The Glory Of God - Part 1 — Leonard Ravenhill

Moses Asks to Know God's Ways

Okay, let's look at the book of Exodus, chapter 34, or maybe, let's see, I'll go back a minute there into chapter 33, sorry. Now here's Moses talking, let's go to verse 12,. And Moses said unto the Lord, isn't that lovely?

It means he's sitting and having a conversation with the Lord. Not with an archangel or some other being, but with the Lord. The Lord we sang about tonight, immortal, invisible, God only wise. And yet man talks with God.

In verse 12, Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, I know thee by name, and that thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he, God said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

God's Presence as Rest

Now if you wonder what rest is, it's answered for you in that verse. Rest is the presence of God. Never being afraid, knowing he's with us, he's guaranteed he'll never leave us or forsake us, and because of that we have rest.

We can lean back as it were on God. My presence shall go with thee. And then this other wonderful verse, the end of verse 17, or in verse 17, The Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

Do you believe God knows you by name? You say so and so, talk through the Queen of England, and when he goes in, he doesn't bow and say, your excellency, your majesty, he says, hi Elizabeth. He'd be a bit nervous to do that.

But isn't it wonderful that God knows us by name? I know thee by name. That's what I want the Lord to do, know me by name. I know thee by name. And he said, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.

Moses Encounters God's Glory on Sinai

Verse 2 of chapter 34 says, be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto the Mount Sinai, and present thyself to me there in the top of the Mount. Now this is a hazard, isn't it? He'd done that in the 32nd chapter.

What happened? While he was up there, they fooled around, they made a graven image, they got drunk, they got naked, they did every crazy willful thing to disobey God. And now God says, now come up on the mountain again.

And verse 5 says, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and in truth.

So he'd gone up the Mount with God. Look at verse 29. Oh pardon me, look at verses 6 and 8 first. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.

Israel's Rebellion and God's Mercy

And verse 8, Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. In chapter 30, pardon me, chapter 32, and verse 22 it says, and Aaron said, let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Now he's talking there to Moses.

And now knows the people that they're set, and they're full of mischief. Okay, I'm coming back into this chapter now, into chapter 34, for this reason. The Lord passed by. What had he requested? He'd request, show me thy glory.

And now he's gone up a second time upon the mountain. You know, we kind of look at that as if he took a helicopter ride, or has stood on an escalator. Instead of that, he has to struggle up the mountain.

Laboring to Enter God's Rest

And I identify that with that word in the fourth chapter of Hebrews, when it said that we're to labor, to enter into rest. There's nothing comes easy in the Christian life. Everything is a wrestling. Everything is a striving.

We've got the world, the flesh, the devil against us. And Moses here now has gone the second time onto the mountain. If I remember right, he was about 80 years of age. He must have been pretty fit. It doesn't say how long he stayed there, how long it took the glory of the Lord to pass before him.

But the Lord was merciful and gracious. I believe in this instance, while there's no time factor given, if all the glory of God went past him, he could have been there for weeks. I believe he was transfixed.

The Majesty of God in Isaiah

Transfixed means motionless. I believe he stood awed. I believe he gazed at the majesty of God. Something that we've totally forgotten in our day. The awful majesty of God. As I said last week, you should read at least once a week the 40th chapter in Isaiah, which tells you that God made the stars.

He counts them all and he knows every one of them by name. That the nations are as a drop in a bucket. That he has all power and all authority. You see, our God is so small and we have such a small concept of God.

The world outside isn't in any way staggered by what we are or who we are. The Lord passed by him. You know, if you put it into common vernacular, I think Moses had a bit of a nerve to say to God, show me thy glory.

Beholding God's Glory in Worship

Boy, if I'd taken the stick and divided the Red Sea, I'd thought I'd seen all the glory I needed. If I hit a rock and it split open and it followed the nation wherever they went, I'd say, look at the magic.

Hey, I did that. Remember when I did it that morning? You were all thirsty and I did it. Good old me, Moses. But instead of that, he's awed. He bowed down and what did he do? He worshipped. And you know what?

If ever you see the glory of God, you'll worship. He bowed down. But Moses was alone. Aaron wasn't with him. The highest moments of your life will be when you're alone in worship and in adoration. They'll surpass all the preaching you ever heard.

Unless you heard mine, but apart from that, we don't see the glory of God. I've said to you often, when do you tiptoe out of the sanctuary? Because you've been overwhelmed with the mercy and the glory and the majesty and the holiness of God.

People go into church dirty, sing about him and go out dirty. You can't do that if you see God. He goes on a mountain. He climbs to the height. Show me thy glory. Lord, I've seen your miracles. Show me yourself.

I want to get intimate with you. That's what it means. Show me thy glory. And the Lord passed by him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. I think all the history of Israel must have gone past him like you watch a film go when God said that to him.

God's Mercy and America's Need for Revival

Remember my mercy. I could have blotted you out with your transgressions. I could destroy you when I made a golden calf. Instead, I extended my mercy. I extended my mercy. I'm well past 70 years of age.

People tell me sometimes I'm living on borrowed time. The only time I borrowed was the watch tonight because I didn't have one. I borrowed time. But anyhow, living on borrowed time. America's living on borrowed time.

We passed the safety line years ago. We're heading for hell as quick as any nation on earth. But if we saw the glory of God one Sunday in every church in America, we'd shake the country for God the next week.