In our Old Testament passages this morning we heard one of the noblest prayers recorded in Scripture. Due to the great sin that Israel has just committed during Moses’ absence while on his journey to the top of Mount Sinai, there is a great sense of urgency to this prayer.
Let’s set the scene. It is less than 40 days since they have pledged to keep the laws of God and these people have already broken them by their worship of the golden calf’s image that they had persuaded Aaron to make. God was so angered by the people’s partying, immorality and idol worship that He threatened to destroy the entire nation and start over again. But Moses asked God to spare this people in order for God to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God chooses to allow the people to live.
Moses goes down the mountain and smashes the stone tablets, signifying that Israel had broken their covenant with God. Moses then smashes and burns the golden idol and also grinds it into powder. He takes the fine powder, mixes it with water and makes the people drink it. Moses then rebukes Aaron, and the faithful Levites (priestly class) strike down and kills 3,000 Israelites who refused to pledge their allegiance to Almighty God. Moses then tells the people that they are in grave danger because they have committed a great sin against God, but he will go to God and see what, if anything, can be done to spare them.
God promises Moses that the promise to give Israel the land of Canaan would be fulfilled as promised. God also tells Moses that a day of judgment for this generation would still come in the future. God then sends His angel (possibly the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ) to lead the people to the Promised Land.
In chapter 33, God tells Moses to leave the mountain area and take his people toward Canaan. God also informs Moses that God will travel and remain at a distance, rather than dwell in their midst of the camp. From then on, God will commune with the people and meet with Moses only in the “tent of meeting” set up some distance outside the camp. Whenever Moses went to meet with God, the people would stand in respect and worship at the doorways of their tents. When Moses entered the “tent of meeting”, the presence of God would be manifested at the door to the tent.
So far, due to the mediation of Moses, God has relented on His destruction of the Israelites. He has committed to fulfilling His promise to bring them into the Promised Land and even minimized His remoteness by meeting them outside of their camp. However, Moses will not be content until God is intimately present in his own life and that of his people. That brings us up to today’s lesson.
It was beginning to look like Israel’s history was coming to an end right then and there at the foot of Mount Sinai, due to their worship of the golden calf. But because of Moses’ intervention and the faithfulness of God to His covenant with Abraham, Israel will go on. So God commands Moses to ready himself and the people for their move toward Canaan.
We learn in verse 12 that is not a new command. The NIV translation puts it very accurately: “Moses said to the Lord, ‘You have been telling me, “Lead these people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.’” This phrase, “You have been telling me”, suggests that God has been giving this command to Moses for some time. If we search a little, we find that is indeed the case.
Moses remembered the war with the Amalekites, a war that was won only through and by fervent, constant prayer. Moses is now even more concerned about the waywardness of the Israelites and about Aaron. Aaron had been such a comfort and help at the beginning, but had recently proven to be a liability since he had served only to facilitate the idol worship of the Israelites during Moses’ absence on Mount Sinai. So Moses is very concerned about this trip to the land of Canaan and he wants to know just who is going with him.
God said to Moses, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.” Based on those two statements, Moses feels free to ask the Lord about whom the Lord is sending on this trip with him. The answer Moses gets from God is AWESOME! For God tells Moses, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” What encouragement Moses must have felt at that time! God has assured Moses:
Moses begins this petition in verse 15, by asking God not to lead the Israelites up from Sinai if God’s Presence wasn’t going to go with them. He then argues that unless God’s Presence is with them, other peoples will not be able to know that the Israelites were God’s people. Moses says in verse 16, “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the Earth?”
Two times here Moses has linked his destiny with that of the Israelite people. He does not want to enjoy God’s favor alone. He wants God’s Presence to not only be with him, but with the Israelite people also. Once more, God answers Moses’ prayer. God tells Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.”
This is an awesome promise. Notice that it is granted only because of Moses’ standing in God’s eyes, not because of any inherent good of the Israelite people themselves. Nevertheless, God has promised Moses that He will not only be present with Moses personally, but will also be present with the Israelite people.
This, however, poses a problem when compared with God’s words earlier in this chapter (Exodus 33:3). God says there, “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way.” My, oh my. This is indeed a problem. It is not only a problem for the Israelites of the passages we read here. It is also a problem for us right here and now.
How can a Holy God be present with a sinful people, and not utterly destroy them?
We really are no different than those Israelites when it comes to our sinful nature. Therefore, God’s words to them still hold true for us. God’s Holy Presence in the midst of any sinful people is extremely dangerous for those people. There has to be some solution for the sins of the people, or God will destroy them to maintain His holiness and righteousness. So God in His wisdom came up with a two- fold plan.
First, in the Old Testament, the Tabernacle and system of sacrifices were God’s temporary provision for the sins of the people. The people’s sins were not taken away, but rather were put off, until the time that sin could be once and for all remedied and remove through Jesus Christ. That is why the sacrifices had to be performed on a continual, regular basis. They were a temporary fix.
Then came God’s second and final part of the plan. At the very beginning of the New Testament, in Matthew’s Gospel, we find these words spoken by the angel Gabriel to Joseph just after he learned that Mary was pregnant and Joseph was considering whether or not to break their engagement. Gabriel says to Joseph, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He Who will save His people from their sins.” Now all of this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt. 1:20-23)
Emmanuel! God with us! That is the name of the Christ Child. The presence of God is indeed with us, as it was with the Apostle John when he wrote, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life – and life was made manifest, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us – what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)
John tells us that God was physically present in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, fellowship with God is possible through Him. Now, since Pentecost, God not only dwells with His people, God dwells within His people. Thus, the Presence of God can be ours in a more intimate way than ever before. For His presence is within each of us. There will come a day when the presence of God will be even more intimate than now. That time will commence with the return of Jesus Christ as He comes for His followers in order to “take them unto Himself.”
“For Jesus Christ Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
What a privilege we have to be living with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! What a privilege we shall have in the future to be with God in His Holy Kingdom, looking into His face as we worship Him. But that privilege is not for everybody.
The Mosaic Law provided a temporary provision for mankind’s sin, in order for God to be able to dwell in their midst, in the Tabernacle. But Christ has come to Earth in order to fulfill perfectly the requirements of the Law, once and for all. He came to die for us in order to pay the penalty of sin for all who believe on Him. He has provided the way for us to dwell forever in God’s presence. However, for those who do not accept or trust in Jesus Christ and His work done for them, there waits an eternity of being banished from His presence. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says, “And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
So today, let’s each pray that God’s presence is not only guaranteed to us as individuals, but to all of God’s people for all of eternity. Let’s make it our goal to tell everyone that they can indeed be assured of God’s eternal presence only by trusting in and professing Jesus Christ as their very own personal Savior and Lord. Amen!