STUDY THEME: KNOWING GOD BETTER. 09-05-04.
“DESIRING TO KNOW GOD BETTER.” EXODUS 33: 7-23.
EXODUS 33: 7-9, 10-11, 12-13, 14-16, 17-18, 19-23.
May I introduce this series of 4 lessons on “Knowing God Better”, by reading from John I. Piper’s book, “A Hunger For God.”
Our appetites dictate the direction of our lives---whether it be the cravings of our stomachs, the passionate desire for possessions or power, or the longings of our spirits for God. But for the Christian, the hunger for anything besides God can be an archenemy, while our hunger for God---and Him alone---is the only thing that will bring victory.
Do you ever hunger for Him? As John Piper puts it, “If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” “If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase our soul’s appetite for God.”
For when God is the supreme hunger of your heart, He will be supreme in everything. And when you are most satisfied in Him, He will be most glorified in you.”
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO EXODUS 33.
The first lesson in this four-lesson study, “Desiring to Know God Better,” is based on Exodus 33: 7-23, which focuses on Moses’ dialogue with God after the people broke the covenant. The high point of Moses’ prayer was that God show him His glory. And this must be our attitude too. Ps. 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’
Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God’s attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As He is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so He must Himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.
How can it be that we can know the God who in Isaiah 55:8-9 said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts?” How can the chasm between the divine and the human be bridged?
A personal relationship with God begins when a person trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Christians life involves growth in faith and the development of that relationship. Thus Christians should not be satisfied with a status quo, the idea that knowing one is going to heaven is all that matters. Growth and maturity in the Christians life involve continuously getting to know God better, and responding to His close presence in surrender and obedience. I pray your walk with God will be enriched by these studies.
John Piper, in his book contends that ignorance both of God’s ways and the practice of communion with Him—lies at the root of much of the Church’s weakness today. Two unhappy trends seem to have produced this state of affairs.
Trend one is that Christian minds have been conformed to the modern spirit: the spirit, that is, that spawns great thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God. The irony is that modern Christians, preoccupied with maintaining religious practices in an irreligious world, have themselves allowed God to become remote.
Trend two is that Christian minds have been confused by the modern skepticism. As a result, the Bible has come under heavy fire, and many landmarks in historical Christianity with it. The foundation-facts of faith are called into question. Did God meet Israel at Sinai? Was Jesus more than a very spiritual man? Did the Gospel miracles really happen? Is not the Jesus of the Gospels largely an imaginary figure?---and so on.
Jeremiah 6:16 says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
The Life Question in today’s lesson is, I want to know God better, but how can I?
The Biblical Truth is that God reveals His ways to those who desire to know Him better.
The character of worship is always decided by the worshiper’s conception of God and his relation to God.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 7-9.
The setting of Exodus 33: 7-23 is important for understanding the focal passage. Having arrived at Mount Sinai following the exodus. Moses led the Israelites into a covenant with the Lord whereby they promised Him their full allegiance and devotion. Moses then ascended the mountain and received the Ten Commandments engraved on two stone tablets by the hand of the Lord. These commandments formed the heart of the covenant between the Lord and the nation.
When Moses delayed his return from the mountaintop, the Israelites in Exodus 32: 4-6, led by Aaron, created a golden calf that they identified as the Lord and began to worship. Hearing their sounds of merry-making, Moses shattered the stone tablets as a symbol of the broken covenant. In vs. 32 he then begged the Lord to forgive His sinful people, even if he had to die in their place. The Lord rejected this offer but graciously allowed the Israelites to continue their journey to Canaan, led by and angelic guide. But in Ex. 33: 1-6 the Lord would not go with them, for their rebellion was so contrary to His holiness that He might destroy them completely along the way.
Before the Lord gave Moses instructions about the building of the tabernacle in Ex. 25: 1-9 He authorized the use of a temporary structure called the tent of the meeting in Ex. 18:7. This tent coexisted with the tabernacle for a time in Num. 11: 16, 24-30 but then disappeared from the pages of sacred history. It took its name from the fact that God met Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and others there in the form of a pillar of cloud. Because such a manifestation of the Lord was so frightening, the tent of meeting was located a safe distance outside the camp.
This tent was outside the camp to show that the people’s sin had separated them from God. They had broken the covenant, and God had withdrawn His presence from them.
It was customary for anyone seeking a word from the Lord to appeal to the tent of meeting. The present incident, then, stands in contrast to the normal means of access to the presence of the Lord. Moses wanted to go beyond any experience he had ever had before. Only he and a few other authorized intermediaries could actually approach the tent, to say nothing of entering it---a privilege reserved for Moses and his assistant (and eventual successor) Joshua.
When Moses went outside the camp to the tent of meeting, the people watched his every move, standing expectantly as he entered into God’s presence. The moment he did so the cloud appeared, thus attesting to the fact that Moses had been welcomed by the Lord, and that communication would take place. This manifestation of God’s presence is sometimes called the shekinah glory,” It is related to the usual Hebrew term for “tabernacle.” The cloud thus indicated that the Lord was there, dwelling, as it were, among His people. It was here that sacrifices were offered and the Levitical priests served.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 10-11.
Moses speaking “face to face” with God in vs. 11 does not contradict the fact that he was not allowed to see God’s face in vs. 20. “Face to face” is a figurative expression suggesting openness and friendship.
Such a display of God’s glory moved the people to profound and reverential awe. They would stand up and bow in worship, even at a great distance from the tent. Meanwhile, Moses would commune with the Lord on a personal and intimate level, as one speaks with his friend. What all this means is not altogether clear; it was unique to Moses and yet it was not all that Moses wanted it to be.
In a later conflict with his siblings in Num. 12:1-2, Aaron and Miriam chided Moses for having married outside the covenant community, justifying their correction of him on the grounds that they too were prophets. The Lord made it clear, however, that there are different kinds prophets, and Moses was the only one with whom God spoke directly, mouth to mouth. And Deut. 34:10 records as the epitaph of Moses that there was no prophet since Moses whom the Lord knew “face to face.” Even Joshua, who remained in the tent of meeting, (perhaps as its caretaker), fell short of the special privilege Moses had in receiving and communicating divine revelation.
On Jan. 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:
“It has been said by some one, 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.
The fact that the tent of meeting was outside Israel’s camp indicates the distance between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity.
Because God’s unveiled glory would prove fatal to any who looked at it, He manifested it by such phenomena as clouds and fire. There are levels of spiritual intimacy with God, but any elevation of those levels is purely by God’s gracious initiative.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 12-13.
Having described the customary means by which the Lord would reveal Himself to Moses, the narration returns to the journey from Mount Sinai to the land of Canaan. Moses had just suffered the trauma of Israel’s apostasy and the Lord’s threat to disown them in Ch. 32. Furthermore, the Lord had said in 33:2-3 that though He would provide and angel to guide them on their journey, He would not accompany them. This discouraging news led Moses to abject despair.
What he needed now was the assurance that the God who had customarily met him in the tent of meeting would continue to do so. Moses hungered for the presence of God. And he longed for it to occur in ways not previously known to him.
Entering into dialogue with the Lord, Moses repeated the Lord’s earlier command to lead this people up. This much was clear to him, but what he failed to understand was the identity of the mysterious angel who would lead the nation in place of the Lord Himself. The Hebrew word translated “angel” can also refer to a human messenger. Was Moses afraid that God would lead him by such a man? Previous reference to this messenger would suggest that he was supernatural and that Moses understood him as such.
This is especially clear in Exodus 23:20-23 where the Lord identified the angel as one to be obeyed and not provoked, one who forgives sin, and one who bears the name of the Lord. Though it may be going too far to think of this person as the pre-incarnate Christ, He certainly is more than human---most likely the Angel of the Lord referred to many times in the O.T.
Paul alluded to this passage in 1 Cor. 10:4 when he described Christ as “the miraculous rock” that accompanied Israel in the desert, a rock from which they derived “spiritual drink.”
The incident behind this connection between the rock and Christ appears in Num. 20: 10-13 where Moses, in his anger at the people’s rebellion, struck a rock from which water miraculously gushed forth. In the context of our present passage, the Lord promised in Ex. 32:34 to send an angel before them to guide them along the way. No doubt this is what is meant by my presence in vs. 14. (“I will personally go with you”), a presence Paul associated in some way with Jesus Christ.
How much Moses may have known of the angel of the Lord is unclear, but at best he remained puzzled about this one of whom he said, “You have not let me know.” In light of his need to know he reminded the Lord that he had already been assured that the Lord knew him intimately (by name) and that he was a special object of His favor. The Hebrew term for favor is commonly translated “grace,” suggesting that Moses had been the recipient of God’s unmerited favor.
On that basis, Moses appealed for further consideration, namely, that the Lord would teach me Your ways. This would confirm that Moses did indeed enjoy a special relationship with Him, one that would make clear to Moses that God would not abandon him or fail to accompany him in some way. After all, Israel was God’s chosen nation, His people to whom He had made solemn covenant promises. The Lord could not fail to lead them into the Promised Land.
Moses also evidenced an intimate fellowship with God through His spiritual concerns.
In vs. 12 Moses first wanted to know the Lord’s intentions for His people. God had told Moses to lead the people, but without God’s presence Moses was hesitant to go forward. Moses belonged to God; so Moses wanted to continue to learn God’s ways and enjoy God’s grace or favor.
In vs. 13 Moses interceded on behalf of the nation by reminding God that they were His people. In response, the Lord reversed His threat of vs. 3 not to go with them; and promised
to give them rest.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 14-16.
In vs. 14 Moses’ request for clarification was answered by the Lord’s response: “My presence will go with you.” Moses response was, “if God’s presence does not go…don’t make us go”---is simply an entreaty that God Himself and not a surrogate would accompany Israel to Canaan. Otherwise the claim that Moses and Israel were special objects of God’s favor would ring hollow in the ears of the nations. How could they maintain that He was their redeeming and conquering God if He abandoned them? His presence among them—and them alone----distinguished them from all other peoples.
Similarly, the presence of God must accompany His people today if they are to be identifiable as a separate and special community of faith. This presence will not take the form of clouds and fire or even an accompanying angel. Rather, it will be manifested in the person of God’s Holy Spirit. As He bestows the gifts of the spirit, and as believers exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, the world will know, that God is alive and at work in the world.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 17-18.
Vs. 17 records God’s continuing reassurance of His friendship with Moses, and His promise to do what Moses had asked in vs. 15-16. God would go with Israel and show the nations that they were His special people.
Here is another characteristic of prayer: As a person experiences the wonder and mystery of prayer, he yearns to see God more fully. Moses had reached that point. God had promised to go with the Israelites, in spite of their sinful rebellion. Moses was in awe before such a mighty and gracious God. Moses had moved beyond the “give me” stage of prayer, through the “make me” stage, and even through the “help them” stage. Now he was at the pinnacle of prayer in which he prayed in vs.18 to this awesome God, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory”.
Moses had been on the mountain with God and talked with God in the tent of meeting, but he realized that God was still far beyond his understanding and experience. God’s glory is the full disclosure of all that God is. Moses wanted to see God Himself.
Moses understood that the presence (or face) of God is not a physical or tangible phenomenon but a reflection of His essence; that which best represents who He is. The technical term is glory, which translates a Hebrew word that has the root meaning of “heavy” or “heaviness.” God is “loaded down” with characteristics and attributes that set Him apart from all other beings. Moses longed to experience a manifestation of God’s glory so he could know for certain that God was with him.
PLEASE READ EXODUS 33: 19-23.
The key word in vs. 19 is name. The name of the Lord is the character of God. The crucial issue for Moses and Israel at this point was; how could Almighty God be willing to take back His disobedient people? They had broken the covenant. What kind of God was willing to continue to go with them? God told Moses that He would proclaim the name of the Lord before him. Three words in vs. 19 give Moses a preview of what God later revealed to be His name.
Goodness is at the heart of our God. The child’s simple prayer captures the heart of theology. “God is great, and God is good.” God is gracious, and He shows mercy according to His sovereign will and purpose. When God proclaimed His name to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, these two words, were prominent.
From reading vs. 11 we might assume that Moses had already seen God’s glory. At first glance, vs. 11 seems to contradict vs. 20. How could Moses talk with God face to face as two friends talk and yet God say that no one could see His ace…and live? This is a hard question to answer. You may reach a different conclusion, but here is one way to try and answer it. The use of the words face to face in vs. 11 was to reinforce the image of the close friendship between the Lord and Moses. They talked together as friends do---in an intimate, close, friendly way. However, God was still somewhat cloaked from Moses because He spoke out of a cloudy pillar.
This was a strong revelation of God, but even Moses could not see the full splendor of God’s being. Human minds and bodies could not survive such an experience. We know not to look at the sun with our naked eyes. The brightness of the sun is such that looking at it would blind us. Even so, the brightness of God’s glory would kill us.
Several words in these verses have similar meanings. God’s presence is the same as His face. Both words are closely elated to God’s glory and His name. Each of these refers to the fullness of God’s essential being. God promised to go with the Israelites, although no one could see his full glory. God promised to reveal as much of Himself to Moses as He could.
Vs. 21-23 reveal how God proposed to tell Moses His name without endangering Moses’ life.
The Lord had a place near Him on which Moses would stand upon a rock. God told Moses hat he would put him in a cleft of the rock. Then God would cover him with his hand while He passed by. And at the appropriate time God would take away His hand. In this way Moses would see God’s back, but not his face.
This experience has been compared to the glow in the sky just before the sun rises or after it sets. No one can look into the sun without going blind. But we can see the glow of a rising or setting sun. No one could see God’s face and live, so God arranged that Moses not see His face but His back. This glimpse of God was all that Moses could see and live.
Similarly, God works today in quiet and undramatic ways more often than in the spectacular demonstrations of His presence and power that all too many crave. In fact, the Lord revealed to the post-exilic Jewish community in Zech 4:6, that what they wanted and needed would come about not by might and not by power but by His Spirit. The problem is that we tend to measure spiritual prowess and effectiveness by outward displays of the unusual. But God is at work behind the scenes in the lives of people who may be ignored and discounted precisely because they fail to display the flamboyance so eagerly sought after by the world.
We ought to raise the question, “Is the God we worship also the God in whom we can believe?
On Jan. 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows: “It has been said by some-one 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.
No human being can see God’s full glory and live. God reveals as much of Him self as a person is able to receive. John 4:24 says, “God is a spirit, and therefore can only be known spiritually.”
Moses did not see the full glare of God’s glory but only a dim reflection of it. Even that so impacted Moses that his own face shone, and thereafter Moses had to cover his face lest the reflected glory of God should overwhelm those who saw him. Moses’ appeal to know God and to experience His glory occurred because he was bold enough to ask and confident to believe.
The rest of the story is in Ex. 34:1-7. God renewed the broken covenant and gave Moses two more tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments (because Moses had thrown down the first tablets when he saw the people worshiping the Golden calf.) Then God passed by Moses and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Ex. 34:6-7 emphasizes the love of God without condoning sin. The Christian life is not a search for salvation; it is a search for God.
These verses 19-23 are quoted repeatedly throughout the O.T. to describe God. They became what I call “the John 3: 16 of the O. T.” This revelation of God to Moses pointed ahead to the revelation of God in His Son Jesus Christ. John 1: 18 refers back to Ex. 33: 10, “No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him.”
The prayer of every Christians should be Col. 1: 10, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
NEXT SUNDAY OUR STUDY OF ISAIAH 6 WILL REVEAL HOW ISAIAH ACCEPTED HOLINESS FOR HIS LIFE AND HOW HE UNDERSTOOD GOD COULD NOT SPARE ISRAEL IF THE NATION LACKED HOLINESS. altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av/
SUMMARY
Moses desire to encounter the glory of God arose in a crisis period of his life. His people had sinned against God by committing idolatry. God had threatened to terminate His covenant with them, and Moses was resigned to the likelihood that his ministry was crippled if not completely finished. The most persuasive evidence of this to Moses would be some magnificent display of God’s presence.
This is often the case with us as well. We sense the need for God’s special presence and power when things are not going well. How much better would it be if we longed for a touch of God’s grace and glory when all is well. Life and ministry would take on a new aura, one that would inspire others also to know the living God. Amen.