PASSING BY
The expression, “passed by”, appears more than once in the Bible but the words make no sense until we look at them from God’s perspective. I’ll only refer to four incidents.
Moses was in crisis. God’s people had broken His covenant only days after God had established His union with them. With Moses out of the way, (up the mountain), the people slipped back into idolatry. What was he to do? How was he to handle the situation since the covenant no longer bound God to His people and left them vulnerable and unprotected in a dangerous wilderness?
Moses went back up the mountain to negotiate with God. Firstly, he insisted on God’s presence to take them on to the Promised Land. God agreed to go with them. Secondly, he asked the Lord to show him His glory, the full array of His attributes.
God’s response put restrictions on Moses’ request.
“19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Exodus 33:19-20 NIV
What did God mean by “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” This cannot be taken literally since God is spirit. He does not have a face. Can this mean,” you cannot see the front of me ie, where I am going, but I will show you where I have been, i.e., my back parts.”
“21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Exodus 33:19-23 NIV
God said He would “pass by” Moses while He hid him in the cleft of a rock.
“5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed by (in front of) Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:5-7 NIV
This revelation of Himself that God gave Moses was Moses’ answer to his crisis. God had revealed Himself as “gracious, compassionate merciful, and forgiving.” Now Moses could appeal for forgiveness for his people because God is merciful.
“8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Exodus 34:8-9 NIV
God graciously responded by renewing the covenant.
Elijah also had an experience of God “passing by” in his time of crisis. He had won a great victory against the prophets of Baal on Mt Caramel. Perhaps he anticipated revival in Israel but, instead of revival, the wicked queen, Jezebel, threatened to kill him. Elijah fled to Mt Horeb (Sinai) where God met while he took shelter in a cave on the mountain.
Elijah wanted to die because of his failure to bring God’s people back to Him. He felt that he was the only one left who worshipped the Lord. God met him in the cave and spoke to him.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:9-13 NIV
God “passed by” Elijah, revealing Himself, not in earth-shattering natural events but in a gentle whisper. Elijah’s work was not over. God gave him instructions to anoint a new king in Aram, a neighbouring country, a new king in Israel who would rid the land of Baal-worship, and a new prophet, Elisha, who would be Elijah’s successor.
The third incident happened after Jesus had fed more than 5000 people in the miraculous multiplication of five barley and two small fish. After Jesus had dismissed the crowd, He stayed behind to pray while His disciples returned to Bethsaida by boat.
“47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn, he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately, he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Mark 6:47-50 NIV
Why would Mark record that Jesus was about to “pass by” them unless it had more than a literal meaning? Did the disciples’ terrified interruption prevent Him from revealing something about Himself that would have calmed them in their crisis? Both Moses and Elijah received revelation that solved their problems. The disciples did not because they were bewildered, afraid and with hardened hearts.
“51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”
Mark 6:51-52 NIV
Jesus also “passed by” Bartimaeus and he could see again.
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” … 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
Luke 18:35-37, 40-43 NIV
There is great significance in these stories. Every time we are in need or in a crisis, Jesus is “passing by”, in other words, He is there and He wants to reveal something about Himself, some aspect of His glory that will build our memory bank of His faithfulness (His “back parts”) that we will draw on in the future when we run into similar situations that have tested our faith.
What we receive from Him will depend on, again, our perspective of God and His working in us.
Moses was expecting a revelation of God’s glory and he got it and acted in it.
Elijah has pms, poor me syndrome! He did what God told him to do but he wasn’t excited about it.
The disciples were so terrified that they got nothing out of their experience, either from the miracle of feeding the five thousand or Jesus walking on the water to come to them in their need. How often Jesus is “passing by” in our times of crisis but we fail to recognise Him or to learn the lesson of His presence and His faithfulness because we are blinded by our circumstances, not encouraged by our faith.
And as for Bartimaeus, he received what he wanted because he refused to allow Jesus to “pass by” without hearing and listening to his cry for help.