Misc. - “ “ - Exodus 33:18-34:9

“Show Us Your Glory”

Opening story

Let me bring everyone up to speed on what’s happening in this passage.

From Exodus 19-31, Moses was on Mount Sinai meeting with God.

1. The Appeals to the Lord

a. Moses Appealed the Lord to Forgive Them

Describe the sin

Impatience and unbelief led to idolatry, and idolatry led to immorality - Warren Wiersbe

Notice a few things about their sin:

Impatience leads to idolatry and idolatry leads to immorality.

Their are consequences for sin.

Making excuses is never the appropriate response to sin. OWN IT!

Aaron made excuses: he blamed the people for their depravity (22) moses for his delay (23) and the furnace for its delivery of a calf .

In His grace, God forgave their sins, but in his government, He had to discipline the people. How many tears have been caused by the painful consequences of forgiven sins!

b. Moses Appealed the Lord to Accompany Them

They began to mourn because of the discipline God gave them, but now they are mourning because the distance between God and them.

The people mourned because God wasn’t close to them another but the majority of them didn’t do anything about it.

Exodus 33:9–11 KJV 1900

9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Moses moved the tent outside of the camp as a representation of how sinful they had become.

And only Joshua stayed inside the tent of meeting.

James 4:8 KJV 1900

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Not sure what He’s teaching you?

LINGER

Not sure you’ve felt His presence in prayer?

Pray until you can pray and then pray until you have prayed.

What does Moses appeal to the Lord to do here?

Exodus 33:12-13.

God said that He would go with them.

I wonder. At this point, how many of us choose to settle? I’ve got forgiveness… I’ve got Your presence… wheewwww.

This was an interesting request. Moses already saw something of the glory of God (Exodus 16:10 and 24:16-17), yet he wanted more. He sensed that he had not seen anything yet.

c. Moses Appealed the Lord to Reveal Himself

Exodus 33:18 KJV 1900

18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

Holy fear is not to be scared of God and thereby withdraw from Him. It is to be terrified of being away from Him.

The timing of this request:

a. The Position of Moses

“Beseech...” - this is a prayer that Moses was pleading with God! Begging God to do something.

God is most concerned with His Name and His glory than anything else.

b. The Petition of Moses

“I want to see You, God.”

Moses had been pretty close to God already… look in:

Exodus 16:10 KJV 1900

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

Exodus 24:10–11 KJV 1900

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

Exodus 24:15–18 KJV 1900

15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16 And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

I’m more interested in knowing You than anything else.

I’m more interested in Your wonder and glory than my own!

Glory here speaks of God’s reputation, riches, and who He is!

Moses could have asked for better circumstances.

i. “Now Moses’ prayer is to see the kabod, the manifested glory (literally ‘weight’) of YHWH.” (Cole)

ii. “In other words, by revival we do not mean the Church being blessed by God, and conscious of his presence, and enabled to do his work. Moses, in a sense, was already conscious of all that... But Moses was not satisfied. And revival, I repeat, is not the Church being blessed and being conscious of God’s presence, and being enabled to do her work. Revival goes beyond all that.” (Lloyd-Jones)

2. The Appearance of the Lord

a. God Told Him What to Expect

Exodus 33:19–21 KJV 1900

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

God’s “goodness” (33:19) means His character and attributes. The word “back” (33:23) carries the idea of “what remains,” that is, the afterglow of the glory of God—what was “left over” after God passed by. Since God is spirit, He does not have a body as humans do. These are only human representations of divine truths about God.

Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Ex 33:18–34:35.

I will make all of my goodness pass before you.

God’s Glory Lies in His Goodness.

When Moses saw the glory of God, His first understanding was that God was good. If we don’t know that God is good, we don’t know much about Him at all.

i. God didn’t reveal His justice to Moses, not His power, and not His wrath against sin. All those are truly aspects of God’s nature, but when He showed Himself to Moses He displayed His goodness.

I will proclaim the name of the LORD before me.

the name represented a person’s character and nature. God promised to reveal His character to Moses, not merely a title.

i. Lloyd-Jones gives the idea of what God said to Moses: “I will stoop to your weakness. I will let you see something. But, much more important than that, I will cause all my goodness to pass before you. I will give you a deeper insight and understanding into myself, into my character, into what I am. That is what you really need to know.”

b. God Told Him How He Would Experience This

Protected by God, Moses could endure the glory of God passing before him. Isaiah had a glimpse of the glory of God, and it moved him to mourn his own sin and unworthiness (Isaiah 6). John experienced some of the glory of God and fell at the feet of Jesus like a dead man (Revelation 1:17). Paul experienced the glory of God on the Damascus Road, but also in the experience described in 2 Corinthians 12. It was such an amazing experience that he could only barely describe it.

iii. Others, beyond the times of the Bible, have also experienced glimpses of this glory. Lloyd-Jones mentioned a few:

Jonathan Edwards described a time of praying in the forest, kneeling for an hour that seemed to pass in just a few moments because of the powerful sense of God’s glory and presence.

David Brainerd, a great colonial era missionary to the Native Americans, knelt in the snow and prayed for hours — literally sweating in his body though it was freezing cold in the air. The sweat was a physical reaction to the intensity of the spiritual experience.

D.L. Moody asked God for such an experience, and when God gave it to him he had to ask God to pull back His hand, because he felt like it was killing him.

If you want to see God’s glory, you’ve got to stand on this rock.

The bible says that Jesus is that Rock!

Jesus told Peter that on this rock, “his confession” would Jesus build his church.

We stand on the rock when we confess Jesus as our savior.

This becomes real when we trust Jesus as Lord!

When Moses saw and heard all this, verse 8, he fell down and worshipped!

c. God Appeared

Exodus 34:5 KJV 1900

5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

The cloud mentioned was no doubt the cloud of glory known as the Shekinah. This cloud is mentioned many times in the Bible.

It covered Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16).

It went with Israel by day (Exodus 13:21-22).

It stood at the tent of Moses (Exodus 33:9-10).

It filled Solomon’s temple with glory (2 Chronicles 7:2).

It overshadowed Mary at the conception of Jesus (Luke 1:35).

It was present at the transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:34-35).

It will be present at the return of Jesus (Revelation 1:7).

3. The Attributes of the LORD

While he’s hiding in the rock, God’s goodness and glory passes before him.

Meanwhile, God doesn’t just allow His person to pass by, He speaks about His nature.

a. His Name

And proclaimed: God said this to Moses, revealing His character to Moses by words; He proclaimed it to Moses. As this happened Moses had a power spiritual experience, rich with feeling and emotion. Yet God didn’t want His revelation to only be in feeling and emotion but connecting to the whole person through His word.

b. The LORD, the LORD God: This name — Yahweh — was the same name for God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew; this was no new revelation of God. God presented Himself as the eternal, immutable God.

i. “The name of YHWH expresses all that He is and does, so this means proclamation of the saving acts of God… Here is God’s Self-revelation, proclaiming His very self to Moses.” (Cole)

ii. Knowing God should be the active interest of every human being, and especially of every Christian. “It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “The Lord’s self-disclosure is prefaced by the repetition of his name: ‘The LORD, the LORD,’ repeated perhaps to emphasize his unchangeableness.” (Kaiser)

I AM that I AM because I AM that I AM.

Big Truth: God’s character and God’s capability are both included in His name.

The fact that David knew God’s name shows he knew what God was capable of. Now he’s singing about Jehovah. He’s able to respond to who God is and also what God has done.

God’s name says a lot about His actions.

Jehovah was often compounded with other descriptive words to show His character (he’s a promise keeper) and His capability. God could do and would do. Those compounded names are also seen in this psalm:

Jehovah-Jireh means, “the Lord will provide.” (verse 1 - “I shall not want”)

Jehovah-Shalom means, “the Lord is our peace.” (verse 2 - “leads me beside still waters”)

Jehovah- Rophe means, “The Lord is my healer” (verse 3 - “He restoreth my soul”)

Jehovah-Shama means, “The Lord is present” (verse 4 - “thou art with me”)

Jehovah-Ezer means, “The Lord is my help” (verse 4 - “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”)

Jehovah-Nissi means, “The Lord my victory” (verse 5 - “thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”)

When you know God’s name, you know what He is capable of.

Big question: Do you have a relationship with Jesus?

We see the Person of the Shepherd, but now we see:

b. His Nature

Merciful and gracious: Merciful is better translated, full of compassion. In five of the 13 times it is used, this word is translated full of compassion in the NKJV. F.B. Meyer wrote, “the word means ‘tenderly pitiful.’”

i. The same word was also used regarding Israel and the Exodus in Psalms 78:38: But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath. This is compassion in action.

ii. The word translated gracious comes from the idea “to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, or to bestow” (Erwin). It is grace, giving to the undeserving.

iii. F.B. Meyer on this word gracious: “That word has gone out of fashion. Our fathers petrified it; they made it the foundation-stone of a structure of granite, in which the souls of men could find no rest, and therefore we rather dread that word — Grace. And yet there is no greater word in the language than the word that stands for the undeserved, free gift of the Love of God.”

c. Longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth: The idea behind the word longsuffering means that God is slow to anger. He doesn’t have a short fuse and is patient with us.

i. We all know what it is like to deal with people who have a short fuse — offended or even outraged at the slightest offense, or the slightest perceived wrong. God isn’t like that. He is longsuffering.

ii. “Not merely adequate, but abounding is this great God of glory. He has barns and silos full of love and faithfulness; he is stacking it in the streets looking for a distribution system.” (Erwin)

d. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin: God shows His goodness towards us in His forgiving character.

i. Iniquity and transgression and sin are all mentioned so that no one would think there were some types of sin God is unable to forgive.

ii. This revelation of the character of God to Moses forever puts away the idea there is a bad God of the Old Testament this is in contrast to the good God of the New Testament. God’s character of love and mercy and grace is present in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.

iii. Psalm 86:15 repeats this exact same revelation of God: But You, O LORD, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.

e. By no means clearing the guilty: If His love and forgiveness are rejected, God will punish, and that punishment will have repercussions through the generations that hate Him (Exodus 20:5).

i. His loving, gracious, and giving character do not cancel out His righteousness. Because of the work of Jesus, the righteousness of God is satisfied and the grace and mercy of God are righteously given.

ii. “To the third and fourth generation: a common Semitic idiom to express continuance.” (Cole)