WHO HE SAYS HE IS

EXODUS 33:18-34:8

Introduction of series again.

Our number one goal of this study has been to see Him more clearly so that we can experience Him more richly.

In this study, I have asked that each of would be malleable and flexible on how we view God. But to be flexible to the Word of God not my words. That we would be willing to cast aside false ideas, false example, and false thoughts on the character and heart of God.

The last couple of weeks we talked about being willing to look towards Him and who He is through a heart that is looking at Him with the balance of reverence and relationship. That is the example of Moses that we looked at last week as He approached God in the tent of meeting and God met him face to face as a friend.

This week we are going to finish the conversation and interacting found in Exodus chapters 33-34.

We ended last week when Moses made another request of the Lord and that is were we pick up today.

In the book of John, Jesus has at least 7 different “I am” statements. I am the bread of Life, I am the way, I am the gate, ect.

Those we study and strive to understand because that who He says He is.

This passage coming up is the “I am” statement of God the Father. And to properly see Him, who can not lie, properly, we must see who He says He is.

Pray that the Lord would break down any false ideas, or false perspectives that keep You at a distance. Open our hearts and minds to see You for who You really are. May we accept it with faith and accept it as truth. May I take this time extremely serious, as to not lead Your people astray from the truth. May I say nothing blasphemous about who you are. May I properly interpret and explain the word of God, so that we can see you more clearly and break down any falsehoods that hid in our hearts and minds. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s start my reading the entire passage.

Exodus 33:18–34:9 ESV

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Let’s take a look at this verse by verse and let God’s Word be our outline.

Exodus 33:18 ESV

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Moses, the man standing in the presence of God, have a conversation with Him “face to face as a friend” still wants more! He wants more of Him. He wants to know Him more. He wants to see Him more.

May we not be content with the little glimpse of God that we currently have. May we echo the prayer of Moses and ask while in an intimately close relationship with God that we should ask for more.

God show us your glory!

But what does that mean? What is the glory of God?

John Piper say, “‘What is God’s glory?’ in not a simple explanation. Its like asking what beauty is, not what is a basketball.”

Explain that quote.

Throughout scripture, the glory of God is explained multiple ways.

Isaiah chapter 6 describes it as His holiness.

The beginning of Exodus describes it as fire, smoke and lightening as His glory descended on Mt Sinai.

Matthew describes Jesus being transfigured on the mountain and His face and clothes shining with light.

Revelation describes that in heaven their will be no need for the sun, moon and stars because of the light of the glory of God.

Again with John Piper, “The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.”

The glory of God is a huge topic and its extremely difficult to fully express but God, the Father, in this passage responds to the request to see the glory of God with that He will show Moses His goodness.

Exodus 33:19 ESV

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

So, the Lord is equating His goodness to His glory.

Essentially, God is saying, all of my goodness, who I am, is my glory. My glory is all that I am. Its my being.

2 key points to remember from this passage because we will see them in a few minutes.

The first is “pass before you”.

The second is “proclaim before you my name ‘the Lord’”.

More on that in a minute, but first.

Exodus 33:20–23 ESV

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

I have never seen this before but what a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus Christ and our need for Him to have a relationship with God.

The Lord tells Moses that in order to see a glimpse of Him, He must stand on the rock and hid in the cleft, or covering of the rock.

We know, now, that Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, that Jesus in the solid rock that we must build our lives upon, and upon the rock of Jesus is the church built upon.

What a beautiful foreshadowing of our need for Jesus. Without Jesus, we could have no relationship with the Father. With our Jesus, would could not and will not be able to handle the glory and goodness of God.

Praise the Lord for the solid rock of Jesus Christ that we can build our lives upon His Word and live under the cleft of His mercy and grace giving to us on the cross.

Before we move into 34, its important to notice that the Lord talks about what He is going to do, but we don’t see Him do it...

Some theologians and I tend to agree with them that the beginning of 34 is the fulfillment of the promise of 33.

Verses 1-4 show us a different day and conversation. God instructs Moses to cut new tablets and this time not to meet Him in the tent of meeting but to coming up the mountain to meet Him.

When we meet God and His shows us His glory, its not a recipe that we have to follow. Its not a formula that we can make it happen. We ask, and He answers with His glory how and when He decides to do it.

He tells Moses, come up the mountain. This is on my terms.

Remember the two points from 33:19.

“pass before you” and “proclaim before your my name ‘the Lord’”.

Watch them show back up here in 34:5-6.

Exodus 34:5–6 (ESV)

The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord,

The Lord is keeping His promise with Moses to show him His glory but showing him His goodness. The Lord shows Moses His glory by proclaiming His name and listing off the attributes of who He is, so that we can see His glory.

His glory equals His goodness.

So, let’s look at the goodness of God as who He says He is.

“THE LORD, THE LORD”

He says, Yahweh, Yahweh. The name so holy that the Jewish people wouldn’t even say it or write it.

The name of God given for the first time in Exodus chapter 6. The unique and specific God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.

Whenever the Bible uses the same name twice, its an indication of intimacy.

Moses at the burning bush. Samuel called my God while in His presence in the temple.

God in declaring His name twice is showing that He is an intimate and personal God.

“A GOD MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS”

What would the first words that you would use to describe the God of the OT if you were asked?

Would it be judgmental? Harsh? Wrathful? Controlling?

The very first words that God uses to describe His heart and His goodness is merciful and gracious.

Those words mean very similar things. They mean compassionate, full of mercy and giving of grace.

I heard someone once describe these two words like this,

Mercy is not giving someone, something that they deserve.

Grace is giving someone something that they do not deserve.

God shows us mercy by not giving those of us that are in Christ the wages of our sins.

And He shows us grace by giving us life both abundant and eternal.

All of which we do not deserve.

That is the first thing about the goodness of God that He wants us to see Him. That is the first thing on the heart of God. Mercy and grace.

The second thing is

“slow to anger”

Allow that to challenge all that you perceive the God of the Old Testament.

God says that He is slow to anger.

If you have seen Him as a wrathful, quick-tempered God, allow His words to shift that in you.

We have for too long seen Him as a God that is quick to anger and slow to love. But He says that He is quick to love and slow to anger.

If you only focus on the judgement of God in the Bible, you will miss the warnings after warnings that He gives before the judgement. I would argue the OT is more full of warning of God’s coming judgement than the actual judgement.

It points to a God that is slow to anger. And gives multiple chances to receive His mercy and grace.

“ABOUNDING IN STEADFAST LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS”

We know from later scriptures that God can not only be described as loving but as love itself. God is love. It is apart of who He is. Its His character. Its the most truest and deepest meaning of the word. It is all that He is.

His faithfulness is incomparable to anyone else. His Word is full of examples and promises of the faithfulness of God.

The major problem with our perspectives of these words is that we take our examples of love and faithfulness from human examples.

Human’s love and faithfulness will always fall short and always leave us disappointed.

But God is the perfect example of both in our lives. It is who He says He is.

But it is the two adjectives of His love and faithfulness that I have mostly clung to this week.

The first word is

“ABOUNDING”

The word means in excess, overflowing.

But I have searched and searched this week to try to attempt to be able to express what I feel like this word really means.

Jace, my 3 year old, everyday at 2:00pm, he will come up and ask if it is snack time. And if you say yes. Its

Its snack time! shouting and yelling and telling everyone in the house! The neighbors know that it is snack time in the McDowelll’s house.

He is abounding!

The Lord says that He is ABOUNDING in love and faithfulness for you!

Another example, Candace and I thought about was those videos that will make you cry of soldiers coming home to surprise their mothers or fathers or children.

The abounding love that you catch a glimpse of in the faces and reactions of those loved once comes close to the abounding love and faithfulness of God towards you.

Why do we make God out to be a stowick, emotional-less God? He created emotion!

And He says that His love and faithfulness for YOU is abounding!!

Its not, (quietly) “I love you, Brian”.

It’s (loudly) “I love you, Brian!”

The second adjective is

“STEADFAST”

This word means patient.

Romans 3:25 (ESV)

because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

I love that phrase “divine forbearance”. It is a level of patience and long-suffering that can only be defined as “divine”.

Through years of me running for the Lord and committing all kinds of sins in my running, my God was patient with me in a way that can only be described as divine.

Even in our numberous mistakes, even in our blatant rebellions, our God describes Himself as slow to anger, and patient with His love and faithfulness.

His mercy and grace has been ever present in my life, good times and bad times.

And He

“KEEPING STEADFAST LOVE FOR THOUSANDS, FORGIVING INIQUITY AND TRANSGRESSION AND SIN FOR THOUSANDS”

The patient of God and His forgiveness of sin carries on and on through thousands of generations.

But it can not be forgotten that God is also the perfect Judge. And there will be time when His patience has come to an end.

There will be a time the guilty will have to atone for their sins.

What kind of God would He be if He hasn’t a good judge?

A good judge does not let the guilty walk free. A good judge does not let those who prey on the innocent walk free. And His standard is set. and He must see justice through. Otherwise He would not be a good judge.

The problem is that we hear that verse and the enemy wants us to forget the other verses prior.

Justice must be served but His heart of mercy and grace and slow to anger, and abounding, steadfast love and faithfulness, provided a path to avoid His judgement!

Its the heart of the Father that sent the Son.

It was to satisfy His love for us and His need for justice that He sent His Son.

Jesus is the example of God’s mercy, grace, patience, abounding love and faithfulness, which He offers to us.

Do you know Him?

Have you only known the wrathful God? Have you kept your distance because of your fear of Him?

I pray that you today would see Him more clearly, so that you can experience Him more richly!

If you have never recieved His extension of His grace and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ. Would you meet Him today?