“These were ideas which were known and familiar to both Jews and Greeks. Now he says the most startling and incredible thing that he could have said. He says quite simply: ‘This Word which created the world, this reason which controls the order of the world, has become a person, and with our own eyes we saw him…’ When John said that no one has ever seen God, everyone in the ancient world would fully agree with him. People were fascinated and depressed and frustrated by what they regarded as the infinite distance and the utter unknowability of God… In Jesus Christ the distant, unknowable, invisible, unreachable God has come to men and women; and God can never be a stranger to us again.”
(William Barclay)

"To the Jews, the idea of the shechinah was highly valued. It is the word used for the visible presence of God... Repeatedly in the Old Testament, we come across the idea that there were certain times when God’s glory was visible among his people. In the desert, before the giving of the manna, the children of Israel ‘looked towards the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud’ (Exodus 16:10). Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, ‘The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai’ (Exodus 24:16). When the Tabernacle was completed, ‘the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle’ (Exodus 40:34). When Solomon’s Temple was dedicated, the priests could not enter in to minister, ‘for the glory of the Lord filled his temple (1 Kings 8:11). When Isaiah had his vision in the Temple, he heard the angelic choir singing that ‘the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3). Ezekiel saw ‘the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ (Ezekiel 1:28). In the Old Testament, the glory of the Lord came at times when God was very close. The glory of the Lord means quite simply the presence of God."
(William Barclay)

“Jesus is the Moses of our salvation, the mediator who goes for us before God. Jesus is the Lamb of our Passover, the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is our way out of Egypt, the deliverer who baptizes us in the sea of his grace. Jesus is our bread in the wilderness, the provider who gives us what we need for daily life. Jesus is our voice from the mountain, declaring his law for our lives. Jesus is the altar of our burning, through whom we offer praise up to God. Jesus is the light on our lampstand, the source of our life and light. Jesus is the basin of our cleansing, the sanctifier of our souls. Jesus is our great High Priest, who prays for us at the altar of incense. And Jesus is the blood on the mercy seat, the atonement that reconciles us to God. The great God of the exodus has saved us in Jesus Christ.”
(Phillip Ryken)