Moses is asking to see God completely unveiled, to see God in His essential Being, without outward manifestation, but to see Him as He truly is. Moses was bold after YHWH had said that he had found grace in His sight and He knew Moses by name.
YHWH did not grant Moses' request fully, for no man can see God in His true essence (to see His face) and live, for He is so absolutely holy and majestic that we are unable to bear the experience. He lives in inapproachable light. YHWH modifies Moses' request and says that He will have his Goodness pass before him and will proclaim the name of the LORD before Moses. He then says, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." This is an interesting statement. It doesn't simply say that YHWH will show grace and compassion to Moses. But is rather a statement of His essential nature. Like the name I AM WHO I AM, this statement tells of Who YHWH is essentially concerning His grace and compassion. No one can contest it nor thwart it. YHWH places Moses in a cleft of a rock and covers Moses' eyes with His hand as He walks by and releases His hand so Moses will see the backside of Himself. This must be figuratively speaking as God is Spirit and therefore does not have a body like humans do. It must be that to see God in "full frontal view" would be to see Him in His transcendency, which no man can view, but to see His backside would be to see Him in a way that a human can comprehend and survive the glory of seeing His Being in the most clear and true way that is possible for man to bear.
Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. In Him we are able to see the fullness of the Godhead and still survive. He, being fully human and fully God, is the perfect Mediator between the Father and mankind. It is Jesus we will see in heaven. And we will be so satisfied with seeing Him face to face. We will realize how seeing Jesus is also seeing the Father ( Jn 14:9-11)
Moses is asking to see God completely unveiled, to see God in His essential Being, without outward manifestation, but to see Him as He truly is. Moses was bold after YHWH had said that he had found grace in His sight and He knew Moses by name.
YHWH did not grant Moses' request fully, for no man can see God in His true essence (to see His face) and live, for He is so absolutely holy and majestic that we are unable to bear the experience. He lives in inapproachable light. YHWH modifies Moses' request and says that He will have his Goodness pass before him and will proclaim the name of the LORD before Moses. He then says, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." This is an interesting statement. It doesn't simply say that YHWH will show grace and compassion to Moses. But is rather a statement of His essential nature. Like the name I AM WHO I AM, this statement tells of Who YHWH is essentially concerning His grace and compassion. No one can contest it nor thwart it. YHWH places Moses in a cleft of a rock and covers Moses' eyes with His hand as He walks by and releases His hand so Moses will see the backside of Himself. This must be figuratively speaking as God is Spirit and therefore does not have a body like humans do. It must be that to see God in "full frontal view" would be to see Him in His transcendency, which no man can view, but to see His backside would be to see Him in a way that a human can comprehend and survive the glory of seeing His Being in the most clear and true way that is possible for man to bear.
Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. In Him we are able to see the fullness of the Godhead and still survive. He, being fully human and fully God, is the perfect Mediator between the Father and mankind. It is Jesus we will see in heaven. And we will be so satisfied with seeing Him face to face. We will realize how seeing Jesus is also seeing the Father ( Jn 14:9-11)
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