(An audio version of this sermon can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/user/sermonsfrommyheart/exodus-33-verses-12-23-the-presence-of-g)
The events in Exodus 33:12-23 occurred just after Moses discovered that while he was talking with God on Mount Sinai, the Israelites built a golden calf and were worshipping it. They wanted a god that they could see in person. They did not want a god that was with them in spirit. When Moses saw what they did, he became so angry that he broke the two tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments.
What happened to Moses? He forgot three very important things:
- The promise of God’s presence.
- God’s plan for His life.
- God’s power to deliver whatever Moses and the people needed.
When we become angry or depressed, we should remember that God is with us. He has unique plans and purposes for our lives, and He has the power to provide everything we need to fulfill those plans and purposes.
When Moses came down from the mountain and saw what happened, he recognized that the spiritual foundation of the people and the leadership of Aaron were not grounded enough for Moses to have an extended absence. God’s presence had left the people. Having God’s presence return was the only way they could proceed and have success.
In response to the golden calf, God decided not to be with the Israelites. He planned on sending an angel to accompany them. He did not want to go with them because He might consume them with His wrath. Moses pleaded with God to change His mind. Moses understood that without God’s presence they would not be a people set apart from other nations, so why travel any further? Moses’ favoured standing before God comes out in the positive response to his intercession. God told Moses that He would be present among them because He was pleased with them.
If we are to be effective in anything we do for God, He must be in the midst of it. Unless God’s power is seen among us, we will be just another person who has religion. Unless we show His life to others, they will see only good behaviour that is easily counterfeited by moral people. Moving out in presumption will end in failure and frustration.
Moses was in the business of nation-building. He wanted to create a nation that was guided by divine principles, but in the wilderness, he had no clarity about where he was going. He wanted God’s assurance that that He (God) would be with the people on their journey to the promised land.
Moses came to a point of boldness. God answered his petitions. God relented of His anger against His people. He renewed His covenant with the people to take them to the Promised Land, and to also go with them. Moses was at a new place. All along, he was willing to go on the promise God gave him at the burning bush. Something had happened. The people worshipping the golden calf, God’s anger against them, and God’s refusal to allow Moses to make atonement created a new situation. Moses felt that he needed to know more of what God was like if he was going to continue to lead people who sinned.
Moses saw God’s astounding acts during the Exodus, but now he wanted to see more-God’s glory. God granted this bold request, passing His goodness before Moses and proclaiming His own name-the expression of His character. The Lord speaks of His manner as being gracious and showing compassion, words Paul used in Romans 9:15-18.
Sometimes people put unreasonable expectations on God. We expect things that He never promised and then get frustrated when we don’t have them right now. God does not give us everything that we want. He gives us what we need. God knew that Moses’ request reflected a real need. The people did need His presence for their mission, so God said He would do it. He provided for their needs.
God revealed His glory to Moses, but it is more than we as humans can handle. We have to shield our eyes, minds, and spirits in the presence of God, just like we have to shield our eyes when we look at an eclipse. We can only see part of God. We can’t limit God’s revelation to what we have experienced. God is more than we can contain or understand.
Although God did go with the Israelites, and He does go with His people today, He is still holy, separate from us and unapproachable. He is holy and we are sinners, and there is a distance between us. Jesus provided us with a mediator between us and God. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. We are welcome into God’s presence, any day and at any time. The barrier of sin is down. No more curtain.
God’s presence does give us rest, but there are times when His presence disturbs us. It can reveal our sinfulness. It reveals our failure to be who God wants us to be. How often in prayer are we visited by the presence of God and find ourselves keenly aware of our failure in discipleship?
There were limits to what Moses would see, for no one can look upon the Lord and live. God placed Moses in a cleft in the rock, and He then caused His glory to pass by. The glory of God refers to the sheer weight of the reality of His presence. It means seeing God without veiling. Seeing His face would be more glory than even Moses could handle. The presence of God would come near Moses in spatial terms.
God is not limited, but we are. No one could know all about God-not even Moses. God is Spirit-with no physical features whatsoever-so the use of the imagery of His face and His back is simply a means to help humans understand what cannot be understood otherwise. Moses’ passing view of the Lord’s back was still more than ever had been seen-until Jesus, in whom the transcendent God was revealed in human flesh. Even though God has revealed Himself fully in Jesus, there is the sense in which God remains hidden.
Moses’ glimpse of God answers the question of the ages: Who is God, and what is God like? It was left for Jesus to become the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and bounding in goodness in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression for sin. It was left for Jesus to become the Incarnation of these words so people might forever believe that what God said He was, He was.
Moses got more than a glimpse. He had heard God’s word, and in the depth of his soul, he knew what the apostle John knew centuries later after being taught by Christ: God is love. We will never know all God is, and whenever some fresh insight and meaning comes to us, like they did for Moses on the mountainside, hopefully we will bow our heads in humility and awe and worship.
As children of God, we have received His unmerited and unending favour. As we get to know Him better through such things as prayer, fasting, and study of His Word, He extends us even more favour. God consistently reveals Himself as a God of grace and compassion-something that greatly comforts us during difficult times or when we make mistakes. This is a promise we can always count on.
The holiness of God is God’s inward character of perfect goodness. One of the primary meanings of the tabernacle is its reflection of a holy God, a God set apart, unique, utterly unstained by the sin of the world. God specified rules of cleanliness for those who worshipped there because in every possible way people were to be clean, set apart, holy as they entered the place where the holy God actually lived. As perfect goodness, God’s purpose is to produce that goodness in us. He takes sides against sin, against all badness, against all evil, against our not being that holy people He called us to be.
God wants to us see Him with spiritual eyes. He wants us to fix our eyes on Him so that our decisions and choices may be pleasing in His sight. We have already found grace because we know Jesus, but we also need to live a life that is pleasing in His sight.
God wants to meet with us and go with us into the unknown. God created us in His own image because He wanted a relationship with us from the beginning. If we look throughout the Bible, we see that God’s desire has always been to dwell with His people. God draws His people to a deeper closeness with Him.
Life is full of choices and all the decisions we have to make. Which way do I go, when do I go, how do I get there? There is one question that we need to keep in mind: Do we go by ourselves or with God? Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always.” He is in every move we make, and He sent the Holy Spirit to help us make the right decisions. We can either listen to Him or ignore Him.
We are encouraged to be like Moses. No matter how much of Jesus we have already experienced, we are encouraged to live from a place of wanting more. When we elevate our desire for His glorious presence above everything else, everything we are concerned about will find a new source of inspiration and power in Him.
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 118)
- Dunnam, M.D., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 2: Exodus (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1987; pp. 340-347)
- Stanley, C.F: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
- MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
- “In Your Sight.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com
- Pete Briscoe, “The God Paradox.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
- Pete Briscoe, “Your Perfect Provision, NOW.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
- Max Lucado, “No More Curtain.” Retrieved from www.maxlucado.com
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- Jill Southern, “Knowing the Presence of God.” Retrieved from info@seedsofthekingdom.net
- Ron Scurfield, “If You Don’t Come With Me I’m Not Going.” Retrieved from info@seedsofthekingdom.net
- Bruce Epperly, “The Adventurous Lectionary-Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost-October 22, 2023.” Retrieved from www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/author/BruceEpperly/
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