“Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it…” Isaiah 42: 5
When God called Moses’ name from the burning bush in the wilderness, He first spoke to him of His holiness, and that place being holy where God revealed Himself to him. But then, the Lord will in essence take Moses by the hand, leading him back in history, to bring before Moses what Christ was to, and did for, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Ex. 3:6) In doing so, He would lay afresh the prophetical, and historical truths, of His dealings with these pioneers of faith, laying again the basis of His faithfulness as the preface to Moses’ faith. God will at this time reveal to Moses specifically, not only his calling from God, but the specific mission that God will give him, a mission that will require an unwavering, singular, and victorious faith in God in the face of unsurmountable difficulties and opposition, coupled with the necessity to endure the trial of time for the realization of the goal. The point is that for this new beginning, and radical departure from the “normal,” daily acceptable life that Moses was living herding sheep, there would need to be a renewed vision, or perception of the Author of faith, and how this unchanging God dealt with others in the past that He had called. God would need to bring Moses face to face again before the fact of His holy presence, His unchanging power, and His absolute promise to meet every need, within the heart, and in the circumstances that he would face. The preface for faith’s transforming power was the renewed, and amplified, vision of God in Christ.
When Jacob was forced to leave home and to proceed to a far place where some of the kinfolk of Rebekah lived, and this in order to find a wife, God met him during the course of his journey. He did so by a dream, when Jacob was apparently alone. In that dream he saw the Lord standing at the top of a stairway, or ladder, into heaven. Then he heard the Lord’s words to him: “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” (Gen. 28:13) At this juncture in the life of Jacob, God gave him a renewed, overwhelming, and yet very specific vision of Himself. Why? For Jacob to obey God then, and afterwards, he would need this vision of God to eclipse all lesser visions, for he would be called upon to obey God alone, trusting Him according to His words. This revelation occurred in a place called Bethel. About fourteen years later, there would come a moment when God would again reveal Himself to Jacob, this time declaring: “I am the God of Bethel where thou anointest the pillar unto Me: now arise, get thee out of this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” (31:13) To obey God at this point, Jacob would need again to have a clear, concise, and convincing vision of God. God would give this to him by taking him back to the first revelation, bringing Jacob’s attention to the fact of who He was, what He had declared to Jacob then, and what Jacob had promised God at that time. The time had come for Jacob to exercise faith in order to clearly leave where he was, and his difficult situation, to launch out trusting God alone for guidance, protection, and provision.
Does God work in the same way today with the believer? Yes. In Paul’s first great prayer for the Ephesian believers, he begins by re-creating, or refreshing, the vision of God. He thus prays, “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom…” (1:17) Also, in the book of Revelation, the vision of Christ as the Alpha and Omega, is essential to faith.
Dear Father, Show us Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.