Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. (Hebrews 1:1-2 HCSB)
The way God revealed Himself through Moses and the prophets, was like seeing the spiritual world through a certain lens. God gave the Ten Commandments and the more detailed moral and ceremonial laws to help the people to stay in communion with Him, and they were able to see some fundamental aspects of His character. Early on in Old Testament times, there were no written scriptures, and God had to speak either directly, or through angels so that His people could know His word.
But then Jesus came, and the Holy Spirit was sent ten days after Jesus ascended back into heaven, and a newer, clearer lens was placed before us so we could see even more of God. Jesus’ teachings and the revelations of the Holy Spirit written down by the apostles, suddenly brought the teachings of the past into sharper focus. Jesus’ death and resurrection taught us more of who God is, and Jesus taught in depth about who Satan is and how he works to destroy us. Jesus’ revelations of our spiritual battle against Satan, injected new life into the old stories, laws and prophecies from before. They all fit together, they all make sense as the unified and perfect word of God. Just like Jesus said, He didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He made it deeper, wider, truer.
We are so blessed to live in this day and age after Jesus, when we have His clearer more high definition lens to see God now, and also to look into the past and see how God has been faithful and consistent for millennia, right up until this very day. The Bible says that prophets and kings longed to see the things that we see. We now know the Messiah, a mystery that people of God had prayed about for generations. We have the powerful name of Jesus, we have the written word of the Bible, and we have the opportunity to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
What we have is better by far than the Old Testament prophets who would receive an occasional word from an angel during years of silence. Instead, we can have the presence of God dwelling inside of us, just as He dwelt in the Holy of Holies upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is our immersion into that blazing light that had encompassed Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai and caused his face to shine. This is the power of the Creator of the Universe, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is ours to live in and through. And despite all of that which is ours to take, God still tells us that we only “see through a glass darkly.” Eternity is coming where we will see Him face to face – in the highest definition there is. The supernatural world is not something to treat casually. It’s all around us and soon it will be all there is. Let’s live each moment knowing that what we don’t yet see is what really matters.
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