“I pray You, show me Your glory!”

Moses Intercedes

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸ Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

The entire text for today's reading from the Old Testament in the One Year Bible is rather extensive. It goes from Exodus 32:1-Exodus 33:23. If you have the time to read the entire text it may provide a better context for our reflection today. The link to the One Year Bible is available on the links page of this site. To set the stage for what we are looking at today this selected text comes after Moses had gone up onto the mountain with God to receive the Ten Commandments. The people had rebelled and created a golden calf as an idol to worship in place of God. Moses had interceded on behalf of the people. Here is that portion of the account.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰ Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Entreaty

¹¹ Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[escendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

The question we have to ask here is did God really change His mind? After all it says in Numbers 23:19 - God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?

So did God in fact change His mind or did the intercession of Moses change the outcome for the Israelites from God's justice, receiving what they deserved, to His grace? God has always looked for people who would intercede on behalf of others. In Ezekiel 22:29-31 He says:

29"The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. 30"I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31"Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD.

Jesus came for that very purpose. To stand in the gap, the gap that sin caused separating us from God. He went to the cross for that purpose and now Romans 8:34 says  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.     We are called to be like Moses and like Christ, interceding for others that they will experience God's grace rather than justice. God doesn't change His mind about people. His will is that none should perish, that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) Sin brings about judgment and death. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23) Intercessors help to change peoples condition so they can receive grace instead of justice.

Let's look now at the last few verses of our text.  Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Moses has been in the presence of God. He spoke with Him at the burning bush. He went up onto the mountain and was in God's presence for 40 days. In today's text it says,  ⁹ Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.    All this yet Moses knew there was much more. Having had the experience of being in God's presence, Moses wanted to see all of God's glory. He wanted to see His face. God tells Moses that no man can see His face and live. Sin can not exist in the fullness of the presence of God, it will be burned up. God tells Moses you will see My back but My face you will not see. Rick Joyner wrote of a powerful interpretation of this account. I don't remember which of His books it was in, but basically what he says is that since Moses lived before Jesus, the cross and redemption had not yet come. But by allowing Moses to see His back, Moses saw the evidence of Jesus redemption. He saw the scars on Jesus back. The lashes He bore for our sins. Moses saw by faith the evidence of redemption that was yet to come. We have a hard time grasping the concept of eternity. In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is called: the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. In Revelation 1:8 God says: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
 

Moses saw by faith the eternal redemption of man through the finished work of Christ. We now who live on this side of the cross in our time have an advantage over Moses. We having been made righteous by the blood of Christ and His sacrifice on the cross are no longer seen as sinful by God. In and through Christ we have been redeemed and restored. We have not only seen the evidence of His redemption we have experienced all the benefits of it. We then can see the glory of God. We can come into His presence, see His face. He is Abba Father, our daddy. He delights in us and desires that we come to Him now not only in our future eternity.  

Thank You Heavenly Father, Abba, Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, my Savior and Holy Spirit, my ever present help and guide.  Amen