HIStory: the story of a God who ... reveals his glory
Exodus 33.18 - 34.35
Milford Baptist Church, 4 August 2002

”The worst day of my political life.” That’s how Bill English described last Saturday’s election. It was an absolute disaster for the National Party. After their collapse in the polls, Bill English and his party obviously need to refocus and to rebuild their shattered confidence. In this story Moses finds himself in a similar place when his party, the people of Israel, collapse morally. Just weeks after they have entered into a covenant with God, they fall into idolatry, breaking faith with God, shattering their relationship with him. But Moses prays for them and obtains God’s promise that he will not divorce his people. Having obtained that assurance, he has one more request. He says to God: “Now show me your glory” (33:18). Reading between the lines, it would appear that Moses’ confidence in God has been shaken. His faith needs rebuilding.

Do you ever feel like that? Your health, your family, your business is crumbling. The needle of your faith is pointing dangerously towards empty. And you feel like praying, “God, refuel my faith in you, renew my relationship with you, show me your glory.”

God’s glory revealed

But what’s glory? Glory is something you win on the sports field (if you’re Australian). Or it’s something we celebrate on a magazine cover. In our world, glory is strength or beauty or wealth or achievement. Listen to this. It’s an ad from the “Personal” section of New York magazine, placed by a woman who wants to meet a man as remarkable as her:

“Strikingly beautiful – Ivy League graduate. Playful, passionate, perceptive, elegant, bright, articulate, original in mind, unique in spirit. I possess a rare balance of beauty and depth, sophistication and earthiness, seriousness and a love of fun. Professionally successful, perfectly capable of being self-sufficient and independent, but I won’t be truly content until we find each other. Please reply with a substantial letter describing your background and who you are. Photo essential.”

It must be hard to possess a rare balance of beauty and depth and not want to let others know about it. That’s glory, from a human perspective. So if you were Moses, how would you expect God to reveal his glory? I would have expected some thunder and lightning, maybe an earthquake. The sort of overwhelming cosmic special effects show that God had produced a few weeks earlier. But what does God do? Instead, he says: “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence” (33:19).

God’s name explained

Lorraine and I have been thinking up names for children. People have been making suggestions. Some names we love, some we hate, because of what the names mean or the people we know with that name. Your name reflects your character. So what does God’s name tell us about his character, his nature? Let’s unpack its meaning.

Compassionate

You may have seen in the news this week the story about Smokey, the little fifteen-week-old pit bull terrier who has had his ears hacked off with a razor blade. When I saw the pictures I just felt such compassion for the little pup. And I’m not the only one. The SPCA has been flooded with calls from people offering Smokey a home. Just as we feel compassion on a little pup, or on a crying baby, God is compassionate towards his creation (34:6).

One of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century was Karl Barth. Towards the end of his life, after years of studying the Bible, he was asked the question, “What’s the greatest discovery you’ve made about God?” You know what he said? “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” God is love. That’s God’s name. That’s his nature. He aches for his people. He aches for us when we stumble. He aches for our friends and family when they struggle, when they stagger away from him. God is compassionate.

Gracious

And he is gracious (34:6). You know, this word “gracious” stems from the word to bend or stoop in kindness to someone beneath you. To show favour towards someone who doesn’t deserve it. We don’t live in a very gracious world, do we? In our world, you get what you pay for. You reap what you sow. There’s no free lunch. It’s an eye for an eye. When is the last time you drove along the motorway at rush hour and saw grace? How often do people roll down the window and say, “I forgive you for cutting me off. I turn the other bumper. You asked for half my lane; here, have it all.” When is the last time saw a referee at Eden Park make a critical error against the home team and the crowd rose to its feet with the cry, “Now is not the time to be judgmental. Now more than ever we need to bend down and extend grace to this official. Forgive the ref!” Not very likely. But that’s exactly what God does. Like a wounded husband who forgives an unfaithful wife, he takes his people back, reaffirms his promises to them. God is gracious.

Patient and faithful

And because he’s gracious, he’s “slow to anger” – he’s patient with his people – and “abounding in love and faithfulness” (34:6). We were at some friends’ place this week. And the host had baked the meanest lemon slice you can imagine. Now I am particularly partial to fine slices and I ate too much. Way too much. I became more than full. That’s the image here. “Abounding” in love and faithfulness suggests that God is overly full of love and faithfulness. He has much more grace than his people could ever need. He’s not like a tactical voter, or an All Black supporter, who would abandon his people when they perform poorly. There’s nothing they can do to make him love them less, and there’s nothing they can do to make him love them more.

Maintaining love and faithfulness

But his compassion and grace, patience and faithfulness, don’t just extend to Moses or to the people of Israel. He says, that he “[maintains] love to thousands” (34:7). I know a guy who has three kids. One day his young son scampered up to him and asked him, “Dad, who do you love the most?” If God was answering that question he would say, “I love you all the most.” I like how Philip Yancey puts it: “Infinity gives God a capacity we do not have: he can treat all of creation with unrelieved specialness.” God has counted the hairs on your head. He has loved you with an everlasting love. He has drawn you with loving-kindness.

Punishing the guilty

“Yet,” verse 7 says, “he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of their parents to the third and fourth generation” (34:7). In other words, God in his love always does what is best for his people. Like a good parent he disciplines wayward children. That was why he punished the people of Israel. Not to hurt them but to heal them. To bring them to their senses, to bring them home.

But what does it mean: “he punishes the children and the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation”? In that society, the standard household was a closely-knit unit of three to four generations. So God is simply saying here that those who reject his leadership and his care will bring suffering on themselves and those most closely connected to them – their households. God loves us all, cares for us all, but we can push him away, and hurt others as a consequence.

So that’s it. That’s the meaning of God’s name. That’s the shape of God’s nature. Ultimately, the glory of God is not his power or strength, as great as they may be. It’s his goodness. Moses’ faith – and our faith – rests on the goodness, the compassion, the grace of God.

God’s grace received

When we’re discouraged, and our faith-level is low, how can we plug into God’s glorious grace? What did Moses do after catching a glimpse of that grace? He “bowed to the ground at once and worshipped” (34:8). “O Lord,” he prayed, “Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance” (34:9).

I was walking on the beach this week and saw a lady walking a little dog. Or perhaps it was a little dog walking a lady. The dog was stubbornly trying to take its owner for a walk in the opposite direction, pulling at the leash with a stiff neck. That’s the image here. Moses knows that he and his people are like that little dog or like the wonky steering on my car: they have a bias to pull away from God. But Moses now remembers that though they are bad, God is good. God is gracious, and he will forgive them and take them as his own special treasure. So Moses asks for God’s forgiveness. And he receives it.

Do you ever feel that you have a bias to pull away from God? Do you need God’s forgiveness? You can have it. Because God is compassionate and gracious. And he has paid the price to free us from our slavery to sin and death. On the cross, where the glory of God was fully and finally revealed, the Author of life gave his own life to set us free. Like Moses, receive God’s grace as a free gift.

God’s grace reflected

There’s an interesting postscript to this story. Verse 29 says “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai … his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.” We joke about people resembling their pets, but there’s some truth to the adage that “you become like the company you keep.” Something of God’s presence has rubbed off on Moses. His face reflected God’s glory.

The apostle Paul says that we also are to reflect God’s glory. He says, “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). When we bow down to Jesus, we become part of God’s tabernacle, his house. His Spirit comes to live in us, and sets about renovating, restoring, transforming us from the inside out, to make us like Jesus, compassionate and gracious. In one sense, all we have to do is cooperate with God’s Spirit, obey his nudges. This morning, how is he nudging you to show compassion or grace or patience or faithfulness to someone this week, someone who doesn’t deserve it?

Richard Foster wrote once of a father walking through a mall with his two year old son. The little fellow was getting cantankerous; he kept whining and wriggling. His father was struggling to remain patient. But then, instead of scolding him, he scooped up his little two-year-old grumbler, held him tight to his chest, and began to sing an impromptu love song. None of the words rhymed, and he sang it off key. But he shared his heart: “I love you. I¹m so glad you¹re my boy. You make me laugh.” From store to store the father kept going, words not rhyming, notes off key. And his son relaxed, captivated by this strange and wonderful song. Finally, when they had finished, and they went to the car, and dad was buckling his son into his seat, the little boy raised his arms, lifted up his head, and said “Sing it to me again, daddy, sing it to me again.” We need to hear that song of grace from our Father in Heaven, time and time again. And God wants to sing it to us. But he also wants us to sing it to others. How else will they see the glory, the goodness, the grace of God, and come running into his arms?

Study Questions

1.  At the very end of this story (Exod 40:34-38) God comes down in a cloud and settles on the tabernacle, the tent of Meeting, that Moses had built for God. God is again united with his people, living among them, leading them towards the Promised Land. God has shown grace to his people. What are some ways in which God has shown you grace?

2.  What are some obstacles that prevent you from receiving God’s compassion and grace? 

3.  There is a sequel to this encounter between Moses and God. Read Luke 9:28-32. How did Jesus reveal God’s glory? (You might also want to consider Isa 53:2 and John 13:30-31, 17:1,5.)

4.  God says of himself that “he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (34:7). What do you think this verse means? What are its implications for your life?

5.  “Grace is the only thing that the church has to offer the world that cannot be obtained anywhere else.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

6.  How has God’s Spirit been nudging you to show compassion or grace or patience or faithfulness to someone this week, someone who doesn’t deserve it?