All right, if you have a Bible with you this morning, I've got quite a task for you. Turn to John 1, put a bookmark there. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4, put a bookmark there. And then find Exodus 33. If you don't have that many bookmarks, that many fingers, if you don't have a Bible with you, just listen to the text. We're going to take a week to step away from our study in Matthew. Earlier this week, the rescue mission, I preached from John chapter 1. There's a portion of the text that caught my eye. It's verse 14, where the Apostle John describes seeing Jesus as the very glory of God. We'll read that in a moment. But I was struck with how similar It was to a statement made by the apostle Paul in one of his letters and it can't be a coincidence. So I started thinking about the timeline of the New Testament to figure out, well, is Paul quoting John or is Paul writing first and John quoting him? By the way, the answer would be Paul. Paul wrote first and John probably wrote his gospel about 20 years later. but neither one of them are ultimately thinking about each other. They're both referring to something, an experience that's much, much older. They are both declaring that the full revelation of God's glory is seen through faith in Jesus Christ. The full revelation of God's glory is seen through faith in Jesus Christ. It's gonna be a topical message. I'm gonna want you to connect some dots in your mind, but let's read these verses. John chapter one, verse 14. John, speaking of Jesus, says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. For John, who describes Jesus as the word, Jesus is the very wisdom of God, he's the revelation of God, he's the communication of God. He says the word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, John says. And it wasn't the kind of ordinary glory that other men might possess at some point, right? Like some, we all know sometime later today, there's gonna be some guy holding up a football trophy and basking in the glory of having won the Superbowl. That kind of glory is minuscule, it's meaningless, it quickly fades. But to look at Jesus, John says, is to behold His glory like beholding the glory of God Himself. And oh, that's all well and good if you're John or you're one of the other apostles who got to walk around with Jesus, who got to look at Him face to face, but I haven't gotten to do that. So maybe I haven't seen His glory the way John describes here. Well, look at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and he says, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So as Paul writes to the church at Corinth, he's saying something about what it means for us when we hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus and we come to faith in him. For Paul, he describes it as a miraculous act of the creator God. As equally miraculous as creation itself. So that, look there in verse six, the very God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, right in that moment of pre-creation, when God simply spoke and said, let there be light, that same God looked into the sinful darkness of our heart and declared, let light be there. And at that moment, through the work of God alone, we know his glory. We receive, Paul says, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, but did the Corinthians look into the face of Jesus Christ? Well, no, not in any literal sense, at least not at the point that the Apostle Paul is writing this letter to them. Like, I trust, like, as Larry just had us sing, face to face, in all his glory, we'll see him by and by. Like, I trust that that has happened to them since then, but when Paul wrote this letter, They could have made the same complaint as we want to make from the Apostle John, when John says, we beheld his glory, right? Well, we feel excluded. I didn't look at Jesus and behold his glory. But Paul here is saying, you've seen it. If you've had the gospel of Jesus Christ illuminate your heart, you have received the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, what on earth are they both going on about? I hope to get to the bottom of that this morning. Not in the way that's gonna completely explain both of these texts. We're not gonna preach through John chapter one. We're not gonna preach through 2 Corinthians chapter four. In fact, if anything, this is a sermon from Exodus that we haven't even gotten to yet. But in a way that connects some of the dots that might help us appreciate what the Lord Jesus has done. So let's start with a simple question. Maybe it's a not so simple question. What is God's glory? It's certainly not that easy of a question. In fact, we have to think of glory in at least two different ways. If you brought your thinking caps this morning, this is where you wanna pull them down tight and make sure they don't blow off, okay? When the Bible talks about God's glory, it is either speaking of what we would call His inherent glory or His ascribed glory. And I'll explain both of those. His inherent glory, is the very nature of God. Glory is one of the attributes of God. He is glorious. All that he does is glorious. Glory is who God is. He cannot be separated from it, often this glorious nature of God is described as the bright light that surrounds his presence, right? Glory is the shining outward expression of his excellence. We see this several places in scripture. For example, if you know the story of the tabernacle or of the temple in the Old Testament, the glory of God filled those places. Luke chapter two verse nine describes the angels appearing to the shepherds at Jesus's birth and it says the glory of God shined around about them. At the transfiguration of Jesus, it revealed the glory of God. Since Jesus is God in the flesh, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the divine nature of Jesus started shining through his human flesh, and in fact, the Apostle John was there, and I think he might have been thinking about that when he writes, we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of God. Later in the future, the heavenly city described in Revelation is filled and lit by God's glory. Revelation 21, 23 says, there's no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminates it and the lamb is the light. So this bright, shining manifestation of God's nature is His inherent glory, or it's sometimes referred to as His revealed glory. I love in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for this glorious presence of God comes from the root word that means weighty. The manifest glory of God is not just a bright light. Y'all, this is heavy. It is no light thing. There is this great substance to it. So that's the first way that the Bible describes God's glory. It is his inherent glory, the bright, shining weightiness of God's presence. The second way scripture speaks of God's glory is his ascribed glory. That is not the essence of who God is, but it's the glory that we people should assign or ascribe to Him. So, a minute ago, and I don't know how Larry did this, because I didn't ask for any songs this morning, but a minute ago, we sang, we literally sang, glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord. As we sang those things, as we sang honor to the Lord, did it make Him more honorable than He already was? Or as we sing power to the Lord or strength to the Lord, did He become more powerful? Did He become stronger? No, and when we sing glory to the Lord, we're not changing the glory that he is, but we are, in fact, assigning him the glory that's due. We are saying that we recognize that glorious nature of God. Glory is the word that's used to describe the perfect honor that all creation should give to God. This perspective of God's glory is central in scripture. You might not have thought about this way, but y'all know it's true if you connect some of the dots of Bible verses that you've probably heard. The glory of God in this way is our very purpose. Isaiah 43 verse seven says of mankind, God says, I created him for my glory. We were made to give God glory. God's glory has to be our pursuit. You know, especially if you go to camp in the summer, 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. God's glory is ultimately our problem as well. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The life of every child of God must be lived through this holy preoccupation with God's glory. Living for God's glory is our overarching purpose. Seeking God's glory is the pursuit of our lives. What we already know of God's glory provides our motivation to serve him, to ascribe glory. We want to know more about his nature, we want to presents to him the recognition that he is glorious. For the apostles John and Paul, I think we'll find they connect Jesus Christ with both of those ideas of glory. Jesus possesses all of the inherent glory in God's divine nature. Everything that's glorious about God is found in Jesus. Also, magnifying Jesus, worshiping him, is the only means to effectively ascribe to God the glory that's due to him. And in order to make that point, it's evident that John and Paul are both not thinking about each other and trying to quote each other. They're both magnifying the glory of Jesus by connecting it to one of the most well-known events in scripture, which happened long before either one of them. They're connecting the story of Moses and the glory of Jesus. Go back to John chapter one. for just a second and you'll see this. John chapter one, verse 14, he says, we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And then he goes on to say in verse 17 and 18, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. No one has seen God at any time. You know how John's Jewish readers would have responded to that? they would have immediately said, wait, what about Moses? Didn't Moses see God? Don't you remember Moses got put in the cleft of the rock and he got to see that little glimpse of God passing by and he was in that story so overwhelmed by the bright glory of God that Moses' own face was shining so that when he came down the mountain to the people, they begged him, look, put something over that. We can't stand to look at you, right? His own face was shining with the glorious presence of God. So he had to put a veil over it. Well, suffice it to say, John is not ignorant of that. He isn't surprised that anybody would bring it up. In fact, in verse 17, he brings it up himself. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And now that you've got Moses in your mind, let me say this, no man has seen God at any time. And so who is John saying that Moses saw? Well, it wasn't God the Father, that's what he means here. It is the only begotten Son of God who makes the glory of God known. Jesus declares, he reveals, he makes known the glory of God. In fact, John 1.18 here is one of those verses that some other modern translations do a really excellent job of. The NIV, for example, says this for John 1.18. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, He has made Him known. When Moses was given a glimpse of Yahweh passing by, who did he see? Well, John would tell us Moses saw Jesus. God was made flesh and dwelt among us, and beholding his glory is beholding the glory of the Father, because no one, John says, not even Moses, has seen the Father. It is exclusively the Son who makes the glory of God known. Now, look back over at 2 Corinthians and see what Paul has to say about it. We read 2 Corinthians 4, verse six, but remember, chapter divisions are not inspired. This is all flows as a single letter. And Paul has had something on his mind as he led up to that statement we read about Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 3, verse 13, he reminds us of Moses. No surprise. Who he says, remember how Moses had put a veil over his face. And he goes on to say that for the unbelieving Jews, that veil essentially remains. That is, they have not been witnesses to the shining glory of God. And the only way that veil is ever taken away so that they will see the glory of God is how? At the end of verse 14. It's in Christ that the veil is removed. Paul says when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, it is the declaration of God's glory. In fact, start at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. He says, Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. "'For we do not preach ourselves, "'but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, "'your bondservants for Jesus' sake. "'It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, "'who has shined in our hearts to give the light "'of the knowledge of the glory of God "'in the face of Jesus Christ.'" And so John says, Moses saw Jesus. And if you want to see the glory of God, you have to look at Jesus because that's the only way God's glory is known. Paul says, just like Moses had that veil to cover the shining glory of God over his face, that veil continues and obscures God's glory today, but through the miraculous work of the creator God, the gospel, shines in your heart so that the veil is removed and you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. So this is what it means, this is what I mean when I say they're not quoting each other, they're both reflecting on the story of Moses from back in the Old Testament, describing the glory of Jesus through the experience of Moses. So now my question would be why? Why is it that both of these men are drawn to the story of Moses And I presume that the answer to that is because they know how that story starts. If you've got Exodus 33 marked in your Bibles, go ahead and find it. That story of Moses back in Exodus did not start by God just telling Moses, Moses, I want you to go hide over there in the cleft of the rock because there's something I wanna show you. That story begins like this in Exodus 33 verse 18. And he, that is Moses, said, please show me your glory. Now does it strike you, it is all strange, that if you know the story of Moses' life that he would at this point in his life be asking God, please show me your glory. Moses has already seen this miraculous appearance of God in the burning bush that was not consumed. He spoke to God through that bush. He had seen the plagues of Egypt. He'd seen waters turn to blood, the land overrun by frogs and flies and disease and boils and locusts. He had seen the thunder and the preternatural hail and fire falling from heaven. He'd seen darkness over the land, so dark that it's described as you could feel it. He had witnessed the death of the firstborn and the miraculous salvation of all those who were covered by the blood of the Passover lamb. He had seen the waters of the Red Sea split apart. He had seen the people of the Hebrew nation walk through on dry ground. He had seen the glorious wrath of God displayed in the destruction of Pharaoh's army. He had been led by a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, He had walked up Mount Sinai while there was thunder and lightning and an earthquake, and he heard the audible voice of God delivering the Ten Commandments. And having seen all of that, Moses then says, More! I know there's more than this! Moses was convinced, and rightly convinced, that all of those magnificent events that he had witnessed had not begun to scratch the surface of the infinite glory of the Almighty God, and so he says, please, I beg you, show me your glory. And Moses' plea did not fall on deaf ears. We have a God who sees, who hears, who loves us, And yet the answer of God in Exodus chapter 33 from verse 19 to 23 comes in two forms. The Lord answers Moses and essentially says, you wanna see my glory? Well, there's some things I will do and there's some things I won't do. What God will do is found in Exodus 33. Like verse 19, Exodus 33, 19, and he, that's God, said, I will make all my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious on whom I will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. In response to Moses' plea, God promises, here's what I will do. First, I will make my goodness pass before you. You wanna see more of God's glory, Moses? Okay, that's gonna happen. What you're gonna find is the revelation of God's glory is that God is good. He's gloriously good. And so when Moses says, I want to see your glory, God says, I'll let my goodness pass before you. The second part of God's promise is what truly astounds me. He says, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you. This is God, this is the Lord saying, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And he does this in chapter 34. We could call that the original Sermon on the Mount, right? Yahweh himself comes to the pulpit of Mount Sinai and delivers his law and declares his glory. Look at chapter 34, verses six and seven. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, right? This is fulfilling his promise that I'll declare my name to you. proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation, right, to reveal his glory to Moses, the Lord says, I will show you my goodness, And I will declare my name, my character. And that character includes he's merciful. God is compassionate and sympathizing. He is gracious, it says. He gives kindness and mercy to sinful people. He is long-suffering. He is slow to anger. We do not have a one strike and you're out kind of God. He's not willing to overlook sin forever. We'll see that in a moment, but he puts up with a lot. He's abounding, it says, in goodness and truth. That is, he's faithful, he's trustworthy, he's honest, he's right. He reserves mercy for thousands. Don't read that as thousands of people, because in the context, it's clearly thousands of generations. He is eternally merciful and kind. He is forgiving by nature, forgiving the iniquity and transgression and sin, it says, because it uses all those words, because there is a lot of ways that we mess up, and yet God is forgiving of us by nature. And he is unwavering in his justice. There is, God says, no generation that's going to be overlooked when he judges sin. Every generation, whether it's father, grandfather, child, grandchild must turn to him in faith. And so Moses begged, show me your glory. And God says, here's what I will do. I'll show you my goodness. I will proclaim my name. You'll know my character, right? You wanna see my glory. You will see it in every act of mercy and grace and long suffering and goodness and forgiveness. And you'll even see it someday in the complete revelation of God's wrath against sin too. God says, here's what I will do. But then he also says, there's some things I won't do. Up in chapter 33, verse 20 through 23, he said, you cannot see my face. For no man shall see me and live. And the Lord said, here is a place by me, you shall stand on the rock and 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 will see my back, but my face shall not be seen. the God who will show mercy to whomever he wants to show mercy, here shows mercy to Moses by saying, well, you've asked to see my glory, and my answer is no, it will kill you. I'm not gonna do what you're asking. I will show you my goodness, but I won't show you my face. I'm gonna hide you in this crack in the rock face cliff and I'm gonna cut my hand over you. And as I pass by in my glory, I will remove my hand and you will get the tiniest glimpse of me after I've passed by. But you can't see me because no one can see me and live. So when Moses asked, show me your glory, he was right that there was a lot more of God's glory than what he had experienced, than what he had already witnessed. But to think that he could just gaze on it and take it all in was wrong. It was potentially dead wrong. God says, you'll see my back, but you won't see my face. And we think of that sometimes as God saying, I'm going to show you as much of me as you can handle. When in reality, this is a Hebrew turn of phrase that means you're hardly going to see me at all because even a little glimpse of the glory of God is too much for Moses to handle. as it was being exposed to the tiniest amount of the passing glory of God caused Moses's face to shine so that it was unbearably bright, right? The people insisted, cover that up, we can't look at you. But then we come to the New Testament and John wants us to know and Paul wants us to know that the full and complete revelation of God's glory is found through faith in Jesus Christ. God in his compassion and his mercy knew that Moses was unprepared to experience the full glory of God. He gave Moses just a glimpse of that glory. And then he preached to Moses about the truth of his glory. But now everything God declared is fulfilled in Jesus. And so you and I can try to say, right, but we won't get what Moses got. We don't get to experience what John experienced. And the truth is, both John and Paul are saying that through faith in Jesus Christ, you can experience more of God's glory than Moses got because the full and complete revelation of God's glory is found through faith in Jesus. Everything God declared about himself to Moses, he has revealed about himself through Jesus. And if you wanna know the compassion and the grace and the mercy and the long suffering of God, you find that in Jesus. If you wanna see God's glory and truth and just abounding in grace and truth, then it's found in Jesus. And if you want to see the unwavering justice of God against sin, you will also see it at the cross where the Son of God came from glory, took our sins, bore the wrath of God in our place. You see that in Jesus. If you want to find forgiveness of God for your iniquity and transgression and sin, forgiveness that allows you to escape his unwavering justice, that's accomplished in Jesus. What John and Paul are both saying, I think, is God's glory is no longer hidden behind a veil. It's not being thundered down as a voice from a mountaintop. There's no more need to cower hidden in a cliff face. The full revelation of God's glory is seen through faith in Jesus Christ. So if you want to know God wholly and love God fully and declare God completely, look to Jesus in faith. You can ask like Moses, Lord, please show me your glory. And if you get the answer, you know what you'll see? You'll see Jesus. and you will behold his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. You'll receive the illumination of the creator God, speaking light into your heart, and the unveiled glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. The full revelation of God's glory is seen through faith in Jesus.