Let us turn again to God's Word in the portion of Holy Scripture we were considering this morning in Exodus 34. And I'll read the portion from verse 1, but reading right through to verse 7. We read the first four verses earlier in the morning service, but reading now from verse 1 right through to the end the end of verse 8 actually we'll read to and the Lord said unto Moses you 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 breakest 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 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.

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. And the Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, 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. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped.

I want us to consider in particular the words that we have here in verse 5. I text it verse 5. where we read, and the Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

Just briefly to say what we were considering this morning. We were looking, as I said, at those opening four verses and how we see the covenant being renewed, how they are transgressed, as I said earlier before we read the 33rd chapter tonight reminding you how we read in chapter 32 earlier and there of course we had that terrible account, that awful account of the way in which they had broken the covenant that God had made with them at Mount Sinai in the matter of the golden calf.

Osmosis was in the mounts. 40 days and 40 nights they'd gone weary and they'd asked errand to make them a god. He makes the golden calf and they make use of it in order, as it were, to worship the lords. It's a sort of syncretism. It's mixing the ways of the pagan nations round about them with their idols. but thinking that through an idol they can dress the Lord their God.

And he told them quite plainly in the words of the covenants, the tables of the law, referred to in Deuteronomy 9 as the tables of the covenants, those ten commandments. He had made it clear that they were to have no gods before him. Nothing was to be put before his face. They were not to make any graven images. They were not to take his name in vain. And this is the very thing that they had done.

Moses mediates on their behalf. God would cast them off. God would disinherit them. He would make of Moses another nation. But Moses prays, pleads with God that the Lord would not forget the promise he had made to their fathers, to Abraham. and to Isaac and to Jacob.

They must know something of repentance and that's really what I was trying to speak of with regards to what we're told in the opening verses of this 34th chapter. There are retracings here, renewings, the work of repentance, the remaking of the tables of the law Moses again being called up to the mount remember the first time he had been called into the mount as we see there back in in chapter 19 at verse 20 he was to go into the mount to the top of the mount and so again now God says to him in verse 2 be ready in the morning and come up in the morning onto Mount Sinai and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount and also in verse 3 he's told quite clearly that no other man should come with him neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount just as he had said back in chapter 19 the first time when he first gave them the commandments in chapter 19 and verses 12 and 13 they were to put bounds all around the mount

And no one, no creature was to come anywhere near that mount. It was but Moses who was to go into the top of the mount and to receive the tables of that covenant. And so there's this repetition, there's the doing of those same things all over again. And also we observed that the first time Moses was in that mount 40 days and 40 nights, and so again it must be 40 days and 40 nights in the mount there in verses 27 and 28 of this 34th chapter the Lord says unto Moses write thou these words for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with Israel and he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights he did neither eat bread nor drink water and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenants, the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words.

There's a restoring here, there's going back, as it were, to the beginnings. This is a cost of repentance. doing the first works. That was the message that was given at the end of Scripture to that church at Ephesus. Remember the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3 and there. At the beginning of the second chapter we have the letter addressed to the church at Ephesus. They have to repent. How will they manifest their repentance? By doing their first work. They've got to bring forth fruit made for repentance.

Well, these are some of those things that we were remarking on this morning. It's a renewing here of the of the covenant. It's the Sinaitic covenant. It's the covenant of works. But then we, at the end, drew a contrast between that and the New Covenant, which is the Gospel, and how different is the New Covenant. There's all these externals here, but when we read in Jeremiah 31, we see that the new covenants, which is the gospel, is that that God does in the hearts of men. He writes his laws upon fleshy tables of the heart. And the apostle goes on to speak of these things in Hebrews chapter 8. That's an important chapter. And also in that chapter that we read tonight in 2 Corinthians chapter chapter 3.

But what I want us to consider more particularly this evening is what follows this renewing of the covenant that's spoken of in the opening four verses and then at verse 5 we have that statement the Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord the proclamation of the name of the Lord the revelation the revelation of God really that's what we have here and how God is so true to his words those words that we have remember at the end of the previous 33rd chapter the end of that chapter verse 17 the Lord says unto Moses I will do this thing also that they were spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name God will yet go with these people he will hear the prayer of Moses they are not going to be cast off God will yet renew his favours to them for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name and then Moses says I beseech thee show me thy Glory, and that glory that he's spoken of is what he's revealed really in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

And then he goes on, doesn't he, to say, behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And then he puts him in the cliff of the rock, and that rock is Christ. Oh, that rock is Christ. It's in Christ that Moses sees really something of the greatness and the glory of God.

Well, back before the Christmas and the New Year holiday, we were looking at those words in verse 18, and that remarkable request that Moses makes there, I beseech thee, show me thy glory and I say again it's in the Lord Jesus the word was made flesh and dwelt among us says John remember John 1 14 and we beheld his glory what is God's glory is the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Here we have then that remarkable revelation of God even to this man Moses. Let us consider first of all how God is here very much declaring Himself. He declares Himself. The Law is such a revelation of God. And we see the connection between what's said in verse 4 and what's said in verse 5. Here is Moses rising up early in the morning, going up into Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded, and having in his hand the two tables of stone. And then the Lord descends in the cloud and stands with him and proclaims the name of the Lord.

The Lord's name is being proclaimed, in a sense, in the commandments. The commandments are very much a revelation of God himself. Remember how, when we go back to those commandments, which are there in the 20th chapter, the Lord speaks, the Lord spake, all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And God speaking is declaring Himself. God is revealing Himself. There is certainly a revelation of God in the Ten Commandments. Surely we see something of God's character, His holiness, His righteousness, His justice.

And when these commandments are repeated to the children of Israel in that fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, some 40 years later, when they've been through the wilderness wanderings and the whole generation has passed, and now they're about to enter into the promised land. What do we read? We have the laws repeated in Deuteronomy 5, and there at verse 24, you see what Moses says of those laws? Ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and He liveth." They're acknowledging that God had showed them something of Himself, He had revealed Himself in the commandments.

Paul himself tells us, doesn't he, that the commandment is holy or the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good because it is it's God's law it's a revelation of all that God is in himself but the gospel is a fuller revelation The Gospel is the ultimate revelation, the final revelation of the Lord God. The law was given by Moses, yes, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It is quite clear that the glory that is in the Gospel far excels any glory that was in the law of God.

We have those remarkable words at the beginning of the epistle to the Hebrews in which we learn quite clearly that now in these last days God has given to us His full, His final revelation in the person of His only begotten Son no more revelation, we know that there's no more to be revealed after the coming of Christ or there is a false prophet, Mohammed But that's no revelation from God.

God who at sundry times and in diverse manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. This is that mark of the last days, the final revelation of God. It's in his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.

How can there be any other revelation if this one is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person? He is God of gods. He is light of light. He is very God of very gods. He is the eternal Son of God. The express image of His person.

the one who upholds all things by the word of his power who has come and purged our sins and is now sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high so the Apostle declares air to the Hebrews no man no man hath seen God at any time Moses doesn't see the face of God does he? God makes it quite clear, my face shall not be seen, we read there at the end of chapter 33. He sees God's backward parts, but my face shall not be seen, no mouth seen God. At any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.

And we, oh we read that passage, that other most significant passage in the third chapter of 2nd Corinthians. And what does the Apostle say here? He speaks of the difference between a revelation of God that's written in tables of stone and a revelation of God that comes into the hearts of men where God writes that law on the fleshly tables of men's hearts that excels all the glory of the first if the ministration of death written and engraved in stones was glorious he says so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance and we read of that at the end of chapter 34 in Exodus which glory was to be done away, he says.

How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." The Gospel then is that revelation in which God gives that final declaration of himself, reveals himself fully. And how does God do it? Well, the Lord descends. That's what we're told here in the text. The Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

And notice two things here. What is God doing as he descends in the clouds? Well, he's humbling himself. He humbles himself. If he descends, He is the High, He is the Holy One, but He is God's Descending. And remember again the language of praise, the words of the Psalmist in the 113th Psalm. At verse 4 he says, the Lord is High above all nations. and his glory above the heavens who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth even when God beholds heavenly things he is humbling himself and now he has humbled himself of course in a very real sense in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ he thought it not robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation he took upon him the form of a servant he who is the eternal son of God in the covenant he becomes a servant of God and then he's found in fashion as a man in the fullness of the time God sends forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law.

And then when he's in fashion as a man, he humbles himself again even to the death of the cross. Oh, it's humility upon humility there in Philippians chapter 2, how God humbles himself. And here, of course, he's humbling himself as he beholds the the provocations of these wicked people who have so quickly gone out of the way and broken the covenant that he had entered into with them.

And so the Lord speaks there in chapter 32 verse 7. He says to Moses, go get thee down For thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves, they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

humbles himself and sends Moses down to them. They are transgressors. They are breakers of the covenant. And there is, as we were saying this morning, that judicial breaking of the tables of the law. As Moses comes down, he has the Ten Commandments, these tables in his hands, and he breaks them. at the foot of the mountain he breaks them before their eyes they see him do the deed but then Moses prays for them that God will not disown them that God will not disinherit them that God will yet have mercy upon them and what a prayer it is what a prayer it is that we have there at the end of chapter 32 In verse 31, Moses returned unto the Lord and said, All these people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet know, if thou wilt forgive their sin. And if not, it seems to break down in prayer there. If not, like me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written, And the Lord says to Moses, Whosoever sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

All the ways of the Lord. He is pleased to hear the pleadings of this man. What a mediator was Moses on behalf of this wicked, covenant-breaking people. Praying for them over and over and over again, so stiff-necked, often murmuring against him, blaming him. And yet, as he prays so, God is pleased to come and to renew the covenant. This is what we see here really in the words of the text. The Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And then again at verse 10 he said, Behold, I make a covenant before all thy people. I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I will do with them."

Moses does not pray in vain. The Lord is the good and the gracious God, and He humbles Himself. Though he renews, he renews that covenant. And yet, whilst God is humbling himself here, as he descends, he's also in a sense hiding himself. That's what we're told at the beginning of the 5th verse, the Lord descended in the cloud. What sort of a view will they have in the clouds? The psalmist again, Psalm 18 and verse 11, he made darkness his secret places. His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Moses, of course, who is the mediator, the one who goes and speaks to God face to face, Moses is the man who then puts the veil upon his face, as I said earlier, because his face shines when he comes down from the mount, and they cannot behold his face because he reflects something of the glories of God.

Verse 29, it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hands, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. He reflects in some measure, something of the glories that belong unto God.

At the end of the chapter, the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, and the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again, and he went in to speak with him, to speak with God. But they cannot abide seeing these things, and yet What do we read in 2 Corinthians 3.14? Which veil is done away in Christ. Those are the words we read earlier in that third chapter of 2 Corinthians. The veil is done away. It's done away only in the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Gospel is revealed there. in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ well amazing how remarkable are the ways of God and you know we see it don't we in a sense in the New Testament when Peter and James and John are favoured to go with the Lord into the mount not Mount Sinai but the Mount of Transfiguration it's another mount Interesting what we read in scripture concerning mounts Mount Sinai, Mount Calvary the Mount of Transfiguration.

Look at the language that is employed there in Luke's accounts of the Mount of Transfiguration when those favoured men see something of the glories of Christ's deity. The deity of course is veiled really in the days of his incarnation. He is here upon the earth as a man and a real man and he appears as a man but there it's as if the glory of his eternal sonship shines through that human nature you count there in Luke 9 verse 28 following really it takes Peter, James and John into the mountain he's transfigured before the and his raiment is white and glistering.

And behold, there talked with him two men, Moses and Elijah. They appeared with him in glory and spake of his decease, his death, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. He was going to accomplish that himself. No man was able to take his life. He dies by a voluntary sacrifice. He accomplished his own death. He gave himself as a sacrifice. And this is what is the subject matter of the conversation between Moses, the law, and Elijah, the prophets, the whole of the Old Testament as it were, pointing to Christ.

And then, verse 34, while he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud and there came a voice out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son hear him and when the voice was passed Jesus was found alone you see the clouds overshadows him and the others are all gone and it's the Lord alone how significant is that? Well, this is the glory that excelleth, that glory that is there in the Gospel.

Now, if Mount Sinai, as we have it being described there in chapter 19, in all the preparations for the coming of the Lord, if that was such a terrible thing to behold, and that's how we see it in that 19th chapter, how much more terrible is Mount Zion? which is identified with the Gospel. Remember Hebrews 12, where the Apostle speaks of the two mounts, Mount Sinai, the Law, and Mount Zion, the Gospel, and the language that he employs there concerning Mount Zion.

In Matthew chapter 12 at verse 18, he says, You are not come unto the mouth that might be touched, and the bird with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voiced I that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched a mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.

But, but, ye are come unto Mount Zion. and unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirit of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, or the New Covenant, the Better Covenant, the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel,

And then he says, See, that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice enshook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

You see, the law is gone. It's the gospel. And what do we make of the gospel? What do we make of the gospel of the grace of God? Oh, the Lord descending, you see, descending in the clouds. and stood within there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

Let me just briefly say something with regards to what it goes on to say here in verses 6 and 7. How the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and it 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."

What do we have here? This is the proclamation, you see, of the name. We have it there at the end of verse 5, He proclaimed the name of the Lord, and then repeated at the beginning of verse 6, and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God is a double proclamation. And what is it that is being proclaimed? Well, it's that great name, isn't it? It's the Lord. It's the Lord God. It's Jehovah. It's Jehovah El or Elohim. The Lord's twice there in verse 6 in capital letters, that's Jehovah, Jehovah. And then God's, that's Elohim. It's the fullness of the Divine. Now this is God declaring himself, proclaiming his name, revealing himself. And what do we learn? Well, we learn here that God is great. He's the self-existent one, the self-sufficient one, the almighty, the all-powerful, the unchanging one. He's that God who revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush, back in chapter 3. When Moses inquires, what is he to say to the children of Israel when they inquire who has sent him? God declares, I am that I am. The very pronouncement from which the name Jehovah is derived. The God of the Covenant. He's that one who is the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

He is the great God and He is that God who is such a good God. He is a great God and He is a good God. Look at what we read at the end of verse 6. He is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. All God is good, and God does good. The psalmist declares as much, doesn't he? Psalm 119 and verse 68.

This is the Lord God. This is the one that's spoken of, as you know, by the prophets in that lovely portion that we have at the end of the prophecy of Micah. Here at the end of Micah chapter 7. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Always ready to forgive these people, you see. They've committed such a great sin. I don't know that we can complain what they've done in the matter of the golden calf. It was the most gross idolatry. But we're idolatrous. We are a covetous people and covetousness is idolatry. We put anything in the place of God. That's idolatry. And yet the Lord God forgives. He forgives. Who is a God like unto thee that parteth iniquity and parteth by? Or what a word is that? He passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. God passes by here, doesn't it? That's what it says in the beginning of verse 6. The Lord passed by before him.

He passes by the sins of his people. We were reminded this afternoon at Hegen by Mr Bass in the course of preaching of those remarkable words in Ezekiel 16. Remember how it speaks of the newborn child disowned on the day of its birth, cast out in the open field. And he speaks, doesn't he? The prophet speaks of how the Lord's passed by. As for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple it. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eyed pitied thee to do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon them. But thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born this is Israel and when I pass by thee when I pass by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live or when the Lord passes by his people what a God is this God who does good to his people

He's a great God, but He's a good God, and He's a just God. We must not forget that. He's a just God also. The end of verse 7. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. He doesn't connive at sins. God doesn't connive at sins. We might. God doesn't. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, you should stand. But let's forgive us with God, that he may be feared. We should fear this God.

Thou wast a God that forgave us them, it says in the Psalm, but thou tookest vengeance on their invention. Didn't the Lord do that with Israel at this time? He did not connive at their sins. All his attributes, you see, are at stake. The wonderful thing is, in the Gospel, that all those attributes, they harmonise, they all come together so wonderfully. God is a just God and a Saviour. He's a just God and He's the God who justifies the sinner. Mercy and truth are met together. righteousness and peace have kissed each other oh that's the wonder of God and the goodness of God

but what do we read here in verse 6 again coming back to verse 6 as we close the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." He passed by. He doesn't abide, does he? He passes by. No fixed, permanent view of God in this life, really, until heaven itself. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, we'll see Him as He is, says John.

Remember the experience of Abraham, the father of the faithful, back in Genesis 18, when he entertains the angels, and one the angel of the Lord, entertaining strangers really, but entertaining God unawares. And we're told how the Lord went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abram. He never quite left him, of course. Never quite left him. But he had a favoured experience. And isn't that a lot here, really? We have those experiences when the Lord is very near, but not all the time. We're not forever living on mountaintops. Sometimes you have to go into deep valleys. Wherever we are, the Lord's with us, but we want those We want those favoured times when the Lord makes himself so real to us.

And this was surely Moses' experience at this time. He did see so much of the glory of the Lord. And where does he see it? He sees it really in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only place we will ever see it. Paul says himself there in 2 Corinthians forsakes the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is the great plea of Moses, isn't it? In that prayer back in verse 18 of chapter 33. Show me thy glory. It's a causative verb. Literally, it has the force of, cause me to say, cause me to sing. The Lord has to show us himself. What is Christianity? It's a revealed religion. It's the Lord making himself known. It's the Lord coming to us and proclaiming to us his very name.

The Lord descended in the clouds and stood with him there and proclaimed the name. of the Lord, or that the Lord would come and proclaim His name to us and do it time upon time upon time. The Lord be pleased and to bless His word to us. Amen.

Let us conclude our worship as we sing the hymn 556 to the tune Cleavager number 20

The Lord proclaims His name, and sinners hear His voice.
His mercy ever stands the same,
and will in Him rejoice.
556, tune number 20.