• What next step can I take to apply what I’ve just read?  How can I put these truths to work in my life? How can I apply them right now? If Jesus wants me to “Love my neighbor” better, what will I do differently this week? What changes will I make? What will I stop doing? What will I start doing?

EXODUS READING PLAN

Below is the reading plan for our current secton of Exodus on the appointing of priests (November 29th thru December 5th). There are 9 separate days that you can use however you would like. We encourage you to use the following tool to go with your reading if you find it helpful: David Guzik Exodus Commentary. 

Exodus 33:18: Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Moses wanted more. He wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to see more of God. 

“Now Moses’ prayer is to see the kabod, the manifested glory (literally ‘weight’) of YHWH.” - David Guzik.

“We may have been Christians for many years, but have we ever really longed for some person, direct knowledge and experience of God? Oh, I know, we pray for causes, we pray for the Church, we pray for missionaries, we pray for our own efforts that we organize, yes, but that is not what I am concerned about. We all ask for personal blessings, but how much do we know of this desire for God himself? That is what Moses asked for: ‘Show me thy glory. Take me yet a step nearer.’ ” (Martin Lloyd-Jones)

Exodus 33:19-20

19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Moses wanted to see his glory, and God said he will show Moses his goodness.

His glory is found in his goodness. 

1. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you: In the thinking of the ancient Hebrews (and also in other ancient cultures), the name represented a person’s character and nature. God promised to reveal His character to Moses, not merely a title.
2. Lloyd-Jones gives the idea of what God said to Moses: “I will stoop to your weakness. I will let you see something. But, much more important than that, I will cause all my goodness to pass before you. I will give you a deeper insight and understanding into myself, into my character, into what I am. That is what you really need to know.”
3. “But at the same time he assures him that he could not see his face-the fulness of his perfections and the grandeur of his designs, and live, as no human being could bear, in the present state, this full discovery. But he adds, Thou shalt see my back parts.” (Clarke)

EXODUS 33:21-23

21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Protected by God, Moses could endure the glory of God passing before him. Isaiah had a glimpse of the glory of God, and it moved him to mourn his own sin and unworthiness (Isaiah 6). John experienced some of the glory of God and fell at the feet of Jesus like a dead man (Revelation 1:17). Paul experienced the glory of God on the Damascus Road, but also in the experience described in 2 Corinthians 12. It was such an amazing experience that he could only barely describe it.

Others, beyond the times of the Bible, have also experienced glimpses of this glory. Lloyd-Jones mentioned a few: 

• Jonathan Edwards described a time of praying in the forest, kneeling for an hour that seemed to pass in just a few moments because of the powerful sense of God’s glory and presence.
• David Brainerd, a great colonial era missionary to the Native Americans, knelt in the snow and prayed for hours – literally sweating in his body though it was freezing cold in the air. The sweat was a physical reaction to the intensity of the spiritual experience.
• D.L. Moody asked God for such an experience, and when God gave it to him he had to ask God to pull back His hand, because he felt like it was killing him.

We also should have an earnest desire to experience God deeply. Paul made it clear that we cannot fully see the glory of God – we see it as in a piece of polished metal, dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12) – but we can see something of it. Paul didn’t say we see nothing of the glory of God, only that we can’t fully see it or comprehend it.

Moses could only see God’s back (a unique term often not used for anatomy). The idea is that Moses could only see behind God, not God Himself. iii.

“These four things are happening at the same time, whenever God draws near to his people – revealing and concealing, blessing and protecting, all happening together at one and the same time. You cannot separate these things.” (Lloyd-Jones)

With these special protections, God rewarded the desire of Moses to see His glory as much as humanly possible. This demonstrates that God rewards the seeking heart. And as marvelous as this experience was for Moses, it still cannot compare to the revelation of God given to us in Jesus Christ.

"And the Word became 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." (John 1:14)

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

EXODUS 34:1-8

The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai.Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

Here God revealed his character and nature. Which is what? A few things stand out from this section:

1. He is abounding in love (vs. 6-7a). 

 Abounding in love - it never runs out. 

My prayer: Lord reveal your abounding love to me today. Do surprising things in me and thru me. Reveal it even more to my family, to our church! 

 
2. His wrath and hatred for sin (v. 7b)

Third and fourth generations? He punishes the children? That doesn’t seem loving and compassionate. Help me understand this, Lord. 

In this blog post John Piper explains that "The sins of the fathers are punished in the children through becoming the sins of the children.“

The generations to come who experience the penalty of the fathers’ sins are those who hate God. We are not told how the fathers’ sins become the children’s sins. But what we are told is that when the father’s sins are visited on the children it is because the children are really sinful. That is the form in which the fathers’ sins are visited. Therefore, all judgment is really deserved by the person who is punished.

3. He desires to use his people (v. 10): “Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.”

God’s plan was to glorify Himself to all the nations (all the people) through Israel, and to show His glory through the great things He did among them.

"Israel had a choice regarding those great things. Either the great things would be blessings so impressive that every nation would know that God alone had blessed Israel (as was the case with Solomon). Or, the great things would be curses so horrible that every nation would know God had chastised Israel and yet kept them a nation (as was the case with the exile). Either way, God would glorify Himself through Israel among the nations." - David Guzik

My prayer: Do marvels among True Life!

4. He’s a jealous God (v. 14). 

He wants our full hearts. Not divided. Not combining worship of him with worship of other things.

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What does this mean for us?  

“Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:11‬ ‭NIV)‬‬

God will drive them out, but they still have to fight. They have to put in effort as an act of faith that God would indeed drive them out.

It’s like fighting our sin, sharing our faith - we have to take steps, put in effort, and trust God will deliver the power. 

What does this look like in my life? To believe that God will drive out the enemy? 

—-

“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. “Do not make any idols.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:12-17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God warned them about getting too close to the people who live in the land. Making compromises. Joining forces. Becoming unequally yoked. Their hearts must be guarded. Their worship of God must be guarded. Getting too close to culture, mingling too much with the way the culture does things, can be dangerous.

 What does this look like in our day? School? Sports? Video games? Chasing money? Your houses and bigger boats?

We must be on guard when it comes to dating, who we enter business partnerships with...

17 “Do not make any idols.

18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.Redeem all your firstborn sons.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.[b] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.

25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.

26 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

The Radiant Face of Moses

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiantbecause he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the communitycame back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Exodus 34

21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.[b] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.

Observing the Sabbath and Celebrating the FEstival of WEeks and going up three times a year to appear before God -- it’s all an act of trust. Will God provide for us? Take care of us? 

“No one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God” - God will take care of that which we are tempted to worry about when we show our trust in HIm by worshipping and resting.

God will take care of me while resting. He will move in others’ hearts, he will attack the enemy’s strong-hold on peoples’ lives, he will connect people together - I just need to exercise trust in HIm by taking time away to worship, to pray, to give generously, to sabbath.  

Exodus 34

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Being with the Lord made Moses’ face shine with radiance. Even though he had been fasting from food and water 40 days, instead of appearing weak and brittle, he appeared radiant. Being with the Lord can make me radiant, even when my body is weak in the natural. Being with the Lord can fill me with his presence. I can then steward that presence to others. I can bring the presence of Jesus to a room, to an atmosphere. 

--------------- 

What do they get? Protection from sickness and disease, and being able to eat with God. Communion

There is this idea and Christianity that I very very much disagree with. And I’ll explain why I disagree with it. But the idea is that Christians should not want Jesus for what they get from him. They should just one Jesus for Jesus. Now I understand what is often trying to be communicated, and that is that we shouldn’t want Jesus for his handouts. We shouldn’t want Jesus for just his blessings. Any more than a father or mother wants their child to come to them only for snacks and toys electronics and permission to do things. Most parents, relatively healthy parents, want their children to want to be with them. To sit with them. To talk to them. To cuddle with them.

And so that’s where I agree with this idea, God wants us to want him. For sure. But you cannot separate that from what we get from him. Because nobody wants Jesus for Jesus unless they get something from knowing Jesus. And that is OK. Jesus told us that he will quench our thirst. What thirst? Our spiritual thirst. There is a joy, a piece, a fulfillment that we get in knowing Jesus. We get something. We get eternal life. We get this new quality of life in us. We get his spirit in us. We get power to live for him. We get power 

And there’s nothing wrong with coming to Jesus because we have realize that every other source of living water is not producing the living water that we thought it would produce.

And that’s what God is promising his people. You are going to get something, a new kind of life by obeying me. You’re going to get communion with me. You’re going to get protection from sicknesses and illnesses.

But you have to obey. 

That’s what a covenant was. You do your part I do my part.

Now Israel failed to do their part. All of their laws were about 600 different Commandments. But as we track the people of Israel and their journey throughout the Old Testament, you see that different prophet some of the law and shorter and shorter ways. Isaiah. Mika says do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Hebbah Cox says the just shall live by faith. All of this is the call on God’s people and what it means in summary to obey him. To be part of his covenant people.

And it’s not that they earned God’s favor by what they did. It was that they maintained his covering by their obedience. And when they failed to obey, there would be a way to make atonement, a way to confess and repent. Which we will get into later.

So those who trust that God’s way was best, that he was the source of true life, the blessed life, would obey him. Naturally.

But too often they did not obey. Too many individuals decided not to trust. And they did not inherit the promised land. They were cut off. They were not part of God’s people, maybe they were by birth but not spiritually.