Life Altering Conversations with God

Exodus 33:7-34:10

Dr. Rich Peterson

February 5, 2006

Have you ever wondered if God listens to your prayers? Have you ever felt that the heavens were closed to you and that prayer was simply a waste of time? Ever looked toward the heavens and wondered, “LORD do you really care?”

When Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States, he often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try a little experiment. To each person who came down the line and shook his hand, the President murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous!” “Keep up the good work.” “We are proud of you.” “God bless you.”

It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Bewildered, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”[i]

LORD, do you listen? Do you care? Are you there? Will you please show us your glory in a special way? Will you please be present with us as we seek to follow you?

There are times in our lives when these questions are profoundly important.

For the leader, Moses, the heart cry for God’s presence and for God’s revealed glory were never more important than when Moses encounters God in a series of life altering conversations following the great sin of Israel regarding the Golden Calf.

In Exodus 33:7 we read:

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

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. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 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?

And the LORD said, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets life the first ones, and write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. “O LORD, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the LORD go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you.”

Within in the context of Exodus 32-34, there are a series of conversations between Moses and God. It would be safe to say that these dialogues between Moses and the LORD were life altering. Some would argue that the conversations were life altering for God Himself, but done should doubt that they were life altering for Moses.

But before we go much further it is important to tackle a difficult issue that this text introduces.

The difficulty has to do with the immutability of God – In other words God does not change. The Bible affirms the immutability of God in several places.

In Malachi 3:6 we read: “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”

James 1:17 tells us “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

And then Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Part of God’s perfection is that he does not change anything, including his mind. He cannot grow in knowledge, for example, because he is perfect in knowledge. Nor can he decay in any aspect of his person or character. Yet Scripture uses language at times that appears to indicate God can and does change his mind. For example in the meta-narrative of Exodus 32-34 where we read:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

“I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and I will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened (Exodus 32:7-14.

And again in 33:3, 15-17

Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you along the way.

And the LORD said, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

So, does God change his mind? Does he really repent or is this a misunderstanding of Scripture and the nature of God?

What needs to be understood is divine immutability (changeability) does not imply immobility (God has no movement). Humans, in contrast to God, do change, and God has chosen to have relations with human beings. As such God relates with us in ways we can comprehend. Said differently, God relates to us in very “human” fashion. Sometimes the Bible uses “anthropomorphic language” (God speaking like a human or language that helps humans understand God) and will speak of God from a human’s vantage point. God appears to have changed his mind but, in fact, God never altered his eternal declaration. These are mysteries, to be sure, and the Bible never explains itself nor apologizes for its language. Yet every child of God can be confident that God will never change his mind about the eternal welfare of his children.

And that is exactly what Moses needs most to hear. After the great sin of the Golden Calf which should, humanly speaking, have been the end of the covenant, Moses needs to be encouraged by the fact that God has not abandoned his covenant and that he has not forsaken his people. After the wicked, sinful rebellion of the people, just the fact that God is having this conversation with Moses is a testimony to God’s amazing grace.

So God tells Moses to “leave…and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will send an angel before you and drive out (your enemies). Go to the land flowing with milk and honey.”

And up to this point Moses receives the encouragement he needs to lead the people to the Promised Land. God has not nullified his covenant with his people. God will fulfill the promise made with the Patriarchs, but then these horrible words:

“But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.

When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments” (Exodus 33:3-4).

This is a crucial point in the history of Israel and it becomes critical that Moses have a conversation with the LORD. As one person pointed out, “Now Moses becomes more than the voice of God to the people; he becomes the voice to God on behalf of the people.”

This would be a life altering conversation with God. Moses, the great leader would now become Moses the great intercessor and mediator between the sinful people of God and God himself. And so we are told that Moses would “take a tent and pitch it outside the camp.”

Before the Tabernacle was built, this “tent of meeting” would be the place for “anyone inquiring of the LORD” to go. But none went there more often and with more to gain or lose than Moses.

The tent of meeting became the place where Moses would meet with God. And when Moses went to be with God, all the people knew that something extraordinary was taking place. “They rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.” God’s special presence would come down in the form of a pillar of cloud and stay at the entrance while God spoke with Moses. At such was the awesome wonder of such a thing “whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped.”

Here, in this place and during these times, the leader would converse with Almighty God in a way likened to a man speaking with his friend. Here, in this place during these special times, a gracious God would make himself accessible and approachable to his servant Moses. Here in this place during these precious moments before his God Moses would experience the “face to face” intimacy of relationship with YAHWEH.

And so what did they talk about?

I believe the following verses provide partial answer:

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”

And the LORD said, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Moses asked God to clarify his relationship with him and the people. Moses needed to know that God would go up with them personally. It was not enough that God would send “an angel,” Moses needed the Presence of God to go with them, or they would not go. Even after God assures Moses that indeed “My Presence will go with you” and even after God grants more then Moses has requested in his promise to “give you rest.”

Moses desires more – more of God. “Now show me your glory.”

What is incredible about this request is not only the dynamic faith required of Moses to ask it, but more significant, the grace of God to grant it.

What kind of man makes this kind of request? A man who has seen the works of God and been taught the lessons of faith in lesser things. From the first encounter-conversation with God at the burning bush where God reveals himself through the name I AM WHO I AM; to the powerful displays of God’s sovereign will experienced in the plagues against the false god Pharaoh.

Through the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, Moses has seen the hand of God raised against the enemies of Israel. He has witnessed the finger of God writing the eternal laws which will govern his people. But along with all of these things, Moses has also seen how God responds in grace to a people unbelieving at the Red Sea and grumbling against God in the desert, and rebellious and wicked in their worship of the Golden calf.

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

This is an enormous request. And with Charles Spurgeon we ask,

Now, what attribute is God about to show to Moses? …Will he show him his justice? Will he show him his holiness? Will he show him his wrath? Will he show him his power? Will he show him he is almighty? Will he rend yonder mountain and show him that he can be angry? Will he bring his sins to remembrance, and show that he is omniscient? No; hear the still small voice – “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” The goodness of God is God’s glory. God’s greatest glory is that he is good. The brightest gem in the crown of God is his goodness.”[ii]

We see God’s goodness reflected in his creation, in his relations with humanity and most especially in the sacrifice of his Son for our redemption. Yes, God is good. But this is not all Moses saw of God, there is something more. There is his sovereignty. God’s goodness without his sovereignty does not completely set forth his name.[iii]

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Moses asks to see God’s glory and God reveals his goodness and his name. As John Piper points out “The names of God are the manifestations of his glory.”

In Exodus 3:14 the name YAHWEH was explained with the words I AM WHO I AM. Here it is explained with the words, I WILL BE GRACIOUS TO WHOM I WILL BE GRACIOUS. In exodus 3:14 the focus was on the existence of God – “that God is what he is without anything outside himself determining his personality or power.” In Exodus 33:19 the focus is on the gracious action of God – that he does without anything outside himself determining his choices. This is what God reveals about himself when Moses asked to see his glory[iv]

Piper continues to unpack the significance of this as he continues:

God is utterly free from the constraints of his creation. The inclinations of his will move in directions that he alone determines. Whatever influences appear to change his will are influences which ultimately he has ordained. His choice to show mercy to one person and not to another is a choice that originates in the mystery of his sovereign will not in the will of his creature.[v]

When Moses desperately prays for the people in each of these life-altering conversations with God throughout chapters 32-34 he makes his case not on the basis of Israel’s worth but on the basis of God’s worth. “Your name will be profaned among the Egyptians, and your word to the fathers will fall.”

If your Presence does not go with us…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?”

In other words, I know God that because of our great sin we have nothing to base our hope upon other than your goodness and grace. I know that you are sovereign in all things and can do whatever you desire, but please God be compassionate and merciful to us. Choose to show us your favor. Choose to show us your mercy. Choose to show us your compassion. Not because we deserve these things, but because you are good, you are merciful, you are compassionate. Be who you are, but more, be who you are to us!

“Now, show me your glory!”

And God does! “God uncovers his innermost soul”[vi], namely to give Moses the encouragement he needs to move forward in leading this stiff-necked people on to the promised land.

But not only does God encourage Moses with a glorious revelation of himself, God recommissions and re-calls Moses as the leader of his people. He reinstates the law (in almost the exact form it was originally given) and makes a “new” covenant with the people.

Once again God passed by Moses and proclaimed his name, YAHWEH, YAHWEH. And even though all Moses felt he needed was God’s presence, God provided him with more – a true knowledge, a personal revelation of himself. “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God (though you deserve my wrath because of your sins, I will not abandon you because of my compassion and grace), slow to anger (even though your idolatry should have been the last straw, I give you a second chance), abounding in love and faithfulness (even though you are unfaithful and loveless toward me, I maintain my love and faithfulness toward you, maintaining love to thousands (though some 3,000 because of their unrepentance died, I will continue to go with you and be present with you who remain), forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (though all of these describe your behavior toward me).

Still, he will not leave the guilty unpunished. So, “obey what I command you….””Be careful….” Do not worship any other god, for the LORD whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” “Don’t appear before me empty handed.” “Bring the best….” For the presence of God is not to be taken for granted, but humbly and eagerly sought.

And seek God we should. Daily, passionately, persistently. With our faces to the ground in worship we seek the “face” of God and trust that because of his grace, compassion and mercy he will reveal his glory to us as we encounter him.

And how is this intimacy with God possible? Through the “tearing of the veil” that resulted from Christ’s great sacrifice for us. For now Christ has become the final Mediator between God and man – “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Timothy 2:5).

And this same Christ “always lives to intercede” for his people. Moses, too, seems to “live to intercede” throughout the events recorded in chapters 32-34 of Exodus. “The significant difference between Christ’s intercession and that of Moses is that God accepts his Son as a substitute for his people’s sin.”[vii] The offer of Moses to give his life in exchange for the lives of the people is rejected because Moses simply doesn’t have the capital to accomplish such a thing – he is not pure and blameless. But Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb given for the atonement of sins.

“The difference between Moses and Christ is that Moses both sees and reflects God’s glory imperfectly. But the fulfillment of God’s glory did dwell in Christ. Hebrews 1:3 tells us: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory.” Christ reflected God’s glory fully because he beheld the glory of the Father fully.”[viii]

So life altering were the conversations between Moses and God that we are told “his (Moses’) face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD” (Exodus 34:29). Yet, Paul reminds each of us in Christ that ours is the experience of “the surpassing glory.” And “whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. What was the unique experience of Moses becomes the normal experience for those of us in Christ. For “now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And 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 Corinthians 3:16-18).

On August 29, 2005 God initiated a life altering conversation with the city of New Orleans.

Through ferocious winds and mighty rushing waters, God spoke a word of his incredible power and to many of his undeniable wrath.

But in the five months or so following that initial conversation, God continues to speak in life altering fashion to the people of the Big Easy. Only now these conversations seem to be through the still small voice of God speaking words of compassion and mercy. Through simple acts of kindness, through dirty hands and faces removing debris from flooded homes, through literal offers of cold water in the name of the LORD, God speaks words of grace.

Having just returned from another relief trip to the area on Friday and yesterday – a team of nine from Gables and other churches witnessed first hand some of these dialogues. We met people whose lives are being altered through these conversations and as a result our own lives will never be the same.

We experienced first hand the glory of the LORD, “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”

Nearly two thousand years ago God initiated a life altering conversation with the world through the sacrifice of his Son on the Cross. It was a word of wrath and power and judgment – upon the sins of the world – yet God heaped these terrible words upon His Son that through His death we might receive the forgiveness of our sins. There in that conversation on Calvary, God spoke to us of His grace, His mercy, His compassion and most of all of His unconditional love.

In the life altering conversation of the Cross God spoke the simple and yet profound words of His eternal plan.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”