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Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, September 13, 2020


Show Me Your Glory


Text: Exodus 33:11–23

Years ago, I was in Chesapeake waiting for my trailer to be loaded and I struck up a conversation with one of the other drivers also waiting. I ended up sharing about my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.I asked if he had a personal relationship with him as well. His answer told me that he likely didn’t, and also had no concept of what I was talking about. He said, “Me and the man upstairs have an understanding.” Did that mean he lived in an apartment or perhaps a condo, and for some mysterious reason the “man upstairs” had some pull with a deity that gave this man confidence in his eternal destiny. I could have gone there and played along but instead, I challenged whether or not he really knew the “man upstairs” and said, “Well, if you really knew him, you would know that his name is Jesus and he doesn’t make agreements but invites you to come to him in accordance with what has been written in his word. Jesus, emphatically said the only way to salvation was repentance of sin and inviting him to be the Lord of your life. No back doors, no compromise, just Jesus as Savior and Lord.” He smiled knowingly and assured me that he would be fine, as he walked away.

The issue of what it means to know God personally and intimately is very important to consider. Knowing God doesn’t mean that we know things about him, have been faithful attenders of a church for a long time, or agree with what the Bible seems to say. It means that we have come to understand the seriousness of our sins and have bowed down to God in repentance and humility. It means we have recognized that our sin has separated us from God who is Holy, Holy, Holy. We invite Jesus to forgive us and be our Lord and Savior. This leads to a personal relationship that changes everything in our lives. It changes the direction and priorities of our lives and it changes how we think about things. It changes how we respond to life and where our passions lie. To know God intimately is to want to know more about him because we want more of him, to experience him, to hear his voice. If this is not the case then we should consider whether or not we really do know him.

This morning will be Part 1 of a 2 Part series. I want us to take a look at the difference between knowing some things about God and actually knowing him personally. Today we’ll be considering our Old Testament passage from Exodus 33:11–20.

Let me set this up by considering what happened in Exodus 32. Moses and Joshua were up on Mt. Sinai. Moses was before the Lord God receiving the law and the two tablets of stone that had the 10 commandments etched in them by the finger of God. Moses had been before the Lord for 40 days and the children of Israel grew impatient and asked Aaron to make them a golden calf for them to worship. God informed Moses what the children of Israel were doing and commanded him to go down to the camp of Israel. Moses went down and dealt with the offenders and 3,000 died that day. When Moses went back up the mountain to God, Exodus 32:31–33:3, records the conversation between Moses and God.

So, Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 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; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

The people of Israel heard these words from Moses, and they mourned that they had done such despicable things. It’s likely they mourned because God had killed thousands of them because of their idolatry. You would think they would rejoice because God instructed Moses to take them to the Promised Land, the inheritance promised to their Father Abraham. They could go without the threat of the presence of God and yet still have the benefit of the angel who would be available for consultation and protection.

It’s important to note that the people would probably have said that they were worshipping the gods of Israel, the ones who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. The golden calf gave them a physical manifestation that they could see with their own eyes. To them, it represented the God or gods whom they served. It shows something important about them, they clearly did not know God personally or intimately if they did they would never have done such a thing.

As we approach our passage in Exodus 33:11, we find in the preceding verses that Moses had gone to the Tent of Meeting well outside of the camp indicating that the presence of the Lord would no longer be present within the camp. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. The children of Israel would come out of their tents and worship God when they saw the pillar. Again, they worshipped what they saw, not for who God was and is.

Now, let's turn to our passage in Exodus 33:11,

Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Can you imagine God coming down and speaking to you as a man speaks to his friend? Have you longed for that? I sure have. In Numbers 12:8 God speaks to Miriam and Aaron who had been speaking against Moses to those in the camp. God confronts them and suggests that his intimate friendship with Moses should cause them to be afraid to speak against God’s friend,

“With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Moses' obedience to God and the relationship that he entered into with God, affected the lives of the Children of Israel but especially those who followed Moses in faithfulness to God. You’ll notice that Moses' relationship with God brings Joshua into a closer relationship with God as well. You likely remember that it was Joshua who the Lord chose to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land, not Moses.

Let’s read Exodus 33:12–13,

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.”

I love this bold argument that Moses presents before God. Moses couldn’t object to God’s claim that Israel was a stiff-necked people or that the golden calf wasn’t abhorrent and demanded repentance. He could only hope and plead for God’s grace and mercy. He built his request that God shows his mercy by relinquishing his threat to abandon Israel by removing his presence. To Moses making it to the Promised Land meant nothing if God’s presence was not with them. Moses objects to God sending a surrogate in his place, he wanted God to be with them. And the main reason was, that he wanted to know God like God knew him… deeply.

Moses wants an answer as to who will accompany Him and Israel during their journey in the wilderness. God told him that he knew him by name, and he found favor in his sight, so Moses turns it around and responds that the Lord show him that he is favored by not leaving them, but going with them all the way. It’s then that he responds to God remark’s in verse 1 that Israel was Moses’ people and Moses brought them out of the land of Egypt. In verse 13, “Consider too that this nation is your people.” It’s like he was pointing out to the Lord, “This wasn’t my idea but yours. They are your people, don’t pawn them off on me. I’ll follow you and do what you command, but you and I both know that I can’t handle them alone.”

God responds to this plea in verses 14–16,

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

God’s answer to Moses' prayer was that he would indeed go with them, but Moses wasn’t ready to let up. I love the passion for the Lord that he demonstrates here, and I think it was a wonderful affirmation that he wanted God above all else. By this time in their relationship, Moses is all in, because he wanted to know God more deeply. The trip to the Promised Land would have meant very little to Moses considering that by the time they would arrive, he would be way too old benefit from it. He points out to God that the cost of his leaving them would not only be crushing to Moses longing to be with God, but would also affect Israel’s distinction as the people of God.

Years ago, I was spending the night with an old and dear friend who lived in a town I was working in. That night it became clear that he had abandoned his relationship with God and was involved in what we’ll call “scandalous behavior”. I confronted him and he defended himself by claiming that surely God wanted him to be happy. I countered that God wanted him to be faithful to his word and that he needed to repent and turn back to God. He looked at me and said, “okay” which I interpreted as him dismissing me. So, I charged on making my point with the scriptures and he looked at me and said, “I said okay.” I said, “okay what?” He responded that I was right, and he wanted to repent then and there. He did and has stayed faithful to that repentance to this day.

I think Moses was so caught up in making his point that he failed to hear God say, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 

Moses wanted something for Israel that would reveal that they weren’t like the other nations because the other nations’ gods were not real but made of wood, stone, or metal. Israel’s God was the only God who manifested himself by his presence. They were distinct among the other nations by their monotheism, and it was important that God went with them. There are many accounts in the Old Testament of the enemies of Israel being terrified by the stories told them by nations who had encountered the wrath of the God of Israel. It was when Israel abandoned God that their enemies prevailed, and they were mocked and defeated.

In many ways the United States of America is right now in the midst of paying the price for their apostasy. More on that in a minute.

Exodus 33:17–18,

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

Moses had just received a positive concession from God that he would go before them in his presence and he won confirmation from God that their relationship would grow closer and Moses would indeed experience more and more of God’s presence and friendship. God again affirms that Moses had found favor in God’s sight and would be known by his name.

But… Moses wanted more in his personal relationship with God. He had first encountered God as a talking burning bush, that though on fire was not being consumed. He had seen the Lord move through him in the encounters with the Pharaoh in Egypt and the ten plagues. He had seen God part the Red Sea so that Israel could walk across on dry land and when the armies of Egypt tried to follow, the walls of water collapsed upon them. He had seen God’s presence in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night. He had often been in the presence of God both on Mt. Sinai and the Tent of Meeting. God provided manna for all of Israel every morning and sent quail to fall in the camp of Israel so they could have meat. He had seen God’s mercy and he had seen the terror of his wrath poured out on those who disobeyed him. I can’t help but wonder what he meant by “show me your glory.” What had he already seen, wasn’t that God’s glory? Charles Spurgeon once suggested that perhaps Moses, like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration when he asked for something, didn’t really understand what it was he was asking for. He simply wanted more of God, and I think he realized that there would always be more available when it came to God.

Theologian and pastor Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones wrote,

We may have been Christians for many years, but have we ever really longed for some personal, direct knowledge and experience with 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’s not what I’m 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 your glory’. Take me yet a step nearer.

In the scriptures the Kavode, or glory of God, is that honor, splendor, dignity, and radiant brilliance that he has possessed from all eternity. God’s glory is completely distinct from anything that we could compare it too. It is God being what only he can be. In Scripture, the glory of God is portrayed primarily by the radiant brilliance of God’s appearance. In Exodus 24:15–17,

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

The Shekinah, a word not found in the Old Testament, was used by Jewish rabbis to speak of the presence of God as a physical manifestation of God on earth through a natural occurrence. God appeared with this cloud of glory at significant moments in history. His brilliance is the visible display of the wonder of his transcendence over all creation. The glory of humans usually speaks of their wealth and admirable qualities, but the glory of God is his incomparable greatness, splendor, and honor as creator of all things. The glory of God is also the purpose for which all things were created. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:36, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

This past week as I considered this passage I wondered if Moses had any idea of what it would be like for him if God granted showing him his glory. Or possibly it was a spur of the moment request. Either way I guarantee that what he received from God was far more wonderful than he anticipated.

Exodus 33:19,

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.” 

The first thing that God was revealing to Moses is that God is good. God’s glory lies in his goodness. For us, this doesn’t stir the heart because we would expect God to proclaim his greatness, his majesty, his power, his justice, and his wrath against sin, but goodness? When we think of ourselves and others we are used assuming that we all have a somewhat dual nature. Sometimes the best of us are not good, we each have Yin and Yang, a bit of light and darkness. We’re sinners and on our best day we are not completely good.

However, God is always entirely good, even his justice, power and wrath must be understood as aspects of his goodness. That sounds like the most obvious thing we could say about God, but actually, God meant this revelation of his goodness to drive home the reason that we should never suspect that he is being unfair, unfaithful, unjust, or is asking us for too much. He was saying to Moses, “I am good” and once that is realized, it changes everything. Moses was not just going to see God’s goodness, “And I will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.”

Again Dr. Martin 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.”

This is a very important point that we must understand if we are to be a people of God who reveal to a lost and dying world the truth about God’s character and nature. If a person thinks of God like a benevolent grandfather or one of the options that we have among others, then I feel safe in saying they do not know him. The majority of the children of Israel followed God as long as he satisfied all their demands, but if made to suffer and little or when they felt threatened they looked elsewhere. You know why? Because they didn’t understand his goodness or realize the truth about his name.

This problem has followed the church down through history and it’s very present with us today in the United States. We have largely forgotten that God and his Word are to be our guide to what it means to know God intimately. Some don’t want to because they can’t predict what he might ask of them. Some don’t know who he really is according to his word because they haven’t been taught. The concern is that the reason our nation has by in large become grossly immoral, addicted to comfort and pleasure, and so terribly fractured is not just because of ungodliness but because God is not honored and known for who he really is according to God’s word. On September 26th we will participate in “The Return,” a national day of prayer and repentance. However, in October we will be offering a 12-week series entitled, “Behold Your God”. I’ll be sending out information on this series very soon. We want to invite people from all around our community to join us as we investigate who God is according to his word. That is our hope for the future of this country—that God will be truly known.

Let’s pray.


©2020 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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