1 MOSES--A FRIEND OF GOD Exodus 33:1-34:17; Numbers 12:8 Those with great leadership responsibility often pay a great price! But there are also some great rewards, even on this earth. For Moses, it was his intimate relationship with God. Israel had engaged in unbelievable idolatry worshiping the gold bull and God s anger had reached its zenith. The Lord was ready to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. But Moses, with a commitment to the people that was only superseded by that of Jesus Himself, offered his own life along with theirs if God were to slay the Israelites. God s heart was touched by His servant s plea. And in an act of love that we can only accept and understand by faith, the sovereign Lord of the universe changed His mind and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened (Ex 32:14). But, said the Lord, I cannot let this sin go unpunished. Therefore, in the next two chapters of Exodus, we see God withdrawing His presence from Israel, Moses persistent prayer for Israel and God s renewed promise to Israel. All of this brings into sharp focus a picture of a man who is truly a friend of God. Moses previous prayer on behalf of Israel was that God might spare the Israelites, forgive their sins and allow them to continue on into the Promised Land. God consented to save their lives, but He would not turn His back on their idolatry. The sin was too grievous. Therefore, God told Moses to leave Sinai and go on up to the Promised Land (33:1-2) but, said the Lord, I will not go with you Myself, because you are a stubborn people, and I might destroy you on the way (33:3). In other words, God would no longer manifest Himself to Israel as he had done from Egypt to this point in their journey, working miracles and personally living among them. Don t misunderstand! God is omnipresent and always has been. He is everywhere at all times. But He has chosen at certain times in history to make Himself known in unusual ways, to localize His presence through unusual manifestations. This He had done especially at Sinai. When Moses reported God s decision to Israel, they were chagrined. Both inwardly and outwardly, they began to mourn (33:4). They removed their ornaments as God commanded; no doubt a symbolic act of repentance for using these items to fashion a false god (33:5-6). But God, in His love, was still available to Israel, to those who wanted to worship Him. Before the Tabernacle was ever constructed, Moses put up a tent outside the camp of Israel. There Moses would go to talk with God fact-to-face, just as a man speaks with a friend (33:11). And the opportunity of going out to the tent was also open to anyone at all who honestly sought the Lord (33:7). Thus we see God s grace once again. Though He had rejected Israel as a nation, He was still available to those individuals who sincerely wanted to do the will of God. And thus it has always been with God, for even today, in spite of the sins of all mankind, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Ro 10:13). God is still reaching out to individuals, no matter how much mankind has rejected Him.
Moses, of course, had a particular place in God s heart. He had been called to be a mediator between Israel and God, and he faithfully discharged this responsibility, as we shall see in the verses to follow. Moses relationship and friendship with God was obvious not only from his continued personal communion with God, but also from his honesty and openness with Him. This, of course, was, and always has been, a mark of true friendship. Though Moses approached God with the greatest sense of awe and reverence, he also opened his heart and shared his deepest feelings of frustration and anguish. Thus the conversation between Moses and the Lord in verses 12 through 16 of Exodus 33, is a classic illustration of a human being communicating with the eternal and sovereign God in openness and candor--truly as friend with friend and resulting in the influencing of God s actions. God had told Moses that He would be with him not with Israel and he led the Israelites to the Promised Land (33:14). And this frustrated Moses! Therefore he said to the Lord: If You do not go with us, don t make us leave this place (33:15). In other words, Moses told the Lord he did not even want to go any further if God would not manifest Himself to Israel as well. 2 At this point, Moses thinking is understandable. If Israel had rejected God s presence and voice at Sinai, what guarantee did Moses have that they would follow him, even though he was in direct touch with God? All previous evidence, of course, pointed to the fact that Israel s future apostasy was very predictable. And then, too, had not God Himself given up on Israel? Thus Moses, in an honest but respectful way, reminded the Lord that He was asking him to do the seemingly impossible. If they would not respect You and respond to You, the all-powerful and miracle-working God of the universe, Moses implies, then how will they respond to me, a mere man, whom they have rejected all along when things got a little tough. And once again we see the power in Moses prayerful intercession for Israel. God s response was one of sympathy and understanding, for, said the Lord to Moses, I will do just as you have asked, because I know you very well and I am pleased with you (33:17). But Moses, with that reassurance from the Lord, took yet another daring step. Please, let me see the dazzling light of Your presence Your glory (33:18). With this request, Moses was asking God to reveal Himself more than ever before, to actually allow Moses to look upon His face. Though Moses had been communicating with God as a friend talks with a friend face to face, he had not yet ever caught a glimpse of God s face. And this he could never do, for to look at God in this way, to see the very essence of His glory and personality was impossible, for God s glory and holiness would be so overwhelming that no man could look and live.
But God had an alternative plan, another evidence of His love for Moses: 3 The Lord answered, I will make all My splendor pass before you in your presence and I will pronounce My sacred name. I am the Lord, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose. But I will not let you see My face, because no one can see Me and stay alive, but here is a place beside Me where you can stand on a rock. When the dazzling light of My presence passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back, but not My face (33:19-23). And this God did! He invited Moses once again to come to the top of Mount Sinai. There He revealed Himself to Moses as he said He would (34:1-8). And in the midst of this glorious manifestation and Moses communion with God, as he fell on his face and worshiped, he again voiced his prayer to Israel: Lord, if You really are pleased with me, I ask You to go with us. These people are stubborn, but forgive our evil and our sin, and accept us as Your own people. (34:9) God, in His incomprehensible love for Moses and the Israelites, answered Moses prayer and renewed His covenant, but with a clear-cut stipulation. He promised to be with Israel, to perform miracles in their midst which had never been produced in all the earth (34:10-11). But, said the Lord, Do not make any treaties with the people of the country into which you are going, because this could be a fatal trap for you (34:12). God warned Israel that they must destroy the false gods of Canaan; that they must tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah (34:13). God made it very clear to Israel that He would never again tolerate idolatry (34:14-17). Their idolatry would bring judgment on them and their children, judgment that then was beyond comprehension (Dt 4:23-28). Unfortunately, Israel did not remain true to Jehovah in spite of His grace and love towards them. Eventually, God s judgment fell and, down through history to this very day, Israel has been rejected and hated by many people all over the world. The hatred towards Israel by many Arab nations and the 20 th century Middle East crisis speak dramatically of Israel s failure to follow God. The story of Moses communicating with God is the story of a man who had an unusual relationship with God. He feared God, but was unafraid; he was reverent, but honest; and he was respectful, but persistent. In the Old Testament only a few people, like Moses, could ever enter God s holy presence. Today, few Christians fully realize how accessible God is to all those who know Jesus Christ. Listen to the writer to the Hebrew Christians of the Early Church:
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb 4:14-16). 4 Because of Christ s death and resurrection, because of His perfect sacrifice for our sins, we can come into God s presence any time and openly and honestly pour out our concerns and problems. Paul says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Php 4:6). It is wonderful that Christians need not go to a special place on a special day to worship God although we are certainly commended to regularly associate with other Christians: And let us not consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:24-25) We do not need to even wear special clothes. We do not need to use certain words. We do not need to crawl on our hands and knees, though being on our knees would do us good. We do not need to purify ourselves with certain rituals. We do not need to do any of these things. Rather, we can worship God anywhere at home, at school, at work, while walking down the street, driving the car, etc. We can call out to Him at any time and under any circumstances, whether working in a bank wearing a white shirt or digging a ditch wearing overalls. And our words are not important either, for God understands simple sentences, complex sentences, big words, little words. In fact, He understands even when we don t use words at all. Paul says: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God s will (Ro 8:26-27). And our posture and practice is not important either. We can talk with God on our knees, with hands folded and eyes closed. Or we can talk to God standing erect, looking towards heaven, with our hands held high and our eyes wide open. We do not need to engage in any ritual to get God s attention.
5 Jesus Christ ahs done everything that is necessary to allow us to come into God s holy presence. And furthermore, we do not need to enter God s presence through any human priest, such as a Moses or an Aaron. Therefore Paul says: For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Ti 2:5) And most wonderful of all, we do not need to turn our faces away from God. Rather we can enter His presence unafraid. Again the writer of the Book of Hebrews says: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb10:19-22) APPLICATION Let s look at some of the various attitudes and actions that characterize many Christians. With which one do you identify the most: 1. A phobic fear of God (being afraid as opposed to being reverent or in awe) that keeps me from approaching Him as a friend; or, at the other extreme, a flippant attitude that takes God s wonderful grace for granted. 2. A fear of praying out loud because I m afraid I ll not be able to use eloquent words. 3. An attitude that I can only pray at certain times and in certain places. 4. Bound by tradition with an attitude that judges people by what they wear and what they do when they worship God.