Now let's turn in our Bibles
to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. Now I'm going to deal with the last
few verses of this chapter. And these verses, beginning at
verse 18, are almost like a systematic theology. They are just profound
words of truth that speak out and communicate what we believe
as sinners saved by the grace of God. When we talk about sovereign
grace and sovereign mercy, it's right here. When we talk about
salvation of the Lord by the Lord Jesus Christ, it's right
here. And here Moses is praying and interceding for the people,
the nation Israel. God is speaking with Moses face-to-face
as a man speaks unto his friend. And you've got to consider in
the light of these verses here what Moses had in front of him,
what his duty was. Because Moses had the difficult
task of leading a people, a whole nation of people. And they weren't
very cooperative. In fact, God said they're a stiff-necked
people. They're rebellious people. And
Moses' task was to lead such people through the desert to
the promised land. And Moses knew that he was not
sufficient for it. He knew that it wasn't in his
power to do this. He's like every other true minister
of God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2
and verse 16, who is sufficient for these things? When he spoke
of the gospel ministry, preaching the word of life. He said, I
preach the gospel. And to some people, it's the
savor of life unto life, and to others, it's the savor of
death unto death. Who in the world is sufficient
for these things? He said in 2 Corinthians chapter
3, in that great description of a gospel ministry, he says
this in verse 5. He says, not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. Nothing comes
from us. If we're preaching truth, you
can rest assured it didn't come from me. That's what he's saying
there. If I'm preaching the word of God, it didn't originate or
come from me. So don't, don't, don't uplift
me. That's what he's saying there.
This is of God. And he says, he said there, he
says, but our sufficiency is of God. The power is God's. Moses knew that. He went on to
say, Paul did, he said, who also made us able, ministers of the
New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The preacher doesn't give
life, the Spirit does. We can't convert you, can't convert
ourselves. Christ said you must be born
of God, born again, born from above, born of the Spirit. And
then as we read in our opening tonight, talking about the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The next verse after that, in
2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7, Paul said this. Now, we have
a treasure. The gospel is a treasure. It's
called the treasure hid in a field. The pearl of great price. It's
the greatest thing that we have is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here's what he said. Now, who has this treasure? Weak,
sinful, pitiful men. He said in verse 7, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels. That's another way of saying
clay pots. They're breakable. They wear out. The treasure never
does. And he said the reason that this
is so is that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. In other words, the reason this is so is that you
might look to God and not to the preacher. You might look
to Christ. I love the verse of Scripture in John chapter 1. When it's talking about John
the Baptist, he was walking with two of his disciples. And he
was preaching to them and speaking to them the words of life, the
words of Christ, pointing them like he did all men. Behold,
the Lamb of God. Remember, John said, I'm not
the Messiah. He said, I'm not the one who gives life. I baptize
with water, but there's one coming after me, and he'll baptize with
the Spirit, with fire. He has the power. He has the
power to save you, and he has the power to change you. I don't
have that power, John said. And he and his two disciples
were walking there, and he looked over, and there was Jesus of
Nazareth. And after hearing John, it says
they followed Christ. They heard John, but they followed
Christ. And that's the way this is. You
see, Moses, they'll hear Moses, but if they're ever going, if
it's ever going to do any good, they'll follow God. Christ told
the Pharisees that he said Moses wrote of me. Now, here in these
verses, we see the nature of salvation, which is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. Here, Moses leading these rebellious
people through the desert, and it's a great testimony to this
this fact that every one of us have to experience in our redeemed
lives. And that's this. God saves sinners
in spite of ourselves by his sovereign mercy, his sovereign
grace, and his sovereign power. You look at somebody else and
say, well, God saved him in spite of himself. You too. And me too. Saves us all in spite of ourselves.
Because we know that if he left us to ourselves, where would
we be? If God left us to ourselves one moment of our life, where
would we be? We'd be damned forever. That's right. One moment. Damned
forever. We have no power. We have no
authority but that which is of God in Christ. Now, to do what
God appointed and commanded and equipped Moses to do, Moses saw
that he needed two things. And he expressed them here in
these verses. One we dealt with last week. Look at verse 15.
Now, here's what Moses needed to be successful. Number one
in verse 15, he said unto God, if thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up in. He needed the presence of God.
That is essential. You see, you can do without me,
but you can't do without God. We were kidding, talking about,
you know, how sometimes, you know, we think we're We're indispensable,
you know. And that's not so. That's not
so at all. We need God. We need Christ.
And that's what Moses is saying here. If you don't go with us,
don't lead us up there. We need the presence of God.
And then the second thing is what we're going to deal with
tonight. Look at verse 18. And Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. We need a view. of the glory
of God. That's what we need. Now, God
is glory in Himself. But it is His purpose to glorify
Himself in our hearts. And we have to see that glory.
And in order to see that glory, He has to show it to us. He has
to reveal it. A view to the glory of God. If
you look back at the old catechisms confessions of faith that are
worth anything. Most of them start off with question
number one. What is the chief end of man?
And the answer is to glorify God. To glorify God is to worship
God and to serve him and to trust him, to rest in him, to follow
him, to love him, all of those things. Glorifying God is the
response of the regenerate heart. seeking to commune with its Maker,
with its Creator, with its Redeemer in Christ. That's what it is
to glorify God. What is the glory of God? If
I were to ask you that, what would you say? What is the glory
of God? Well, let me give you these things.
Number one, I've said it before, God's glory is in himself. It's
who he is. It's God's glory to reveal himself
so as to bring about the response of worship. But in glorifying
himself, here's what God does. He identifies himself and he
distinguishes himself. There's no other God. There's
none other. There's no other God like him.
He started off the Ten Commandments that way. Thou shalt have no
other gods. He is the one true and living
God. He's the only true and living
God. There's no other God, that's His glory. He's glory in Himself. He's glory in every attribute
of His nature. Everything that God is, is His
glory. He says it here, look at verse
19. Now Moses said, show me thy glory. He says, and he said, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee. So God is glorified in
His goodness. And his goodness is descriptive
of everything that he is. God is good. All of his goodness. And you know, the Bible teaches
that God's goodness is what leads sinners to repentance. Secondly,
his glory is in his name. His name you know the first thing
he revealed to Moses was his name when Moses said who shall
I say sent them sent me and Unto them talking about the children.
He said I am that I am and His name is revealed in Christ who
is the great I am he said before Abraham was I am All goodness
and life is in his name The Bible says this is eternal life that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ and
now sin Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. All of these issues of God's
glory. But now listen to me. God's glory
is also in his mighty acts. How he conducts himself, what
he does, not only who he is, but what he does. You see, it's
God's glory to accomplish his purpose. For example, we see
God's glory in creation when God created the world. And you
remember he said he saw it and that it was all good. A good
God can only create good. And he created this world. We
see God's glory in Providence, his government of this world. We see things happen in this
world, see things happen in our lives that we just don't understand,
cannot figure out. But when we look at it, we stand
amazed that this thing worked out the way that it did. Well,
that's the glory of God in Providence. God's in control. He's on the
throne. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. And what might seem small and
insignificant at the moment may be huge in the long run. That's why he tells us never
to despise the day of small things. God's purpose in his mighty acts. Now, God had already revealed
himself in his glory to Moses and to Israel. He revealed himself,
as I said, to Moses in the burning bush. He revealed himself, his
glory in the plagues on Egypt, the glory of his goodness, his
holiness, his justice against sin. He revealed his glory in
the deliverance of Israel out of that wicked nation, God's
redemptive glory. He revealed his glory in the
cloudy pillar, the pillar of day, the fire by night which
protected them. He revealed his glory in the
provision of the manna for them to have food to eat. He glorified
himself in the provision of water from the rock, and that rock
was Christ. He glorified himself to Moses
on Mount Sinai in the giving of the Ten Commandments, in the
establishment of the tabernacle. All of that glorified God and
showed his attributes and his nature. He glorified himself
in the judgment of the people who stood against him in idolatry
at the foot of the mountain when Moses came down. He glorified
himself in Moses's tent as he appeared in a cloud and spoke
with Moses face to face. But now here Moses prays for
a further side of that glory. What's he praying for? Well,
he's wanting to see God's highest glory. I believe that's what
he's wanting to see. Show me your greatest glory.
The old writers used to call it the Shekinah glory of God. Well, Moses, hadn't you already
seen it? Yes. But he wants to see more. And
I believe it's like Paul said in Philippians chapter 3. Paul
knew Christ, but he prayed, Oh, that I may know him. Oh, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Do we ever
get finished knowing him? We don't. That's a lifelong,
eternal process, isn't it? It's eternal. Knowing more, learning
more, growing in grace and knowledge. And he says, Lord, show me thy
glory in verse 18. Well, let me show you this. Let
me give you these three things. I mentioned a couple of them
here first. In verse 19, first of all, God's glory in his goodness. He said in verse 19, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee. What is His goodness? It's what
He is within Himself, His very nature. Look over at verse 6
of chapter 34, just across the page. It says, And the Lord passed
by before Moses and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth. The psalmist wrote of God's goodness.
He said, Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will He teach
sinners in the way. He said, O taste and see that
the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. He also said, O give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good. Now, one thing you can rest assured
of is this. There is no goodness to be found
among men. None at all. The Bible teaches
that. Romans chapter 3 and verse 10,
and that great expression and definition of the depravity of
man, beginning at verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one.
There's none good, no, not one. When the rich young ruler approached
our Lord, not knowing him or believing him to be God in human
flesh, approached him just as a respected rabbi or teacher,
a man, maybe a gifted man, a blessed man, but just a man. He asked
him this question, he said, good master, what What good thing
must I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Christ met
him where he was at, and he said, why are you calling me good?
There's none good but God. In other words, you're not to
call anything good but God. That's what he was saying there.
There's none good but God. But Christ went on to tell him,
he said, well, if you want to earn eternal life, keep the law.
The man said, I've done that all my life. And then our Lord
hit him where it gets everybody. Love to your neighbor. showed
him that he wasn't perfect in his love and he walked away sorrowful.
But there's none good but God and his goodness is in himself
and it's expressed in his law. He gave the law to Moses as a
display of manifestation of his goodness. Now, here's the question. Where can we find goodness from
God who is holy towards us? Where can that be found? And
the only answer is in Christ Jesus. in Christ Jesus. Christ is good within himself
as both God and man. The Bible says, for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's every nature,
every attribute of God within this person, the God-man. The
fullness of God's goodness is in him. The fullness of God's
holiness is in him. The fullness of God's sovereignty
is in Him. The fullness of mercy and grace
and love and every attribute of God can be found in His fullness
in the person of Christ. The Bible says, For in Him dwelleth
all, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in Him. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3 say He's the express
image of the Father, of the Godhead. The exact image. The brightness
of the Father's glory. the effulgence of His glory.
Everything that can be known of God is to be known in Christ
Jesus, for He is good. And then Christ is good in all
that He did. Everything that He did on this
earth, He was expressing the goodness of God towards His people. He said in John chapter 4 and
verse 34, He says, My meat, My sustenance, My life, He says,
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work."
That's the goodness of God on display in the person and work
of Christ. We read about it in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, the glory
of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. So God's highest
glory is seen in his goodness. But look back here, Exodus 33. Next, it's seen in his name.
I mentioned that before, his name. He says, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee." And as I said, his name is I Am.
That's everything that God is in eternity, revealed in Christ,
all goodness and life in his name. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. And this is the name that
identifies him and distinguishes him in Christ. There's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
None of the name given among men whereby we must be saved.
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
under the Father, but by me. If you want to see the Father,
you must look through the Son. And he taught the disciples that
when Philip said, show us the Father, and he said, have I been
so long with you? Have you not seen the Father? If you've seen
me, you've seen the Father. The declaration. And the revelation
of the Godhead is in the Son. And it's in His name. He names
Himself. You know, when I preached on this back in Exodus 3, I made
this point. You know, Moses said, Who shall
I say sent me? And God told him. He said, You
say I am have sent you unto them. We don't name God. He names Himself. And He declares that name to
us. Men name their gods. Do you know that? You read about
these false gods among the heathen, Moloch, Kadesh, all that. Those
are names that men gave them. You know why? Because they're
man-made. But God's not man-made. You don't name God. I don't name
Him. He names Himself, and He reveals
that name. And it's His glory to reveal
His name to His people. That's why Christ said, I know
my sheep, and they know me. They know Him by name. And there's
so many names in the scripture that describe him because one
name just won't do. It just won't do. He's so great
and vast and high above us. But I'll tell you, he is Jehovah
God. He is the Lord who saves by grace. And then thirdly, his
highest glory is in his sovereign grace and mercy. Look at verse
19. He said, He said, I'll 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. Now, listen to me, grace and
mercy. Are consistent with God's goodness. His goodness, look back over
at Exodus 34 across the page again. Memory said there, look
at verse six. The Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. You see,
mercy, the mercy of God is never expressed at the expense of goodness
and truth. They go together. And he goes
in in verse 7, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty. In order for a sinner to be saved,
the guilt has to be removed. That's what he's teaching. because
God is good. And he says, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children,
and to the third and to the fourth generation. You see, what he's
teaching there is this. God must be just when he justifies. That was the whole message of
the covenant given to Israel. The Ten Commandments showed them
their sins, and the tabernacle and all of its ceremonies and
the priesthood showed them in type and picture the only way
a sinner can be justified before God. by the promise of the coming
Messiah who would keep the law and die for their sins. And every
prophecy of the Messiah teaches that. It talks about him in so
many ways when it talks about the coming Messiah that he will
establish his kingdom with judgment and justice. You see, God's goodness
is certainly in line with his mercy and his grace. He must
be both a just God and a Savior. And then look over at Romans
chapter 5. Look here. And see, men cannot pick and
choose what they want to believe about God. Now, this is an issue. You can't say, well, I don't
believe God is sovereign. Well, if you don't believe God
is sovereign, you don't believe God. Now, isn't that right? I mean, he's either on the throne
or he's not. It's like saying, well, I don't believe man is
that much of a sinner. Well, you don't believe the truth.
You can't have this part of God and not that part of God. God's
not in parts anyway. He's one God. And this is everything
about God, and he's not a supermarket that you can choose what brand
you want. See, he's holy, he's just, he's righteous, but he's
merciful and gracious and loving. He's sovereign. Look here, verse
20 of Romans 5. It says, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. That's why the law was given.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now God
told Moses, I'll be gracious to whom I will. I'll have mercy
upon whom I'll have mercy. But that mercy and grace abounds,
verse 21. How does it abound? Now look
at verse 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, that's the
wages of sin, even so might grace reign. That sounds like sovereign
grace to me, doesn't it? Grace reigning. Anything that
reigns is sovereign in the Bible. So grace reigns through righteousness. That's the goodness, the holiness,
the justice of God. Grace reigns not at the expense
of righteousness, but through righteousness. And how does that
righteousness come? Well, it's unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's the righteousness of Christ.
You see, that's how we know God is both a good God and a merciful
God. A just God and a gracious God. A righteous God. and a loving
God is through Christ and Him crucified. It's by His obedience
unto the law, unto death for our sins. And then look at Romans
chapter 11. Turn over there just a moment. Look at verse 22. Now here he's talking about God.
The Jews as a nation had rejected the preaching of the gospel.
And God, in His justice, poured His wrath down upon that nation
and scattered them and got the gospel out to the Gentiles. Here
in Romans 11, he's showing the Gentiles, now don't you be puffed
up. Don't let this make you proud. That's what happened to the Jews.
They were given all these precious benefits and it made them proud
instead of humbling them. But look what he says in verse
22. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God. How can
somebody be both good and severe? Well, God can. He's both. On them which fell severity,
that is, those who were punished for their sins, God's justice
was severe. But toward thee, sinners saved
by the grace of God, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness,
otherwise thou shalt be cut off. You know what it is to continue
in God's goodness? It's to continue to look to Christ.
That's it. Somebody said, well, if you continue
in his goodness, well, that that means if you continue trying
to keep the law. Now, let me tell you something.
Now, listen to me very carefully, we ought to do our best to obey
God in every every way. In every way that he he commands
us, we ought to do our best. But our best doesn't even come
close to God's goodness. You hear me? At your best moment,
you're not even in the ballpark. You're not even on the scale
compared with God's goodness. You say, well, I feel pretty
good today. Feelings come, feelings go. And God's word says, oh,
no, no. You haven't even come close.
You want to continue in the goodness of God, you continue looking
to resting in Christ and what he accomplished at Calvary. That's
right. Behold the goodness and the severity
of God. Go back to Exodus 33 now. You
see, in His sovereign grace and mercy, we see the highest manifestation
of God's glory, the Shekinah glory in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Back there under the Old Covenant,
you'd find that Shekinah glory where? In the tabernacle, in
the Holy of Holies. Well, who did that picture? Picture
Christ and Him crucified. In Christ on the cross, you'll
see every attribute of God honored, magnified, and revealed. There
may be attributes of God that you've never even read about,
but I'm going to tell you something. If you look to Christ, you believe
in the glory of God, and God is glorified in your heart. You
may not be able to write a theological treatise on it. You may not be
able to define it. It doesn't matter. You look to
Christ. You see, that's the key. There's
the Shekinah glory of God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. But notice here it says in verse
19 that His mercy and His grace are sovereign. Brother Aaron
read that over in Romans chapter 9 because Paul quoted it here.
That's where he was quoting from. When he was talking about the
Jews, Israel, who had rejected Christ, and he made this point,
he said, well, now, wait a minute. Now, God promised to save all
Israel, but here Israel rejected Christ. Does that make the promise
of God of no effect? Was God not willing to fulfill
his promise, or was God not able to fulfill his promise? And Paul
says, God forbid. You've missed the point. God
is both willing and able to fulfill his promise, and there's never
been a promise that God has made that he didn't fulfill. That's
right. Well, what's the problem? What's
the answer to all this when Israel rejected him, yet God promised
to save all Israel? Well, he says it this way. He
said, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Sounds strange,
doesn't it? Israel's not Israel. Well, Israel
looks like Israel to me. Well, do you know what Israel
is? Just because they're one of the
physical descendants of Abraham, that doesn't make them children
of God. Well, who are them, Paul? Children
of the promise. That's it. What promise? The promise of eternal salvation
and final glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a child of God. That's spiritual Israel. Somebody
said, well that don't seem fair to me. Well, your idea of fairness
and God's idea of fairness are two different things. And I'm
going to tell you who's going to win that battle. God is. He's already won it. And here's
what he says. He says in verse 14 of Romans
9, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness, injustice
with God? God forbid. What did he tell
Moses back there in Exodus 33? He told him this, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. You see, God is sovereign. And
if in his mercy he shows compassion on whom he will show compassion,
then that's no reflection on his character to say that he's
unjust, unfair, or arbitrary in any way. I cannot answer the
question, why did God choose me and not choose another or
choose this one and not choose that one? I cannot answer that.
But I know this, God is not unjust. God is not unfair. And it wasn't
just an arbitrary whim, a throw of the dice with God. It was
on purpose. Everything God does is on purpose. And Moses is making
the same point. When he said that, Paul was making
the same point here. God is sovereign, but he's never
unjust. He's never unfair. He's never
arbitrary. And we can never complain that
God administers his justice, but we can never claim that his
mercy to us is based on something in us. He says it right here
in verse 16. So then it's not of him that
willeth, it's nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. He says, I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion, I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll tell you what, whenever God, whenever God enacts
his justice, it is deserved. Do you believe that? It is deserved. And whenever
God enacts his mercy and grace, it is never deserved. Did you deserve God's mercy and
God's grace? If you did, it wouldn't be mercy
and grace, would it? So what do we do, creature? Seek
the Lord. That's what you do. Seek the
Lord. Fall down on your face before
the sovereign God and say, Lord, have mercy on me. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's what you do. Stop trying
to figure these things out and arguing with the high theologian.
Just seek Christ. That's what the Bible says. Call
upon the name of the Lord. Go back to Exodus 33. Now, there's
God's Shekinah glory. His goodness, His name, His sovereign
mercy and grace all revealed in the person and the finished
work of Christ. Look at verse 20. Now, here in
these last verses, What he shows us, the last part of this chapter,
is this. Now listen to this. The only
way that we as sinners can see and know and experience and be
comforted by the glory of God is in Christ, the rock of our
salvation. That's what these last verses
are all about. Look at verse 20. He said, God
said to Moses, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live." What he's showing here is there is
a limitation in us as creatures, and especially as sinful creatures.
You know, there's a limitation in us just as mere creatures,
but especially as sinful creatures. You see, the fullness of God's
glory, the fullness of everything that God is in His nature, in
the brightness of his glory goes far beyond what we as creatures,
and especially as sinful creatures, can know and see and experience
and live. You see, that's why we have to
distinguish between God's essential nature and his redemptive character,
his glory in Christ. John wrote in John 1.18, he said,
no man has seen God at any time. the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him." Paul wrote
in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 16, speaking of Christ, who only
hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and
power everlasting. Amen. John wrote it in 1 John
4, verse 12, no man hath seen God at any time. If we love one
another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in
us. We've experienced his love in Christ. But there's no way
we as mere creatures can see the brightness, the effulgence,
the very awesome nature of God and live. And live. So what's
happening here? How is this going to take place?
Well, look at verse 21. He tells Moses and the Lord said,
behold, there is a place by me and Moses, you can't see my face
and live. Oh, I know what it says over.
God spoke to Moses face to face that speaking of God's presence,
God's comforting presence. This is speaking of something
else. You can't see my face, the brightness of the nature
of God and live. But there is a place beside me. There's a place. Thank God there's
a place. There's somewhere that you can
be, Moses, that you can see my glory. And he says, and thou
shalt stand upon a rock. That's the first thing. You're
going to stand on the rock. Well, that's a great and glorious
picture of Christ, the rock of our salvation. This is where
Copelady Got the inspiration for the song, Rock of Ages, cleft
for me. Let me hide myself in thee. And
then he goes on, verse 22, and he says, now look here. Now listen
to the language of this. This is important. He says, and
it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by. Now, you
see, he's not talking in languages. Now, Moses lets you and I get
together and make up a plan. And he's not saying, Moses, you
do your part and I'll do mine. In fact, Moses is totally passive
in this whole thing. This is sovereign mercy and grace,
and he says, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth
by. Now, look at that. I will put
thee. We're going to be where God puts
us. Say, and where is he going to put us in a cleft of the rock? And we'll cover thee with my
hand while I pass by. That's Christ, you see, I will
put thee there, Moses. I will cover thee, Moses." You
can't put yourself there. You can't cover yourself. But
God does. And that rock is Christ and we stand on Him. For He is
our foundation. And we abide within Him. For
He is our hiding place from the wrath of God. Christ and Him
crucified. My hope is built on nothing less. And this is the issue, you see.
This is the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
And look at verse 23. It says, I will take away my
hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not
be seen. Now, there's been a lot of speculation
on that. What in the world is he talking
about? God's back parts. Let me give you this. Some say
it refers to his train. Like a king's robe, like the
king passing by in all his glory, and you see his train following
him. The afterglow, in other words. The after-effects of his glory. And that could very well be.
For in Christ, what we see is what God has accomplished. What
God has finished. What God has done. Others say
this is a metaphor, speaking of the Old Covenant. but not
the actual fulfillment of it in time in Christ, because he
just allowing Moses and the children of Israel to see a glimpse of
it in the old covenant. See, there were pictures and
types and shadows of better things to come, and that might be it. I can tell you this, this word
back here is not speaking of like this part of our body here.
That word back is never used for the anatomy, the back parts. What it could refer to is God's
past acts. And he's telling Moses that my
glory is seen in what I accomplished, just like I said before. For
example, God had already delivered them out of Egypt. And what a
glorious thing that was. You remember the Passover. When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That's an accomplished act.
They'll never have to be delivered out of Egypt again. They must
be kept. They must be provided for. And
they must be brought into the promised land. They've already
been delivered. And there God revealed, in picture
and type, how he's just to justify the ungodly in the blood and
righteousness of Christ, the Lamb of God. God had revealed
himself to Moses in the giving of the plans for the tabernacle.
And here in the last chapters of Exodus, they're going to be
building that tabernacle, putting it up. But what a glorious thing
it was to see God's purpose and the types and the pictures there.
Well, my friend, how would that apply to us? Well, what did Paul
say in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14? He said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God has already accomplished
in the person and work of his son. And we stand right there. That'll never have to happen
again. We are redeemed. by the blood of Christ, washed
in His blood. Our slate has been wiped clean.
God will not and cannot impute sin to us ever again. He cannot
charge us with sin. We cannot be condemned. We are
fully justified by the righteousness of His Son, and that is His glory. And we look back on it all the
time, don't we? God's accomplished. Now we have
to be careful. We do, don't we? If God left
us to ourselves one second, down we go. We have to be fed. We have to have manna, the bread
of life, which is Christ. We have to have the water from
the rock, that's Christ. We have to be protected. You
know that cleft of the rock, that's where we live. That's
our address. That's your new address. The cleft of the rock,
that's where we live. We live in Him and He lives in
us. Oh my soul, what a glory it is.
And it's all so. He's our wisdom, our righteousness,
our holiness, our redemption that no flesh should glory in
His presence. He glories. He glories because
He is to be glorified. And we glory in Him, in His presence
through Christ. You see that? That's where we
lived in the cleft, where we live in the cleft of the rock.
God's wrath was shielded from God's wrath and safe in the arms
of Christ. That's the glory of God. That's
the Shekinah glory. God show me your glory. Show
it to me again and again and again.