When Moses went up Mount Sinai the second time, with the tables of stone in his hand, on which the law was to be written: "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there." (Exodus 34:5)
What a wonder! what condescension! The Lord of hosts, the mighty God, coming down to earth and standing by the side of a man! Who would not feel honored by such notice? And who would not feel overawed by the perfection of the Almighty?
Just that honor, however, is granted to every humble disciple, and, moreover, everyone must necessarily receive it; for we are exhorted to walk with God, and He must stand by our side before we can walk with Him. The Lord is no respecter of persons, and what He did for Moses, He does for all. "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade upon your right hand." (Psalm 121:5) "Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." (Psalm 16:8) "Fear not; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10)
The first two verses of the 1st chapter of Hebrews, literally translated, tell us that God who in time past spoke unto the fathers "in the prophets," now speaks to us "in the Son." The revelation of God in Christ was simply the fullness of what had previously been incompletely manifested in men, and it set the pattern of what will be when "we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
He says to those who are brought before governors and kings, to testify for Him, "It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you." (Matthew 10:20)
How greatly we, the whole body of professed Christians, have failed to realize the lesson of the birth of Christ. "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given." (Isaiah 9:6)
And when we like Mary, say, and say continually: "Be it unto me as You will," (Luke 1:38) He will be formed in us, and we shall be "filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19)
There is no more vivid and striking illustration of the power in weakness, which is the characteristic of the Gospel, than that presented in Revelation 5:5-6. When no man in heaven or earth could open the sealed book, one of the elders said to John: "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda ... has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." (Revelation 5:5)
In accordance with the elder's words, "[John] beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne ... stood a Lamb as it had been slain." (Revelation 5:6)
There was "the Lion of the tribe of Juda." John looked for the conquering Lion, and he beheld a slain Lamb! A more striking contrast, and greater seeming contradiction, could not be imagined; yet the two are one and the same. In the slain Lamb which is the conquering Lion, we see how God ordained strength out of the most abject weakness, (Psalm 8:2) and thus we have "strong consolation." (Hebrews 6:18)--Present Truth, December 25, 1902--Exodus 34:5
E.J. Waggoner