On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. (Exodus 19:16, NIV)
It’s Bay Hill week, so how about a round of golf with Arnold Palmer? I sure would be in. And you know, honestly, I don’t think I’d be intimidated. Not now. Not with Arnold in his 80s and his spirit so jovial and welcoming.
But Arnie in his day? Now that’s another matter! You’d be matching your humdrum skills against one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever known. Let’s just say no one would blame you if your hands were shaking as you stood over the ball on that first tee.
Sometimes when you talk to friends about God today, their picture of who he is locks onto Jesus alone. After all, as the incarnate one—God in human trappings—Jesus was the “tamer, friendlier” representation of God.
Except he wasn’t…
Jesus, we are told in Hebrews, was “the exact representation of [God’s] being” (Hebrews 1:3). Those who say they “only want Jesus” should not miss Jesus’ own words: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
And here’s the deal with the Father. He was the one on Mt. Sinai when Moses and the priests were summoned to the foot of the mountain. God displayed the fullness of his power through a supernaturally ordained convergence of natural occurrences: thunder, lightning, clouds, fire, smoke. And then there was the trumpet blast, which “grew louder and louder.”
Jesus was the teacher of the Sermon on the Mount—but he was also the one who ordered the wind and the waves, and they obeyed him! Jesus was the healer of the blind and the forgiver of the adulteress—but he was also the one who commanded demons and felled the soldiers who came to arrest him, just by the sound of his voice! No wonder we read that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), for the Father dwells in him and he in the Father. In Jesus, too, we recognize the “Ancient of Days.”
—
Jeff Hopper
March 22, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.