Transformed by Beholding
Seeing Jesus is very important. We are not changed by what we do, but by what we see. Evidently not many of us have seen Him, because there is something that inevitably happens and you are changed from one degree of glory to another. Something dramatic happens when you come in contact with the real living Jesus. The word “change” lets me know there is something better or there would be no need for change.
By our first birth we are children of wrath, totally depraved, dead in trespasses and sins. The nature we receive at our natural birth is the nature of father Adam, incorrigibly corrupt, unable to do a single thing to please God. In order for this to change, there must be a new birth. John 3:6-7 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (KJV)
The new birth is a new birth and not a rebirth. The two are totally distinct and separate and will always be. It’s hard for the Christian to swallow the fact that, even after we have been born again the deceitfulness of the flesh remains in the believer. He doesn’t do away with the old man but now there are two natures within me. Paul confirmed this in Rom 7:14-17 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (KJV) Does this in any way sound familiar? Perhaps this is why He said “Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
When we received Christ we are no more of this world, but the flesh is still with us and must be dealt with. In my own life it has not been one single spiritual experience but a series of burials and a succession of funerals along the way. About the time I think I have the old man buried, he seems to have the ability to resurrect. When the wine has just been poured from one vessel to another it seems crystal clear, but after a while there is a sediment that forms on the bottom. The sediment is the flesh of the grape. Know matter how small you grind it, it is still flesh. Know matter how you beautify it, it is still flesh. Now it’s time to be poured from one vessel to another. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”
God called Moses to come up into the mountain for orientation to teach the law. Exod 24:12-18 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and he went up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
The cloud covered the mountain and the glory abode on the mount. The sight of the glory was not that of a cloud but like a devouring fire. The devouring fire represents His glory. At this time Moses did not go into the glory but into the cloud. The cloud represents His presence.
Moses had just spent forty days and forty nights in direct communion with God Himself. It must have been an awesome time being in His divine presence for such a period of time. I am sure that we have all witnessed the presence of the Lord to one degree or another. I have sat basking in His presence to the extent I just knew that I would no longer be the same only to come to the conclusion that I still had more dying to do. Surely forty days and forty nights in the presence of God Himself would bring total transformation.
While Moses was in the Presence of God on the mountain the people thought he had been gone too long. They said we don’t know what has become of him. They gathered themselves to Aaron and said, “make us gods.”
Exod 32:3-4 "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
Now God tells Moses these people belong to you Exod 32:7 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 10 "Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation."
11 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
God was upset and in essence Moses was telling God, settle down and don’t be so angry with your people that you brought out of Egypt.
Moses has to figure out if he is a mediator or a scapegoat. God puts the fate of the Nation of Israel in the hands of Moses. Was Moses willing to give up this stiff-necked rebellious people for his own exaltation?
Then we find when Moses comes down the mountain and hears the singing and sees the dancing and he becomes furious and exhibits wrath.
Exod 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
This is the man that had just spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of God almighty, comes down the mountain, throws a walleyed fit and takes the most precious possession he had and in a fit of anger he brakes them beneath the mountain. He had not been changed.
After the hullabaloo was over, Moses settles down and the anger has ceased and he realizes that he is still the same he says, 18 “I beseech thee, show me thy glory”.
I must confess there have been times, in my younger days of ministry, when I would come out of a great service having been just in the presence of the Lord and something happen and I would find myself becoming angry. My attitude could become quite volatile. I thought it was because I was so overly sensitive to the spirit at that time only to realize that I had not been changed.
We have all witnessed someone going to the altar and praying and really feeling like they had touched God only to get up and go right back into the same sin they had been praying about. They had not been changed.
When Moses was granted the request to see His glory there was a change that took place. God shielded him from the strongest part of His glory by putting His hand in front of the place where Moses stood. All he saw was the afterglow of His glory and change took place. He was changed to the point that his face had such a glow he had to wear a Veil.
I Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
The Mount of Transfiguration
We find often in the Old Testament, that a cloud was the visible token of God’s presence; he came down upon mount Sinai in a cloud. Moses took possession of the tabernacle in a cloud, and afterwards of the temple;
Under the law it was commonly a thick and dark cloud that God made the token of his presence; he came down upon mount Sinai in a thick cloud and said he would dwell in thick darkness; But we are now come, not to the mount that was covered with thick blackness and darkness
This cloud was intended to break the force of that great light (Glory) which otherwise would have overcome the disciples, and have been intolerable; it was like the veil which Moses put upon his face when it shone.
There came a voice out of the cloud, and it was the voice of God, who now, as of old, spake in the cloudy pillar, Ps. 99:7.
There was no thunder, or lightning, or voice of a trumpet, as there was when the law was given by Moses, but only a voice, a still small voice.
It was not ushered in with a strong wind, or an earthquake, or fire, as when God spake to Elijah. Moses then and Elijah were witnesses that in these last days God will speak to us by his Son, in different way than he spoke to them.
This voice came from the excellent glory 2 Pet. 1:17, the glory which excelleth, in comparison of which the former had no glory; though the excellent glory was clouded, yet thence came a voice, for faith comes by hearing.
2 Pet 1:1717 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
“Thou canst not see My face” Although Jehovah showed Himself to Moses in some peculiar form of manifestation, He never appeared in His own essential glory, but only in such a mode as human weakness could stand. 2 Cor 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. When I see Him I shall be like Him for I shall see Him as He is.
If we are wanting the change to take place in our lives it is evident that we are going to have to go beyond just being in His presence and enter into the glory. Can somebody say “GLORY?”
