“... but here is a place beside me where you can stand on a rock. When the dazzling light of my presence passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back but not my face.” Exodus 33:21-23,GNT

 

At once the Spirit took control of me. There in heaven was a throne with someone sitting on it. His face gleamed like such precious stones as jasper and carnelian, and all round the throne there was a rainbow the colour of an emerald. Revelation 4:2-3, GNT

 

Moses and John – two people who lived in different eras, more than a thousand years apart, but who in a very special way experienced God as a “Person”. We all have a picture of God, maybe yours is influenced by the one that Michelangelo painted in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Nobody really knows what God does look like, but what we know from these and other Bible verses is that he is a person.

 

What we read about in the first verse for today happened a few hundred years after the Israelites arrived in Egypt. During this time, they were exposed to a new way of life and the religion and gods of Egypt. Moses himself grew up in the palace of the pharaoh. When he first met God at Horeb, all he saw was a burning bush and he heard a voice. At Sinai, which is the same mountain as Horeb, he saw God in person.

 

When John was on the island of Patmos, the Spirit of God took control of him and he saw a throne with someone sitting on it. This “someone” is described as follows: “His face gleamed like such precious stones as jasper and carnelian”.

 

Both Moses and John saw God as a person. Why is it so important that we think about God as a person and not just as a being? Because that is how he revealed himself in the Bible to help us to encounter him as Moses and John experienced.

 

We as humans would have found it very difficult to relate to a being rather than to a personal God. The closest humans could ever come to God was when he came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ who came to live amongst us. “We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.” (John 1:14b)

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, it is difficult for us to understand who you are. Please help us to see you as a person through your Word. Amen

 

Die Here het verder gesê: "Maar hier by my is ʼn plek waar jy op die rots kan staan. As Ek in my magtige verskyning verbykom, sal Ek jou eers in ʼn rotsskeur sit en jou met my hande toemaak totdat Ek verby is. Dan sal Ek my hande wegvat sodat jy My van agter kan sien. Niemand mag My gesig sien nie." Eksodus 33:21-23, 1983-vertaling

 

Onmiddellik is ek deur die Gees meegevoer. Ek het gesien daar staan ʼn troon in die hemel en op die troon sit daar Iemand. Sy voorkoms was soos opaal en karneool. Om die troon was daar ʼn reënboog soos smarag.” Openbaring 4:2-3, 1983-vertaling

 

Moses en Johannes. Twee mense wat meer as ʼn duisend jaar uit mekaar geleef het, maar op ʼn besondere manier God as “Persoon” beleef het. ʼn Mens het iewers in jou kop die beeld van God soos Michelangelo Hom in die Sistynse kapel in Rome uitgebeeld het. Natuurlik weet niemand hoe God lyk nie, maar wat ons uit hierdie en ander verse kan aflei, is dat Hy ʼn “Persoon” is.

 

Die gebeure van ons eerste teksvers vind plaas ʼn paar honderd jaar nadat die Israeliete in Egipte aangekom het. Tydens die verblyf was hulle blootgestel aan ʼn totaal nuwe leefwyse en talle nuwe gode. Moses self het in die paleis van die farao grootgeword. Sy eerste ontmoeting met God is by Horeb wat net ʼn ander naam is vir berg Sinai. By Horeb sien Moses net ʼn brandende bos, maar by Sinai sien hy God as Persoon.

 

Wanneer Johannes op die eiland Patmos deur die Gees meegevoer word, sien hy ook Iemand wat op die hemeltroon sit. Die Bybel vir Almal vertaal Openbaring 4:3 as: “Die Persoon op die troon het gelyk soos ...” Die Persoon of Iemand skitter soos die verskeie halfedelstene wat hier genoem word.

 

Albei van hulle sien God dus as ʼn “Persoon”. Hoekom is dit so belangrik dat ons aan God as Persoon dink en nie net as ʼn Wese nie? Omdat hy homself so in die Bybel openbaar om ons te help om met hom kontak te kan maak. Dit is presies wat Hy hier in Eksodus en Openbaring doen.

 

Ons as mense sou baie moeiliker by God aanklank kon vind as ons net aan ʼn onsydige Wese moes dink. Die naaste wat ons aan God kom is juis wanneer Hy in Persoon as Jesus Christus op aarde tussen ons kom woon. Dit is dan wanneer ons sy heerlikheid van naby sien. (Lees: Johannes 1:14)

 

Gebed: Ag Here, ons is so dom in ons verstaan van U. Help ons deur die Woord om U as ʼn Persoon te ervaar. Amen