Let Me See Your Glory (2)

Introduction

I want to start by telling you a story about Jim Elliot, a Christian missionary who gave up everything for his faith. In the 1950s, Elliot and a group of US missionaries felt called to share Christ’s teachings with the Waodani tribe in Ecuador. The Waodani were known as one of the most violent people groups on earth, regularly practicing homicide and fiercely defending their territory. Elliot and his fellow missionaries initiated contact with the tribe after learning some of their language. They first dropped gifts from a plane and later established a camp not far from the Waodani settlement.

However, in January 1956, the five men were killed by members of the tribe as they approached them in person for the first time, hoping to share the gospel. The story generated worldwide news coverage, and Elliot’s wife, Elisabeth, wrote a bestselling book entitled ‘Through the Gates of Splendor’ about her husband’s journey.

This is a story about a human being that stood between other humans and God. He tried connecting this tribe with the God of love for them. He wanted to restablish a broken relationship between the Creation and a group of people.

Today, as you’ve heard from the scripture reading, we’ll talk about someone else that stood bettwen people and God, Moses. He tried to get the two sides’ relationship restablish. Today we will talked about that narrative and see how that relates to us today here.

The background to the passage (the issue of the people's sin)

But for us to interpret what it means for us, we need to understand the background of this passage. This is actually important if we are to interpret any passage from the Scripture. The requests we listened about were not his first reeqeusts, and they won’t be the last ones. The context is crucial for our understanding. So, where are we, when we meet Moses asking God to show him His glory?

Well, this sections starts with Moses up the Mount Sinai. He had been there for 40 days and 40 nights. And even though he had asked people to wait for him, the Israelites became impatient and decided to take matter in their own hands. They demanded Aaron to solve the issue of not having no one to lead them. So, in Aaron’s own words, they collected gold from everyone, threw it in the fire and out came the golden calf. So the people worshiped that image as if it was the god that had delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. Because of their impantience they made a huge mess.

While that was happening in the valley, up the Mount Moses had just received the 2 Tablet of the Covenant from the hand of God, when God informs him about what is taking place down the mountain. God asks for Moses to leave Him alone, so He can destroy the people and raise another nation from Moses. In this moment, we have the first intercession done by Moses in name of the whole congragation. Moses argued that God would have been seen as a evil god if He had brought the people out of Egypt just to kill them. He also said that would be better for God to honour the promisse done to Abraham, Isaac and Israel to give them a great number of descendents and the land.

God changes his mind and decides not to consume the people at that moment. Moses comes down the mountain and now he is the one angry. He sees the people and destroys the tablets of the convenant. His actions just confirmed what the people had done. They had broken the second comandment: You shall not make images of gold or silver, so Moses broke the tablets. He then deals with the people according to his view.

On Exodus 32:30–34 we read “The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.””

Moses did not succed this time, he does not get the people forgiven. Rather, God shows that He is sovereign and He decides matters of forgivenes of sin. And God, as if saying, no more of this argument, asks Moses to leave with the people. He says that an angel will go before them. We have actually heard abour an angel previously. In the burning bush we read that the angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in the flame of fire ou of the midst of a bush. In chapter 14 we read that when the Egyptians went after the people leaving Egypt, the angel move from the front to the back of the people and the pilar of cloud moved as well. Related to that, we read in chapter 13 that the LORD went in front of them as a pilar of cloud by day and a pilar of fire by night. So, in a sense, God is not saying anything new to Moses at this moment, He is just asking him to move on with the plan already proposed.

But as we move into chapter 33 the story now changes. Exodus 33:1–3 “The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.””

God now says that he is not going among the people. Of course, when the people heard that they was sad and mourned greatly. But note that the angel is still there. The angel is going before the people and he will drive the other nations from the land. So what is God really means by saying that He is not going among the people? I believe that it has to do with what we read from chapter 25 to 31 of the book, when Moses was at the top of the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. In this chapters, God instructs Moses to construc the tabernacle. And how does God starts the instructions? By saying, in Exodus 25:8“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” What I believe God could have been saying was that He was not going to dwell among the people in the tabernacle any longer. That makes sense when we see how much, in the passage we’ll analyse in more detail next, Moses interceeds for God’s presence among the people.

After that we have a little narrative about the tent of meeting Moses was using, after this incident, to communicate with the Lord. He pitched a tend, possibly his own ten according to the text, outside the congregation. That’s where he now goes to meet with God, once God won’t be among the people any longer. And we read in the passage that he spoke with God face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. That’s doesn’t meant literal face to face, but that we spoke to God directly and openly. We can see that from the fact that God would speak from the pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance.

Than, in one of those meetings, I believe, they have the conversation that is recorded from verse 12. Exodus 33:12–13 “Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”” Note that Moses has not asked who will go in front of them, but who will go with them. He is aware of the angel, but he wants to know about the tabernacle. And he uses his relationship with God to serch for an answer. Knowing by name is a commom formula when prophets talked about their calling. Moses then asks about God’s plans. What are Your ways God? By knowing them, we can know God better and then serve Him the way suitable.

God replies to Moses. Exodus 33:14 “And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”” This seems like the answer Moses was looking for, until you check better and see that the you used is the singular, not the plural. God is saying that He will go with Moses, the hebrew actually uses the word face, God’s face will go with him, and will give them rest in the land. And, let us just understand, this rest is the same rest that whe:

God rested the man in the garden

The ark rested on top of Mount Ararat

Joseph asks his brothers to rest one behind

It talks abour being place in a place. God is going to lead him to the land and rest him there. But that, though great, was not what Moses was looking for. So, again, he has another question or demand.

Exodus 33:15–16 “And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”” He says that, if God does not go with all the people, He should don’t botther sending them anyway. A people without their God is indistinguishable from the other nations. What makes them distinct is the presence of their God among them. Which other nation has a God that has decided to dwell in the midst of His people? That’s what make them a holy nation.

Finally Moses listens to what he was waiting for. Exodus 33:17 “And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”” But just after that, we come to the well known question Moses asked God. Exodus 33:18 “Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”” What could this possibly mean? Moses had seen God’s glory previously. In the context of the people grumbling about the lack of bread and God sending the mana, we are told that the people saw the glory of God. On Exodus 24 we read that the glory of God covered the Mount Sinai, as a devouring fire, for 6 days. I propose that Moses has asked to see the manifestation of God that would confirm that their relationship, the people and God, had been restored. Again, this is also connected with the tabernacle, for we read in Exodus 40:34 “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Moses is asking to sure that God is going to dwell among His people.

Exodus 33:19–23 “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.””

God goes beyong Moses request. The glory of God was seen previously as a devouring fire, but now God says that all His goodness is going to pass before Moses. In Hebrew that can be understood as if God is only going to pass before Moses the “good” side of his Glory. Rather than a devouring fire, God is going to pass as He is. Because of that, Moses won’t be able to see God’s face. But more important than the appearance of God, as we’ll see later, the name of God plays an important role in fulfilling the request. God Himself is going to proclaim it to Moses. A hint of that is provided in the phrase “I’ll be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I will show mercy”, which comes in the formule God has used to pronounce His name to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3:14 “I am who I am.”

Most people end that passage here, with God explaining how He is going to do for Moses to see His glory. But, that’s not the end of it. Let’s keep reading

Exodus 34:1–4 “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.”

God givem him some more details of the meeting and he them comes up the mountain for the meeting God had called him too. Can you imagine how Moses must have been feeling? And then, the waited meeting takes place.

Exodus 34:5–7 “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.””

Do you see how much of this encounter describes God passing before Moses? Almost nothing. But have you noticed how much space is given to God proclamation of His name? God’s glory is His presence, it is who He is; and that’s much more than His appearance, that’s who He is, His nature and carachter. God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving to the thousandth, nevertheless visiting the iniquity. That’s the glory of God.

In the second commandment the visiting the iniquity comes first and than His forgiveness to the thousandth; Now he forgives firsth. That’s the confirmation of Moses’ intercessions. The glory of God is that He is willing to show mercy and fogiveness to the ones that have broken the convenant with him. With more clear vision of his God, Moses has no other option than to bow down and worship. Exodus 34:8 “And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.” We haven’t seen that for the whole intercession, but now, after hearing God’s name proclaimed, he could not do otherwise.

But the story is not over, as Moses has one last request Exodus 34:9 “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.”” He combines all is one last try to get his people pardoned. And how does God replies? He says that He is making a new covenant with the people. Forgiveness of sin is not giving at that moment, but a covenant that relied on the sacrifices in the Tabernacle.

So, now that we have understood all that story better, what does it mean of us here in the year 2023? For we that don’t dwell in the desert; who don’t posses a tabernacle to sacrifice; or a Moses to interced for us when we sin agains God? I may seem like a gloomy place to be. All the things they had, we don’t. Intercessor, tabernacle, God’s presence visible as a cloud of pilar. But I’m here to tell you about better things. This story should not make us feel small compared to the great Moses, the intercessor that saw the glory of God. Or feel like we much rather be in the desert and be able to see God’s glory. No! This story should point to out intercessor, our tabernacle and the visible glory of God that died on a cross 2 centuries ago.

Please open the Gospel of John as we come to the conclusion of out moment of reflection today. John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The Word, God himself, came to bring life, not to coonsume His people; John 1:10–13 “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” He come and dwelt with us and makes us distinct, he makes us childrens of God. John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” I’m sure you’ve hear that the word translated as dwelt can be translated as tabernacled. God Himself as the Son tabernacled among us; and through His tabernacle we were able to see His glory among us. John 1:16 “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” John 1:17–18 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Brothers and Sister, today I want to present to you an intercessor, and advocate that is better than Moses ever was or could be. A cnd this is no human intercessor, this is God himself interceding for you and me. Jesus, He provided more than Moses could imagined to achieve. He interceds for everyone of us before the throne of God. May we all believe and rely in His ministry with all our hearts, with all our sould and with all our minds. AMEN