A Glorious Preview
Recommended Reading
Matthew 17:1-8; 2 Corinthians 3:7-18; Revelation 21:22-27
The lights in the theater dim and a deep, mysterious voice booms ominously through the speakers. On the screen, a sequence of scenes quickly establishes the setting, introduces the main characters and teases about the plot. Of course, you’re watching a preview for Hollywood’s next blockbuster flick.
However, since the film’s producers want you to plop down the bucks to watch the entire movie, they give you only a sketchy outline to pique your interest. So the preview suggests a lot more than it shows.
If a theatrical preview exists in the Bible, the episode about Moses’ radiant face provides a great teaser. We catch a glimpse of God’s glory, but the preview suggests a lot more than it actually shows. Instead of a detailed description, we only read that God’s glory made Moses’ face shine. Still, the effect was so powerful that it triggered fear in the Israelites, so much so that Moses had to cover his face.
God provided another preview of his glory in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ and the new covenant he established. The apostle Paul connects these two previews: “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?” (2 Corinthians 3:7–8).
Amazingly, the full picture of God’s glory still lies ahead. Even more incredibly, we’re not just audience members watching a preview. God gives us a starring role! “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Are you ready for your close-up?
To Take Away
• Do you long for God’s glory more than anything else? In what ways does your life show this to be true?
• What qualities and actions in Jesus’ life revealed God’s glory? How can you obtain a greater thirst for a “close-up” of God’s glory?
• Pray that God will show you smaller evidences of his glory in your everyday life.
This devotion is from the NIV New Men's Devotional Bible by Zondervan. Used with permission.