The Weight of Glory

In Exodus chapter 33 verse 13, which came from our text last week, you may recall that Moses as he stood before God in the tent of meeting, petitioned

God that he let his ways be known to Moses so that Moses may know

God. In our lives, in the life of a believer, in the life of a true

Christian, one of the greatest pursuits that we can ever undertake, if not the greatest pursuit that we can ever undertake, is to know

God, to know the entirety of the

Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, to know

God more fully, to understand Him more deeply, and as we undertake this pursuit, our lives are transformed.

I saw a clip a couple of days ago that I've seen some years ago, but it had been a while and I forgot exactly how the phraseology went.

It was a gentleman, it was a group of gentlemen being interviewed, and the question was asked, how does one become reformed?

And the answer was given in a two -part response. The first was, well, the first thing you need to do is read your

Bible, and secondly, when you read your Bible, you become more biblical, and there you go.

You become more reformed. The idea is not that we are seeking after some man's strategy, but a deeper understanding of the reality of what

God teaches us in His Word about Himself and about us.

And again, as we do this, we are transformed. Paul describes it in 2

Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18, as that we all, with our unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the

Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the

Lord the Spirit. If you kind of look at the entirety of what surrounds verse 13, what you see, or verse 18, what you see is a little earlier in verses 14 through 16,

Paul explained that for those who are not yet believers, those who do not have faith, that as they read the

Scripture, they are reading it in a manner where their faces are veiled.

And what he means by that is they are reading it, but they don't necessarily understand it.

They aren't grasping it. You see, the reality is that those who are not saved cannot understand

Scripture. The Word of God says it is foolishness to those who are perishing.

So for those who are lost, those who are not saved, those who don't believe, to read

Scripture results in no transformation, in no change.

But again, as those who believe, as we as Christians plumb these depths of Scripture, as we search for the truth of God, the knowledge of God, the understanding of God, as we study the life of Christ, as we look at God's redemptive plan throughout all of history, one of the things that we begin to see and understand are the many attributes of God, the distinguishing characteristic, those things about God that make him

God. Now one of the things that you need to understand when we use this term, because oftentimes

I think we don't say this, we all understand it to be implied usually, but for clarification's sake, we do need to be very specific sometimes so that we have a full picture.

When we say God, we are literally talking about the entirety of the

Trinity. That's an important distinction, that's an important thing that we understand, because as we talk about the attributes of God, we are talking about God the

Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now when we talk about Christ, we get into his dual nature, and that's a whole other sermon for another day, but his divine nature, the fact that he is truly

God, or holy, W -H -O -L -L -Y, God, that side of his nature is exactly the same as the

Father in its attributes. Again, we will elaborate on this at another time.

Again, these attributes are these things that make God God. In 1689, our confession is helpful as we read chapters 2.

In chapter 2, we read paragraph 1, and then paragraph 3. In paragraph 1, it says, the

Lord our God is one, the only living and true God. He is self -existent and infinite in being and perfection.

His essence cannot be understood by anyone but him. He is perfectly pure spirit.

He is invisible and has no body, parts, or changeable emotions. He alone has immortality, dwelling in light that no one can approach.

He is unchangeable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, in every way infinite, absolutely holy, perfectly wise, holy, free, completely absolute.

He works all things according to the counsel of his own, unchangeable and completely righteous will for his own glory.

He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. He overflows with goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.

He rewards those who seek him diligently. At the same time, he is perfectly just and terrifying in his judgments.

He hates all sin and will certainly not clear the guilty.

And when you go down into paragraph three, it elaborates on this divine being where it says this divine and infinite being consists of three real persons, the

Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided.

The Father is not derived from anyone, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the

Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. All three are infinite and without beginning and are therefore only one

God who is not to be divided in nature and being.

Yet these three are distinguished by several distinctive characteristics and personal relations. This truth of our

Trinity is a foundation of all of our fellowship with God and of our comforting dependence on him.

So as we have worked through the book of Exodus and as we have worked through our other studies, many of these attributes that were listed for us in these two chapters of the 1689, we have already talked about, if not all of these attributes.

And these are the things, again, that define who God is. And so as we seek to understand and we continue to strive to develop a deeper understanding, there's one concept regarding God that is frequently mentioned, that is seen throughout

Scripture, and that we speak often of, but sometimes

I don't think we press into enough and begin to dig into this specific concept.

In both the Hebrew and the Greek, this concept is written in one word, roughly 368 different times throughout the

Old and the New Testament. This particular concept or understanding is the glory of God.

And so as we see Moses here progress beyond the initial petition that he brought before God, namely the petition that God would find favor on Moses, that he would display grace upon not just Moses, but also the people, and that he would return and enter into again, dwell again within the midst of the people.

And as he sees God grant this grace, and as he sees

God grant this petition, Moses has one more petition to bring.

Our text for this morning provides that petition and God's response.

In this response, we get a true picture of the glory of God, and it comes from Exodus chapter 33, beginning in verse 18, reading down through the 23rd.

That is our text for today, so please take your copy of God's Word, and if you will turn to Exodus 33, we will begin reading in the 18th verse, down through the 23rd.

Having found your place, stand in reverence for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, complete, and certain

Word. In Exodus 33 verse 18, we read these words.

Then Moses said, I pray you, show me your glory.

And he said, he being God said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom

I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.

But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.

Then Yahweh said, behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock, 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.

Then I will remove my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

Our prayer this morning is adapted from several Puritan prayers found in piercing heaven.

O Lord our God, having heard your holy word, we now bow our hearts before the throne of grace.

Merciful Father, we pray that you lead us not into temptation, nor suffer us to fall under the assaults of the wicked one, and that if it is in your wise providence you permit us to be tried, grant that we may not consent to sin, but stand firm in the strength of Christ our

Redeemer. Lord keep us as your people, afflicted at times yet never abandoned, tempted yet able to overcome temptation by your grace.

Uphold us by your spirit that we may endure and that we may glorify you in faithfulness.

Lord we pray that you establish your kingdom among us, extend the lordship of Christ in our hearts, in this church, in our homes.

Let your truth advance, your gospel flourish, and your glory be made known.

Father we know that you will not give your glory to another, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

Revive what may be weak among us, strengthen what is faint, restore what is broken, and cause your praise to rise up from our lips and from our lives.

Lord Jesus we can add nothing to your glory, yet we delight that you reign in majesty.

Unite us more fully to yourself, the true vine, that we may bear fruit pleasing to you.

Remove every veil of unbelief, every shadow of doubt, every dullness of our heart.

Grant that in this hour we may behold you through your word, delight in you as our life and our salvation, and follow you with a steadfast obedience.

Lord prepare now our hearts to hear your word, speak truth through your word, for your servants are listening.

Father we ask all of these things in the blessed name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.

Our text this morning, as I mentioned a few moments ago, begins with a petition or a request by Moses to God.

Now as we have already talked about, this follows the petition of Moses to see and know and understand

God more deeply, to know God's ways, to have his ways shown to him, and to show grace upon not only

Moses himself but also the people. But before we really dig into the response that God gives in regards to this question, we need to take a moment and understand exactly what it is that Moses is asking for.

I want to take you each and say to you, hey take the next minute and a half, two minutes, and just write down what you think the glory of God means.

My guess is that we would get many different answers and many of them would be based on our previous experiences, maybe based off of what we see having done in scripture, in the lives of others.

But have we ever truly thought about, beyond what we see

God do, beyond the understanding the truth of his word, what exactly the glory of God is?

And the reason I ask that question is because in church we use the word glory in several different ways, right?

We talk about glory as being a place, right? We're going to where? Glory. So we talk about it being a place.

We talk about it being an action that is performed because we talk about being glorified.

We talk about it as what happens when

God acts, that he does all things for our good and for his glory.

But in all of these things, have we ever really just stopped and thought, okay so what does it mean when

Moses asks to see the glory of God?

Well if we really want to understand something, we always have to start at the beginning with a definition.

And so the first place that we need to begin here is actually with not the Hebrew and not the

Greek, but the English word that we are using here to translate those languages.

So what exactly does the word glory mean? Well if you go to Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, you will see that it is listed as praise, honor, distinction, extended by common consent.

It is listed as worshipful praise, honor, thanksgiving, something that secures praise or renown, a distinguished quality or asset, a great beauty or splendor, something marked by beauty or resplendence, the splendor and beautific happiness of heaven broadly, a state of great gratification or exaltation, a height of prosperity or achievement, a ring or spot of light as in a halo.

So you see, if we just look at the English word, we already understand that Miriam Webster don't know either what the glory of God really means.

Now there's some good things here. There's some good truths around what the word glory means, but they do not capture what's really trying to be communicated.

The Hebrew word behind the word glory is chavod.

Now that particular word is a derivative of the

Hebrew word kaved. Now I know you're like, I didn't come this morning to learn

Greek and Hebrew. Why are you bringing this up? Well it's important, and the reason it's important is because we need to understand how the biblical writers and the biblical translators got from point

A to point B. And so when you look at that particular word, that root word just in the

Hebrew Bible, so the law and the prophets and the

Psalms and the Proverbs mostly, they would disagree with us on some of it, but that's okay.

We're just going to limit that for our understanding right now. You find that the root word chavod is found 376 times.

Now the word literally means heavy, heavy.

And only twice in all of scripture is it found in its literal term.

One of those is in connection with the death of Eli in 1 Samuel 4 verse 18, which is somewhat comical as Eli falls off and it says that he broke his neck because he was old and heavy.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions. And then again, in connection with the hair of Absalom in 2

Samuel verse 14, 26, where it talks about his hair being heavy.

So while the literal translation is not used all that often, or the literal meaning is not used all that often, we have to understand what that literal meaning is and then figure out how it's being applied figuratively by the writers of scripture.

And so there are other derivatives. There are other uses. In fact, some of those are actually used in connotation with the heaviness of sin.

This is most often seen in the life of Pharaoh, for example. His heart, when it talks about his heart being hardened, uses a term that is a derivative here that talks about heaviness, weightiness.

But the way that we have in view this morning is only seen some some 45 times in the

Old Testament. So in the Old Testament, only 45 times do we see this word kavod used in connection with the glory of God.

But as we see it being used there, it is so significant, it is so definitive in the way in which it's used in scripture, that it actually changes and remolds the meaning of the

Greek word that's later used to translate it in the New Testament. The Greek word is the word doxa, which you may sound, you may go, that sounds familiar, you should doxology.

It's all about glory. But the way that this word from the

Greek is used is transformed by what we understand the meaning of the

Hebrew word to be. So as we worked through, as we were working through all of the instructions regarding the tabernacle, we actually ran across this word kavod at several different points.

You can go back and reread and you can see those places where it talks about the glory of God or glorious in its appearance.

And what we see is that in each one of those places, in each one of them, they are used to generate a picture for us of exactly what this is trying to describe.

And most often, it's directly associated with the attribute of God known as his holiness.

But here's the key to understanding what this means. It is also associated with the various other attributes of God.

You see, ultimately, the picture that is painted for us is best described as the radiant unity of his being

God's whole being revealed and rejoiced in.

So the glory is this unification of all of the attributes of God, and then it being revealed by God to us, and then rejoiced in by us.

And it's necessary that we have that picture. It's necessary that you recognize that when we say the glory of God, we are literally talking about the fullness of who

God is. The reason it is so important, the reason that we need to get this, is that we, in order to truly understand the glory of God, need to see why certain things are done.

Paul sums up this picture for us in a good way in Romans 11, verse 36.

It says, from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever. Amen. Paul says he is all things.

All things exist because of him. His complete picture is what gives us praise and glory to him.

Now, if we expand that very simple definition that I gave you, because again, it's necessary when we are looking at the things of God to go from the simplistic to the complicated, we need to, yes, begin to understand a concept in a simple manner, but then we need to expand that.

So if you think about it, if any of you have ever lifted weights or worked out or watched anybody that's ever lifted weights or worked out, they don't begin with the heaviest weight.

They begin with something light, and they build. The same thing goes true when we're studying, because we are working a muscle, the muscle of our brain.

To completely comprehend these things, we go from the simple to the challenging. And so when we go from the simple definition of the glory of God, and we begin to expand that, we begin to get a picture that is more full, more complete, and we actually end up seeing a multi -leveled definition or a multi -level understanding of God's glory.

The first picture we see, the picture, the easy part of the picture that we see is that the glory of God is

God, that he himself is his glory.

He is the radiant fulfillment of all his perfections. He is his glory.

But then secondly, we begin to see that it is also the public manifestation and acknowledgement and enjoyment of this fullness.

So it is the outward display by God of himself, of his glory, and then our acknowledgement of that, our praise of that, our worship of that, our enjoyment of that, all of these things are wrapped up in his glory.

But even then, even then, if we're looking at this from the

Old Testament standpoint, even then it's not complete, because it doesn't find its fulfillment until we understand that both of these things are centered in Christ, and that both of these things are administered by the

Holy Spirit, and that both of these things absolutely being centered in Christ, administered by the

Holy Spirit, will result in the praise of God. You see, you can't be a believer and not be a praiser.

It's impossible. Faith in God will generate praise of God.

You can write that down as an equation. It's as sure as a squared plus b squared equals c squared. In fact, it's even more so sure, because there's probably a mathematician somewhere that'll figure out how that's not even sure.

It's central. It's necessary.

You say, but preacher, that's all great and wonderful, but what does that got to do with Moses in Exodus 33? Oh, I'm so thankful you're listening and asked the question.

It shows how diligent you are. As we understand how massive this request of Moses is, so Moses is here.

Let's make sure we all remember the setting. So often people think that this particular encounter that we find in Exodus 33 is taking place on Sinai.

This is not taking place on Sinai. Exodus 34 is back on Sinai. Exodus 33 is still in the tent of the meeting, because God's actually performing the acts in Exodus 33.

He's telling Moses what he's going to do. And then in Exodus 34, next week, we'll talk about the actual work that is done.

But as Moses stands in this tent of meeting outside the camp, coming before God, petitioning

God on behalf of the people, requesting grace, requesting knowledge, requesting understanding,

God grants these requests. And then Moses again says,

God, I beseech you. This is one of the places where I think King James Version, I love the term beseech.

We should use that everywhere. I beseech you, show me your glory.

His deepest desire is to see this. And so as we see this transition from Moses's petition to God's response, one of the first things that we need to note here is that God verbally responds to Moses.

Now, why is that important to note? Well, it's important that if we recall back that there are multiple times within this passage that our attention has been drawn to this close relationship between Moses and God.

And I think this here again, this reminder that this is a verbal response, again, points us to this closeness that Moses and Yahweh are communing together as one friend to another, as we said earlier in the passage, face to face.

We know that it wasn't literally the face of God before Moses, but it is used to help us grasp the closeness of this relationship.

And so as we look at the answer that God gives, we see that he gives Moses three positive ways in which he will display his glory.

And then he will give him a fourth that contains a negative. We're going to come back to the fourth. The three positive, the first three demonstrations, the first three positive demonstrations of God's glory are that one, and you can see all of these right here in verse 19.

The first one is that he will make all of his goodness pass before Moses.

The second one is after he makes all of his goodness pass before you, he will proclaim the name of Yahweh.

It's an interesting passage. We'll come to that in a few minutes. And then finally, this third statement, a statement which for all of us we should be very familiar with, and we should hopefully understand exactly what it means as we look at it.

Because what he says to Moses is that I will show you my goodness. I will proclaim my name.

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. What he's really demonstrating to Moses there is that I will show you my goodness.

I will proclaim my name, and I am going to demonstrate my sovereignty because I, I am an autonomous, sovereign ruler of all things.

I am the sovereign God, and there is no other.

And so as we look at each one of these, and we understand that, that although these, these things are listed separately, each of them are part and parcel and, and work right into the entire picture of God, the glory of God.

In fact, you could literally argue that his goodness is his glory, that his name is his glory, that his sovereignty is his glory.

We see these attested in many places. Goodness, for example, we can go to Psalms 25 verse 8, good and upright is

Yahweh, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. Or Psalms 34 verse 8, oh taste and see that Yahweh is good.

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Or maybe Psalm 100 verse 5, for Yahweh is good, his loving kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness generation unto generation.

Or maybe we go all the way to Psalm 119 verse 68, where it says you are good and do good, teach me your statutes.

Or maybe everybody's favorite chapter of the Bible, Nahum. In verse 1, in chapter 1 verse 7, where it says

Yahweh is good, a strong defense in the day of distress, and he knows those who take refuge in him.

I know you all have Nahum memorized. Jeremiah verse 33, chapter 33 verse 11, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say give thanks to Yahweh of host, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever, and of those who bring thank offering into the house of Yahweh, for I will return the fortunes of the land as they were at first, says

Yahweh. Even in Lamentations chapter 3 verse 25, we find

Yahweh is good to those who hope in him, to the soul who seeks him, and then of course

Christ's response to the rich young ruler that we find in the gospels, this particular one coming from Mark chapter 10 verse 18, and Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?

No one is good except God alone. Over and over and over we have the goodness of God displayed for us, but as we study the goodness, we see that like his glory, goodness is an attribute, but it's also a unity of all his attributes, all of the things that he is come together to generate and create and be his goodness.

Very similar as we look at scripture that proclaims, that regards

God proclaiming his own name, Isaiah 48 9 through 11, for the sake of my name I declare my anger, and for my praise

I restrain it for you in order not to cut you off. Behold I have refined you, but not as silver,

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake, for my own sake

I will act, for how can my name be profane, and my glory I will not give to another.

Psalm 8 verse 1, O Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who displays your splendor above the heavens.

Psalm 72 verse 9, let the desert creatures kneel before him, and his enemies lick the dust.

Psalm 102 verse 15, so the nations will fear the name of Yahweh, and all the kings of the earth your glory.

And in Deuteronomy chapter 12 beginning in the fifth verse, we see God saying to the people, but you shall seek

Yahweh at the place which Yahweh your God will choose from all your tribes to establish his name there for his dwelling, and there you shall come.

And a little later in verse 11 he follows it up and he says, then it will be that the place in which Yahweh your God will choose for his name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which will which you will vow to Yahweh.

John 17 verse 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world, they were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Again we see God's name is is not an attribute of God, but rather this unity of his attributes that that is encompassing all that he has placed and displaced before us.

The sovereignty of God on the other hand is an attribute, but the interesting thing about the sovereignty of God it is it is that it is an attribute that binds all the other attributes together.

What I mean by that is if we if we look at a summary of our beliefs that are found in our confession and we study the first paragraphs of chapters 2, of chapter 3, and of chapter 5, we see that the sovereignty of God is not an attribute that is by itself alone, but that it is a manifestation of his omnipotence, his wisdom, his holiness, his justice, his immutability, and that he absolutely rules over all things.

Absolutely. His sovereignty is what binds and holds all of his other attributes together.

Psalms 103 verse 19, Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 115 verse 3, but our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases.

Daniel 4 verse 35, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing but he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can strike his hand against him or say to him what have you done.

First Chronicles chapter 29 verses 11 through 12, yours oh

Yahweh is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth yours is the kingdom oh

Yahweh and you exalt yourself as head over all both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all and in your hand is power and might and it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.

Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 10, remember the former things long past for I am

God and there is no other. I am

God and there is no one like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done saying my counsel will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

Ephesians 1 verse 11, in him we have also been made an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Second Timothy 1 9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

Matthew chapter 10 verse 29 through 30 and are not two sparrows sold for an

Assyrian and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father but the very numbers of your head are all numbered and last but certainly not least on this but sample list of scriptures comes from Philippians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11.

Therefore God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father.

As we look at all of that scripture as we see the word of God proclaimed repeatedly without reading any further we know that God has already done this thing which

Moses has asked but he's not just done it for Moses he's also done it for us he's also provided us with the same proclamation listen in his word his goodness passes before us in his word his name is proclaimed over and over and over in his word his the truth of his sovereignty shines forth as a beacon to those who will but simply come to the word again go back to verse 13 of chapter 33 in Exodus Moses cried out to God to show him his ways here he cries out for God to show him his glory

Christian does your soul cry out to God show me your ways show me your glory if so if you seek this is no further from you than the pages of the almighty word of the living

God Spurgeon preaching in the metropolitan tabernacle on July 3rd 1881 said these things his topic that morning was the swiftly running word his statement was if you wish to know

God you must know his word if you wish to perceive his power you must see how he worketh by his word if you wish to know his purpose before it is actually brought to pass you can only discover it by his word the only way for us to see the glory of God is in the word of God but our situation and Moses's situation are a little different because just as God responds positively to Moses in verse 19 he begins in verse 20 and it's not negative in the sense that we think negative it's negative in the sense of the word no you see oftentimes we hear negative when we think it's bad well there were a lot of times my parents said no when

I was growing up that I thought it was bad only to look back and see that it was good so God's response to Moses beginning in the 20th verse he says to Moses you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live behold there is a place by me and you shall stand there on the rock and it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock that I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by and then

I will remove my hand and you will see my backside but you will not see my face why because go back up to verse 20 no man can see my face and live first thing obviously we need to deal with here is this term face because so often we get stuck in our own way of thinking and we think this literally means the face of God he he literally just held his hands over his face and so Moses couldn't see him and everything was okay that's not what he's talking about the word face here is is a not a literal face it's a an anthropomorphic term we've used that uh language before that that literally means it is a a description of God given to us in human language to help our pea brains understand that's what it is it's just handing it to us on a silver platter so we get it and so the the idea that is being expressed here what

God is ultimately saying to Moses is that Moses I will show you my glory in these ways but you can't see the fullness of my glory why can't he see the fullness of his glory go back to verse 20 can't see the fullness of my glory and live sinful man cannot be exposed to the fullness of the glory of God because it is a death sentence now as we have looked at all of these things so far we've we've defined glory as being a unified uh a unification of all of the attributes of God or as one book proclaims it it is the manifestation of the perfection of all of his attributes the doctrine of the glory of God emphasizes his greatness and his transcendence and his splendor and his holiness

God has said in scripture to be clothed with glory and majesty and that creation itself manifests the glory of its creator the reality again is that the full unbridled unrestrained glory of God presented to sinful man results in death to Moses or any sinful creature if you and I were standing there and had not known

Jesus it meant death for us the first thing that this should do for us is that this should give us a glimpse or a clue as to why the

Hebrew word that is used has to do with the heaviness or the weightiness of something because this is a weighty truth this is a weighty reality this is a a a a reminder to us in a serious and real manner that it is absolutely necessary that we cultivate a right understanding and a right view of God and his glory

I've often been asked why do you think things are supposed to be done the way you think they're supposed to be done in church well we serve a holy

God every time we come across God's holiness or God's glory being on display in front of people throughout scripture none of them ever react well they they never jump up and down and holler they never have light shows or fog machines they never shoot lasers they never have a rock band they fall on their face there's a seriousness to their response it's not a joviality

I don't think there's any way that you can translate woe is me for I am undone in a positive way in fact if you get very literal in the

English language it literally means that Isaiah says I have been blown to pieces he literally says

I've been destroyed Habakkuk feels the rottenness creeping up in his bones understanding that we cannot view the full glory of God just as Moses couldn't view the full glory of God should remind us that it is necessary that we cultivate this right view that a view that is anchored in scripture that acknowledges him as the almighty that sees him as a thrice holy

God whom's majesty cannot be presumed upon fallen man it's real what's interesting though is that that point as serious as it is is not the main focus of this passage the main focus of this passage is this limitation that serves to heighten our understanding and to truly show to us what is at stake and what is being revealed by God in his redemptive plan

Moses cannot behold the fullness of God's glory and live not because God hides himself arbitrarily but again because of sinful humanity because sinful humanity cannot stand unmediated before God he said but wait a minute didn't you say

Moses was the mediator of yeah he was the mediator of them but remember

Moses himself understood that he couldn't fulfill it Moses knew that he was not the ultimate fulfillment what this does is points us forward as this truth grasp is grasped by our mental capacity it it presses our eyes forward to the truth that scripture reveals it it preaches to us that a day is coming when

God's glory will be seen in fullness not not into destruction but into salvation it will not be veiled in passing shadows but rather revealed in the face of the one who can truly make

God known without fully consuming us you remember

God told the people that he couldn't go with them because if he did even for a moment that he would consume them they could not be exposed to the fullness so so yes we see a prohibition here we we see something that's happening that God says

I'm not going to show you the fullness of my glory but it is being done in a manner that truly is gracious and ultimately unfolds a promise that directs us toward Christ it shows us the one who the glory of God is perfectly manifested it shows us the one that we sinners may behold and live if we were to go to the book of John and we were to just begin at chapter one and we were to start reading at verse one and we were just to continue reading what you would see in the prologue to John's gospel is this gradual revelation of the truth regarding the identity of Christ I love the way that John does it it's so beautiful gradually we are shown exactly who

Christ is Sinclair Ferguson recently stated John himself doesn't record all the big moments in Jesus's life that the other gospel writers do probably because he knew they had already recorded them but as John Calvin so says so well the other gospels show us

Christ's body they tell us the story while John shows us his soul it's in that framework that introduction to Christ that that revelation of the soul of Christ before our eyes that we find

John 1 verse 14 where it says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth one of the things that I find so fascinating about John's statement in John chapter 14 is that John is referring back to what you may recall being you may recall is known as the mount of transfiguration if you recall on the mount of transfiguration

Jesus takes Peter James and John with him and that he is transformed in front of their eyes we're going to get into it a little bit more here in just a minute and Matthew and Mark and Luke they all record this event

John's only reference to it is right here in John 14 he never talks about the event in his gospel but in the other gospels we see this occurrence

Matthew 17 verse 2 records the following and he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light

R .C. Sproul is known for describing it as the glory of God peeking through the human this exposure to this glory the event that they witnessed the entire life of Christ serves to the fullness and complete to fulfill and to complete the glory of God what a stark contrast we see mountain to mountain you know in a few verses

Moses travels up to Sinai he experiences exactly what God describes and we'll talk more about that next week but you'll notice in in this passage it specifically describes what would occur and he says

Moses as you get up there there's a place right by me and you'll stand there it's a rock and that rock has a cleft in it

Moses says I get ready to pass by I'm going to put you in that cleft and I'm going to cover you and I'm going to pass by you and then

I'm going to remove my hand and you'll be able to see my hand parts but not all of my glory but here

John and Peter and James stand as the glory of God manifests itself in the person of Christ as he is transfigured before their eyes what a difference these two pictures in our mind we see that Exodus 33 finds its satisfaction and finds its fulfillment in the incarnation where God doesn't merely pass by us in mercy he doesn't merely cover our us in the crevice but he comes to dwell he stepped out of eternity to dwell among us in grace and in truth what

Moses could not see fully and live is displayed for us in Christ the veil that was once shielding us from glory has in the fullness of time been removed and that glory that was hidden holy and perfect and mediating is revealed in Christ for all who believe this is the wonder this is the hope of the gospel that in Christ God no longer shields his glory to protect us rather he reveals his glory in order to redeem us the shekinah glory the one that rested above the mercy seat that now walks among sinners it touched lepers it called disciples it stilled storms it forgives sins it raised the dead and by God's grace he still lives and he still saves and he still redeems and by grace through faith even the most wretched of us can be saved to the uttermost all because the word became flesh the glory that once meant death now brings life

John Calvin noted God did not lay aside his majesty but he clothed himself in flesh so that his glory might not destroy us but rather illumine us unto salvation

Paul echoes the same thing when he writes for God who said light shall shine out of the darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ the

God of Sinai the God who speaks into the darkness the God who she ushers in the light is the

God who speaks to dead hearts reviving them the radiant glory that Moses was shielded from is now revealed it is not no longer a blinding terror from atop

Sinai but a gentle sovereign grace from the pierced lamb of God John Owen wrote the beholding of the glory of Christ is the chief remedy against all the temptations of Satan the chief support under all afflictions we do not behold mere reflected majesty we behold

God himself shining forth in the sun so often we get this picture painted that we there are two different gods the

God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament the out of the Old Testament he's a mean ornery old fella the

God of the New Testament is loving and gracious and merciful but I'm here to tell you that the God of the Old Testament is the

God of the New Testament that in his grace in his mercy in his love his glory has not cooled

God himself stepped out of eternity in the form of the incarnate word to be

Christ our mediator our rock cleft for us in whom we are covered and kept as we mentioned earlier 1689 testifies that the son is the one by whom all things consist the exalted redeemer who reveals

God's glory and secures it who reveals God's glory and secures our access to it by his blood and so we see the overall progression that occurs in Exodus 33 what

God was unable to or what Moses was unable to see fully what what we currently see only by faith in Christ through his word we will one day witness in the resurrection

John writing to the church in first John wrote of chapter 3 verse 2 wrote beloved now we are children of God and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be we know that when we when he is manifested we will be like him because we will see him just as he is and then as he writes from Patmos in Revelations chapter 21 verses 22 through 23 in this beautiful picture that he is being given he says that I saw no sanctuary in it speaking of New Jerusalem for the

Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb where it's sanctuary and the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the

Lamb this is fulfillment from shadow to substance promise to person from passing glimpse to unveiled vision his glory is so fully revealed that we can see the beauty of God without fear of being consumed that as we see the beauty of God we are transformed as Paul wrote in 2nd

Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 for we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of God are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory and so the question that presses upon us right here this morning the question that presses upon each one of us is do you behold his glory by faith not that you merely admired the thought of it or you acknowledge it in passing but do you truly see and savor the glory of God in Christ Jesus for to see him is life eternal

Nicodemus asked what must I do Jesus says surely

I say to you you cannot even see the kingdom of God unless you are born again to refuse

Christ to stand outside of the cleft in the rock to be exposed to the full unbridled glory of God without a mediator are you content or does your heart like Moses Christ show me your glory cry that only finds its answer in Christ let us pray our most holy and sovereign

Lord before whom angels veil their faces before you mountains tremble before you we bow in humble awe

Lord we confess that in our sin we could not endure the brightness of your glory or that you are unworthy to stand that we are unworthy to stand before you on our own thank you for your boundless grace for your infinite mercy where you have given us

Christ the radiance of your glory the the exact imprint of your nature father in him we behold what