The
Glory of God
The
Relationship between God and Moses, and God and Me
Exodus 33:1-6 & 12-23
And the Lord said
unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou
hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
Note: Here we find that God revokes Himself as the
“Deliverer of Israel”, and places the title on Moses, by doing so, He is making
Moses aware that He (God) no longer considers the Children of Israel His
people. This is not because God is
rejecting the people, but rather that they reject Him. 1 Samuel 8:7 – And the Lord said unto Samuel,
Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over
them. United States today.
2 And I will send an angel
before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
Note: God informs Moses that He will send another,
an angel to conquer the nations before Israel, to fulfill the promise of giving
this land to the offspring of Abraham, but that He (God) will not go before
them.
3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the
midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the
way.
Note: God, in His mercy, states the reason that He
will not go up with the Children of Israel, because of their rejection of God,
he would have to destroy them.
4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no
man did put on him his ornaments.
Note: When Moses informed the people that God would
not be amongst them, they mourned for the consequences of their actions. In an act of humility and repentance, they
took of their ornaments, the things which made them proud. Therefore, they removed their pride, so that
they could truly repent before God.
5 For the Lord had
said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people:
I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore
now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
Note: The Lord commands that the people remove
their arrogance, that which separated them from God. By removing the instruments that led to their
stiff necks, they were able to be truly penitent, and obtain forgiveness. Therefore, God was able to restore them.
12 And Moses said unto the Lord,
See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know
whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou
hast also found grace in my sight.
Note: Here Moses reminds God, that He, and only He
is the Deliverer of Israel. Moses asks
of God, how can you say that You are my friend (know thee by name), and that he
has found grace in God’s sight, and yet God has not informed Moses just who would
go before the Children of Israel, an angel or God? Is Israel restored or rejected by God. John 15:14-15 –
14 Ye
are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth
I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I
have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have
made known unto you.
I
find Moses being very bold with God, because they were friends, much like
Abraham, when he negotiated with God over the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah. This is the type of relationship
that God wants with His people, and it is the reason that He created
mankind.
13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew
me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy
sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
Note: Here we find that Moses wants an even deeper
relationship with God. He wants to know
God’s way so that he can understand and relate to Him. Moses then boldly asks of God, as a friend,
to restore Israel as His people. Moses
goes boldly before God, just as we, His children can. Hebrews 4:16 – Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Exodus
25:22 – And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune
with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are
upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel.
14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee
rest.
Note: God, in his love and marvel, declares and
restores the Children of Israel as His people, when He states that He, not an
angel, will go with them. Ezekiel 37:27 – My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. Additionally, He reinforces this
promise, by promising to give them Shabbat, Sabbath, rest. Ezekiel 20:12 –
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and
them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify
them.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence.
Note: Here Moses states to God, we will not accept
another, no Vicar. Either Christ goes
before us, or we do not enter into the promise land. Exodus
20:3 – Thou
shalt have no other gods before me. Here Moses shows a
commitment to God.
16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have
found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be
separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth.
Note: Here as his relationship with God grows, Moses
becomes bolder with God, reminding God, how will the world know that we have
found grace in your sight, and that we are your people, unless you go before
us? How will the world see us as special
in your eyes. Exodus 19:5-6 – 5 Now
therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall
be a peculiar treasure unto me
above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
17 And the Lord said
unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast
found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
Note:
God confirms to Moses, the special friendship that now exists between
Him and his creation. God informs Moses
that because He loves His friend, he will, in love to His friend, do that which
his friend asks. John 14:12-14 – 12 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. 14 If
ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew
me thy glory.
Note: Now Moses is no longer afraid. Before Moses knew of God, now he knows God,
and has been befriended by God. Now
Moses asks an extremely bold request, one which only a friend can ask. Shew
me thy glory. This request, risks
life itself. Moses wants so desperately
to know God, that he is willing to risk his life.
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.
Note: God is going to show Moses, the essences of
God, His Glory. Moses will see all that
is good, he will even learn the actual name of God. He will be on a first name basis with the
Almighty. We too can have this
privilege. Revelations 22:3-4 –
3 And
there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And
they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man
see me, and live.
Note: Mortal man cannot be in the true presence of
God. If imperfection is in the presence
of perfection, imperfection ceases to exists.
When mortal man finds himself in God’s presence, God has covered His
true essence with some form of matter, in order to protect His child. 2 Samuel 6:7 – And the anger of the
LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error;
and there he died by the ark of God.
21 And the Lord said,
Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
Note: God used His creation to shield Moses from
death. He used the “rock” to put a
barrier between Him and Moses, so that Moses could experience that which he
requested, and live. God uses another
“Rock”, the “Rock of Ages” to protect his children from the death of sin. For man to see God in His glory, if for man
to experience death. Christ’s
righteousness shields us from the consequences of our sins.
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will
put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass
by:
23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts:
but my face shall not be seen.
Note:
Even though Moses has gone from being a servant of God, to being a
friend of God, he still is mortal man.
Therefore Moses is not allowed to see the face of God and live. John 6:46 – Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of
God, he hath seen the Father. As we read in Revelations 22:4, one day we shall be able to gaze upon
the face of God, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ.
Just what did Moses see, when he
asked to see God’s Way and His Glory?
We find in Exodus 34 how God defined
“His ways”. God commands Moses to carve
out two tables of stone, and once again writes the Royal Law upon them. So in order to know God, we have to emulate
his Character as defined by the Ten Commandments and Holy Statutes. Thee will be many who claim to be Christ’s
children, but the Sheppard will not recognize them as His sheep, because they
did not love Him, by keeping His commandments.
Mathew 7:23 – And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
So what is God’s Glory?
To help illustrate the Glory of God,
we can search what is written in the “Spirit of Prophesy”. Sister White gives a beautiful interpretation
of this in the book “The Desire of Ages”.
In the beginning, God
was revealed in all the works of creation.
It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth ….. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song.
And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s
love.
Note: When God created the
Universe, all that He had created was perfect.
This perfect creation was a perfect emulation of the Glory of God. Genesis 1:31 –
And God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (perfect).
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Psalms
18:30 – As for God, his
way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a
buckler to all those that trust in him.
Now sin has marred God’s perfect work, yet that handwriting
remains. Even now all created things declare
the glory of His excellence. Psalms 19:1 –
The heavens declare the Glory of God.
Note: Since sin has changed
God’s perfect creation, the imperfect creation can no longer represent that
which is perfect, in a perfect manner, but it can point to that which is
perfect. This is much like the Law of
God does not lead man to salvation, but rather to their Savior.
So why did God send Christ?
“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God” is seen
“in the face of Jesus Christ.” From the days of eternity the Lord
Jesus Christ was one with the Father; He was “the image of God,” the
image of His greatness and majesty, “the outshining of His glory.” It
was to manifest this glory that He came to our world.
Note: Since imperfect
creation itself could not properly manifest the Glory of God to man, God sent
His Son, so that we once again could see the true perfect Glory of the
Father. Since Jesus is one with the
Father, or exactly as Him, He is the only true representation of the Father’s
character and glory. John 10:30 –
I and my Father are one. John 14:11 –
Believe me
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very
works’ sake.
But turning from all lesser
representations (including nature-pagan), we behold God in Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our God to give.
Note: Throughout history,
man has attempted to define God. Often
he has added or taken away so that his feeble mind could comprehend the
magnanimous nature of the Almighty. It
is this distortion of truth that leads man away from God. We must adhere to the Holy Scriptures and the
Holy Spirit as the sole basis of our study and incorporate the writings of man
only when they agree entirely with the scriptures, otherwise we lead ourselves
and others to error.
We must incorporate the God’s Law with His Glory, and worship Him
in Spirit and Truth. John 4:24 –
God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God’s glory is Agape, a selfless love, a giving love He harbors
for His creations. Satan’s glory is
Hedonism – a selfish love, one that takes and gives back nothing.
Let us adopt the giving love of Christ.