Following in the Footsteps of His Glory (Urbana 76)
page 1 of 3by A. Donald MacLeod
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About A. Donald MacLeod (as of
1976).
A communion service is a festival of grace. It is a place for you and me to begin to follow in the footsteps of the glory of a gracious God. "Show me your glory." Open my eyes, Lord, that I might have the clearest conception of your nature. A great God? Yes. A good God? Yes. But, hallelujah, a gracious God as well, sovereign and gracious.
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One of the truly miraculous things the Spirit of God has been doing this week is drawing our attention in many different ways to the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33: "Show me your glory." The passage in full reads:
And the Lord said to Moses, "This very thing that you have
spoken I will do; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."
Moses said, "I pray thee, show me thy glory."And he said "I will
make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name 'The
LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face;
for man shall not see me and live." And the LORD said, "Behold, there
is a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock; and while my glory passes
by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand
until I have passed by, then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my
back; but my face shall not be seen."
(vv. 17-23)
The Apostle Paul, commenting on these chapters and the incidents related there, gives us insight into this as he describes the story of the brilliance of God's glory revealed to Moses and the even greater brilliance of the glory that we know in the new covenant in Jesus Christ.
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in
letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily
at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the
ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns
men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of
that which lasts. Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ...
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who
is the Spirit.
(2 Cor. 3:7-12, 17-18, NIV)
"Show me your glory." What an extraordinary prayer this was! Can you picture the scene? Mt. Sinai towers above with the shekinah glory of the holy law-giving God. In the valley below, the people of Israel, stretched out before the sham deity they had erected, worship the golden calf, aided by the very priest of God himself, Aaron, the brother of Moses. Then there is Moses, coming down from the vision of God to the apostasy of the people of God. And all he can pray is, "Show me your glory."
I would have prayed anything but that, if I had been in Moses' position. I would perhaps have said in desperation, "Lord, you've got to clean up this mess. It's beyond my control. How could these people do this? After all the concern and prayer and the intensity of my vision for them, how could they do this? Lord, I can't take any more. It's too much. Do something, and do it quickly." But I would hardly have prayed as Moses prayed: "Lord, show me your glory."
How will you apply the lessons you have learned at Urbana 76 in the new year 1977? What has God told you and me about declaring his glory among the nations? What have you discovered about the glory of God that will make a difference in your life? Is your prayer "Lord, I want you to show me your glory"?
Henry Scougal, a 17th-century Scottish minister, in a classic that every Christian should read and re-read, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, says that you and I are called to walk in the footsteps of God's glory, that day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute we are called to follow in the footsteps of the glory of our God: "We cannot open our eyes but we must behold some footsteps of his glory; and we cannot turn them toward Him but we shall be sure to find His :intent upon us; waiting, as it were, to catch a look, ready to entertain the most intimate fellowship and communion with us. Let us endeavor to raise our minds to the clearest conception of the divine nature." The clearest conception of the divine nature-that is the way God answers the prayer: "Show me your glory."
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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