Eyes of a King

Eyes of a King
NKJ Exodus 33:18-20—And he [Moses] said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

Moses was truly a man of God, he was a prophet, and a leader Yahweh has chosen for Israel. Of the whole Israel, if anyone were qualified to see Yahweh, it would have been Moses-or so we suppose. But the verse above seems to indicate that even Moses could not see God face to face. Why? Is it because God's face is like a top secret that whoever has seen it would be killed afterwards? Or was God's face so ugly that we just cannot bear it?

Regardless, it is however interesting to see another verse that is somehow related to this verse.

Hebrews 12:22-29
22But ye have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the Jerusalem that is in heaven; and to the assemblies of myriads of angels; 23and to the church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all; and to the spirits of the just, who are perfected; 24and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to the sprinkling, of his blood, which speaketh better than that of Abel. 25Beware, therefore, lest ye refuse to hear him who speaketh with you. For if they escaped not, who refused to hear him who spake with them on the earth, how much more shall we not, if we refuse to hear him who speaketh with us from heaven? 26Whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, and said, yet again once more, I will shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this his expression, Once more, indicateth the mutation of the things that are shaken, because they are fabricated; that the things which will not be shaken, may remain. 28Since, therefore, we have received a kingdom that is unshaken, let us grasp the grace whereby we may serve and please God, with reverence and fear. 29For our God is a consuming fire.

This paragraph says Mount Zion is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and where myriads of angels dwell. Zion means he peak, the most elevated place, Zion is the top, the crescendo, the zenith, the high point, and the Bible calls you and me to Mount Zion. But the problem is, in verse 22 we are called to come to Mount Zion, up up up, yet in verse 29, we encounter a God who is a consuming fire, we encounter the most solemn of all realities; we are called to encounter a consuming fire.

There are other Mount Zion verses in the Bible.

Psalm 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the land, Is Mount Zion, in the recesses of the north,—The city of a great king.

Psalm 84: 1-7
1To the Chief Musician. On "the Gittith." For the Sons of Korah. A Melody. How lovely are thy habitations, O Yahweh of hosts! 2My soul, longeth—yea even languisheth—for the courts of Yahweh,—My heart and my flesh, shout aloud for a Living GOD. 3Even the sparrow, hath found a home, And, the swallow, a nest for herself, where she hath laid her young, Thine altars, O Yahweh of hosts, My king and my God! 4How happy are they who abide in thy house,—Still are they praising thee. Selah. 5How happy the men whose strength is in thee, Festive processions are in their heart. 6Passing through the balsam-vale, A place of fountains, they make it, Yea, with blessings, is it covered by the early rain. 7They go from strength to strength, Each one appeareth before God in Zion.

What a passion, what a longing, for those who have made their pilgrimage to Mount Zion to appear before a consuming fire! And not only that, they equated Mount Zion to the nest of swallows, they felt perfectly at home on Mount Zion.

But why is Mount Zion so attractive? Because God is beautiful, God is delightful.
Psalm 27:4 One thing, have I asked of Yahweh, That, will I seek to secure,—That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh, all the days of my life, To view the delightfulness of Yahweh, And to contemplate in his temple.

Psalm 99:1 Yahweh, hath become king, Let the peoples, tremble, He is enthroned on the cherubim, Let the earth, shake. 2 Yahweh, in Zion, is great, And, high, is he over all the peoples.

Our God who dwells in Mount Zion is high above all people, and we are called to ascend the hill of Yahweh, we are called to move to an elevated direction towards Him.
And there is an awakening truth awaiting us on Mount Zion, we are more and more deeply impressed with how beautiful God is, yet, there is fire there, between the cherubim, there is glory, at a level of brightness that is illuminating, that everything becomes open and exposed, becomes clear in that light.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw My Lord, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and, his skirts, did fill the temple, 2Seraphim, were standing above him; six wings severally, had each one,—With twain, he covered his face And with twain, he covered his feet And with twain, he did fly. 3And they continued crying out one to another, and said, Holy—holy—holy, is Yahweh of hosts,—the fullness of the whole earth, is his glory. 4And the foundations of the porch, were moved at the voice of him that cried,—and the house, was filled with smoke. 5Then said I—Woe to me!—for I am undone, Because a man of unclean lips, am, I, And in the midst of a people of unclean lips, do I dwell,—For the King. Yahweh of hosts, have mine eyes seen!
In the presence of Yahweh's glory, we suddenly become keenly aware that we are out of harmony, seeing God, apart from seeing His perfect brightness, we also see ourselves in a crystal clear way, that our heart, our thought, our intention, they are all exposed to ourselves, with no part hidden.
Some verses indicate that our God is unapproachable, but we are called to approach; but cautiously, not with arrogance, no chest uplifted, but with humble boldness before the throne of grace, with confidence that is overwhelmed, with a sense of worthlessness there, boldness no less, confidence no less.
However, interestingly, though the Bible tells us sinners shall die, woe are we when we see the face of God, it does not say God will smite them.
NKJ Revelation 6:15-16—And the kings of the earth, the great men,
the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb.”
Have you ever seen an angry lamb? There is truly nothing terrifying in a lamb, but why are they all terrified? That a lamb caused them to run? Yahshua here does not appear as the lion of Judah, but the lamb that was slain, ever so humble, ever so non-condemning. It's because before the consuming fire, they see themselves clearly, and they become intensely uncomfortable in the presence of God, seeking to relieve themselves.
Isaiah 33:17-18—Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will
behold a far-distant land. Your heart will meditate on terror.
Proverbs 28:1—The wicked flee when no one is pursuing.
The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, the people are afraid of the Lamb, when the Lamb was not pursuing, when they are smitten by their own conscience. But it is at the same moment when these people are molten by their terror, the other people welcome the arrival of their God, with open arms, they, the pilgrims to Mount Zion, finally feel perfectly at home in the presence of God.
If God is not holding a condemning attitude, why do we run away from Him then?
This started from all the way back in Genesis.
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they realized what they had just done; they thought God was condemning them; we might also imagine that, but if we take a closer look at the story, God asked them, where are you. Can you imaging His tone? Suppose if His tone was harsh and condemning, they wouldn't have answered Him, would they? The very act that they dared to answer God and told Him they ate the fruit was a sign God was not asking them in a judgmental tone. Yet why did they still try to push their responsibility away? Because even being questioned by God in a caring manner, the feeling of being condemned was still in their heart.
If you are a clean freak, I would not let you into my room, as it is very messy. Unless we are very close friends. You may not actually say anything about my room, but internally I would feel inferior, I would think, My goodness, what would he think about my room, especially compared to his own room. I would just be so embarrassed to let you see my room.
But this is just on a microscale level.
When we talk about the wicked, we most often talk about what's going on with their body, the physical loss. We focus on the physical burning; yet have you noticed, when you are experiencing internal conflicts, sorrows, heartache, it actually hurts more?
For example, why are there self-injurers? One of the reasons people cut or hit themselves is, they are experiencing intense internal pain, emotional and psychological pain, that one way for them to divert their attention is to inflict physical pain so they would feel better.
And sometimes, internal suffering causes external results; if an old lady with a heart condition suddenly loses her only child, there is a greater likelihood for her to have a heart attack as well.
The reason the sinners tremble in the presence of God's glory is not so much of a condemnation from God, but when they see God, and in His brightness they see their own sins, all in a nanosecond they see all the things they have ever done in their whole life, compared to God's perfect beauty, they feel they are undone, they feel they are totally out of harmony with God, what they will experience is like me letting a clean freak taking a tour of my room, I would feel so embarrassed; and what the sinners will experience is even larger, they will feel the intense shame, guilt, self-condemnation. These emotional and psychological torments are so intense that they will cause them to shout to the mountains and rocks to fall on them, to hide them from God.
But it is another story if we know we are perfectly loved by God, that he absolutely will never stop loving you, if you know that God's love for you is fully unconditional, is not based on who you are or what you do, but solely on the fact that God is love; then He can talk to you, you can feel, you can respond to His embrace.
Let's look at the woman caught in adultery, brought to Yahshua.
What would have she felt in front of Yahshua? What would she have felt about God's attitude towards her?
Being brought up in a Jewish society, she would have thought, now I'm finished, they'll all stone me, and God hates me, God must have forsaken me, and I'll be cut off.
Yet, Yahshua standing before her, God Himself standing in front of the woman, and His very first words were “I don't condemn you”. What does Yahshua mean? It means, Yahshua has forgiven her, He doesn't hate her, He is not angry, We might focus more on the “go and sin no more”, but ignore the forgiveness which empowers us to go and sin no more. Before, her image of Yahshua this man, followed by crowds, respected as a Rabbi, a man of God, would execute justice towards her, and be the first one to stone her; now her image of God was changed. When everyone wanted to represent God to terminate her life, God His very self stood up, having forgiven the woman before she ever repented yet, protected her, released her, gave her assurance that she is much more valuable than how she thought of herself. Now the woman will start her journey to a place where she will feel at home in the house of Yahweh.
Ephesians 5:13All things, however, when reproved by the light, become manifest, for, all that of itself maketh manifest, is, light; 14Wherefore it saith—Up! thou sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and the Christ will shine upon thee.
What God is like exposes what we are like, it reveals how we are unlike Him; when we see God selflessness, we realize our selfishness; when we see God's generosity, we see our meanness, when we see God's long-suffering, we see our inpatience...
Have you ever wronged someone, then found it difficult to make eye contacts with them? Because you were feeling intensely guilty before them? If we would experience in front of people, let alone that we have wronged God, and when we see Him, see his selflessness, love, mercy, greatness, we just become keenly aware of what we have done.
And we would experience guilt, shame, emotional and psychological torment, under which, we cannot bear the weight, we are crushed. That is why God is so beautiful, and the Bible does call us to Mount Zion, the Mountain of Yahweh, but even the prophets could not see God face to face, lest they see their own sins all in a nanosecond and the self-condemnation, shame and guilt, emotional and psychological torments would crush them right there and then.
God is beautiful, He is so beautiful and He longs to show His beauty to us; but He knows if we could see His face, we would be overwhelmed and die. That was why in the sanctuary, there was a courtyard, the holy place and the most holy place, and God dwelling in the most holy place, unapproachable by the common people, yet revealing indications of His glory through all the details regarding the sanctuary, serious rituals, through His design of the sanctuary.
God reveals Himself to His children as the rising of the sun, gradually, leading us closer and higher, showing His glory which is His character, so that we are not blinded by the light, but become in tune with His characters; so that we are not dead in His immediate presence, but gradually we come to a point that even our faces would reflect God's glory as if our faces are shining.
In the sanctuary, Yahweh dwells behind the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place; He veiled Himself mercifully, but painfully, because He is so willing to reveal Himself to us bright and beautiful, reveal Himself in His full glory, but He knows we would perish if we see His perfect characters, and our own imperfect characters, we shall vanish.
So we can take measured steps, slowly taking in, steps by steps towards him, until finally we are perfectly at home right in the immediate radiance of His glory.
God does not warn us against sin because sin is fun, and He does not want us to have pleasure; But because sin produces guilt and shame and all the emotional and psychological torment. Angels hang around with God and they do not die; if all in a sudden we can see all our sins, they would be too much, and overwhelm us.
Genesis 2:17 in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shelf die.
God is not saying, if you eat the fruit, I will kill you; He was portraying a mere cause and effect, if you eat the fruit, death will be a natural consequence.
Herb was caught smoking by his mother, and his mother warned him, “if I ever catch you smoking again, you don't need to worry about lung cancer, because I'll kill you.” Herb never smoked again, initially because of his fear of being caught by his mother; because when he was trying out smoking, lung cancer seemed so far away, what his mother was doing was to bring the consequence of his smoking closer to him, to remind him that the final consequence of smoking was death, he might not have been able to see that, so she was there to let him know. After Herb became an adult, he still chose not to smoke, though his mother was not physically capable of killing him now, but now Herb realized what would kill him was not his mother, but smoking; now not for the fear of mom, but the consequence of smoking, he is wise enough not to smoke. His mother did not want to kill him, and did not want Herb to quit smoking due to his fear of her, but that he would understand the reason behind it, so he would have the wisdom to make such a choice that was best for him.
There are a lot of instances in the Bible when God warned people that if they continued in sin, He would scatter them, or He would smite them.
Harsh language.
But isn't that similar to what Herb's mother was doing to Herb? It may seem that God just wants to punish us when we do wrong, but really, it is the sins that will finally kill us, yet, when we are in the temporary pleasure of sin, we cannot see the future result of our sinning, we think we are having fun, making some choices that are good for us; so now God needs to step in, and bring the consequences of our sinning forward, in hope that we could realize it, and grow up, become mature enough not to sin, and not for the cause of fear of God, but that we shall know sin is our enemy, not God.
God does not say all the fun stuff are wrong, and all the boring stuff are good; He knows what will truly bring us pleasure.
Yahshua came to save us from our sins, but not from an angry God.
Hebrews 9:14—How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may
serve the living God!
The blood of Christ is not to inspire God to forgive us, nor is it to cleanse God's heart from His anger towards the human race; rather, as plainly stated in this verse, it is to cleanse our consciences from our own sins.

And when we realize, and experience that God is a consuming fire, He is hot, yet to some, the word “hot” means attractive; to the others, it means burning. Nevertheless He is not the one who is hostile towards us; it is merely such a consequence of our sins, that if we cannot feel totally at home in His immediate presence, our conscience will torment us, the condemnation we have towards ourselves will devour us. God does not change, He holds the same love for each one of us, what is different is our perception of Him, finally, the destruction of the wicked is better described as suicide.
Come to Mount Zion, where our God dwells, where His glory and beauty shine, step by step, “Behold your God”, and “by beholding, we become changed.”