His word are so important. We can always grow into Him, and into a knowledge and appreciate of Him, and that can, and should, never stop. It should be our lifelong, lifetime, ambition. Amen.

Forward notes: “Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, ‘See the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words’" (verse 8)

“We sold lamb frozen in little white packages, and I helped the butcher with the harvest. After I had the lamb held down just right, in one swift motion, the butcher cut the veins, arteries, and trachea and then snapped the

spinal cord in the neck. In an instant, the lamb was dead, and there was no going back. The technique is slightly different from Kosher or Halal slaughter, but in all three, there is no going back.

“Many of us are baffled by ritual sacrifices. In this passage, the blood poured out is a sign that there is no going back. To seal the covenant, Moses makes sure each person present is marked with the blood as a reminder that the Great I Am is their God and they are his people.

“We may like our faith packaged in pristine butcher paper, but the blood of the Lamb spilled for us, making the way to the promised land. And there’s no going back.”

MOVING FORWARD: “Did this meditation make you squirm? Do you see your walk with Jesus as straightforward and sanitized or messy and risky? How do these verses shape your understanding?”