ESV: Daily Reading Bible

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Hidden God

Job 23:8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,and backward, but I do not perceive him;9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
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Luke 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” [15] 22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. [16]
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It seems that Job experienced something that has, according to some, been common to our era - a hidden God. Certainly the end of his story is full of divine revelation, but in the thick of his trials, God feels a bit distant. Jesus predicted this same feeling for the age that would come after him. The disciples had the luxury and the responsibility of knowing him in the flesh, but we believe without seeing. Thanks to doubting Thomas, we even get an extra blessing for believing without seeing. Nevertheless, we long to see, sing songs about seeing Him, and look forward to seeing Him just as we are fully seen.
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Jesus describes "his day" as though he will shift from being a man to something more like how I understand the Holy Spirit to operate. He will not be confined by conventional rules of time and space. This is not to say that Jesus will cease to be a man - I believe this is His eternal form, but it seems, from his own description, that we will expect and desire him in a way that he will not come. How exciting!

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