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[RECAP] He was about to pass them by.  What was He doing?  He just wanted to show off somehow?  What was His purpose in passing them by? 

It's very fascinating to trace this phrase, "pass by" to two events in the Old Testament.  They help us understand what Jesus was doing.    I mean, did He just want to leave in the lake straining while He strolled on by?  Ha, hardly.

Back in the book of Exodus, Exodus 33, Moses is stressed out with God.  Had some very rough go with the children of Israel.  And God had said, 'I'm not going with you.'  And Moses…very upset.  God was so displeased with His chosen people that He threatened not to go with them.  'Moses, you just do it.'  And Moses began to bargain with God.  And Moses' bottom line was this, 'If You don't go with us, we're not going anywhere.'  And he says that and God says, 'I will go with you."  Moses repeats it…I will go with you.  And finally Moses says to God, "Show me Your glory." (cf Ex 33:18).  'I want to know You're committed…show me Your glory because if You reveal Yourself to me like that I will know You are committed.'  And God responds to Moses and says to Him, 'I don't have to do that.  I'm not obligated to bargain and negotiate with you….but I will do it even though I don't have to.'  He said, 'Moses, there's a place where I'm going to put you…there's going to be a break in the rock and I'm going to put you there and I WILL PASS BY, my glory WILL PASS BY...

God put Moses in the break of the rock and He said, 'I have to put My hand over your eyes, because you cannot see My face and live…so once I have passed by with My glory, you can turn, you can see My back and you can see My glory in that way.'  Do you notice that phrase, "pass by"?  What is happening?  God in His glory is passing by Moses to confirm to Moses His commitment to be with Moses, to enable Moses, to empower Moses and to use Moses to lead the children of Israel.  

There's another event.  It's Elijah.  He's run away.  He's hidden.  He's in a cave.  He's full of self-pity.  And God comes along and says to Elijah, 'What are you doing here?'  Well, you know Elijah is full of this self-pity, 'I'm the only one that's left…so forth and so on.'  All the feelings we have when life isn't going well.  All the feelings you have over your church or over your business or over your career or over your family or whatever it may be.  And God says, 'I'm going to appear, I'm going to pass by you.'  And Elijah waited until a still small voice, a whisper came.  And then he went out to the front of his cave and he stood there and the Lord passed by. 

Do you see what Jesus was doing?  He was going to, He intended to pass by His men to show them His glory.  He wanted them to see Him in His fullness.  He wanted them to see Him in His greatness.  He wanted them to see Him as He was and He wanted them to know that because of His glory, because of His strength, because of His power, He could enable them to do what they could not do.  He wanted to give them an epiphany of glory designed to reveal Him as Yahweh, the faithful God of the Old Testament. 

He wanted to teach them Reality #2.  If Reality #1 is "You must do what you cannot do with what you do not have for the rest of your lives", Reality #2 is this:  Jesus will do what He can do through you for the rest of your lives. 

Oh, do you see this?  Do you realize what a privilege it is to be a leader for Christ?  To have Him working in you?  To have Him working through you?  To have Him showing His glory, His power, His energy through you?  No matter what you face, feeding the five thousand or an overwhelming storm, Jesus says, 'I will be with you and when it looks as if I'm going to pass by you, when it looks as if I'm going to desert you, when it looks as if you're all alone as Elijah cried or when it looks as if I'm not going to go with you as Moses thought and was concerned about after God said He would go with them…'  When it looks that way, here's what I want you to understand, that's the moment, that's the moment, when His glory will come through most powerfully...

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