Thoughts on the eclipse and God’s glory

We got to see the total eclipse on April 8. It was so much more awe-inspiring than I expected it to be. But as the world turned back to light and I started my short walk home, I started thinking about the brilliance of the eclipse and the glory of God. 

Do you remember the conversation between God and Moses in Exodus 33? Moses begged God not to take His presence from the sinful children of Israel. He said if God wouldn’t go into the land with them, they wouldn’t go. 

Then verse 17: “The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.’” (Side note: because of Jesus, we, too, have found favor in God’s sight and He knows us by name!) 

Anyway, this statement from the Lord emboldens Moses to ask, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (v. 18) 

This is so interesting because we are told that God spoke face-to-face with Moses (v. 11) before this. Was that not seeing the glory of God? Apparently not! 

So God tells Moses He will allow all His goodness to pass by him but that Moses cannot see God’s face and live. (Exodus 33:19-20) But it’s the next few verses that put me in mind of the eclipse: 

“Then the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:21-23)

I thought back on the brilliance of the sun as the moon began to pass over it. So much so that you can’t look straight at it or your eyes will be affected. But when the eclipse is total, the naked eye can look without harm. And that is amazing. 

Did Moses feel that same amazement when he saw the back of God passing? Was it enough of a glimpse of brilliant brightness to inspire awe? The eclipse certainly did that for me. How many times more would that be the case for seeing the edges of God’s glory? Or think further—seeing the glory of God without needing a special lens? 

That’s what it will be like in heaven! We will see the glory of God unfettered. Unfiltered. We won’t be relegated to the edges of it peeking out from the back as He passes by. 

Interestingly, the very next chapter talks about how Moses’s face shined so brightly after talking with God that he had to cover his face with a veil for the people to be able to look at him. (Exodus 34:29-35) 

The eclipse was a beautiful, powerful picture of the edges of the sun, which we can’t view straight on with our naked eyes. How much more beautiful and powerful are the edges of God’s glory that He allows us to view in this life? And what anticipation for the brilliance of His glory in the new Jerusalem, where “the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:23)

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.