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Weimar University

David Shin

Beyond the Veil: Conditions for Beholding the Face of God

This message was presented by a faculty member of Weimar University.

For more information, visit our website, weimar.edu.

Our Father in Heaven, we do stand in awe of you.

Your faithfulness, your tender mercies, grace that we don't deserve, give us chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity, And yet here we are.

Now we can focus on these major messages in the minor prophets.

Lord, you know that my feet are made of clay, and I pray that you would use this weak vessel for your glory.

In Jesus's precious name, we ask and pray these things.

When I was in academy, high school, I developed this bad habit of stealing from the cafeteria.

And it's amazing how we rationalize things.

And so I would supplement my meals by systematic regular raids with my compadres of the cafeteria, ice cream, soda, and the like.

And on this particular weekday, it was during the summer, the cafeteria was not in operation, and we developed this sophisticated, or at least we thought, system of relays.

I was going to be pretending like I was working, painting a light post, which was my job during the summer, and there was going to be another relay person at the cafeteria door while my friends were breaking into the pantry.

They were climbing over the wall into the pantry as his removable ceilings and the guy that was going over, They should have picked me looking back.

He was like 6 foot 3 big guy And he couldn't hold his weight so he fell through big gaping hole and To make matters worse There was the maintenance worker that was coming around the corner going up to the calf So I looked up my relay my relay man was gone So with my short Korean legs, I ran as fast as I could into the cafeteria and I said, get out, get out, get out, he's coming.

And rather than leaving with the other individuals at the same door, I left out the bag.

And I walked away and the crazy thing is, they didn't check that pantry until a few days later, so they couldn't tie it to us, and so we got away with it.

Later on, after conversion, the Holy Spirit convicted me, and I had to make restitution, amen?

I remember vividly the memory, and our memories are tied to emotions I Remember the emotion of walking out the back of that cafeteria and meeting that man, and there was something about that experience, I could not look at his face.

Because of my guilt, my sin, I could not look at the face of that individual.

Now 1 day, we're going to be able to look at the face of Jesus And I don't want to look down.

I want to be able to look into his face Open your Bibles to the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 6 and This is the nightmare experience that none of us ever want to have when we look at the face of God.

This is the reaction that we do not want to have.

Revelation 6, verse 14, Chapter 6, and verse 14, Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up.

And every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

And the kings of the earth, the rich men, the great men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and the mountains and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand?" The reaction that none of us want to have.

But this is the reaction of the majority of people on planet Earth at this time.

They're calling for the mountains and rocks to fall on them because they say, we can't look at his face.

Why can't these individuals look at the face of Jesus?

And so here is our thesis question for our study here this morning.

What is the condition for being able to look at the face of God and not hide?

I want to be able to look at His face, amen?

You know, in the South, there's cockroaches.

I've never seen these extraterrestrial-looking organisms before.

Extraterrestrial looking organisms before.

Remember, I got out of the shower, and there was this thing, like this big, and I'm not exaggerating, crawling across the floor.

And every now and then you flip on a light in a room and it's like, But that's the scene here.

They can't look at the face of Jesus, and it's like cockroaches, with all due respect, headed for the nearest cover.

Imagine right now if Jesus were to enter this room.

Oh, I pray it's not like cockroaches, right?

Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb." I mean, it'd be like the wrath of a lion, but the wrath of a Lamb, this is the most illogical thing that's going on here.

Jesus just shows up and they're like, get me out of here because we can't look at his face.

What's the criteria for being able to look at the face of God?

Turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 33.

Moses, there on Mount Sinai, has the audacity to ask God to show him His face.

He's about to receive the 10 Commandments, And Moses is there having a conversation with God, and evidently he wasn't able to see the face of God.

And so, in this communion, in this conversation, he makes this bold, audacious request, and he says, audacious request and he says, please show me your glory.

And then verse 20, He says, you cannot see my face.

You can't see my face for no man can see me and live.

Do you think God wants to have a face-to-face conversation with us?

And so this is a theme that is throughout Scripture.

He wants to have this relationship with us, but He can't because if He shows His face, we die.

And so in this conversation with Moses on Mount Sinai, you see God making divine accommodation.

He's like, look, you can't see my face, But I'll tell you what, there's a crack in the rock.

And I'm going to put my hand over the rock.

And as I pass by, I'm going to remove my hand.

So you can just imagine, there he is, puts his hand on the rock, goes by and says, alright Moses, you can look at my back, and you can just imagine in my sanctified imagination, Moses is looking out there and it's like, oh, and he looks at the back.

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Beyond the Veil: Conditions for Beholding the Face of God

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