16. Manna issue 65 - Peniel Seeing the Invisible God 毗努伊勒：見到無影無形的神
Peter Shee—Singapore 新加坡 Peter Shee
In the stars His handiwork I see,
On the wind He speaks with majesty,
Though He ruleth over land and sea,
What is that to me?
群星閃爍訴說主奇工
微風吹動見證主尊容
陸地海洋在祂掌管中
於我何所用？
…Till by faith I met Him face to face
And I felt the wonder of His grace,
Then I knew that He was more than just a
God who didn’t care,
That lived away out there
And now He walks beside me day by day,
Ever watching o’er me lest I stray,
Helping me to find the narrow way,
He’s everything to me.[1]
直到憑信得見主聖顏
領會救主奇妙大恩典
我才深知主愛廣無邊
祂時刻關懷我
並隨時祝福加添
每日與我同行肩並肩
常常看顧我免遭危險
行走窄路在我左右
祂就是我所有
Great things happen when one meets God face to face.
A personal encounter with God left Jacob a different man.
Years before, he had vividly dreamed of the God of his fathers,
standing distantly above a heavenly ladder.
Despite its awesomeness, the vision only drew from him faith that was conditional:
“IF God will be with me … and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,
so that I come back to my father’s house in peace,
THEN the LORD shall be my God”
(Gen 28:20–21).
當人與神面對面時，偉大的事情發生了。
人與神的相遇，使雅各變成了另一個人。
多年前，他很鮮明的夢見了他父親的神，
遠遠的站在天梯之上。
儘管它很奇妙，異像只為他帶來有條件的信心：
“20雅各許願說：神若與我同在，在我所行的路上保佑我，又給我食物吃，衣服穿，
21使我平平安安地回到我父親的家，我就必以耶和華為我的神。”
（創 28：20-21）。
Two decades later at the ford of Jabbok, Jacob held on to God till the break of day,
saying,
“I will not let you go unless You bless me!”
(Gen 32:23–26).
This close encounter with God left him physically crippled but spiritually, he was enabled.
二十年後於雅博渡口，雅各緊緊抓住神，直到黎明，
說：“26你不給我祝福，我就不容你去。”
（創 32:23-26）。
與神近距離的接觸使他身體受傷，但靈性上他得到了力量。
With renewed faith, the patriarch, newly re-named Israel,
limped his way out of darkness into the rays of the rising sun,
marveling that he had “seen God face to face”
(Gen 32:30–31).
Up until his deathbed he still acknowledged
“the God who has fed [him] all [his] life long to this day”
(Gen 48:15).
帶著更新的信仰，族長，新改名為以色列，
瘸腳走出黑暗道路，進入旭日初升的光芒中，
他驚訝說到自已，“面對面見了神”
（創 32：30-31）。
直到臨終前，他仍然認為，
“15就是一生牧養我直到今日的神，”
（創 48：15）。
As for the place of his nightlong struggle with the divine,
Jacob named it Peniel, literally “face of God”
(Gen 32:30).
至於他與神徹夜博鬥紐打的地方，
雅各將那地命名為毗努伊勒，字面意思是“神的臉面”
（創 32：30）。
DEUS ABSCONDITUS: THE HIDDEN GOD 隱匿的神：奧秘難解的神
At Peniel, the same heavenly Being
who declared Himself to be God of Abraham and Isaac obscured His identity
and acted contrarily towards His own, physically wrestling Jacob.
This goes beyond mere “hiddenness” of God in Christ’s incarnation,
suffering and death.
在毗努伊勒的時候，同一個天上的神，
祂宣稱自己是亞伯拉罕和以撒的神，隱藏了祂的身份，
並且行動異於祂自己過去的行為，以肉體與雅各摔跤。
這超越了神在基督道成肉身的單純“隱藏”，
而是痛苦和死亡。
Few in Jesus’ time understood Him to be God incarnated in flesh.
He would not have been crucified if the people of His age had known Him to be God
(1 Cor 2:6–10).
This is what Paul meant when he talked about the “foolishness of the cross”
(1 Cor 1:18–25).
在耶穌的時代，很少有人明白祂是道成肉身的神。
如果他那個時代的人知道祂就是神，祂就不會被釘在十字架上，
（林前 2：6-10）。
這就是保羅所說“十字架愚昧”的意思
（林前 1：18-25）。
Towards Jacob, God as the wrestling angel did not appear to possess any recognizable kindness.
He behaved, as Job would put it, like a complete adversary:
對雅各而言，作為摔跤天使的神，似乎沒有任何表現出來的仁慈。
正如約伯所說，祂的行為舉止就像一個完完全全的敵手：
“Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?”
(Job 13:24)
“24你為何掩面、拿我當仇敵呢？”
（伯 13：24）
“He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth; my adversary sharpens His gaze on me”
(Job 16:9).
“9主發怒撕裂我，逼迫我，
向我切齒；我的敵人怒目看我。”
（伯 16：9）。
Job mistook the reason for his suffering as God’s attack.
In Jacob’s case,
the attack was actually objectified.
約伯誤認自已受苦的原因，是神的攻擊。
而就雅各而言，
這次襲擊實際上是具體化的。
Job’s realization of God’s doings at the end of the trials
—“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You”
(Job 42:5)
—bears much resemblance to Jacob’s response at Peniel.
This coincidence is remarkable as we see in both incidences
that God does sometimes inflict His people for greater good.
約伯在試煉結束時，明白了神的作為，
—“5我從前風聞有你，現在親眼看見你。”
（伯 42：5）
—與雅各於毗努伊勒的反應相當類似。
正如我們在這兩次事件所看到的那樣，這種巧合是很值得注意的，
神有時確實會為了更大的好處，而損傷祂的百姓。
For Jacob, irony presented itself more than once.
First, he asked a blessing from an Opponent who had just injured him.
Then his name was changed by the One who withheld His own name.
And finally, he understood the identity of the Stranger who refused to reveal His name.
對雅各來說，諷刺出現不止一次。
首先，他請求一位剛剛傷害過他的對手給予祝福。
然後他的名字被隱瞞自己名字的那一位更改了。
而且最後，他明白了那個拒絕透露身份的陌生人身份。
Jacob’s recognition of his Opponent whom he wrestled against was an enlightening lesson.
Through his sojourning years,
he had learned that
God who appeared to Abraham continued to be present with the chosen lineage
to provide and protect them against adversity
(Gen 28:13–15).
雅各認出與他摔跤的對手，是一個領悟的教訓。
經過他這幾年旅居的歲月，
他了解到，
向亞伯拉罕顯現的神，繼續現身面對揀選的血裔，
撫育保護他們免受危害
（創 28：13-15）。
Now, he saw God’s face in actual adversity itself and even sought His blessing
(Gen 32: 26–29).
God had become his personal God.
現在，他在實際的苦難中看到了神的臉面，甚至尋求神的祝福
（創 32：26-29）。
神已成為他自已的神。
BELIEVING IS SEEING 相信即看見
What opened Jacob’s eyes but faith?
Since faith is “conviction of unseen realities”
(Heb 11:1, NBV),
God’s hiddenness is compatible with faith.
It is a blessing to see and hear and believe
(Mt 13:16–17).
But ultimate faith is to believe without seeing
(Jn 20:29),
for the ultimate object of faith, God, is unapproachable and can never be seen
(1 Tim 1:17).
除了信心，還有什麼能打開雅各的眼睛呢？
因為信仰是“1是未見之事的確據。”
(來 11：1, NBV),
神的隱密與信仰是相通的。
看見、聽到和相信是有福的
（太 13：16-17）。
但最終的信心是未見就相信
（約 20：29），
因為信仰的終極目標，神，是無法接近的，也是永遠看不見
（提前 1：17）。
Faith then is as good as sight, and believing is seeing.
信心就如眼見，相信就是看見。
“For we walk by faith, not by sight”
(2 Cor 5:7).
Faith transforms our experience with a hidden God, Deus Absconditus
(cf. Is 45:15),
into a “Peniel” moment, when we see the face of God revealed, Deus Revelatus.
Thus we are no longer hindered by the things we cannot fathom,
to accept and obey the things revealed to us
(Deut 29:29).
“7因我們行事為人是憑著信心，不是憑著眼見。”
（林後 5：7）。
信仰以隱藏的神改變了我們的體驗， Deus Absconditus 隱藏的神，
（參考，賽 45：15），
轉而進入“Peniel 毗努伊勒”的時刻，當我們看到神的面容顯現，Deus Revelatus 啟示的神。
因此我們不再受自已無法理解量測的事物所阻礙，
因此接受順從啟示我們的事情
（申 29：29）。
When faith and revelation are fully played out in a person’s experience with the divine,
he arrives at his own “Peniel”.
As the words of Christ generated faith in the Samaritan woman,
she progressed through her prejudice, doubt and ignorance to finally recognize her Savior
(Jn 4:9, 11, 15).
The men of her city upgraded their faith from second-hand to first-hand
after meeting the Lord face-to-face
(Jn 4:42).
當一個人天國的體驗，信心和啟示結束時，，
他到達了自己的“Peniel 毗努伊勒”。
正如基督的話語使撒瑪利亞的婦人產生信心一樣，
她經過了偏見、懷疑和無知的情況，最終認出了她的救主
（約 4：9、11、15）。
她城市人們的信仰，在與主面對面之後，
從間接相信升級為親自體驗到神
（約 4：42）。
Then there are examples of faith transcending physical sighting.
In contrast to Philip’s request to see the Father
(Jn 14:8, 9),
Peter’s recognition of Jesus as
“Christ, son of the living God” stemmed from the Father’s revelation
(Mt 16: 16, 17).
The hearts of two disciples on the road to Emmaus were ignited
when they heard the Scriptures expounded by the risen Christ
(Lk 24:16, 32).
They realized who Christ was at the moment when Jesus disappeared from their presence
(Lk 24:31).
還有很多信心超越肉眼看見的例子。
相反於使徒菲力請求能看見天父，
(約 14：8，9),
彼得認出耶穌就是
“基督，永生神的兒子”其實來自於天父的啟示
（太 16：16，17）。
以馬忤斯路上，兩位門徒的內心得到激勵，
當他們聽到復活基督解釋聖經的時候，
（路 24：16，32）。
當耶穌從他們面前消失的那一刻之時，他們才意識到基督是誰
（路 24：31）。
Adding on, there is the dying thief
who stopped his mocking the moment
his faith gave him a glimpse of the kingly profile of the man crucified next to him
(Lk 23:40–42; cf. Mt 27:44).
Mary Magdalene had her eureka moment by the empty tomb in the darkness,
when the true identity of the gardener dawned on her
(Jn 20:14–16).
再加上，還有那十字奇上垂死的小偷，
他停止自已嘲笑的那一刻，
他的信仰心讓他瞥見了釘在他旁邊那人的王者形象，
（路 23：40-42；參看，太 27：44）。
在黑暗中，抹大拉馬利亞看到空墳而恍然大悟，
正是因為曙光初現，她才意識到園丁的真實身份
（約 20：14-16）。
And, most famously, there’s Paul the apostle,
one of the best expositors of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Formerly Saul the persecutor,
his spiritual enlightenment came the moment he became blind physically
(Acts 9:3–9).
而且，最著名的就是使徒保羅，
他是希伯來聖經最好的解釋者之一。
從前他是迫害基督徒的掃羅，
他靈性的領悟是出現在他肉體失明的那一刻
（徒 9：3-9）。
SEEING HIM AS HE IS 目睹神的本性
“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness,
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness”
(Ps 17:15).
“15至於我，我必在義中見你的面；
我醒了的時候，得見（或譯：著）你的形像就心滿意足了。”
（詩 17：15）。
“For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Cor 4:6).
“6那吩咐光從黑暗裡照出來的神，
已經照在我們心裡，叫我們得知神榮耀的光顯
在耶穌基督的面上。”
（林後 4：6）。
Moses, who gave us the Law, saw only the form of God,
but was not permitted to see His face.
God hid him in the cleft of a rock,
and he was shown only the back of God, posteriori Dei
(Ex 33:20–23).
給我們律法的摩西，他只看到神的外形，
但卻不允許看到神的面容。
神將摩西藏在磐石穴中，
摩西只看到了神的背影，posteriori Dei (神的背後)
（出 33：20-23）。
Christians today enter the Holy of Holies through the blood of Christ
(Heb 10:19);
thus we can approach the throne of grace without fear
(Heb 4:16)
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD as expressed in one of the Davidic psalms
(Ps 27:4).
今日的基督徒藉著基督的寶血進入至聖所
（來 10：19）；
這樣我們就可以毫無畏懼地接近施恩寶座
（來 4：16）
正如一首大衛詩篇所表達，可以瞻仰耶和華的榮美
（詩 27：4）。
Moses veiled his face to hide the glory of God from the people
when he came down from Sinai
(Ex 34:29–33).
But we New Testament saints can behold with unveiled face
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory
(2 Cor 3:13, 18).
The Holy Spirit not only enlightens our minds to understand the Scriptures,
but transforms our lives to conform to its standards.
當摩西從西奈山下來時，
摩西用帕子蒙上臉，向百姓隱藏神的榮光
（出 34：29-33）。
但我們新約的聖徒，可以直視沒有遮蓋的臉，
正如照鏡子，可以看見主的榮光，
就變成主的形象，榮上加榮
（林後 3：13、18）。
聖靈不僅開啟我們的智慧，可以明白聖經，
而且改變我們的生活，以符合神的標準。
For this reason, when Christ comes again,
we who are in constant communion with God through prayer and obedience to His word
shall be like Him,
and we shall see Him as He is
(1 Jn 3:2).
為此，當基督再來時，
我們這些通過祈禱，遵守神話語，與神不斷交通的人，
2我們必要像他、
因為必得見他的真體。
（約壹 3：2）。
[1] From the hymn “He’s Everything to Me” by Ralph Carmichael (1964)
[1] 出自，拉爾夫·卡邁克爾 (Ralph Carmichael) 的讚美詩“救主是我所有” (1964)，讚美詩 523/528 首
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