Does It Align with God's Character?

introduction

In Isaiah 6:3, the prophet Isaiah said that he went before the throne of God and the Seraphim sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.” We see this again when John tells us about his vision of God’s throne in Revelation 4:8. He saw God being worshipped day and night by creatures who kept saying “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty who was, who is and who is to come.”

What does holiness mean?

holiness. That quality of God and of things and persons set apart for God that marks whatever possesses it as “different” and “other” than the ordinary things of creation. Thus, when Moses met God at the burning bush, he was afraid and was told to remove his sandals, because the place was holy. In the New Testament, holiness increasingly took on the characteristics of righteousness and moral purity. The Holiness Movement is made up of those churches, especially in the Wesleyan tradition, that put a special emphasis on sanctification as a distinct work of grace.1

1 C. Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 55.

It’s a separateness. God is a whole different being all together. We should remember that if God is holy, he cannot sin and if he cannot sin, he cannot sin against me and if he cannot sin against me, I can trust him and what he says.

This separateness means that we humans cannot ever reach God or know him in our own power and ability. The only reason that we know him is because God had chosen to reveal himself to us. The bible is given to us so that we can know the author. We read how man has failed time and time again. How we have sinned over and over and how God has restored his people and judges their sin. The way that this has happened is through his word. Whether it was the prophets, apostles, psalmists, or supremely, in the carnation of the word of God, the God-man Jesus, God graciously reveals himself to his people in order that they might know and do his will.

This gracious and divine revelation means that we don’t have to try and figure out life by ourselves. Trying to figure out God’s will isn’t like using a Ouija board, reading a fortune cookie, knowing your astrological sign or enneagram number. God has revealed himself and his will in his word. We need to get away from only going to other people to tell us what God would have us do or to learn about him. We can find this information in the words that he has provided to us.

Who can give us a basic recap of what has gone on from Genesis to Moses receiving the 10 commandments?

God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and showed him his will for how we should live. This centerpiece for the convenantal law was the 10 commandments. These showed mankind how we should relate to God and other people.

If you remember, while Moses was on the mountain, the people who were below had already broken this covenant by worshipping idols. God could have just destroyed these people but Moses pled to God appealing to God’s promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 32:11-14).

Exodus 32:11–14 CSB

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God: “Lord, why does your anger burn against your people you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel—you swore to them by yourself and declared, ‘I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it forever.’ ” So the Lord relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.

He showed himself to be faithful and true to his word.

When Moses came down the mountain, he saw the idolatry and destroyed the tablets God had written on. God ordered him to slaughter the disobedient people, about 3000 people, and he sent a severe plague on the people. Later Moses spoke to God and pled for the people and God said that he would continue to be with the people because of Moses’s intercession.

God is holy and establishes a covenantal relationship with His children.

Exodus 34:1–5 (CSB)

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him. The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.”

God has renewed his covenant with his people. Reading this, we are reminded that God is forever faithful. He isn’t faithful to his people because they are faithful or because they are worthy of his faithfulness. He is faithful because he is faithful to his own promises. Paul in 2 Timothy 2:13 says that God faithfulness is his faithfulness to himself.

2 Timothy 2:13 CSB

if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:13 CSB

if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

If God’s faithfulness is to his own promises, then it means he is reliable when he speaks. His word can be relied on because he is not like us.

While the fault of the broken covenant is on the people, God said he would fix the problem. These five verses contain three elements. The first element is the instructions given to Moses. The second is Moses’s response to the instructions and the third is the foundation of God’s relationship with Israel in these instructions.

So first, God gave Moses specific instructions. He told him what to do and how to do it. He gave him detailed instructions so that Moses didn’t have to guess anything. He gave him the 4 w’s. God’s instructions for us aren’t always this detailed. But he bible is full of God’s instructions for our lives. We should love God, we should love our neighbors and we should honor our parents. We should raise our children in the fear of God, make disciples of all nations and pray without ceasing.

So, first are the clear instructions given to Moses. Second, Moses obeyed the Lord like Abraham before him. Moses got up early in the morning just as Abraham did before his sacrifice journey. Joshua also got up early as he responded in obedience to God in Joshua 3:1. Jesus also rose up early in the morning to pray in Mark 1:35.

All of this is to say that we should have a sense of urgency when it comes to obeying God. We are expected to and should want to be obedient to God. God will give you the power to obey. This is found in Romans 9:16; 1 Corinthians 12:6; Philippians 2:13 and Hebrews 13:21.

Finally we see that the foundation of God’s promise-keeping is God’s name- the Lord. In the english translation of Lord, it is for the word Yahweh. In Hebrew, there were no vowels so it was spelled YHWH. Today Orthodox Jews will not speak this name for fear of misusing God’s name and thus violate the second commandment. (life of Brian video)

The meaning of these 4 letters was revealed earlier in the book of Exodus. This word means something like I am who I am or I will be who I will be. In other words, God is God alone and there is none like him. He is altogether holy, righteous and just. So, when we read ”the Lord”, he is declaring he is not like humans. He is also declaring that he is not the false gods of Egypt and the other countries in the world. Unlike us and other gods, God is faithful.

In this passage, the Lord stands over Moses and declares his covenantal name. In doing so, God is promising to be faithful to his promises. He is declaring that he is distinct from the gods of the world. This vital distinction leads us to our next section of scripture.

God’s character is perfect and unchanging.

Exodus 34:6–7 (CSB)

The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

John Piper said that God promised future grace in the very center of the law-giving revelation on Mount Sinai. Because he is declaring a future grace, we can be assured that he is consistent in what he says. Since he has been consistent and gracious in the past, we know he will continue this pattern. These verses teach us about the gracious nature of God.

He is describing himself to Moses, He describes himself as compassionate and gracious. He is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth. He says that he will forgive but he will punish the guilty.

When the Lord brought his people out of exile and back to the promised land, these same words were spoken in Nehemiah 9. Jonah also knew this but he wasn’t celebrating them. Rather he was feeling sorry for himself when he was thinking about it in Jonah 4.

Let’s look at these characteristics. First, he is compassionate and gracious. Both of these emphasize the giver (God) is the superior of the recipient (the Israelites). Compassion is an active, protective concern for another. Graciousness means that God does things fir the people that they do not deserve, and with God his graciousness goes further than what the recipients could ever imagine. The absence of grace leads to judgment.

Look at Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23 CSB

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We should not desire to relate to God as a wage earner. The only thing we deserve is condemnation and wrath. Instead, we should desire to relate to God as a gift receiver. Martin Luther’s last written words were “We are beggars. This is true.” The Christian life is all of grace. From the beginning to the end we are saved by grace and God’s faithfulness. We should not rely on ourselves, but rely on the effective work of Christ.

Second, he is slow to anger. The false gods that were worshipped were notoriously quick to anger. God was the opposite in that he said of himself that he is slow to anger. In Hebrew, the literal translation of slow to anger is that God has a long nose. We associate this as maybe someone who is a liar (like Pinocchio), but what the word picture means that it takes a long time for smoke to come out of God’s nostrils.

Now, the Bible teaches that God’s anger is real and terrifying (Psalms 18:7). However, the bible also teaches that he is patient. In contemporary, we might say that God does not have a short fuse.

Third, he is abounding in faithful love and truth. In Hebrew, faithful love is the word Chesed. Some translations say lovingkindness or unchanging love. It is a covenantal faithfulness. He is faithful to his covenants because again, he is faithful to his words. The motivation for this faithfulness is God’s desire for his name to be glorified by all peoples.

This same faithfulness is seen when God preserves believers so that no one who truly repents and believes, will ever fall away from Christ. We have assurance is not that that we will have the power, strength or fortitude to preserve til the end but that God in us will cause us to persevere to the end.

God is not only faithful in love but he is faithful in truth too. Nothing is hidden from him. He knows all things, sees all things and always speaks truthfully. Jesus affirmed that we can count upon God’s word to be true for all eternity. (Matt. 5:18; 24:35)

Matthew 5:18 CSB

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.

Matthew 24:35 CSB

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Fourth, the Lord is forgiving. During the incarnation, Jesus both taught and modeled this graciousness and forgiveness. He taught his disciples that they should be generous in forgiveness because of the way God had forgiven them (Matt. 18:21-35). As he hung on the cross, he spoke words of forgiveness and not retaliation (Luke 23:34). After his resurrection, he restored Peter after he denied him (John 21:15-17).

Finally, God punishes the guilty. Some may think that God is like a permissive judge who allows guilty to go unpunished, but God declared himself to be righteous. God’s compassion, mercy, grace and forgiveness do not come at the cost of His justice. God’s righteous justice is always perfect.

God declared himself to be both righteous and loving. His righteousness is connected to holiness, which sets him apart from his creation in moral perfection. The punishment and penalty we deserved was laid on Jesus instead of us, so that in the cross both God’s holiness and love are manifested.

The bible is teaching us that the Lord’s transcendent uniqueness makes him morally superior to the false gods of the ancient Near East.

Our response to God’s holy character is to repent and worship Him.

Exodus 34:8–9 CSB

Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped. Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”

When a judge enters a courtroom, what does the Bailiff say? If a friend comes over, how do you greet them? If you are work and your boss comes to your office or workspace do you stand and greet them? Whether it’s a judge, friend or boss or someone else we see that is worthy of honor, we generally show honor by standing in their presence.

But here, we see Moses do what? He kneels low to the ground. In ancient Hebrew culture and in many cultures we see people kneel, sit or bow their head. The bible tells us that this is an act of worship.

Throughout the bible we see examples of worship God. After the flood Noah built an altar and worshipped him. The psalms told us that Israel’s response to God’s promises was to believe and worship.

When Isaiah appeared before the throne of God he responded by saying that he was unworthy and worshipped God. Finally, we remember Thomas when he was presented with the scars of Christ he declared in a spontaneous act of worship “My Lord and my God!” John Piper says that true worship is not done out of reluctance but it is the consummation of joy in God.

The word worship is not an easy word to define but we can conclude that the reason we do it is because we can’t help worshipping. It’s not a human invention rather it is a divine offering. God created us a worshippers. We will either worship God or we will worship something else in his creation. Paul talked about this in the first chapter of Romans.

Moses’s response when he encountered God was to immediately worship him. He can look to him as an example for our lives. True biblical worship climaxes in commitment. Like Moses was committed to leading God’s people, we should respond to God’s word with commitment and resolve to live lives worthy of our calling.

A portion of Moses’s worship was devoted to interceding for the Israelites. God graciously responded and answered Moses’s prayer by making them his treasured possession and led them to the land that he had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As we continue through the bible, we learn that Jesus is the true and final intercessor. Moses’s intercession was temporal, but Jesus’s intercession for his people is saving, continuing and eternal.