Moses' Response to God's Revelation

Sermon delivered on February 10th, 2019
Sunday Morning Service

By: Pastor Greg Hocson

Scripture Text: Exodus 33:11-23; Exodus 34:1-9

 

Exodus 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. 12: And 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, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13: Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew 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. 14: And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15: And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16: For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17: And 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. 18: And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19: And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20: And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21: And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

 

Exodus 34:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2: And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3: And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4: And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5: And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7: Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8: And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9: And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

 

Introduction

In his book "The Knowledge of the Holy", A. W. Tozer wrote these words, "What comes to our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us."

 

The most important thing about you and me is our knowledge of God. Who you believe God to be; what He is like is the single most important factor in your life. There is nothing more important than to have right knowledge of God. There is nothing more important than to have right thinking about God. If you and I are wrong about who God is, we will be wrong every place else. It is our knowledge of God that determines how we live and how we worship. Low views of God lead to shallow and empty life. High views of God lead to high and holy living. Low views of God lead to low and empty worship. High views of God lead to exalted transcendent worship of God.  Your theology will determine your doxology.

 

If worship is response to the revelation of God then it behooves us to pray the Apostle Paul's prayer in ...

Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18: The eyes of your understanding [eyes of your heart] being enlightenedthat ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 

 

It behooves us to pray that God would give each and everyone of us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that He would open the eyes of our understanding that we may know the exceeding greatness and worth of God. Oh how we need to have a clear vision of God, a spiritual sight of God. We need our eyes opened to see the glory of God. We need to see that He is a glorious God, that His greatness is unsearchable. We need a spiritual knowledge of God. We need to know God. This is the greatest need of the church today!

 

What we need is a life-changing revelation of God is our lives if we are to be true worshipers. There are many Old Testament men who had life-changing encounters with God such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. Even though these men lived in the Bible times thousands of years ago, we can learn from their lives and from the way they responded to God's revelation. Today, we are going to look at Moses and His encounter with God.

 

Who was Moses? Moses was a man of faith; he served the Lord, and he served the Lord's people. He was a person loved by the Lord -- just and you and I are. The Lord used Moses in a mighty way -- to deliver the people out of Egypt into the Promised Land. He was a leader, a mediator, and a deliverer. Moses was God's instrument in establishing the Ten Commandments of God to the children of Israel. Moses was human, which means he was not perfect. He wrestled with his emotions, struggled with his calling, killed a man, and disobeyed the Lord. Yet God used this man -- Moses! 

 

I - The Urgent Request

Moses had already seen a glimpse of the glory of God in several occasions:

1. When God called him at the burning bush

Exodus 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2: And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3: And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4: And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5: And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

 

2. When God came down in flaming fire upon Mount Sinai

Exodus 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

 

3. When Moses was called up and went into the midst of the cloud

Exodus 24:15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16: And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17: And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18: And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

 

Moses had enjoyed a close communion with Jehovah. He had often heard the voice of God that called him, commanded him and guided him. Observe that it was not through another man that Moses communicated with God but rather he had a direct communion with God. 

Exodus 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend ...

 

Though Moses had already seen a glimpse of the glory of God in several occasions, yet Moses wants a fuller and a greater revelation of God. Moses is very earnest with God. He pleads with God that he may see the His glory. 

Exodus 33:12 And 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, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13: Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew 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.

 

Exodus 33:18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 

 

He prays that God would reveal His glory to Him, that he may know Him in a fuller way. "Lord, I know Your name, I know You know my name but now I beseech thee, shew me thy glory."

 

Moses was not satisfied with just knowing God's name and that God knows his name, now he wants to have a sight of God's glory. A mark of a person who has experienced grace is that he wants more grace. A good sign that a person came to know God is that he wants to know God more. The more a person knows of God, the more he would know. The nearer he gets, he presses nearer still. He longs to see God's power and glory.

Psalm 63:1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2: To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 

 

II - The Gracious Revelation

God graciously answered Moses' prayer.

Exodus 33:17 And 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.

 

Observe that when Moses prayed, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory", the answer given him was this ...

Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

 

Jehovah passed by before him and gave him the glimpse of His essential glory.

Exodus 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by ... 23: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

 

What is the glory of the LORD? The glory of the LORD is essentially His Name. It is His goodness. It is His character, His nature, His person, His being, His attributes.

 

Exodus 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and graciouslongsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth

The Lord shows His glory by proclaiming who He is and what He is like. As God passes by Moses, He reveals Himself with five attributes:

1. Merciful

God is full of mercy. We sin and it is only right and just for God to judge us and condemn us but in His mercy He forgives us.

Jeremiah 33:67 O give thanks unto the Lord, because he is gracious: for his mercy endureth for ever. 68: O all ye that worship the Lord, bless the God of gods, praise him, and give him thanks: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

2. Gracious

Not only is the Lord full of mercy, He is also full of grace. He blesses us even though we are undeserving. He loves us even though we are unlovable.

Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

 

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

 

Psalm 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

He is both merciful and gracious. What is the difference between mercy and grace? Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve; grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. Mercy is deliverance from judgment. Grace is extending kindness to the unworthy.

 

In His mercy God withholds the punishment that we all deserve and in His grace He gives us the blessings we all do not deserve. What we do deserve is the wrath of God (John 3:36), instead He refrains from giving us what we truly deserve and then extends to us what we could not earn in a million years.

 

3. Longsuffering

God is longsuffering meaning He is patient. He waits and waits and waits for us to come to repentance. He endures so much of our sinful natures, anticipating the day when we will turn from our sin and seek Him fully.

Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

 

4. Abundant in Goodness

The Lord is abundant in goodness. 

Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

 

Psalm 135:3 Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.

 

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

 

5. Abundant in Truth

Finally, we see that He abounds in truth. 

Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2: My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

He is the God of truth. He is faithful and true, He loves what is true, He is truth itself. Satan is the father of lies, but God abounds in truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. How good to know that with God, His words and His deeds are one.

 

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5: For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

 

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15: John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16: And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

 

And so God revealed Himself as merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth and these attributes are manifested in the two ways ...

Exodus 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

He keeps lovingkindness for thousand, forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin which are a display of God's mercy, grace, longsuffering, goodness, and truth. 

 

He also punishes the unrepentant sinners because He is a good God  and a God of truth and justice.

 

III - The Spontaneous Response

Exodus 34:8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

After God had proclaimed who He is and what He is like, the first thing Moses did was bow down in the presence of God. Moses made haste to worship. When we catch even a glimpse of who God is, we become worshipers. Moses' response to God's revelation was humility, reverence and submission. He realizes the mercy and grace of God in this moment. He came to a fuller revelation of God as a result he bowed in worship. Understand that this is spontaneous and instantaneous reaction to God's revelation of Himself. Oh, how we need to plead with God, "LORD show me thy glory!"

 

When we catch even a glimpse of who God is, we become worshipers. But not only that, when we catch a glimpse of who God is, we become people that pray. Moses begins to pray and intercede again.

Exodus 34:9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

Moses pleaded with God to forgive the sins of His people, and to dwell in their midst. But on what basis? Why should God forgive His people? Not on the basis that they are righteous not because they were not, but because God was gracious and forgiving. Moses deliberately emphasizes the merciful and gracious qualities of God in his prayer. Moses pleads God's character. He pleads for God to be merciful because God has just announced Himself to be merciful. He asks God to do exactly what He said and what He does in verses 6 and 7, to pardon to forgive to be patient to be slow to anger to show compassion. So, Moses prays back God's own revelation to God. He prays Scripture back to God. What a wonderful pattern for prayer, praying Scripture back to God.

 

Closing Thoughts

Everywhere you go, you see signs advertising "Sunday Worship" for all types of religion with people coming regularly to worship God. But far too many Christians see worship as a ritual or as something we do on Sunday mornings with choirs, guitars and music, when in reality worship is about knowing God and responding personally to that knowledge. It's is responding to God's revelation of Himself. When Moses saw the glory of God; when he saw the Lord as He really was, it caused Moses to fall before Him and honor the Lord. Let us pray that we would see more and more the glory of God

 

Do you want to see the glory of God? You will never see His glory till you get to Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.5: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

It is impossible to worship Him if you do not know Him and since true worship is a response to knowing Him, the more we know about God the better we can worship, or ascribe to Him the worship He is due. 

 

Come to Christ and be saved and become a real worshiper!

 

AMEN!