17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” 18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” 19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” 21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”
Message: God's Consuming Glory
Time: Moses is the most likely author of this book. His education and early tradition make him the likely author and it says in Exodus 24:4 that he wrote what the Lord said. The title Exodus means departure of Israel from Egypt by the hand of God. The book covers 80 years, from 1526 to 1446 with the events at Mount Sinai. God fulfilling promises and his story of redemption are the central ideas.
What the Lord is Saying: The context of today's passage is following Israel's idolatry with the golden calf, Moses asks the Lord to not destroy Israel. The Lord assures Moses of this because of the favor of Moses. And then Moses asks the Lord, "I pray You, show me Your glory!"
It is interesting the confidence Moses had in the Lord to even ask this question. It reminds me that sometimes we need a sign or some sort of confirmation from the Lord that He is with us, that He is near. Despite everything that God does in saving us and redeeming us and continuing to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9), we still look to see a sign from Him. And for Moses, his request was for His glory to be seen.
In verse 19, the Lord responds to Moses, by telling Him the who He is. He is a God that will be good to Moses and his people. His name will be proclaimed. He will be gracious. And he will show compassion. But who He is gracious towards and has compassion towards, well that is up to Him. I know as humans this can be a struggle because we are ingrained in us the belief that God's favor is based upon our good works. God does want our obedience and we should be a people of obedience, but His favor and compassion is by His free gift. It is not earned. It is not us to figure out why or how. It is us to accept and be obedient. But I also don't think it is arbitrary or without any reason. For this would not be congruent with who God is as God, that it would be random.
What we do find here is God answering Moses' prayer. And so we need to keep praying for His favor. We need to keep asking.
In this passage, God shows Moses himself. He asks for His glory and His glory is what He receives, but that glory is not direct, but indirect. And we know that from the language. God is spirit and has not a body, like men. And so the reference to face and back is anthropomorphic. The face would be God's direct glory, while the back would be indirect. Same glory but Moses saw it was different. No one can see God and live, so what Moses got was his back or indirect glory.
Hebrews 12:29, "for our God is a consuming fire." We cannot see God directly right now because of our sin. 33:20, "But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” One day we will be like Him: I John 3:2, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." We must wait till we are fully renewed.
Summary: God's glory is a consuming fire which means we cannot see it until we are in heaven, like Him, without sin.
Promise: God is not to be trifled with. He is the holy Lord of the universe and He should be treated with the deference and honor that He deserves.
Prayer: Lord, you are indeed Glory and Your Glory is a consuming fire that I have complete reverence for. You are personal to me but we cannot see You because you are perfect and pure and with the sin in me, I cannot see you and live. Yet, you promise that One day I will be with you and behold You and all life will be answered. For now, I trust in You. I desire to be faithful. I will fail. And thank You God for not giving up on me and giving me the assurance that you still accept me. Thank you for this lesson today and helping me to understand You.
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