Transcript

James Denney, a Scotch preacher and theologian used to warn his students against thinking they could learn all there was to know about God during their university and seminary studies. “Gentlemen,” he’d tell them, “to study infinity requires eternity.”

In Exodus 33, Moses made a request of the Lord. He asked for the blessed privilege, “that I may know Thee.” As we are considering the question “What Is My Purpose?” knowing God, knowing Him in a deeper, fuller way, and growing in our knowledge of Him throughout our lives is a “purpose” we each should live for.

We’ll be growing in our knowledge of God throughout eternity. And God would have us start now, because there is much joy, peace, and strength in doing so. And as we do so, our lives will be transformed by His grace.

Exodus 33:7-11: “And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

“And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.

“And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

“And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

“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.”

The account before us follows the debacle of the golden calf and Israel’s worship of it. And the fact that this took place is astounding in light of all Israel had recently seen and experienced.

Israel had seen the wondrous plagues in Egypt by God’s hand. They experienced the Passover when God judged the firstborn in Egypt and passed over those who put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts.

They had followed God’s deliverer, Moses, as he led them out of slavery. They’d seen the Red Sea split open by God’s awesome power with the water standing in a heap on each side of them as they crossed over on dry ground.

They saw the waters return and the Egyptian army wiped out after they crossed.

They had followed God’s pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night as He led them to Mt. Sinai. At Sinai they’d seen God’s power and majesty as He came down upon the mount with fire, lightning, and smoke, and they felt earth shaking beneath their feet.

Yet when Moses was on the mount receiving the 10 Commandments and his return was delayed and took longer than they anticipated, they had Aaron create a god after their own liking, a golden idol, and began to worship it at the foot of the mountain.

When Moses came down from the mountain and saw that wicked scene of idolatry, he threw the stone tablets down and broke them, as a sign of how Israel had broken them. Following this, 3000 people were killed for their disobedience.

Rightly so, God was not pleased with Israel. As a result, in verse 3, the Lord told Moses and Israel that in their journey to the Promised Land, “I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.”

This bothered Moses greatly. And so he interceded for Israel in this chapter.

The “tabernacle” in verse 7 is not the tabernacle of the Lord with the brazen altar, Holy of holies, and ark of the covenant, where God’s presence resided and where the people brought their sacrifices. This tabernacle had not yet been constructed or set up and would not be for a number of months.

In the time prior to the construction of the tabernacle, Moses just pitched a tent outside the camp of Israel, at some distance off, that he used to consult with God.

God had been dwelling in their midst, but because of His displeasure and His words that He would not dwell in the midst of them, the tent was set up “afar off from the camp.”

This tent though was a special meeting place where God graciously met with Moses, and he with God. And verse 7 says that anyone in Israel could go to this tent to seek after, or to pray and worship the Lord.

But when Moses headed for this tent, everyone stopped and dropped what they were doing, gathered the family around, so they could all watch this amazing scene.

Moses would walk out to the tent and when he entered it, the cloudy pillar, the glory cloud of God’s presence, that led the nation on their journey, would descend on the tent and it stood at the tent door. And the Lord would talk with Moses.

As the people of Israel witnessed this, they were awestruck at this incredible sight, and it moved them to worship God, individually at the doors of their tents.

Verse 12 says the “Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,” or in the way friends talk together.

They spoke together in an open, apparent way, not through dreams and visions, not from the distance of heaven, not through any kind of go-between whatsoever, but as closely and directly as two friends talk to one another.

What a privilege for Moses! It reminds me of a couple things. First, of the privilege of our personal relationship with God, that God speaks to us by His Word and we can speak directly to God in prayer and know that our prayers are always heard.

And the second thing it makes us think about is that one day in heaven, we’ll have a similar experience as Moses, that Lord will speak unto us face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

Meeting with God at this tent outside the camp, also teaches a principle for us I believe. Sometimes it’s good to go outside the camp of our lives, outside the normal routine and busyness of it, to get away to spend time with the Lord alone, just you and Him.

When it says that Lord spoke unto Moses “face to face,” it doesn’t mean Moses saw God’s face, but that God spoke to Moses in a 1 on 1 meeting. God appeared to Moses in a way in which human frailty could bear, and never in all His glory.

We learn as we go on here, that no one could ever survive seeing God’s face.

When Moses returned to his home within the camp after communing with the Lord, verse 11 says that his servant Joshua, stayed behind at this tent and special meeting place with God. Joshua didn’t want to leave this special place of meeting with God.

His desire to be near the Lord was so strong that he stayed there. Do we have that kind of desire for nearness to God in life? That’s the kind of purpose God wants for us.

And apparently Joshua didn’t have parents or maybe they didn’t claim him, because it says here he was “the son of Nun.”

Exodus 33:12,13: “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.

“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.”

We are given access to one of the Lord’s and Moses’ face to face meetings in verses 12-23. We learn what was said between them in their conversation.

The Lord had told Moses in chapter 32, verse 24, and in this chapter in verse 2, that He was going to send an angel to go before Israel on their journey to the Promised Land, because God said He would “not go up in the midst” of them.

Moses told the Lord that He had told them to bring up this people from Egypt to the Promised Land, but “thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me.”

Moses wanted more information about who this angel was who was going to go before them on the journey to the land God promised to Israel.

But Moses’ real concern was that he didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything if the Lord God wasn’t with him. He reminded the Lord that He had said that He knew him [or Moses] by name, and that he had found grace in the Lord’s sight.

Having found grace in being chosen as Israel’s deliverer and leader, he appealed to the Lord how he needed more grace at this moment.

In knowing him by name, and in knowing everything about him, then the Lord knew how Moses knew that he could not do this alone, and that he needed Him.

Thus, in verse 13 Moses made a request for God to “shew me now thy way” to let him know His will and intention and purposes. Moses wanted God’s “way” revealed to him. He was pleading with God to show him the way He intended to help him lead Israel to Canaan.

Moses based his appeal on the grace of God, “if I have found grace in thy sight,” because he knew that he didn’t deserve to know this. Being God, the Lord didn’t have to tell Moses.

Moses was very mindful of that. Moses further based his appeal for knowing God’s plans for how they would proceed on the fact that the nation of Israel were God’s people.

Moses desired to KNOW God’s will about how they would proceed to the Promised Land, and Moses’ further desire was “that I may KNOW Thee.”

light of God knowing Moses’ name and everything about Moses, he wanted to know God’s way, and all there is to know about God. The Lord knew him, and Moses wanted to know the Lord. And knowing the Lord God more was also a request based on grace. He knew he didn’t deserve the blessed privilege of knowing God and neither do we.

God would have us model Moses’ interest in God and his desire to know Him.

Moses knew a good number of things. He spent 40 years in the best Egyptian schools growing up in Pharaoh’s household. He knew Egyptian life and culture.

He spent another 40 years in the desert and knew the desert and shepherding, having lived as a nomadic shepherd.

But what Moses needed to know the most and more of always in his life was God. That’s always our greatest need and is our greatest purpose: to know the Lord.

Up until this point, Moses had known God by the burning bush, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But he wanted more of God. He was not satisfied with what he knew. He wanted to know Him more. He wanted more insight into Him, His will & ways.

Moses desired a deeper, fuller, and more blessed knowledge of God personally for himself, and to know and understand the true, living God. That’s what we need to do as well.

Knowing God is not a mere holding of information. We’re not built like computers to simply store information. Knowledge of God isn’t a matter of memorizing Bible verses in order to debate biblical issues and win arguments about God and doctrine with skill.

It is valuable knowledge and true illumination when it hits the heart and translates into a life that imitates God. Moses wanted to know God so he could lead the God’s people as God would lead them. He wanted to know Him so he could model God’s mercy, wisdom, and love before Israel.

Daniel 11:32 says: “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” We find purpose and strength in life in knowing Him more. We can “do exploits” as we know Him, serve Him, and allow Him to work through our lives.

Like any relationship, knowing someone is a result of spending time with them. So knowing God comes by spending time with Him. We spend time with God, by spending time in His Word and in prayer.

To know God in a deeper way we’ve got to want to read God’s Word as much as a teenager wants to read text messages in their inbox.

The reason people hang on to their cellphones with such fervor and can’t live without it, is because of one word: connection. They want to stay connected with others.

And when we want to be connected to God like that, closeness with God emerges and knowledge of Him grows.

Like any other relationship, knowledge of another person takes time to develop, and likewise, we don’t get to know God in a day or over a weekend. It takes time and faithfulness to grow and to know Him.

Harry Fosdick compared our knowledge of God with our understanding of the sea. He said, “I know the sea but I don’t truly know the vastness of the sea or everything about it. There is a part of the sea that washes up on the sands of my life. And yet, I know only a very little part of the sea.”

It’s the same way with God. We get to know a small part of Him like the water comes ashore from the vast ocean, and yet, He is so magnificent and huge that we don’t know everything about Him or His vastness and greatness. Like James Denney, said, “to study infinity requires eternity.” We know very little in comparison to how big He is.

And as we know Him by His Word, His Word has such depth, that we can study it for all our lives, and we will never stop learning and growing in our knowledge of Him.

Exodus 33:14-17: “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

“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.

“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.”

The Lord told Moses, “My Presence shall go with thee.” A change took place. God said earlier, “I will not go with you.” But the Lord responded to Moses’ plea and now said He would go with him.

Moses’ heart likely leaped for joy when he heard that God would go with him, and personally accompany Israel and lead them to the place of rest in the promised land.

You can’t blame Moses for his concern. He was surrounded by a million grumbling, rebellious Israelites who wanted to go back to Egypt. He was surrounded by a desert full of parching winds and lack of water, unsure how to get where they were going.

He needed to know that he was not in the task alone. God’s presence meant purpose, guidance, power, companionship, comfort, and wisdom.

Life gets scary sometimes. 2020 is an especially uncertain time. God’s presence means everything. It gives us comfort and strength in the fearful and burdensome things of life and to face its uncertainties. It did for Moses. And it does for us.

The prospect of leading Israel through the wilderness without God’s presence frightened Moses. He told the Lord, “If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Moses was telling the Lord, that they needed Him to go with them, that it was pointless to travel any further without Him, that they were nothing without Him.

In verse 16, Moses told the Lord that Israel wouldn’t be Israel without God’s presence. The thing that distinguished Israel from the other nations was that God was present with them. Without God’s presence they would not be a people set apart from others. And Moses recognized that this also was only by grace and that they did not deserve it.

God graciously answered Moses’ request for both himself and the people. The presence of God would remain with Moses and the nation of Israel.

And for us the Body we are always assured of God’s uninterrupted presence. We are in Christ and Christ is in us, and He is with us always, and will never forsake us.

Exodus 33:18-23: “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

“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.

“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

“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: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

Emboldened by answered prayer, Moses got even bolder. But God likes big and bold requests, as they demonstrate how much we believe He is able.

In faith, Moses made a daring request. He beseeched or begged God, “Show me your glory.” This request came out of Moses’ deep desire for the presence of God and also for a deeper revelation of God out of his longing for “that I may know Thee.”

A.W. Tozer wrote, “Come near to the holy men and women of the past, and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him, the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking.”

Moses had seen some amazing things already from God: a bush that wouldn’t burn; his shepherds’ staff turned into a snake; the plagues on the nation of Egypt; the parting of the Red Sea; and the fire and thunder on Mount Sinai.

But the more you see and know of God, the more you want to see and know. Moses knew there was so much more to God and he wanted to see it.

Asking to see God’s glory was not like asking God for His autograph. Or even for some kind of special miracle. Moses was seeking to draw closer. This is as deep as you can get. Moses wanted not only God’s Presence, he wanted God’s Essence!

We find purpose in our life when we seek after God’s glory and we live for His glory.

God’s glory is the sum total of His perfections. It speaks to His presence and essence in who He is in His infinite greatness. God’s glory is tied to His goodness and His name according to verse 18, as in response to Moses’ request the Lord told him that His goodness would pass before him and He would proclaim His name to Moses.

The Lord further told Moses that He would be gracious to whom He would be gracious and would show mercy to whom He would show mercy. In other words, no act of grace or mercy is merited by man; God’s own will is the basis of all His blessings.

They come because God is good, gracious, and merciful, by His own choice. And by His grace and mercy, God is telling Moses, He would indeed show him His glory.

The Lord told Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see Me, and live.” God’s glory is too much, too glorious for man to handle. God is God and is always going to be God, and we are not. We can’t erase the line. We are small, weak, frail, fleeting mortals.

And no human being can come into the full presence of God’s glory and presence in his natural body and survive. God in His full glory is unapproachable by man in his natural state. The full display of the power of the glory of God would overwhelm and destroy any and all sinful flesh that its brightness would shine on.

1 Timothy 6:16 says God in the Person of Christ “only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.”

Moses is told by the Lord about all the cautionary measures that needed to be taken for God to respond only in part to Moses’ request to see more of Him and His glory.

Moses would stand upon a rock on Mount Sinai, and when God’s glory passed by, God would put Moses in a cleft of the rock, or in a crack in that rock on the mountain.

Then, God would cover Moses with His almighty hand, protecting and shrouding him, until His glory passed by. Then God would remove His hand and Moses could see God’s glory, but only the back parts of it.

The glory and splendor was so great God HAD to shield Moses’ view with His hand, so Moses would not see the fuller essence of God’s glory as it shone from His face.

Imagine what that was like! Moses standing on a rock, then being placed in a crack in that rock with his heart racing.

And after God lifted His hand, Moses received a guarded glimpse of the all-consuming, matchless glory of the heart and center and power of the God of the Universe.

Moses was allowed to see the back parts, or the afterglow of God’s glory which was left behind, which was as much as human nature could endure and survive.

Colossians 3:3 tells us that “your life is hid with Christ in God.” Christ is the Rock and our “hiding place” as Scripture says. From no other place than in Christ will we see God’s glory in heaven and experience all the blessings of the grace and mercy of God.

As the old hymn says, “A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, A wonderful Savior to me; He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, Where rivers of pleasure I see.

“He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land; He hideth my life in the depths of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand.”