Thou art a God that hidest thyself
God moved Isaiah to declare just this. Isaiah 45:15, Truly, thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
Have we ever stopped to see the truth of this? We take for granted, rather haughtily, where we place God, but we do not stop to consider that he has actually hidden himself. Evangelicals, as is typical (just as we did), come up with excuses. They say God is too holy to dwell with us. Yes, that is true but that misses the point, doesn’t it? We were just as sinful at Horeb as we are today, yet he spoke to us by voice.
The fact is God intended to hide himself. Since then God does not speak direct to mankind at all. There is no thundering voice speaking to us, there is no quick retribution for sin. It was more than our stupid cowardice and fear of destruction that caused him to tell Moses that we spoke rightly when we said to him “Don’t let God speak to us; you speak to us.” Destruction coming from God is a terrible thing to see, but it is more than that that keeps him from speaking to us directly or punishing sin promptly. He didn’t do much of that before Horeb either. The world increased in sin until he destroyed it with a mighty flood.
Why is this God’s pattern, pray? Why not scare the hell out of everybody-- literally-- before such destruction becomes necessary?
It is amazing that we are made in his image and yet we do not understand. “Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.” He didn’t say “Demand and you will get; conjure me and I will serve.” He is not a genie to be called to serve upon our demand. Nor does he instantly run and come and get us out of problems we caused ourselves.
Moreover, he doesn’t allow an image of himself to stand in his place, for there can be no image found for the living God who “fills heaven and earth.” Though the temple can act as a body, so to speak, housing where God said he would place his spirit, yet even here he did not thwart sin. We filled his temple with altars to Baal, priests corrupted rituals, committed murder, the people stupidly regarded the place just as we regard prayer today: a place to get something and to boast of one’s own righteousness. No voice lashed out. The courtyards were not filled with bodies of the slain. Truly, thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
God would, rather, speak only through a few prophets. Yet they were condemned and the people told Jeremiah right to his face that he was a liar. Even when they asked him for the word of the LORD, they told him after he gave it to them that he lied because it wasn’t what they wanted to do.
Why has God hidden himself? For this very reason: that man might seek him. He is honor. He is the creator and man cannot form him in their own minds. This alone divides between those that seek God and those that seek a God to serve themselves.
At Horeb and in all the works he did in Egypt he made it very plain that he lives. Yet even then we murmured. For God to be that easily accessible to man does not change man much. But for man to draw nigh unto God, with love and respect, that does make a difference. It is in the heart that God works. For this reason he has done his mighty works, as stepping stones, and for this he has hidden himself, so that we may know there is someone to seek and how he must be sought.
Mankind created images and set them up as the center of their cities. There colossal statues and temples drew the faithful to seek a god that was wholly their imagination, whose attributes they created. There the great image was ready to cut a deal with the plaintive for the problems they had created for themselves. No idol of the nations has ever been hidden, and none of them have been anything but the vanity of foolish man.
Yet God made it plain to Moses that he would walk among us. Plain? Yes, well, in God’s way. It may sound like an oxymoron, but yes in his “hidden way” he did. The Song of Moses: here Moses sang from God’s point of view, and what did he declare? In his book of Job he made it plain that he would see God in his flesh, even if he had died and rotted away, he would see God in the Resurrection. And yet we know that God, as he is, can never be seen, not even by angels.
The prophets continued to declare that one would come. Hidden? Well, yes, for the most part. As the prophecies developed over time they became more specific. (See Messianic Prophecies and Better than your fathers?) The prophecies spoke of “God With Us.” Yet the same pattern followed. Isaiah declared that he would not lift up his voice or be heard in the streets. Zechariah said Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. He was to be born in Bethlehem, a city of no importance. His preaching would begin around Galilee, a place where no Jew thought any good could come. He would have no particular beauty that we should desire him.
Though he indeed hides himself God follows a pattern that tests the vanity and foolishness of man. Will man believe based on the substance and not the appearance? Will he pray first and inquire of God’s soul? He revealed the same pattern with Elijah. God was not to be found in the power of the earthquake, the wind or fire. He spoke from a soft voice. God does hide himself. He proves nothing to man. Man must come to him.
There was enough of a pattern laid down that we should have understood the prophets when they spoke of such a Messiah coming. For instance, a young woman of the house of David would conceive, not a mighty queen. The child would be called “God with Us.” All right, he hid himself again and did not openly declare “I am coming.” You could still figure it out. The son born to us would be called “The Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father.” That’s more than enough. Micah said the one born in Bethlehem would be from “of old, even from everlasting.” Figure it out. It was still hidden because of our own preconceived ideas: God would not walk among us.
Jesus’ ministry was identical. The pattern did not stop. A humble carpenter who, though he did many miracles, caused little stir until he threw over the tables in the temple at the end. That same undeniable pattern: God hides himself. One is to seek him and listen to the substance of what he says. Not with one’s ears, but with one’s soul and mind. He is not a spectacle, nor a lifeless hunk of stone to be gazed upon and locked to one place where you can come and cut a deal for your own avoidable mistakes. He is the living God. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
How are you going to see this God at any time? He hides himself to a purpose: that man might seek him and the substance of all that he is. He does not desire that man believe out of fear, obey out of heartless sight. But he requires that a man seek him and his goodness. “A disciple cannot be greater than his master. It is enough that he is like his master.”
He declared to Moses “Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever.” But we would not. We were scared at his voice and plead with Moses that he should speak to us instead. God declared this was rightly said. And he immediately declared he would send one mightier than Moses one day. We should have seen the pattern to know. We should have hearkened unto the prophets to see it plainly written. “Messiah shall be cut off.” He hid himself again in death. We could not understand, though this was plainly declared before by the prophets. (See Isaiah 53). God’s spirit can never die. The third day he rose again.
Only God’s spirit can inspire a true prophet. Yet some wrote in a duet form: as if God is speaking to Jesus and Jesus is answering back. Isaiah 49:
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me:
Thou art my servant, O Prince of God, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said:
It is too small a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Yet the LORD moved the prophets to conflate such prophecies as well, in which no distinction is made. Malachi: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
He hid himself but he revealed himself. God warned Moses to prepare for the third day when “the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on mount Sinai.” On the third day we saw the work of God for certain, and no one can hide it: The Resurrection. He shed forth his spirit on man and would not harden his heart. The nations sought him and the Gentiles turned unto the God of Israel, as it was written in Isaiah above. Israel was not gathered as a whole, but the Gentiles sought him.
His hidden way is actually made manifest— its purpose is to cause man to seek him. “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” His method has never changed. “Am I a God afar off? Do not I fill heaven and earth?” He is near at hand.
Seek the LORD while he may be found. He has set a pattern and made it plain. He and all his goodness will be sought. He appeared in a bush, he came in a thick cloud, he can place his spirit in a temple . . .yet he fills heaven and earth. Is it really so hidden what a God like this must do to reveal himself to the greatest of all his creation? As it is written, “He breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.” Is it so remarkable that he should walk among us as we are, the purpose of his whole creation?
Surely God has hidden himself because man demands God behave as we require. But he tries man in his own way. He is no idol of the nations. He is no imagination of man. Zechariah: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
Yes, indeed, he walked among us. His spirit did not remain silent in the temple. He raised up from this holy place. He kept Israel in store for that day, for the sake of all creation. In like manner he has preserved the nations to recall that day. Beware that they try and cast him off and bring that day to nought. Repent quickly, for that day will not be brought to nought. Remember the flood. Remember the Babylonian Captivity. He will not stop our sin. We are to turn from it. If we do not seek him, then he will destroy us for that sin.
