Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Face of Jesus Christ

by Cecil Paxton
Devotional Newsletter - February 2016

To really come to know a person is to experience the person face to face. In relating to each other in relationships you really come to know a person as time is spent with them. Over time, throughout the good times and bad times, you come to know who they really are.

In Exodus 33 Moses was having experiences with God that made God real to Moses but Moses wanted to really know God. What makes up a person is who they are inwardly on the inside just as 1 Peter 3:4 says, the hidden man of the heart, the uniqueness of who we are. This is our personality, how we think, believe and relate in life. Moses wanted to know the nature and character of God in a more personal way and really come to know Him. In Exodus 33:13 Moses said “Show me your ways that I may know you” and in verse 18 Moses said “Please show me you glory”. In Verse 20 the Lord’s response to Moses is, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."

Today we are under a new Covenant through Jesus Christ where we can come to know the true nature and character of God in the face of Jesus Christ as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

One of the uses of light in scripture speaks of the Glory of God where we experience His manifested presence and where we are being conformed to the image of Christ. Light shining out of darkness in our hearts speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit. Within us, out of a place that we do not know where, knowledge is made known to us giving us understanding, as the Holy Spirit is our teacher. If you really desire to know your heavenly Father today He is revealed to us today in the face of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12: says “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily en-snares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..…”

If we do not humble our hearts letting go of life being all about us and our problems and discover our source of life in Christ where we come into a place of identifying with freedom found in Him, then we will always have trouble trusting Him because we will never really know Him. This will result in an impersonal relationship where we know about a person but really never come to know the person.

Moses experienced God in such a powerful way that he wanted to come to really know Him. Moses was limited in relationship with God. But today, because of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished through the Cross we can come to know our Heavenly Father in the face of Jesus Christ. We can have a personal relationship and experience His great love for us.

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