Let me illustrate. There are some brothers and sisters who, whatever they do, do it most unobtrusively. If they bring you a drink of water, they watch for an opportunity when you are looking out of the window, then steal in quietly, put down the water, and steal out again. When you turn around you see a glass of water but have no idea who put it there. I have met many brothers and sisters who do things like that. When they do anything for you, they do it so silently and secretly, you don't know who has done it. And we say—That's their temperament! But there are brothers and sisters of a totally different disposition. They always make a great display. If they bring you a glass of water, they bang the glass so that the noise reaches you before the water does; then in they walk with a great flourish and say, "A glass of water, Brother So-and-so!"

Once I visited a certain church where one of the sisters had been appointed to act as hostess. Oh! that sister simply filled the place. She was so big she obscured the whole church; I could not catch sight of the elders, or the deacons, or the brothers, or the sisters for the sight of her. Wherever I looked, there she was. If she brought you anything, she always did it ostentatiously. Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, that was her temperament!

Let me tell you, our God is not like that. He never makes any display: He is too great. But the marvel is that He remains so hidden. We know He is great, exceedingly great, unutterably great; yet He could make Himself small enough to take up His abode in a man, Jesus of Nazareth. And this man belonged to a poor home and grew up to be a carpenter—a very ordinary carpenter, working in a very small way, until He was thirty. Who ever would have thought He was indwelt by God, the infinite God? True, after He entered upon His public ministry, He did at times work signs and wonders, and He did at times say extraordinary things; but then He would withdraw and hide Himself again.

If you study the Scriptures carefully, you will see that God has the kind of temperament that dislikes ostentation. He likes to work secretly rather than openly. He created the universe and then hid Himself in it, until we do not know where to find Him. He took up His abode in a man, but that man was almost unknowable. On first meeting Him, men just saw a man called Jesus, of Nazareth. On meeting Him a second time, they recognized in Him a man of more than average intellect; and on the third time of meeting, they thought He must be a prophet. When they met Him still later, they felt, "Oh, this man is surely more than a prophet!" But to discover exactly who He was, was no easy matter. Even His disciples, during their three and a half years in His company, did not arrive at a true knowledge of Him. All this tells us that He was continually hiding Himself. He would manifest Himself for a moment and then would conceal Himself again.

Once, on the Mount of Transfiguration, He revealed Himself clearly; but He hid again and even told the three who were with Him not to tell others what they had seen. And though they had been witnesses of the transfiguration, later on they themselves were tossed between faith and doubt. What was the cause of their bewilderment? Just this—that no sooner had He revealed Himself than He would hide Himself once more.