Thursday Night Bible Study

Exodus 33-Exodus 34:9 (Click title for audio access)

"You Can Take Them Out Of Egypt..."  •  6.30.11  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

Intro

- When we last looked at the word of God, we came to understand that worshipping God involves worshippers who must interact with other worshippers.

- We learned that some people are constructive, the Bezalel Group, who are called of God to use their giftings for the Tabernacle assembly.

- At the same time, there are destructive people, who impatiently seek to make worship something that brings themselves satisfaction. Historically, there always seem to be more of these!

- Additionally, there are two types of leaders. There are the prophetic leaders who stand for righteousness and stand in the gap in intercession for their people, as Moses did.

- Of course, there are those who are pathetic leaders, who cave to the will of the people that surround them, as Aaron did. Which leads us to where we stand today.

- Aaron had caved under the pressure of the mob who insisted that the delay of Moses necessitated the creation of a worship system. Aaron, the High Priest had done this!

- Before there was time to initiate all of the vision that God had given Moses, the people had already broken the principles that the covenant could stand upon.

- God, in righteous indignation, called for the death of 3,000 unrepentant people that day, which presented a problem: If worshippers are this way, how can God be present with them?

- This week, we face the problem of a covenant that is based on behavior and the solution that is much more New Testament, hinted at here in our section tonight.

Text

•  Exodus 33:1-6  :  "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.' And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, 'Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’ So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb."  :  God says, "I'll fulfill my promise, I'll drive your enemies out from before you, but I won't go with you!" God had obligated Himself Abraham's descendants regarding the land of Canaan.

- He would do that by allowing His Angel to go before them. This was the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ. God would also drive out these people groups, who had inhabited the area.

- These indigenous peoples, we'll call them the "ites," were far from innocent and were far from being neutral toward God and His people.

- Each of these groups had defied God with their idolatrous notions and practices. Their "worship" included, but was not limited to sexual deviation and child sacrifice.

- As with any other group of people, God had given them time to repent, but time was running out! They had moved head long toward the most vile practices. We'll touch on this more next time.

- God had raised up Israel as a nation that would serve Him to depose them. The problem was that the army that been raised was defiled in their hearts toward God.

- The addage is true: You can take Israel out of Egypt, but you cannot immediately take Egypt out of Israel! These people were stiff-necked, determined to go in a certain direction.

- The NLT renders this phrase, "you are a stubborn and rebellious people." God had accurately assessed their character and let them know of the incompatibility!

- "I could consume you in a moment!" God's holiness could not be violated. Their sin would not be terminated. This is an impasse.

- God would fulfill His promise (the land), give His provision (the angel), but remove His presence!

- God is testing His people and He will allow us to go through the same test from time to time. Are we happy with His provision apart from His presence?

- He would not go with them. You might think this as a punitive measure. It's much more like a measure of mercy!

- When the people heard this, that God would not come with them, they were grieved. They mourned. I wonder if like most of us, they mourned the consequence, but not the condition.

- Often we will mourn what has been taken from us, but we will not mourn what caused the thing to take place! "Oh what will we do without God's presence!

- They should have mourned in this way, "We are so stiff necked. We are so stubborn and so hard to lead. God change us!"

- To their credit, they did remove their ornaments. This was their jewelry and their fancy clothing that had been given to them on their way out of Egypt. They got desperate real fast!

•  Exodus 33:7-11  :  "Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle."  :  Before the Tabernacle was constructed, Moses made his personal tent the meeting place.

- Moses used his home for a temporary meeting place with God and what a glorious thought to consider that God allowed His glory to abide there during that time.

- Notice where the camp was: It was outside the camp. In fact, it was far from the camp! Moses did this to illustrate what their actions produced.

- The Tabernacle had been conceived as being the center of their lives. Now, because of their sin, God was pushed to the outer limits.

- Moses went out to worship and when he did, the people stood at their tents and watched, but none dared to draw near.

- Moses had fellowship with God and stood face to face, a eupemism speaking of unmoderated exchange. There was no mediator between them.

- Moses records for us that Joshua did not depart from the Tabernacle. You get the sense in Joshua's life, that from this young period of time, that God was already grooming him for leadership.

- Joshua is learning the lesson that intimacy with God is a worthy investment! Joshua, even more than Moses, worshipped in a close way.

- In contrast, even though the people had begun to come close to the Tabernacle, it seems that as time went by, they were satisfied just standing at their tent doors.

- Sadly, I find that this is how most people approach worship. They'll stand at the door of their own comfort and watch others worship. Don't settle for distant worship!

•  Exodus 33:12-14  :  "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.' And He said, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'"  :  I'll lead them, but with what power and authority. Moses is pleading with God. He rightfully does not want to lead these people apart from the Lord's presence.

- Israel is your nation God! I might be the visual leader, but they are your people!

- Please note that Moses' plea is based not on behavior, but on grace. Notice the repetition of that word. Grace is written three times.

- God assured Him that His Presence will go with Him. He would not abandon Moses to the task that He had called Him to, an important reminder to you and I.

- The answer to Moses' anxiety, as well as ours is the assurance of God's presence. We have that same need. God's presence will accompany us.

- The promise is that God would give Moses rest, peace for the journey. Moses isn't done.

•  Exodus 33:15-17  :  "Then he said to Him, 'If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.' So the Lord said to Moses, 'I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.'"  :  Moses is speaking a request that has become a part of our daily understanding.

- "God if you do not go before us, then don't let us go without you!" We will stay right here! Don't you dare move in your life unless the Lord is moving with you! Keep that clear in your heart!

- Moses' authority as well as Israel's identity was tied to the Lord's presence. If He was not with them, then you can forget about Israel listening to him and the people are nothing special at all!

- Without God, they would be no different than the other nations that surrounded them!

- God says, "I won't command you to go without my presence accompanying you!" Again, God assures him that he had found favor from God! He knows his name. They are friends.

•  Exodus 33:18-23  :  "And he said, 'Please, show me Your glory.' Then He said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' But He said, 'You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.' And the Lord said, 'Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.'"  :  Moses is on a roll.  Show me your glorious presence Moses says. I need to see You in the weight of your reality. I want to see all that you are! Would you pray that? Let me see it all!

- God lets Moses know that this is a sovereign act of revelation. He would show Moses what Moses could handle seeing.

- He will be gracious to whom He wills to be gracious and have compassion on whom He wills to have compassion. To show Himself is an act of His discretion.

- If God deems to remain unseen, that is entirely His perogative. God sets Moses up to be able to handle what He is about to reveal to Him.

- He sets him up in the cleft of the rock and lets him see just His back. Moses was given a tremendous privilege.

•  Exodus 34:1-4  :  "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.' So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone."  :  God wanted a second set of tablets made to replace the ones that Moses broke. He was to come up to the mountain alone with the new tablets.

- It is on this mountain that God will now reveal Himself to Moses in the most full way possible.

•  Exodus 34:5-7  :  "Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.'"  :  God stood there with Moses and proclaimed His own name. His name could not be spoken in one word, but could be described by many words and phrases.

- If you cannot see Jesus in these characteristics, you cannot see God! He is the embodiment of all that is proclaimed here!

- The revelation of God's characteristics explain His name. He is the Lord. He is the Existing  or "Self-Existing One." As such, He is the Almighty One, never losing any ounce of strength.

- God has never not existed. He has always been. He is the uncaused cause. He is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting.

- He is merciful and gracious. Literally, He is compassionate and filled with goodness.

- He is slow to anger, patient. Longsuffering is a very descriptive word. He can suffer much!

- He is an ample source of goodness and truth. He exceeds in these virtues. The word goodness can refer to a zealous love toward people. Truth is the soundness or integrity of that love.

- It will be stable towards His people. That love will never lose it's integrity and settle for less than it's goal. God's love will move well beyond our failings and empower us to be transformed.

- God keeps mercy for thousands. Literally, He watches over and guards the mercy that is reserved for thousands of His people.

- The NLT renders this verse, "I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations."

- He forgives iniquity. The word "forgiveness" here speaks of lifting off or carrying a burden for another. God carries that upon Himself, a fitting statement given what Jesus did for us.

- He forgives iniquity or perversity. He forgives "transgression" or rebellion. God forgives "sin."

- He lifts the burden of man's perversity, rebellion and sin from his shoulders, causing them to walk with Him. If He did not do this, then how could a man stand? God forgives!

- God forgives but He is also just, by no means clearing the guilty! The guilty apart from God's merciful forgiveness, see their sin replicated generation after generation.

- This verse does not speak about generational curses. I'd ask that you consult Ezekiel 18.

- The passage is too long to consider here, but the gist is that God says that He deals with each person on an individual basis. That being said, we do understand that our actions have impact.

- If you have a home that is open to something, your kids will be more open to it! So what does this mean?

- The idea here is that God is so merciful and gracious, that He will continue to visit their sons, grandsons and great-grandsons! He won't give up on them! He'll keep coming to them.

- If they repent and surrender, then God will be merciful and forgiving toward them. If they do not, then God will not acquit one who is guilty.

- He will be loving, gracious and merciful, but He must also be just, Holy and righteous!

•  Exodus 34:8,9  :  "So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.'"  :  Moses at the sound of God's proclamation, got on His face and worshipped.

- That is the appropriate response to all of God's holiness! It's to this God of mercy, forgiveness and zealous love that Moses appeals. Be our God!

- Take these people as Your inheritance. That is exactly what the book of Ephesians tells us that we are! We cannot be His inheritance if we base this on our behavior.

- We can only be His inheritance if He bases our relationship on His own grace!

Conclusion

- This entire passage speaks to the great truth of God's covenant with you and I, that is based entirely on Him and His willingness to have fellowship with us through Christ.