Today while reading Scripture I came across this verse in John, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (1:18). Other translations interpret this to mean that no one has ever seen God’s face. In fact, someone has seen God: Moses. But Moses could not look in God’s face.
Although Moses and God shared a very personal and intimate relationship, God could not allow Moses to look upon His face. God says to Moses in Exodus 33:23, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Still, since Moses had made a request to see God, God obliged His servant, “ . . . you will see my back . . . ” (33:23). It seems odd that God would show Moses His back. However, Moses, like all human beings, was sinful, in need of God’s forgiveness and redemption.
As I think about the back of God my thoughts turn to Christ who bears the scars of scourging on His back and the scars of the nails of His sacrifice for the world’s salvation. Christ’s back is the back of God. His back is scarred with the stripes of both punishment and healing. It is disfigured from the pounding He took for our iniquities. It is marred with the bruises and blood and lacerations of salvation. On the back of Christ are the reminders of the pain and agony God endured to bring humanity freedom from sin.
One day, believers will stare into the wondrous and glorious face of God, but, today, He shows us His back, so we can all believe and be saved.
Denise Larson Cooper has a passion for Christ and sharing His Word. A wife and mother of two daughters, Denise currently works as a gymnastic coach.
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Godnesia: Keeping God in Mind Each Day http://amzn.to/2GSquOD
Ordinary Days With an Extraordinary Savior – http://amzn.to/2mFGASBLife Is a Metaphor: Recognizing God in the Everyday – http://amzn.to/2De1rU2