Recently, I have been reading a tremendous book called “Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortlund. I would highly recommend it to anyone who longs to know the gentle and wonderful heart of God. As I read, a particular section from a familiar passage in Exodus moved me deeply.
The Lord chose to reveal His name to Moses in Exodus 34:5: “Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh.”
When God proclaimed His name to Moses, the first words out of His mouth were not power, justice, or wrath. They were “merciful and gracious” (Exodus 34:6). When God reveals His glory, He begins with His compassion. His greatness is never cold or distant. On the contrary, His glory shines through His mercy.
This is indeed striking because these attributes are the first ones He announces about Himself. The Creator of Heaven and earth wants His people to know something. That at the core of His character, there is mercy for the undeserving along with grace for the guilty.
To See Jesus
Centuries later, Jesus describes His own heart. And He chooses only two words: “gentle and lowly” (Matthew 11:29). The Son reveals the same heart the Father proclaimed on Sinai. Moses glimpsed the glory that we now see fully in Christ.
To see God’s glory is not merely to see His power or majesty. It is also to see His goodness. To see a God who bends toward sinners with mercy. One who always moves toward the broken with grace.
And to see that glory most clearly is to see Jesus.
In Christ, the mercy of Exodus 34 takes on flesh. The gracious heart of God actually walks among us. And the glory Moses longed to see shines brightest in the face of the gentle and lowly Savior.
To behold Jesus is to behold the glory and goodness of God.
Marveling with you,
Posted in A Word from the Pastor