I've been meditating on Isaiah where he has the vision of God upon His throne. Isaiah is so overcome by the holiness of God and by the wretchedness of his own self. He calls judgment upon himself. Isaiah was a changed person because of his encounter with God.
Well, then I began pondering some more. I thought about who had seen God *in person*. Now, we know that God is a spirit (John 4:24) and that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20). That brought to mind Moses. Now, God allowed Moses to see His back but never his face. Actually, he saw God's glory, not the full glory of His face, but from His back.
When Moses returned to the people his face was shining. The people were terrified by it. They shrank from Moses. It was so bad Moses had to cover his face. Moses had come so near to God that he was reflecting God's glory.
I find this fascinating because as I thought about Moses I applied it to the culture in which I live. The mormons believe that their prophet, Joseph Smith, saw both Christ and God the Father. I have always maintained that he did not because of the biblical verses that tell us that God is a Spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Also, I go to the passage where it says no one can look on God's face and live. But, another thought came to me as I meditated on this. If Joseph Smith had truly seen God the Father, face to face, then 1) Joseph Smith would be dead according to the Scriptures or, let's suppose he did manage to live Joseph Smith would have been a changed boy. Since he was so close to the Father he too would have reflected the glory of the Lord just like Moses which would have instilled fear in the people. That did not happen. There was no visible change or sign that young Joseph had seen God. People were not afraid of Joseph Smith...there was no visible glow emanating from him.
This is yet, another important reason for one to search the Scriptures like the Bereans did to find out what is Truth (Acts 17:11). It is so important to be grounded in God's unchanging Word so as not to be led astray by false teachings.
5 comments:
We had a Mormon attend our last moms' support group. I realized I don't know a whole lot about their beliefs. Our area has become so diverse, that it's becoming a challenge to keep up with the different belief systems of people we run into regularly.
Julana, you are so correct about it becoming more difficult to keep up with the different belief systems. It is extremely difficult concerning the mormons because they use the same terms we do but they mean something totally different than the biblical definition. So the average person thinks they are talking the same language when in reality they are not.
Well, it's about time I made it over here!
That Moses was so profoundly changed by the experience of seeing only God's back tells me so much about how profoundly separated we are from God because of sin.
Won't it be great when we do see him face to face?
It IS about time, Carol! :) Welcome! I hope you drop in often!
And, yes, it will be fabulous...I wonder how soon I will be able to lift my head up?!
That is something that I never even realized...what an amazing truth and great witnessing tool!
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