Holy Radiance

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Exodus 34:29

This verse gives me one of those ‘wow’ moments. Can you even imagine it? My heart tells me that it would be the most incredible thing to experience and yet Moses didn’t even know that this extraordinary phenomenon had happened. He had been so wholly absorbed in the presence of God that the glory of the Lord had soaked into his very being, and then radiated outward. He wasn’t performing or striving for it. It was the natural result of time spent entirely with God.

In the New Testament we read of something similar happening to Stephen.

And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Acts 6:15

Standing before those who sought to condemn him, Stephen bore on his face something that could not be explained away. Being full of the Holy Spirit (v55) and full of grace (v8), the glory of God shone for all to see.

This raises an interesting question: Is this what our natural state was always meant to be? We are, after all, made in the image of God. Did Adam’s countenance glow as he walked with God in the cool of the day? Was holy radiance simply part of what it meant to bear the divine image of God, before sin closed the curtain on that light?

How beautiful it would be to have the glory of God shine out from within; to be so immersed in the Lord’s presence that we literally shine with His pure light.

The wonder of the gospel is that in Christ, that curtain is being drawn back. We are told that by beholding the glory of the Lord, we ‘are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another’ (2 Corinthians 3:18). The light is being turned back on — not all at once, but steadily, as we faithfully spend time in God’s presence.

This is the invitation before us: to be so immersed in the Lord that His glory emanates through us. Not something that we manufacture, but something we carry — the radiance of a life lived close to God.