Now let us turn to the Word of
God here in Exodus chapter 33 and I draw your attention tonight
to words that we find at the end of the chapter verses 18
and 19. Exodus 33 18 and 19 we have the prayer of Moses and the Lord's
answer. He said, I beseech thee, show
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 show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And in these verses we surely
see something of the glory of the sovereign grace of God. Moses speaks of the glory of
God. The Lord answers in terms of
his goodness and his grace and mercy. Now, as I said, as we
read through the chapter in the context in the previous chapter,
We have that sad account of their awful idolatry over the matter
of the golden calf. And God would have disinherited
them. But we see Moses as that one
who is a faithful mediator, and we find him pleading on their
behalf. And here, of course, in the words
that I've just read as our text, we see him, as it were, continuing
in his prayer at verse 12 we find him praying Moses said
unto the Lord and so there in verses 12 and 13 we have the
words that he is speaking again at verse 15 Moses says unto the
Lord if thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence in all
these verses we we see there is communion between Moses and
his God. God had in fact refused that
he would now go before the children of Israel. He brought them out
of the bondage that was Egypt. He had said he would give them
the Promised Land as their inheritance, but now God says, He will not
go up, verse 3. I will not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee by
the way. But what does Moses do? Moses won't accept that. He pleads
with God in verse 15. If thy presence go not with me,
he says, carry us not up hence. And how does he plead with God?
He pleads in terms of the grace of God, that's all he's pleading.
He speaks so much of that grace, that sovereign grace of God there
at the end of verse 12. 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, show 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. And again at verse 16, 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? And so in his intercession on
behalf of this wicked, sinful, idolatrous people all that Moses
can do is to is to plead God's and the grace of God and of course
that is the case always in our prayers In the New Testament
we see how the mercy seat there of the Old Testament is referred
to as a throne of grace. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, says the Apostle, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Well, let us
turn to these two verses, and as I said in verse 18, we have
Moses' prayer In verse 19 we have God's gracious answer, and
that's the division that I want us to follow as we look at the
verses. First of all, the request of
Moses. And what is it that he asks?
He asks to see the glory of God's. I beseech thee, he says, show
me thy glory. And In this particular petition,
Dr. Gill remarks that there is sincerity
but there's also frailty. There's a certain weakness in
the request that Moses is making. The face is said to be the glory
of the man because in the face we have that full view of the
person and did Moses really desire that he might see God and that
he might see the glory that belongs to God we know that he could
not he could not see God as God says in verse 20 thou canst not
see my face for there shall no man see me and live no man hath
seen God at any time John tells us the only begotten son which
is in the bosom of the father he hath declared him Moses did
not really see God, now I know it says back at verse 11 how
the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto
his friend but we're not to think in that language that it means
that Moses did literally see the face of God no man can see God, God is a
spirit but God is pleased to reveal himself to us in human
terms the technical word anthropomorphism God speaking of himself as if
he were a man Moses did not really see God. The important words
there in verse 11 are those words, spake and speaketh. The Lord spake unto Moses face
to face as a man speaketh unto his friends. What is being indicated
there is the intimacy of the relationship, the intimacy of
the communion. between God and Moses, how favored
Moses was because God dealt with him so personally and it wasn't
just a matter of God dealing in that fashion with Moses, that
was also the case with regards to the children of Israel in
Deuteronomy 5.4 Moses reminds them, the Lord talked with you
face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy
5 is a reminder to them of what had
happened here in Exodus It's a repetition really of the Ten
Commandments that we have in Exodus chapter 20. It's repeated
there in Deuteronomy chapter 5. There at the beginning of
that chapter, the Lord talked with you face to face in the
mount. Oh, they were favored, just as
Moses was so greatly favored. Remember, again, what we read
at the end of Deuteronomy, There arose not a prophet since in
Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was a favored man, and these
were a very favored people. But at no time did either Moses
or the children of Israel see any similitude. Again, if we
go to the book of Deuteronomy, in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 15,
Moses reminds them they saw no similitude of God at Mount Horeb. They didn't see God face to face.
As I've said, the important thing here is those words, speak and
speaketh. God's revelation of himself is
a verbal revelation. Again, look how that's brought
out so clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 14 and the following
verses. As he says, the Lord commanded
me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that
you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess
it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no
manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you
in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves
and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure
the likeness of male or female and so forth. They are strictly
forbidden to make any representation because they never saw God. But God spoke to them, and God
spoke to them in that intimate, friendly fashion. He spoke to
them as He spoke to Moses. He spoke face to face. And so we see here something
of the weakness of the prayer of Moses when he asks to see
the glory of God. No, God's revelation of himself
is a verbal revelation. And Moses must remember that
we walk by faith and not by sight. And faith really has to do more
with that sense of hearing. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. It's a sincere prayer. And yet,
in what Moses is requesting, we see something of his spiritual
weakness. but at the same time as I say
it's a sincere prayer and there is a strength in his praying
throughout these verses how Moses will press home his petitions
how he will not be refused he will obtain the thing that he
desires of the Lord he turns the promises of God into petitions
He reminds God of what he had said at verse 14. My presence
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. That's the promise
of God. And what does Moses do? He said
unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up
hence. Oh, how bold he is. And interestingly,
this word presence that we have in verses 14 and 15 is really
the word face. If thy face go not with me, carry
us not up hence. He wants to know that God is
there, God is in the midst of them. They're yet in communion
with God. God is not that one who is afar
off. But they must, of course, walk by faith, and not by science. What had they done? They'd sinned
against God. Remember the language of the prophet Isaiah? Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God, he says. and your sins
have heard his face from you." Well, this is what is so grievous
to the man Moses. God's face is hidden. God is
not there. His presence is not being felt
in the midst of the congregation. He wants to know that God is
there. The psalmist says, there'll be many that say, who will show
us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon me." And remember that blessing that
the priests were to pronounce upon the people of Israel at
the end of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord spake unto Moses saying,
Speak unto Aaron, and unto his son, saying, On this wise ye
shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless
thee, and keep thee, the Lord make his face shine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. And thou shalt put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them." All that name, all
that God is, that is what is revealed in his name. And this
is what Moses really is so desirous of. This is the strength of his
prayer. He wants to know that God is yet there in the midst
of Israel graciously beholding them. Look at the reply that
the Lord gives, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
he says. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. Or doesn't God's name speak of
His mercy and of His grace? The psalmist says, make thy face
to shine upon thy servant. This is what Moses really desires. And he keeps on persevering and
pressing his prayer home. He will not be refused. John Newton says the best returns
for one like me so wretched and so poor is from his gift to draw
a plug and ask him still for more and Moses will do that this
is the strength of his prayer or look at what he he asked God
to do he says show me literally cause me to say I beseech Thee,
cause me to see Thy glory." Oh, he does know that any knowledge
that he might have of God can only come by revelation. God must come and God must manifest
Himself, or there can be no knowledge of Him. No man knoweth the Son
but the Father. neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." There
is a certain weakness in the prayer and yet there's sincerity,
there's strength in the prayer. Though Gill speaks of it being
a frail and a weak prayer in many respects, but it's real
prayer. Our prayers sometimes might be
very weak and we might scarce know what we're saying or what
we're asking for but our comfort is that the Lord is gracious
and He understands, He interprets our prayer think of the language
that we have there in in Romans chapter 8 concerning the ministry
of the Holy Spirit how He maketh intercession for us with groanings
that cannot be uttered And He says, He that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. God searches our hearts.
He knows the mind of the Spirit in which we are brought to pray
when we know that gracious work of God the Holy Ghost. And He
answers according to all the needs of the saints. the request
then of the man Moses, and then the answer that God gives in
this reply. What does he do? He reveals to
Moses his goodness and his grace. Moses speaks of glory. Show me
thy glory. God says, I will make all my
goodness pass before thee. and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
Isn't this really the glory of God? Matthew Henry says it is the
glory of mercy rather than the glory of majesty. We might think,
you see, of that glory that's spoken of in verse 18 as being
the majesty of God, the might of God the power, the omnipotence
of God but the glory of God is his mercy and his grace and we
see it ultimately in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself the guy in the psalm, he says of God thou art good
and thou doest Well, this is the God that we
have to do with when we come together to pray. He is able
to do all things, nothing is impossible with Him. That's our comfort. He is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to that power that worketh in us. according to all that he
has revealed of himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. All is to
the honor of his name. And so as we think of God's reply,
observe here something of the glory of the grace of God. He says, I will proclaim the
name of the Lord. What is the name that is being
proclaimed? It's the Covenant name. It's
Lord's, in capital letters. It's the great I Am that I Am.
It's that One who is the faithful God of the everlasting Covenant. We're to think then here of this
proclamation of God's name in terms of grace. Although, of
course, what we have here in the context generally is the
giving of the law to the children of Israel, back in chapter 20. But this is now the proclamation
of the grace of God. What does He say? I will be gracious,
to whom I will be gracious. and I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy." These are the words that are taken up by
the Apostle in that remarkable ninth chapter in the Epistle
to the Romans. There in Romans 19 at verse 15 He saith to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then is he not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God, that showeth mercy. And where is this mercy, this
grace revealed? It is in the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now Mark, what it says here,
God doesn't say to Moses, I will be angry with whom I will be
angry." He doesn't say that. Oh yes, God was truly vexed with
the children of Israel. They had broken the commandments
that not long previously the Lord had given to them. Look
at what it says back in chapter 32, verse 15, Moses turned and
went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony
were in his hand. That's the tables, the two tables
of the law. And the tables were written on
both their sides. On the one side and on the other
were they written. And the tables were the work
of God. And the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the
tables. Moses comes down with the tables
of the commandments. In verse 19, as soon as he came
nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing of Moses'
anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and
break them beneath the mount. Very much a symbolic act. They
had broken the commandment already. They had made a graven image,
and Moses, in his anger, breaks the Ten Commandments before their
eyes. God himself has every right,
of course, to be angry with them. He is a holy God, a just God,
a righteous God. and he is a God who will by no
means clear the guilty and so God doesn't say here I will be
angry with whom I will be angry because God's wrath God's wrath
is always a holy wrath and a just wrath when God is angry he comes
as that one who will punish sins we know that he will by no means
clear the guilty Isn't that what we see here in the following
chapter? Verse 7 of chapter 34, we read
of Him 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. He will
not clear the guilty. He will punish sin if God is
angry. There's a reason for it. But
here we see the sovereignty of God's mercy. They all deserve
His wrath. But He says to Moses, I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy. We know that there are two parts
to God's decree. There's the election of grace,
but there's also the solemn truth of reprobation. But the first
part of reprobation is what they call preterition. It's God passing
over. He passes over a people. He leaves
them in all their sin and all their guilt. But when He comes
to those whom He has mercy upon, it is a sovereign act of His
will. That is the difference. That
is the glory of the grace of God. I will, He says. It is not
of Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth. It is of God that
showeth mercy. But in this reply, as it is developed
at the end of the chapter, we see wherein that mercy and that
grace of God is to be found and it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 21, 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 cliff 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." And here we have the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. We know that they were still
there at Mount Horeb, verse 6. were told how they stripped themselves
of their ornaments by the Mount Horeb. Now, if we go back to
chapter 17, look at what we read there in verse 5. Verses 5 and 6 in chapter 17. where the Lord says to Moses,
Go on before the people, take with thee of the elders of Israel
and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand
and go. The rod that he had had when
he divided the Red Sea. And God says, verse 6, Behold,
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. And thou shalt smite the rock,
and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. This is that rock, you see, that
is being spoken of again here at the end of chapter 33. There
is a place by me, says God, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. What is that rock? Well, we know
what that rock is, because we're told quite specifically in the
New Testament, 1 Corinthians 10, and verse 4, that rock was
Christ, it says. That rock was Christ. Rock of ages, Cleft for Mer.
Let me hide myself in thee, says Augustus, top lady. Or thou shalt
stand upon the rock. I will put thee in a cliff of
the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by,
says God. Or that rock is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does the psalmist say?
When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me to the rock. that is higher than I. This is the mercy of God. It's
there that we see it in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
the prayer of Moses, show me thy glory. But where do we see
the glory of God? Lord, we have that verse, 2 Corinthians
4, 6. The God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's there. It's in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. My presence shall go with thee,
says God. My face. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is, of course, that one who
is the angel that does indeed go before them to lead them in
the way. But it's interesting what we
have at the end here. I will take mine hand away, and
thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Now, says the apostle, we see
through a glass darkly. Again, John says, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. or now we do, we see through
a glance, darkly but we are yet to behold Him
in all the glory of heaven that is the believers blessed hope
or the prayer then of this man now Moses is that one who does
direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ remember on the Mount of Transfiguration,
those favored disciples, they saw the Lord transfigured, they
saw through the veil of his humanity, the veil of his humiliation,
they saw something of the glories of his deity, and they saw two
talking with him, Moses and Elijah, it says, and they spake of his
decease, they spake of his death, that he would accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses. Moses bears his testimony
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the language that we find
at the end of the fifth chapter of John's Gospel, where the Lord
Jesus is speaking to those Jews who were so ready to accuse him
of blasphemy because he declared himself to be the Son of God. What does he say there in John
5? Verse 45, Do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? And here, in
this portion that we consider tonight, doesn't Moses direct
us to the Lord Jesus Christ? Or the prayer of Moses? I beseech
thee, show me my glory, he says to the Lord. And the Lord comes
with this gracious answer, I will make all my goodness pass before
thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. I will put thee in a cliff of
the rock, he says. May the Lord be pleased to put
us in that place of safekeeping and to grant to us such a revealing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless this word
to us. Let us now sing the hymn 943, the tune Mainzer
364. The God of Grace delights to
hear the plaintiff cry the humble prayer, nor shall the weakest
saint complain that he has sought the Lord in vain. 943.