Paradise Lost Exodus 33 Vs 1 23

The Reading from Acts 7 and the Warning to Israel

I'm going to be reading from my Acts chapter 7 verses 51 through 53. It's Acts chapter 7 verses 51 through 53. You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did.

So do you. Which of the prophets did your father not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of just one of whom you know now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of these words.

We're thankful that Ellie and Angela are here to join us and we're thankful for God's faithfulness in Brazil because it is spiritually dark when when the culture celebrates spiritism like that. And in Sacramento is starting to be more open about that as you go through certain houses and their symbols and ritualistic relics that are just openly out there.

So these days we might even have to ask Ellie how to go through ministering through that kind of culture. But we're thankful that Faith Bible Church has been used by God to faithfully support missionaries like Ellie in their fruitful and faithful ministry that's centered in scripture and sharing the gospel because that's really important.

It's more than what's happening here but what God is doing all across the world and we get we have the privilege of partnering with him. So please turn with me to Exodus 33. We're going to continue on our sermon series in Exodus 33.

Paradise Lost in Exodus 33

Then the Lord said to Moses depart and go up from here you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land of which I swore to Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying to your descendants I will give it and I will send my angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the parasite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in your midst lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff necked people. And when the Lord heard when the people heard rather this bad news they mourned and no one put on his ornaments for the Lord had said to Moses see say to the children of Israel you are a stiff necked people.

I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you now therefore take off your ornaments that I may know what to do to you. So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp and called it the tabernacle of meeting and it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.

So it was whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle that all the people rose and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle and it came to pass when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses.

All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door and all the people rose and worshipped each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and he would return to the camp but his servant Joshua the son of Nun a young man did not depart from the tabernacle.

Then Moses said to the Lord see you say to me bring up this people but you have not let me know whom you will send with me yet you have said I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight.

Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in your sight show me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people. And he said my presence will go with you and I will give you rest and he said to him if your presence does not go with us do not bring us up from here for how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us.

So we shall be separate your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses I will also do this thing that you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name.

And he said please show me your glory and he said I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will be compassion I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

But he said you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live and the Lord said here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock so it shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father we are thankful that you are gracious and merciful and you show compassion on those who do not deserve it. And Father we pray that as we read this morning we pray that we would encounter your presence in your word that we have the privilege of seeing experiencing your presence among us.

Something only Moses could do outside the camp. We pray that we would not take that for granted in Jesus name.

Amen.

The Golden Calf and the Loss of God's Presence

So Exodus 33 picks up right after the idolatrous worship of the golden calf done by the Israelites. Remember the Israelites were getting worried that Moses was gone and they needed a mediator someone who will allow them to experience God's presence on their behalf.

So they go to Moses' older brother and say you you show us you make us a God who will be with us among us. And while Moses is up on on Mount Sinai getting the instruction for the tabernacle and all its furnishing so that God would dwell in the land with them in their encampment.

Uh the people of Israel actually start worshiping the idol the creation of Aaron's hands. And God tells Moses about this and sends him down because the covenant that God made with his people were was broken.

And this is rather a very quick end to the covenant that's made on Mount Sinai. And even sadder is that from chapters to 25 through 31 it was all about how God will dwell among his people. And it was so theologically rich what that would mean for his people to have their God living with them dwelling among them.

And he would his encampment the tabernacle would be at the center of the encampment. All the tribe would be able to see the tabernacle where God was dwelling in from outside their own tent. But that all shattered.

And that's why I named the sermon Paradise Lost. It's almost as if this Garden of Eden the fall the rebellion has occurred again. God was willing to dwell with his people but his people rebelled against him.

And built that golden calf. As Ellie described with idolatry right when you do rituals witchcraft it's about a transactional offering. We give something to you so that you give something back to us right.

That's what idolatry was all about. Controlling the divine. We offer something so that you get us blessing back. It's not a relationship that God desires right. God desires a covenantal loyal relationship.

It's the relationship that counts not the things you get back from the divine. And now that the plan of God dwelling among them has shattered we pick up where they left.

Off.

The main point of this text is what happens when God's presence leaves his people. What happens when God's presence leaves his people. First losing God's presence is tragic for God's people. Losing God's presence is tragic for God's people.

Last week Israel committed infidelity and broke the covenant with the Lord. Now God tells Moses what will happen to Israel. Depart and go up from here and you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saying to your descendants I will give it.

Verse one sounds promising at first yet there are subtle hints of the change in the relationship. It is no longer my people which Israel was referred to all throughout Exodus until chapter 32 and now.

But the people. They're just another people whom the promise is due. Also it is not the people whom the Lord brought out of the land of Egypt and that phrase has been said over and over again throughout Exodus and it will be said in the prophets.

But whom Moses brought out of the land of Egypt. The Lord doesn't even want that credit. This is a people whom the Lord is distancing from even his reference to Israel. There is distance despite the distance.

God is faithful to keep his end of the promise.

That's who he is.

He is willing to keep the promise he made to the people who died already Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said that his their descendants will inherit it. So it will happen. Verse two however makes the distance even more noticeable.

And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Some of your translation may have the phrase my angel.

However this is not found in the Hebrew text. In fact the translations like NASB renders it as I will send an angel. So if you have a translation as I read like from the New King James version, the the word my is italicized.

And that's because it's not actually found in the text of Hebrew text. But rather it's inputted there by the translator to make it understandable. However I think the NASB here has done it correctly. I think it is an angel.

And that's because God has sent um all throughout Exodus. God has sent his angel and his angel the angel of the Lord had the authority of the Lord when he spoke and when he did something when he delivered Israel out.

However after that idolatrous worship it will not be the angel of the Lord who carries the Lord's name. But just an angel. There's a further distance there. It's no longer the angel of the Lord guiding the Israelites.

And verse 3 makes the verse 2 even clearer. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in your midst lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff-necked people. The reason why God will not accompany Israel is for their sake.

Before the presence of the holy God Israel will be definitely destroyed. Because they have been unfaithful to their covenantal Lord. Their rebellion has completely compromised their covenant. It's been shattered.

And verses 4 to 6 show Israel's response. They mourned and no one put on his ornaments. No one put on their jewelry. And this is in response to Moses' delivery of the Lord's message. Say to the children of Israel you are a stiff-necked people.

I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore take off your ornaments that I may know what to do to you. Therefore ever since Mount Sinai also known as Mount Horeb Israel did not put on any ornaments.

For the rest of the wilderness journey of 40 years Israel was in the state of mourning by keeping their jewelry off. This is an ironic way of mourning the loss of God's presence. Just in the last chapter Israel wanted to control God's presence by making the golden calf by stripping off their earrings so that that gold could be made into an idol in order to control God's presence.

Now Israel without God's presence will still be traveling without their earrings because they've been commanded not to wear them. What could have been a triumphant procession into the promised land became a trail of tragedy for Israel.

And for Israel not adorning themselves with jewelry was an outward expression of a tragic loss. What they lost was not the promised land. Of course God was going to bring them to the promised land. He's faithful to do so keep what he's promised.

It's that they've lost the presence of God just like in the Garden of Eden. What's lost is not eternal life really. It is there but what's lost is the presence of God. They're kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

It's almost of a little cycle that's been changed. Taking off the jewelry was a physical showing of their mourning. And in our culture we don't quite mourn physically as the ancient cultures did. But one modern example I could think of an outward expression of the inward mourning is when Queen Victoria of the British Empire lost his beloved husband Prince Albert.

She only wore black for the rest of her life. And that was nearly 40 years. For the rest of her life she only wore black. The queen of the wealthiest empire in the world who could have worn anything she'd liked.

An owner of really all kinds of jewels that you could think of. Upon the loss of her beloved husband wore only black for the rest of her life. And her public engagement drastically dropped. And this is the proper response even for the church today.

Even for Christians today when there is a loss of God's presence among God's people. It is tragic when once a faithful denomination rejects God's word. It is tragic when a one scripture focused seminary seeks the approval of men.

It is tragic when a once devout follower leaves Christ to chase after the world's fleeting pleasures. When we look at the mainline denominations and how their powerful beginnings occurred, it is sobering.

The Methodists that have all the rainbow flags out today, they were founded by John Wesley. One of the greatest public preachers the earth has ever seen. The Anglicans that barely say Jesus anymore. The Church of England, it produced George Whitefield, a preacher who has probably spoken more in gospel proclamation of that time than anyone else in history up to that point.

Now the Anglicans, I don't even know where they are. But of course it must be sobering for us today because that could happen to us. There is no guarantee for denominations and even seminaries like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Now they're secular and anti-God. If those once faithful and intellectually powerful institutions and ministries fell so deep, we need to always be on guard. Lest we also meet the tragic end of losing God's very presence.

What benefit is it to gain the world's approval? Like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton who doesn't want to go there with the acceptance rate less than 10%. What benefit is it to gain that and billions of dollars in endowment when you lose God's presence?

And as a church we must always be on guard. Heresy and idolatry doesn't come on a horse in an obvious manner. It creeps in. It creeps in one sermon at a time. It creeps in at one careless, theologically incorrect encouragement at a time.

It creeps in. And it is our responsibility as God's people to stand firm to the truth of the gospel and stand firm to the word of scripture. Lest we lose God's presence and must go in mourning. Second, idolatry results in distancing God's presence from his people.

Idolatry Distances God's Presence from His People

Idolatry results in distancing God's presence from his people. Verses 7 to 11 show the immediate effect of idolatry among God's people. Verse 7 starts with Moses going outside the camp to meet God. Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp and called it the tabernacle of meeting.

And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. You can't miss what he's trying to focus on here. The tent is outside the camp.

It's out.

There are some striking differences between this makeshift tent of Moses and the great tabernacle described previously from chapter 25 to 31. First, this tent of meeting is outside the camp. The tabernacle was supposed to be at the center of the camp.

God's presence will no longer be at the center of God's people accessible to them but rather outside. And this of course is the result of the national idolatry that Israel participated in. They profaned the whole camp so much by worshiping the false gods that God would not dwell among them.

Second, this tent is simple. It does not have the exquisite grandeur described in the previous chapters from 25 through 31. God's meeting not in the holy of the holies, just at the entrance. It's more of a visit than a dwelling.

It's more of a stop point rather than a palace. Third, rather than the whole community communing with the Lord in the courtyard of the tabernacle as they bring their sacrifice to atone for their sin, to devote themselves to God, only Moses will privately meet with the Lord.

Even Joshua, the attendant, the faithful attendant in fact, he didn't participate in this. He stands outside. It will only be Moses. And verses 8 to 10 show the people's response to Moses' private communing with the Lord.

So it was whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose and each man stood at his door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. When Moses entered the tent, God's presence would descend in the form of a pillar of clouds to talk to him only.

And while Moses meets with the Lord, the people of Israel would worship from their tents, from a distance. Ironically, another irony here, this Moses that Israel grumbled about and doubted in chapter 20, 32, will be singled out among all of Israel for his faithfulness.

Ironically, when Israel tried to manipulate God's presence to bring his presence into the camp in their own sinful way, they will only get to watch God's presence from afar, outside the camp. And they'll stay inside the camp to watch, just keep standing.

They lost the privilege of God's presence when they sought to conjure up his very presence through an idol. God's presence for Israel is no longer a communal celebration, but a distant display. And that's what happens when you try to manipulate the one true God.

He will not be controlled. You cannot put him in a cage. And verse 11 describes the quality of communion that Moses had with the Lord. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.

God will not use visions or dreams like Joseph, Daniel, but he will speak to Moses clearly, audibly, because of their deep relationship. In fact, Joshua the second in command, the future successor will not receive such an audience with the Lord.

And in the Old Testament, Moses is the prophet par excellence. In the Old Testament, every prophet who comes after Moses will only be dwarfed by Moses. Every prophet who comes after Moses, they're not better than Moses.

They're held to the standard set by Moses. Right. It's unlike the iPhones we have. The newer ones aren't, the newer prophets aren't always better. It's the older one they look toward. Right. This reality that idolatry distances God's people from his presence still applies to us today.

Whenever a Christian commits himself to an idolatrous relationship with something or someone else than God, he will drive himself far away from God. And I call an idolatrous relationship to blanket what psychology calls addictions, addiction to substance, addiction to pornography, addiction to food, addiction to control, addiction to power.

There's just idolatrous relationship with these things that are created rather than the creator. It's an idol worship. Let's not call it a disorder. It's a spiritual sinfulness. The once passionate desire to seek God's word will become dull and a chore.

The sweet counsel of correction from God's people will become screechy and noisy. And this is one of the most dangerous places to be for a Christian. When a Christian idolizes men's positive opinion, she will readily reject God and his standard to be accepted by other people.

Oh, no, I actually don't believe what the Bible says there. No, but I'm a Christian, though. When a Christian idolizes power and control, he will dethrone God and crown himself lord of all. And when this happens, God's presence will seem far and farther away.

All the people who used to be so-called Christians and they say they've grown up and they don't believe it anymore. It's not from intellectual argument against God. Oftentimes, something or someone else got in between them and God and no longer there was any interest in God whatsoever.

There's one secular philosopher. I can't remember his name. He was honest enough to say, well, it's not because I, I'm not convinced that there's no God. It's that I don't want it to be. I don't want there to be a God because of the moment there is, I am accountable to him and I don't get to do whatever I want.

I don't get to worship myself.

Right.

And at that juncture, when if you ever get to that juncture, the moment you notice an idol in your life, it is most crucial to surrender it to Christ. When you catch yourself stepping one step closer to that idol, once again, you must turn around immediately and run toward your savior.

Cry out to him for help. Consider what he has done for you so that you would not be enslaved to that idol. Consider the blood he shed for your sin so that your sin would be washed away. Consider his life given for you.

He did not give his life so that you would waste it away so that you may bow down to something else other than him. In the end, every idol is destroyed in the presence of the one true God. It is he who breaks down the idols.

You could just get out of the way. Now, how do God's people restore their broken relationship with the Lord? When God's chosen person intercedes on behalf of the sinful people, God reassures his presence by manifesting his glory.

Intercession and the Reassurance of God's Presence

Because Moses knew Israel would not survive without God's very presence, he intercedes for them once again. Verses 12 to 13 set the basis for his intercession. Moses' difficult situation leading this paganized people.

Into the hands of the pagan people was a sign of God's love for them.

And his close relationship with the Lord. Those are the basis. After all, Moses found out the hard way that even his dear brother Aaron, who stood by him all throughout Egypt, who spoke on behalf of him, he was compromised.

He was the cult leader who fashioned the very golden calf that led them to this mess. And Moses knows that without God's presence, this whole Exodus enterprise is dead. Without God's presence, Moses, in all his ability, cannot possibly bear the burden of Israel.

He rightly knows his incapability. That's why we consider him humble. He doesn't look to the miracles he's performed. He doesn't look to his faithfulness. He looks to God's presence, the need for God.

The second part of verse 13 shares Moses' two requests. Show me your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight. First, Moses wants to know God better. Moses wants to experience God in a deeper way.

And this is striking because Moses had the deepest relationship with God out of anyone in Israel, but the whole world. It was precisely only Moses' tent that God would descend down to talk to him face to face like a friend.

Yet Moses needs the comfort and encouragement. Moses, I mean, he says, God, I need you more than ever. I cannot go on without you. I need my relationship with you to grow even deeper. And that kind of request, that kind of humble request is oftentimes absent in ministry.

It's the first prayer request when someone asks to pray, asks for you to pray or for them to pray for you. That I may know the Lord better. You may have read the Bible tens of times, 30 times, 40 times.

But is the first prayer request that I may know the Lord better, that I may know his way. That's important. The second request is that Moses brings up Israel's dire need for reconciliation with the Lord.

And consider that this nation is your people. It's not just about Moses here. It's an intercession for his people. Moses' goal is not my spiritual walk with the Lord to be strong, period. But rather that God would remember his people and forgive his people, reconcile with his people.

Show grace to his people. And to the first request, God reassures Moses in verse 14. My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. At first, this promise is reassuring, but Moses catches the drift.

This statement does not cover the second request whatsoever. The sole beneficiary of this promise is only Moses. I, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Singular, referring to Moses only.

And Moses knows this. And the question that's on all of our mind is, what about Israel? What about the future of God's people? And after noticing God's omission of Israel, Moses starts interceding for his people in the next two verses.

If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us? So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.

Notice the repetition of us and your people in the two verses. For how, verse 15, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found your grace in your sight, except you go with us?

So we shall be separate, your people and I, and all the people who are upon the face of the earth. The repetition in his intercession is focused on Israel. Moses' deep concern for Israel's future is palpable.

In this request, we learn that God's people's core identity only depends among God's people, among God's presence among them. God's people's core identity only depends on God's presence among them. According to Moses, God's people are not marked by how powerful they are.

According to Moses, God's people are not marked by how brilliant they are. According to Moses, God's people are not marked by how wealthy they are. And sadly, that's how the world expects Christians to be.

Well, if you worship the true God, then you wouldn't be going through that. You would be more successful. And unfortunately, that's what so-called pastors preach on Sunday mornings. You'd be wealthy, healthy, and prosperous.

But that is not the point of being God's people. According to Moses, God's people are only marked by the fact that God is present among them. That's it. No worldly influence, no political activism, no wealth.

Only God's presence. This is why there are God's people in places like Israel, Brazil and Israel. But Brazil, who are poor, yet they're God's people. Because God is present among them. And upon Moses' intercession, the Lord shows Israel mercy.

I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. When Moses intercedes, a faithful prophet intercedes on behalf of his sinful people, God shows mercy.

God shows grace. However, Moses asked for a reassurance. Show me your glory. God's glory is his outward self-manifestation. The invisible God shows a glimpse of his divine presence. It is an intense experience, and the observer must be shielded in some way lest they die.

Whether they're shielded through the distance or hidden by a certain object. Lastly, the Lord alone has the sole authority to choose the time and place for his self-manifestation. He is not like the false gods for whom the worshiper chooses, right?

In idolatry, you get to set up the candles around. You get to choose the place to offer the food. Not so with the true God. And verses 19 to 23 show how Moses will be shielded lest he die at the presence of the Lord.

I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

First, only the Lord's goodness will pass before Moses. It is his character and his nature that Moses will experience. He will proclaim his name, which does not mean saying, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, repeatedly, but rather disclosing who he is.

God will disclose his essence, a part of it, to Moses. And the Lord tells us the reason for it in verse 20. You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. Even the righteous Moses, the favoured Moses, the faithful Moses could not stand before the holy God's full presence and expect to live.

That's how holy the Lord is. And verses 21 through 23 show the accommodations that the Lord will take. Here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock, so it shall be while my glory passes by, and I will put you on the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.

Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Of course, this is a series of anthropomorphism, God the spirit does not have a back or hand or face. He's the invisible God after all.

But in order for humans, the readers, to understand what this would look like, God accommodates in the language that we would understand in. To say that as God's glory passes by, Moses will only witness his back means that Moses will get a glimpse of the afterglow of God's full glory as he passes by.

Because if Moses stood in front of God's full glory, he would not live. He has to be shielded by the hand, of course, figurative language here, and he only gets to see the afterglow, after effect. And that will be enough.

And this brings to the question, how can Christians have reassurance of God's presence? After they've sinned, one may even wish to be like Moses. Why can't God hide me beside a rock and pass by? Maybe then I will have reassurance that God's with us, that he's still with the church, despite what's happening in the world.

Despite all the spiritual attacks and sinful temptations and trials, if I can see God's glory, ah, I will relax. And this morning, I have something better. Christians, we have been given something greater.

John 1, 16 picks up with the reference to the Exodus. And of his fullness, we have all received and grace for grace. Out of God's grace that Moses saw God's glory on Mount Sinai, but John says that grace leads to even a greater grace.

The incarnation of the son of God, Jesus Christ, the grace of God's glory on Mount Sinai to reassure Moses, because of course it is by grace that God would show up to Moses even, was preparing for the fulfillment of God's presence shown in his son, Jesus Christ.

Moses saw the partial view of God, the afterglow. In Christ, we behold the fullness of God's glory. And this is why the apostle John continues on in verse 17, mentioning Moses. For the law was given through Moses, right?

The law was given on Mount Sinai. The law was a gracious gift, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time, right? Did Moses get to see God? No, he would have died. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him.

How is God fully declared, fully manifested? In Jesus Christ. The law came through Moses, but through Jesus came grace and truth. The father manifests his full glory in his son, Jesus alone. And when do we behold God's glory in Jesus?

In John 17, during Jesus' prayer, the very first request that comes out of his mouth is, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. In the gospel of John, the hour is the hour of the crucifixion.

It is the hour in which he will suffer the torment and the wrath of God that all the sinners deserved. It is that hour. Surprisingly, this means when Jesus is lifted up on the cross and suffers God's wrath for our sin, it is not only that the son is glorified, but the father as well.

We behold the glory of the son and the father on the cross. God who dies for his people because he loves them. That's when we see his full glory. What the world and Satan thought was the utter humiliation by putting the creator of the world on the cross, it was the greatest manifestation of God's glory that the world has ever seen.

And Christians, that is our full assurance of God's presence among us. Because Christ manifested a glory greater than that on Mount Sinai. Christ revealed glory that's better, that Moses' partial glory experience all pointed to, and that was on the cross.

Let us pray. Father, we are thankful that we have the reassurance of your presence despite our sins, that you haven't left us because of Christ, who fulfilled all of your righteous deeds and died on our behalf for our sin.

And that is when we behold his glory, not only his glory, but your glory as well. We pray that we would never forget this, and that whenever we need reassurance, that we would look to the cross in which we can behold his glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.