“In The Cleft of the Rock” Exodus 33:12-23

“Second Altars”

A Sermon Series on Idolatry

“In The Cleft of the Rock”

Exodus 33:12-23

Introduction

In the previous verses, God has told Moses that He will not be continuing with the Israelites (His presence would not be present with them). He will send an angel to get to the promised land, but because of there being so stiff-necked and rebellious it would be dangerous for them (because God is holy). The people repented of their sin, and are deeply remorseful of their making the golden calf. We are then told about Moses and the tent of meeting, where he would go outside of camp, pitch a tent, and meet with God. What follows is a conversation between Moses and God that more than likely happened inside that tent. Exodus 33:11 “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

 Three Rounds of Discussion; Round One (vv. 12-14)

Moses Asks Something for Himself

12 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 favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

 The conversation begins with Moses crying out the Lord’s Word back to Him – Lord you said, “Bring up this people,” that was God’s calling upon Moses’ life. You promised, “But I will be with you,” (Ex. 3:11), “and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Ex. 3:17) Lord you have promised in your Word . . .

“but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.” Moses has been asked to do a job, but finds himself without the resources to carry it out. To lead the people from slavery to the Promise Land is an immense task. He realizes that he can’t do this alone, in his own strength, God has to be with him (or just not go at all).

Then he says, Lord you said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight,” At some time in their conversations, God had told Moses that He knew him, and that he loved him, so he is quoting those words back to God. “Lord you know my name, and that I have found favor in your sight.”

This is not a head knowledge or a person; in that sense God knows everyone. This is a knowledge similar to Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” To be known by God is about a relationship. That relationship is based on obedience to God, His Word, and a friendship.

Then based on what God’s Word says, Moses then makes a request, “show me now your ways,”[1] If Moses was going to lead the people, he needed to know the plan – the mind of God. He wanted constant communication between God and himself. We learn from Moses, that if we are to accomplish the calling upon our lives, we must pray as Moses prayed. “Lord, show me your mind, your ways, your plans, so that I may accomplish the task.” Jesus put it this way, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

We need to hear from God to make individual decisions in our lives, “but more than this, we need to know his divine character so that every day we can live in a way that is pleasing to him.”[2] When we pray, asking God to show us His character, so that we may please Him – these are prayers God loves to answer.

There is also a lingering in not knowing what the Lord is going to do, “but you have not let me know . . .” All of God’s people stood at their tents, staring in the distance at the tent of meeting, waiting to see how the negotiations between Moses and God were going.

(v. 13b) “Consider too that this nation is your people.,” Moses is still trying to persuade God toward being with the Israelites. He knows that he (Moses) and God are on good terms, “I have found favor in your sight,” and he wants to use that favor in order to restore the covenant between God and Israel. This is a foreshadowing (a type) of Jesus’ righteousness being used to restore God with a sinful people.

There is an intermediary between God and man, who uses his favor with God to restore the presence of God back into their “camp.” “Our salvation depends on the pleasure God takes in our mediator. That is to say, our salvation rests on the delight the God takes in the person of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.”[3]

When we think about our lives, we say, “how could God ever love a sinner like me?” His love for you is not based on what you have done, but because you have placed your faith in His Son, He loves you. His love for you is based on how He feels about His Son, not you. If you want God to be pleased with you, then love Jesus, place your faith in Him alone.

14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

 “the covenant bond has been restored.”[4] God now responds to Moses’ requests, in that His presence will go with Moses and he says “I will give you rest,” but it is singular, Moses is the one whom God will go with and Moses will receive rest. So, Moses still feels the need to connect God with the people.

Three Rounds of Discussion; Round Two (vv. 15-17)

Moses Asks Something for the People

15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Moses has kept the mission of the people in mind, Exodus 19:5-6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’”

The nation of Israel would represent God to all the other nations (the nation that just made another idol and bowed down to it). Part of the restoration process is not just that they are forgiven of their sin, but their lives are put back on the mission that they were brought out of slavery to accomplish.

There is a restoration from their sin, and there is a restoration to their purpose.

 God has already said that He would . . ., Exodus 33:2-3 “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; . . .” God told the people I will make your life comfortable, safe, and you will have power before you – but the presence of God would not be there.

 You can have all that life offers, but there will be no God given purpose. If you pursue the pleasures of this life, without God’s presence or His calling upon your life – you will reach a point when you will ask, “what’s the point of all this?”

Ecclesiastes 1:3-5 “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.” What is the point of toiling, pushing? Life is fleeting, it comes and goes quickly – but what’s the point of it all if we all just die and turn to dust? What gives life meaning is that we are God’s “treasured possession,” we are His children, and He has given us a task to complete, “to be a kingdom of priests,”

 Bellevue Baptist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

(v. 16) “Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct,” Isn’t the point of all this, that God will be with His people? And those people accomplish what God has put before them to accomplish?

 Our purpose is found in a relationship with God,

and the calling placed on our lives that He empowers us to accomplish.

“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” It is better to stay where you are, not taking another step, and wait on the Lord. We are not going to go anywhere without God being with us. What is it that sets Christians apart from all other people on the earth? Is it not the presence of God in their lives? Other peoples of the world have wealth, health, power, safety, etc. We don’t point to our houses and cars, our jobs or bank accounts – no we point to the presence of God with us.

 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

 Three Rounds of Discussion; Round Three (vv. 18-23)

Moses Asks Something As A Person Who Wanted to Know God.

 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

 Moses has seen God in the form of a burning bush where He revealed his name “I AM,” to him, He saw his mighty power in the miracles like the plagues of Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea. He saw God as a pillar of smoke and pillar of fire. The staff in his arm stopped the sun in the sky, and turned into a serpent if he threw it down. He experienced God on Mt. Saini as he received the law on the stone tablets. But now Moses asks, “Show me your glory.” Hasn’t God already done that? What is Moses asking God for?

Moses had always moved forward on the command of God, and an assurance that God’s power was with him. He was given commands, throw your staff down, and God’s power would be revealed. “Moses wants the essential being of God without any veil”[5] Because he is the intermediate between this stiff-necked nation, and His God, “he felt that the separation, which existed between himself and Jehovah, introduced a disturbing element into his office.”[6] It is disturbing to Moses that God’s presence would not be there.

Hebrews 3:5 “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,” He didn’t want to be the leader to start with, but it was only on the condition that God would show up when He said He would.

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

““I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’” What this reveals to Moses, has to do with the revelation of His name, “the Lord.” God does not have a hand, or a back, but this anthropomorphic language helps us understand what God is doing – what He wants Moses to experience.

If God were to truly show himself, mankind, even righteous Moses, would be consumed. So God has to protect him from direct contact. Being in the cleft of the rock and being covered by God’s hand is protecting him from the consuming nature of God – thereby revealing his name “the Lord.” God was completely perfect – for a fallen sinful man to fully experience Him was be deadly.

That hand of protection from the consuming of God is determined by His choice, (not the faithfulness of Moses acting as an intermediator.) (v. 19) Paul is discussing God’s grace and mercy quotes Exodus in Romans 9:15 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

(v. 20) “. . . I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face . . .” Even though we have received God’s mercy, there is a limit on how much we can experience God while we are here on earth.

What did Moses see? What is the glory that Moses encountered. Remember in the context Moses wants God’s presence with him. Moses asks to better know His ways, and to know the mind of God. He wants to serve as a better go-between for his people. In that context, God reveals His glory – what did Moses see? Somehow, he better understood what God intends to do with his people and it was powerful enough that if God removed His hand Moses would be destroyed. It was a glimpse of the God who would be with His people.

2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” When we have been transformed (from this earthly body) to our heavenly body; which Peter calls our divine nature. Only then can we see God as He truly is.

Mankind has always wanted to know what God looks like, to know God, to see Him face to face, to experience Him – There is a conversation between Jesus and the disciples in John 14:8-9 “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” If you want to know the God of limitless power and glory, perfect in every way, holy, and fully good then look to the gospels and see Him in Jesus.

In this life we will only be able to experience God “as a mirror dimly,” (1 Cor. 13:12), as Moses in the cleft of a rock covered with His hand, but in glory when we are freed from sin, we will be able to see Him face-to-face in all His glory.

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[1] Psalm 103:7a “He made known his ways to Moses.”

[2] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 975.

[3] Philip Graham Ryken, 978.

[4] C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Volume 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985) 235.

[5] C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, 236.

[6] C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, 237.