Chapter 45GOD'S BACK PARTSDavid Lin
GOD said to Moses, "Thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen." Exodus 33:23. Most commentators are silent on this. One aptly states: Not the full manifestation of the divine radiance, but its afterglow. The most that human faculties can comprehend of God even in their exalted moments is a faint reflection of His essential glory." J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible, 83 Is this all that can be learned from this text? Might there be a deeper meaning? In answer to Moses' petition, "Show me Thy glory," God graciously promised, "I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." Note the double I will. We venture the opinion that the revealing of God's back was in fulfillment of the first promise, "I will make all My goodness pass before thee." Then the proclamation in Exodus 34:6-7 fulfilled the second promise, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." The two I wills are distinct and separate yet closely integrated. The first revelation is visual; the second vocal. The first is a glorious sight made to "pass before" Moses; the second is an oral announcement of great solemnity. But both revelations must be appreciated spiritually. That is, the visual revelation consists not in its intensity of radiance, but in its significance. And the series of abstract terms comprising Jehovah's name require prayerful contemplation of their spiritual value. Since no additional account is given here of the appearance of God's back, we must solve our problem by consulting other texts. We need first to affirm the timeless effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice as well as its occurrence in time. "In due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6. "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son." Galatians 4:4. Yet He is also the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:8. Though the plan of salvation is a succession of events ordained to occur each in its order, the atoning power of Christ's blood shed in A.D. 31 became instantly effective when the first sinner prayed for forgiveness. Hence from God's point of view, His Son was slain the moment He uttered the promise in Genesis 3:15. This unity of time with eternity in the plan of redemption contributes to the solution of our problem. Next we turn to the thematic unity of the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Said Christ of the Old Testament, "These are they that testify of me." How much more true is this of the New! So we may say, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" is the gold seam underlying all Scripture. Its prophetic symbols pointing to the Lamb of God are visible outcroppings of this seam. We are justified therefore in looking for foretokens of the crucifixion in the manifestation of God's glory at Sinai. Of Moses Jesus said, "He wrote of Me." John 5:46. How fitting then, that Moses' prayer, "Show me thy glory," should be rewarded with a view of the suffering Christ, on whom the glory of God was fully manifest. Psalm 22:16 says, "They pierced My hands and My feet." In Zechariah 12:10 we read, "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." Thus the wounds in Christ's hands, feet and side were foreseen. To round out the picture, Isaiah 55:5 says, "With His stripes we are healed." Here is a clue to what Moses could have seen when "all God's goodness" passed before him. Add to this Habakkuk 3:4, "Light flashes from His hand, there where His is power is hidden." (TEV) The KJV says, "He had horns coming out of His hand, and there was the hiding of His power." Conical beams emanating from Jesus' nail prints appear as horns. Note that the blood of Jesus appears most glorious in prophetic vision. Turning now to His back, we see "the long, cruel stripes, from which the blood flowed freely." The Desire of Ages, 735. To Moses, this free-flowing blood spoke of God's goodness. The Roman scourge was a cruel instrument of torture. To its leather lashes were attached pieces of metal or bone to increase the suffering. . . . The victim was stripped to the waist, usually bound to a post with his hands tied together, and the scourge applied to the back with lacerating blows. Eusebius tells us that martyrs of Smyrna, tortured about A.D. 155, were so unmercifully beaten that the veins, muscles, and sinews were exposed, and even the entrails became visible. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, 965 Thus we see that before Christ was led to Calvary, His back was already bleeding heavily. The oft-used expression, "blood-stained path to Calvary," is no exaggeration, for He was twice scourged. Our interpretation is not far-fetched. For there is no other rational explanation for Jehovah to expose His back. We believe that God was pleased to grant Moses' petition by showing him the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," when all God's goodness shone forth in the blood flowing from the stripes by which we are healed. For there is the hiding of His power. |
