Strengthened by God / Seeking His Presence (Exodus 33 - Part 2)

Moses Seeks Reassurance of God’s Presence in Exodus 33

All right, well, let's open in prayer and we will pick up in Exodus chapter 33. We'll pick up in verse nine. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. And even though it's cold and kind of raw out with a little rain and maybe even some snow in areas, you've brought us out here safe.

I pray that you'd give us a safe trip home a little later on and just be with us as we look to your word, show us something maybe we've never seen before, something that we're going to need later on, tonight, tomorrow, throughout the week, but let it be an encouragement to each one, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Exodus 33, starting in verse nine.

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 worshiped 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. And Moses said to the Lord,.

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, may find great consider.

My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

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.

I will also do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name. 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. You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. 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.

God’s Presence, Moses’ Leadership, and the Meaning of “Face to Face”

Moses really needs some reassurance from the Lord at this point. He needs some spiritual strengthening and that's gonna be basically what we're gonna look at tonight. So last time we covered the first eight verses of chapter 33 we looked at how the Lord was not going to dwell in the midst of his people because of their rebellion.

The Lord met with Moses, remember outside the camp and we talked about the spiritual application for today that while we may experience the indwelling of the spirit, sin can cause us to forfeit many blessings, maybe the filling of the spirit or nearness with God.

And we touched on churches. We were looking at Revelation chapter three in the Laodicean church, how they had even pushed Jesus outside of the body of Christ. And he was pictured knocking on the door, trying to get back in.

So the Israelites had kind of done that. They were missing out on the blessings of the Lord and having God dwelling in their midst. But they still had, despite all of that, they still had the Lord fighting for them.

And he promised that. How the angel of the Lord would go before them and drive out the people of the land of Canaan. Look at verse two, just for a moment. The Lord says to Moses, and I will send my angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. So God is a God who thankfully keeps his promises. And he gives this command for the children of Israel to now depart from Mount Sinai. So let's pick up where we left off, starting in verse 11.

We'll read verses 11 through, or excuse me, nine through 11. 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.

And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose and worshiped each man in his tent door. So the pillar of cloud reappears. This is a very good sign.

What does this indicate? The pillar of cloud.

God is there.

Yeah, God is present. So he has not completely abandoned them. So that's a very good sign. So the people, when they see this, they worship. That's what you would do. Although they do it from, they have to do it from afar.

So number one, it shows that God has not abandoned his people. And then number two, the fact that the pillar of cloud appears at the tent with Moses and with Joshua, this is really reinforcing this idea that Moses is God's man.

And then later on, Joshua would be God's man. Because the idolaters had rebelled. You could have looked at that like they were trying to lead a rebellion and take over the nation. Maybe they thought they could control Aaron as some sort of puppet and they could wield power from behind the scenes or something.

That wasn't gonna happen. Moses is God's man without question. All right, so the Lord has put Moses in this position of leadership. But you know, Moses needs to know, Lord, you're gonna be with me. You put me here all the way back to the burning bush.

This was all your idea. You've told me what to do every step along the way. And then the golden calf kind of threw everything in doubt for him. He needs strengthening. He needs reassurance from the Lord.

He wants to know, have a promise that God is going to be present. Okay, look at verse 11. 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 none, that's N-U-N, not N-O-N-E.

Joshua, the son of none, a young man did not depart from the tabernacle. We know what a tabernacle is by now. It is a, it is what? It's a tent. So Joshua does not leave. This is basically Joshua's house at this point.

So the home of Joshua is now acting as the tent of meeting because the tabernacle as we think of it, that will be constructed later on. So let's spend a little bit of time on this statement that the Lord speaks to Moses face to face.

That is a very significant statement. Usually what I like to do when we talk about something, what does it mean? I like to start with what does it not mean? All right, so let me ask you, what does this not mean that God and Moses spoke face to face?

What does that not mean?

It said not to look at his face.

Right, yeah, yeah. God wasn't, yeah, he was not looking at God's actual face. So this is an expression. Moses never actually gets to see God's face because we know that no man can see his face and live, right?

Okay, so that's what it does not mean. So what is this all about? I think I put it this way. The privilege that Moses has and how he can approach God and talk to God, the privilege that Moses has is unparalleled.

There has never been anyone, at least at this point, who has ever been able to talk to God like this.

Who?

Enoch walked with God and the Lord, and the Lord took him. That was a whole type of privilege in and of itself. But there's something unique, that's the point. There's something unique about this relationship between Moses and the Lord.

So first of all, God speaking to anybody is very, very rare, right? We live in a day and age, and I have to admit, this is sort of one of my pet peeves. We live in a day and age where people, all these people are going around saying, you know, God spoke to me and God told me this and God told me that.

And if you hear someone say that, all you have to do is probe a little bit and ask a few questions, and then you'll quickly find out, okay, God didn't actually tell them that. That's sort of what I would call speaking Christianese, right?

Someone heard a famous preacher say this and are everyone saying it? And we start to repeat what we hear other people say. And, you know, listen, I've done that. I know I've done that. You've probably done that.

So, you know, I'm not trying to be hard on anybody, but the idea of God speaking, like literally actually speaking directly to somebody is extremely rare throughout all of human history. I mean, basically it's limited to the prophets and the apostles.

Maybe you think of a few rare exceptions, but Hebrews 1 verse 1 says that God at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. So God has spoken. And even when he spoke to the prophets and maybe even to the apostles, it was in dreams, visions, but to just have a conversation back and forth with somebody, yeah, that generally didn't really happen.

So Moses has this position of privilege where there's an open dialogue between Moses and the Lord as if two friends were talking. Okay, so I can't stress that enough, the unique nature of this relationship.

Any questions or comments so far? And I don't want to discount the idea that, you know, the Holy Spirit leads us and we read something in God's word. And, you know, we feel as though the Lord is trying to get through to us in some way.

I'm not trying to discount that, but, you know, to say God spoke to me and said this, quote, whatever it is, that's another story. Okay, Dennis.

I was just thinking that I know on a number of occasions, Abraham had some pretty intimate interaction with God, still not to the level of with Moses leading the whole nation and everything, but yeah, a few occasions, but yeah.

Right, and these are the giants of the faith, right? Abraham, Moses, and your next door neighbor who heard from God yesterday. No, no, no, I don't think so, no. Jim.

Good, Dennis.

Did you have your hand? Yeah, I did, but I thought. Dennis.

No, no, no, I was just.

My sister, I can't remember how the subject came up, but she's, of course, she's very charismatic and she goes to a very charismatic church, I think in Fitchburg, but anyways, her explanation for that is pretty close to what you just said.

She then made the comment, well, God spoke to me, and I said, really? How did that happen?

Yeah.

Well, because we have the Holy Spirit, God speaks to the Holy Spirit and he speaks to us, so I didn't go any further, we were on the phone, she's hard of hearing anyways.

Yeah.

Her hearing aids don't work very well. So, but there's a lot of people out there that will attribute that to that very scenario instead of saying, well, the word of God is how God speaks to me.

Right.

But see, they're into that whole.

Yeah.

Movement.

Right, yeah, I mean, some people, they really mean God spoke to me, that's what they really mean. And then other people, well, that's not really what they mean, we kind of get what they're trying to say, but yes, Dennis.

There was a church across town in Galway when we arrived back in 88, and they had a book, they kept adding quotes to and literally saying, and they were supposed to be prophecies, so they were literally creating a book that was extra biblical because of guest speakers and others that would come, and this is what God told me, and they would write it down, and it was, I was just like, wow, wow, scary, very scary.

Yeah, well, Moses was actually hearing from God. God was actually talking to Moses, and the bigger issue with all of this is the authority of scripture. Like, what are we teaching? What can we be certain of?

What do we know that God said? We strongly, without this, I don't know what else we have, but we believe in the authority of the scripture, and this other stuff can get into other sources of authority that oftentimes contradict or undercut the authority.

So that's kind of the bigger issue here. All right, I'd like to read what one commentator says about this section. The calf worship, the golden calf, the calf worship broke the bond between God and Israel.

Instead of his presence, an angel is to lead them, for his presence could only be destruction, so right? If God dwelt in the midst of them, he would consume them. Remember, mourning spread throughout the camp, in token of which all ornaments are laid aside.

The fate of the nation is in suspense. All the people wait in sad attire till God knows what to do unto them. Now, when I read that, I'm like, okay, that's from their vantage point. God knows what he's gonna do, but as far as the people, though, they're not really sure, and maybe even Moses is starting to wonder, and again, that's why Moses needs some reassurance.

Moses Intercedes for Israel and Asks for God’s Way

So he wants the Lord to come, let me know for sure that you're gonna be with me. Look at verse 12. 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.

Remember back, the Lord said, Moses, these are your people. And now Moses is saying, Lord, no, they're yours. This is your idea. Moses could get away with talking to God like this, apparently, right? Verse 14, and he said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

And at that point, it doesn't say it, but I'm sure Moses breathed a sigh of relief. Now, what's the rest that the Lord is speaking of? I will give you rest. Well, I believe this is a statement about the people entering into the promised land.

That seems to be what that means, which God has already said many times that he will do. He will give them the land. So God's desire is for the people to have faith. That's what all this is about. God wants the people to have faith in his promise.

And of course, they're lacking faith, and they're doing the wrong thing, but God just wants his people to trust in him. So for Moses, this, I would equate this as basically as a sort of like the renewal of the covenant.

It's God reassuring Moses and renewing his promise. And when we were going through Genesis, do you remember the Lord would do this with the patriarchs? Right, he made that promise to Abraham, and then to Isaac, and then to Jacob, and it was with Jacob that God reaffirmed the covenant more than once.

And when we were going through Genesis, the Lord did that at specific times when he knew that Jacob kind of, he needed it. Jacob needed some comfort and some spiritual strength, and that's when God would come to him and kind of renew that promise.

Just a few examples. When Jacob was out for the first time by himself, wandering through the land, that's when the Lord visited him at Bethel. Many years later, Jacob had to flee again. First time he fled, he ran from his brother, right?

And then next time he had to run from who? His uncle Laban, right? And he's about to meet with Esau. He doesn't know how it's all going to turn out, and that's when the Lord sent the angel to wrestle with him, and that's when he gets that new name, Israel.

And then after the Dinah incident, before the death of Rachel, God knew that he needs something again. He needs to kind of refill his tank, so to speak, and the Lord appeared to Jacob again at Bethel, or Bethel.

So I think the Lord knew Jacob needed strengthening, and that's what I see is going on here with Moses. Now, after everything that's transpired, don't you think Moses needs this? I think he does. You could say, well, God already said it once.

Isn't that enough? Is that enough? Well, it's enough to know that God's gonna do it, right? And if he says something once, God means it, it's enough, but we kind of need to hear it again. For our sake, we need to be reminded, right?

You just have to remember that it wasn't too long ago that after the cataclysm, a lot of people aren't there anymore.

Right, right.

And it shaped me, too.

Yeah, 23 ,000 people are gone. Yeah, they've been through a lot in a short amount of time, and you can only imagine how Moses is thinking, and feeling. Right, yeah. He could be a little worried, and would you blame him?

No.

But yeah, he needed a reminder. God's already said this once, and then again, and again, but he needs to hear it again. This is why, same thing with us. We need that encouragement. We need spiritual strengthening.

We need Christian fellowship. This is why we need to be in church every week. This is why we need biblical preaching, and this is why we need to stay in fellowship, and pray to God, and read his word, to stay strong.

Because if we don't do that, and we start neglecting one thing after another after another, when a big test comes, something like the golden calf in our life, well, we're not gonna have that strength to endure.

So if somebody has been neglecting kind of the basic spiritual disciplines, and going to church, and studying your Bible, and prayer, and all of that, you know, you're trying to rely on your own strength.

When something happens, you're not gonna be in very good shape. Remember, when did the devil tempt Jesus? When did he come to Jesus? When he was out?

Weakest.

Yeah, when he was in the wilderness.

No food and no love.

Yep.

For 40 days.

He fasted 40 days and 40 nights, all by himself, and then Satan came to him.

Because the scripture says that he was hungry.

Right.

So that didn't give you the indication that he was weak and weak and sick.

Right.

So here's the thing. Jesus was physically weak, probably, but he wasn't spiritually weak. So Jesus was never spiritually weak, so he was able to endure that. Well, we're not like Jesus. Sometimes we are spiritually weak.

What's that?

He quoted the word of God.

Yes, and he quoted.

From Deuteronomy 3.

The word of God, amen. Amen, yes.

Again, as I think of Moses, there is no written word of God. There is no study the word and grow in faith. How much did he know and understand? Well, quite a bit, but I mean, we got this book that has revealed to us so fully who God is and all.

Yeah, I feel for these guys back then.

Right.

They were just learning as they go, and sometimes the hard way.

Absolutely.

Yeah, so again, the devil came to Jesus kind of at that weak moment. So if we are neglecting things and we find ourselves physically weak and spiritually weak, Satan knows what he's doing. That's when he's gonna strike.

And if you've kind of given up going to church and you haven't opened your Bible in weeks or months and you're not really praying, that's when he's gonna see that moment. And probably not gonna fare the way Jesus did.

So when we exhort people to do all these basic things, go to church, Christian fellowship, study your Bible, pray, do good works, all of that, we're not just saying it to say it or because, well, this is just what you're supposed to do.

We're trying to protect people to not even go down that road, to never even be in that weakened position. Because then if you are, again, Satan knows when to strike. King David, here's another example, right?

King David, the situation with Bathsheba. He had her husband killed. We know the story. Well, how did it start? David just kind of got a little lazy. He hung back in Jerusalem while he was supposed to be out with the army.

He was just laying around in his bed. It's probably six at night and he's already laying around and goes out on the palace roof and he clearly wasn't filled with the spirit at that time. So he's walking around on the roof looking for who knows what.

And then he sees Bathsheba and the devil's like, I got him, right? But it built up to that. It didn't just happen in a moment in time. If David was filled with the spirit and he was writing Psalm 23 on the palace roof and he saw Bathsheba, he could have just turned his head and ran in the other direction.

So things kind of build up. So we don't want to even get to that point. So all of that to say this, Moses needs reassurance. He needs spiritual strengthening. I think he's feeling a little weak. And Lord, I need you.

I can't do this. I need your presence. And this was a prayer that God was willing to answer. Look at verse 15. He says, 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 what? Separate. What do you think that means? Separate.

Just like all the rest of the nations.

That they won't be.

That they would be, right?

That they wouldn't be like, that they would be separate.

All right, what he says is, to me anyways, it says that I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us, we shall be separate. And I think I took that as meaning that they were gonna be just like all the other nations, that they wouldn't have God any longer.

Because he says, unless you go with us.

All right, okay, I see what you're saying. Without God, they wouldn't be any different.

Just like all the other nations.

Right, so Israel was supposed to be a peculiar nation. So what's another word for peculiar?

Particular.

It's not the one I was looking for, but.

A unique possession.

A separate people. Right, so the Israelites were supposed to be different from everybody else. And the fact that God was with them and nobody else, I mean, that did it. Of course, in the New Testament, what is said about the church?

That same thing. That Christians are to be a peculiar people. Set apart, different, holy. Set apart from everyone else. Verse 17, so the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace.

For you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. And then he said, show me your glory. So not only, okay, I got your word, but I want something else. I want even more.

Even more, exactly. He had a real yearning to know God even more. That's what I wrote in my Bible a long time ago. Yeah.

And you know, you can look at this. Well, Moses should be happy with what he gets. But the Lord didn't view this as something negative. That's not a bad thing to say, Lord, I want more of you. I want to see more.

Give me more. Now, he doesn't actually get what he asked for, because he's asking for the ultimate, right? But another significant point before we look at that, notice that Moses did not ask anything of himself or for himself until he had the full assurance of the people's restoration.

Because Moses has always been, well, there was a moment or two, but Moses and God, their relationship, I mean, he didn't build the golden calf. It's not his fault. But he makes sure that God is gonna be with the people.

So before he asks for anything for himself, he wants to make sure that they're covered. And that's what love is, right? That you're not putting yourself first. He's putting the people first. And that's what a good leader looks like.

A good leader is putting the people's needs first. Just as Jesus laid down his life for the church. So Moses is willing to lay down his life, give up his life for the Israelites. So only after he intercedes on behalf of the people, does he ask now for the big one, if you wanna put it that way, right?

Lord, show me your glory. And this is what he's asking, the fullness of your glory. Show me the beatific vision, right? Show me your face. Show me your face. So Moses has been on the mountain with God, communing with God.

He experienced communion with God like no other man this side of heaven ever has. And he still wants more. And he's rewarded for that. Look at verse 19. The Lord says, 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. Does that verse sound familiar to anybody? Where do we find that quoted in the New Testament? Romans nine, right?

Right, so Paul will quote this in Romans nine in the context of giving divine privileges to some and not others. Because Moses didn't deserve this. I mean, nobody deserves it, God. Hey, I'm God, I can do what I want.

And he gave Moses this great privilege. Verse 20, the Lord says to Moses, 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.

And we don't have enough time to get into that. So we will pick up with that story next time. But that should bring to mind one of the great hymns of the faith, which hymn do we sing about this event?

What is it called?

Hide my soul.

Right, right. And if we sang hymns after this, that's the one we would sing, but we don't sing hymns typically after this lesson. So any final questions or comments? But I would just say the takeaway is if you kind of know that for whatever reason you feel like you're in that position where you feel a little weak spiritually, don't put it off.

Go and seek God. I need more of you. I need you to come through. I need you to whatever, forgive me or draw near to me. If you feel like you're in that weakened position, ask for spiritual strengthening.

Do the things you need to do. I believe God will answer that.