Normally, one cannot see God. And, even when we read it in God's Word, what we read here was originally said in Hebrew, and it is translated rather vaguely into English. Now where does that leave you and me?
Here is where we stand. We cannot read Hebrew. And we are not so conversant with God (as Moses was) that we can even see His hinder parts and have Him speak to us face to face. But we do stand in the position of having God revealed to us by His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, how has He done that?
What did Exodus 33 and 34 say the glory of God is? It is the revelation of His nature. Certainly there is glory in a revelation of His power and majesty - if He should choose to do it in person. But, to you and me, that is not what He is interested in. He is interested in our understanding His nature - that we are conversant with it, that we perceive it, that we understand it, that we can act wisely upon it, and that we can call upon God because we understand His nature.
The glory of God has been declared in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, did Jesus Christ come radiating beauty all over the place? Was there a heavenly aura about Him, a halo over His head? Did He glow like burnished bronze everywhere that He went, so that everybody could point out and say, Hey, there goes God!? No, He did not do that. He revealed the glory of God by what He did and by what He said. And much of what He said is recorded in this Book for you and me.
Tie that together with Matthew 11:27. Those who can know the Father are those who are having the Father revealed to them by the Son.
It is through the life, the works, and the words of Jesus Christ that we come to know the names of God. Moses asked God to show him His way. If you want to see what God is like, if you want to see the mind of God, if you want to see the nature of God, if you want to see God's whole attitude, Jesus Christ is saying, look at Me! He is the way because, of all of mankind (all who have ever lived), He is the only one who has intimate knowledge of the Father that is totally, completely, unmarred by sin. His vision of God is absolutely perfect and accurate.
Jesus Christ shows the way men should walk. Actually, I should not say, should. The way men must walk. He shows us the direction, the manner, the method of doing things. The way to God lies in knowledge of the Son. This is exactly what Christ has done, in declaring the glory of the Father to mankind.
When you go to Jesus Christ and you ask Him the way, He says, Come. Follow Me. I'll show you. That is why He is the way. He shows us! It is not just in words. He shows us the mind of God, so that we know the name of God - because we see Him in all kinds of circumstances. As Jesus acted, so would the Father act. (If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.) And so we have no excuse when we say that we cannot understand the Father, or that we cannot know God - that He is distant from us. How can I keep the third commandment if I do not know God, and I do not know His name? It is right there in the New Testament. We have been shown.
In addition to that, He is truth. There are people who can speak truth. They can teach us truth. I can teach you truth. Many others can teach us truth. But Jesus Christ was truth. He embodied it! Everything that He did and said was absolutely right on the mark - every time, without fail. No misleading, no shadow of turning. No time, at any time in His life, was there ever even the tiniest hint of deception about God, about what He is, or the way to go, or the way to do things. Everything is right on the mark.
These are two of the strongest statements in the entire Bible about the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only equal to God - He is God! Jesus Christ not only reflects God - He reveals God. He was not a mere statue - like the moon reflecting the glory of something else. He was a channel for it, completely and totally. Completely holy, He has … . . .
