Compelling Love

Exodus 33:11 declares that “The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend.” The Israelites as a whole saw Yahweh’s deeds, but to Moses He revealed His ways, as Psalm 103:7 declares, “He revealed His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.”

Moses prayed, “please teach me your ways”, and the Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  “You have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

 Exodus 33
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
¹² Moses said to the Lord, “Look, You have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, please teach me Your ways, and I will know You and find favor in Your sight. Now consider that this nation is Your people.”
¹⁴ Then He replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
¹⁵ “If Your presence does not go,” Moses responded to Him, “don’t make us go up from here. ¹⁶ How will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight unless You go with us? I and Your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”
¹⁷ The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

Moses prayed, “Please, let me see Your glory”, and the Lord let him see as much of His glory as he could see and still live:

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Please, let me see Your glory.”
¹⁹ He said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” ²⁰ But He answered, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.” ²¹ The Lord said, “Here is a place near Me. You are to stand on the rock, ²² and when My glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen.”

Exodus 34:10 records that “No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”  The Lord performed unparalleled signs and wonders through him:

Exodus 34
¹¹ He was unparalleled for all the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do against the land of Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty acts of power and terrifying deeds that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

In Exodus 18:15, Moses predicted:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

Fourteen centuries later, the Pharisees sent messengers to inquire by what authority Yochanan, John was immersing people if he himself was not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet.  He replies with this testimony regarding Yeshua, Jesus, who then appears on the scene:

John 1
¹⁹ This is John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
²⁰ He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: “I am not the Messiah.”
²¹ “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?”
“I am not,” he said.
“Are you the Prophet?”
“No,” he answered.
²² “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”
²³ He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord—just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
²⁵ So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”
²⁶ “I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know Him.
²⁷ He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”
²⁸ All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
³⁰ This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’
³¹ I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.”
³² And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him. ³³ I didn’t know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”
³⁵ Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”

In his life, death and resurrection, Yeshua, Jesus revealed the truth of these pronouncements, taking upon himself the iniquity of us all, as prophesied by Isaiah 53:6:

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

In John 10, he is shown as the good shepherd and the door of the sheep:

⁷ So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep.”
¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

In John 17, he prays that all who believe in him would share His love and see His glory:

²⁴ Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.  Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.
²⁵ Righteous Father! The world has not known You. However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
²⁶ I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/