Exodus 33:13 “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that i may know you…”
This verse is longer yet it is this part of verse 13 that is my main focus. In this verse, Moses asks that God would show him His ways, so that he would have a better understanding of who God is. This verse tells us that God always acts within His own character, for it is because God acts within his own character that it is possible to know Him by what He has done.
The reason i bring this up is because this truth changes things. We love God not because of what he has done for us but because of who he is. Yet it is by what He has done, that we know who He is. God reveals Himself through His actions. And this especially applies to the cross of Christ which was, and will forever be, the greatest display of love.
Every act God does is so typical of God. We talk about others in this way. Whenever someone does something totally like them, we say “it was typical of them”, meaning whatever they did, it didn’t surprise you. For example, I get lost very often. And people know this. I even commonly get lost in my own neighborhood. So, whenever i tell someone i got lost, it never surprises them. And God is like this to the extreme. Everything He does perfectly reveals who He is. Even the cross. But instead of being unaffected by this, we are floored by his character.
When we behold the cross in scripture it is unbelievable. It is unreasonable that God would die for the sinners who are so treasonous towards Him. And to some, this is the problem they have with the Gospel. It is too good. It is just too amazing, God is simply too good to believe. And that is why they can not accept it. It is too ridiculous to them. Yet this is our joy. This is the root and mainspring of our pleasure. That God IS this good, and that this most amazing feat, which is at times hard to believe, is typical of our God, which makes it more amazing! For because God only acts within his character we know that the God we see in the Cross IS the God we will one day be with in Heaven, and we will not be disappointed, but amazed for all eternity hopelessly attempting to grasp His amazing glory.
So let us rejoice in our Savior and pray we come to a deeper understanding of what He has done, so that we know better who He is, so that we can live our lives in a way that most glorifies Him and with greater passion. For there is only one God in heaven and earth, and because of who He is, He died to save us.
-Derek Harada