EXODUS 33:21-23

And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.

In the March 1776 issue of The Gospel Magazine, Augustus Toplady maintained that if a man lived to the age of 80, he would have the opportunity to commit more than two and a half billion sins.

Obviously it would be impossible for a person to pay for all those sins. Therefore, Toplady offered this solution in a hymn he wrote. He pled, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”

Moses found that this was his solution also. Sinful as he was, he had a great longing to see God more fully, to know Him more intimately. But the sinfulness of man and the glory of God could not coexist.

To see God in all His glory would have meant instantaneous annihilation for Moses. So God provided a compromise. He placed Moses in a fissure of a rock and protected him as His glory passed by. Then God allowed him to see the “afterglow” of His presence.

Deep in all of our hearts lies the longing to see God more fully, to discover His presence to a greater degree. But there is also an innate fear because we know, and rightly so, that we cannot exist in the presence of His unapproachable glory.

If you desire this in your heart, remember the rest of what Toplady wrote in the hymn that would become “Rock of Ages.” He continued, “Let the water and the blood, from Thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure; save me from its guilt and power.” Confess your sins to God, ask Him to cleanse you with the blood of Christ, and enjoy a deeper sense of God’s glory.

ONLY THOSE HIDDEN IN COD CAN SAFELY SEE COD REVEALED.

WOODROW KROLL
www.backtothebible.in