February 16, 2025 • 31 mins
The Life of Moses- Episode #30 ♥️ What if the God of the Old Testament isn't who you think He is? Join me, Julie Colbeth, on "Whispers of Grace," as we dive into the profound connection between the God of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jesus of the New Testament. We tackle the common struggle of reconciling the seemingly harsh God of old with the compassionate Savior of new. Using Dane Ortlund's insights from his transformative book, "Gentle and Lowly," we peel back the layers of misconception to uncover a God whose core is merciful and gracious, as revealed in Exodus 34.
Together, we venture into the sacred encounter between God and Moses on Mount Sinai, examining the symbolic act of chiseling new stone tablets. This episode reveals the beauty and privilege of divine collaboration, showcasing how God invites us to partner with Him in His plans despite our imperfections. We'll reflect on the elements of the Ark of the Covenant, such as manna and Aaron's rod, to illustrate how God uses ordinary vessels to manifest His glory. By understanding Moses' experience, we learn how to prepare ourselves for our own divine encounters.
Explore the depth of God's mercy, challenging the instinctual expectations of judgment with scriptures that spotlight God's steadfast love and eagerness to forgive. We confront the generational effects of sin, countered by God's unfailing love that transcends them. This episode invites you to remove the veil of fear and misunderstanding, embracing a God who longs for intimate connection with His children. As we journey through these reflections, we find a new understanding of God's character, discovering a heart that is slow to anger and abundant in compassion.
Sources:
“Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers” by Dane Ortlund
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie (00:19):
Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for
women to be encouraged by God'sholy word.
I'm your host, julie Colbeth,and I am overjoyed to dig into
the Bible with you today.
Do you ever struggle toreconcile the God of the Old
(00:41):
Testament with Jesus in the NewTestament, the God of the Old
Testament with Jesus in the NewTestament?
Do you feel relaxed walkinghand in hand with Jesus but
would prefer to avoid thepresence of God, the Father?
Do you dodge reading the OldTestament because your brain
just can't understand the Godthat you see revealed there?
If this is you, you are notalone, and today we are blessed
(01:04):
to be diving into a section thatbrings incredible clarity and
revelation to who God really is,as revealed in the Old
Testament passage of Exodus 34.
I cannot even explain howexcited I am to get into this
text with all of you.
Unbeknownst to me, the Lordorchestrated a whole chapter in
(01:26):
the book that I was alreadyreading that's devoted to this
text.
The book is called Gentle andLowly by Dane Ortlund.
This book has expanded myunderstanding of the goodness of
God in truly life-changing ways, and I would highly recommend
to add it to your reading listor listen to it on audiobook.
I will be sure to add a link toit in the show notes and I will
(01:47):
be quoting this book at lengthfor this episode, because I
couldn't find better words thanMr Ortlund had already supplied.
Dane Ortlund says that theBible is one long attempt to
deconstruct our natural visionof who God actually is.
And isn't that the truth?
(02:08):
We have many misconceptionsabout God that we harbor
consciously or unconsciously.
My hope and sincere prayer isthat this message would be one
of those moments ofdeconstruction, removing some
improper perspectives or falsenarratives in your heart towards
God.
The statements that God makesabout himself in this chapter
(02:32):
are some of the richest in theOld Testament and will help us
to see more clearly thecharacter and nature of God.
So, friends, sisters andbrothers, I want all of us to
just take a second unclench thatjaw, drop your shoulders, relax
your face and take a minute toconnect with God in this moment.
(02:57):
I want us all to take a nicedeep breath, deep breath Now.
Take a couple more as I praywith you, lord.
You have been our dwellingplace throughout all generations
.
Today, as we come to you,please show us yourself, show us
(03:19):
your very heart, teach usdeeply about your character and
remove the veils that havehidden your goodness from us.
Please move powerfully and helpus to have ears to hear Amen,
all right.
So in the last episode I wentthrough Exodus 33, and I kind of
(03:40):
left you hanging, because wesee this amazing interaction
with Moses and God.
Moses tells God that Israelrefused to leave Mount Sinai
unless the tangible presence ofGod went with them.
Moses was not content even tohave an angel lead them, he
wanted God alone.
He didn't just want theprotection and the provision of
(04:03):
the Lord, but he wanted thepillar of cloud and fire.
He begged for God to remainwith them, and God's heart was
touched.
He forgave Israel and promisedthat his presence would indeed
go with them.
So Moses took this opportunityto ask the Lord to show him his
glory, to reveal even more ofhimself.
(04:26):
Moses was hungry for God andthe Lord happily responded by
telling Moses that he couldn'tsee the face of God.
But God would hide him in thecleft of the rock, speak his
name and show Moses his back.
Now, this week, we get toexplore this incredible
encounter.
This is Exodus, chapter 34.
(04:48):
Then the Lord told Moses chiselout two stone tablets, like the
first ones.
I will write on them the samewords that were on the tablets
that you smashed Be ready in themorning to climb up Mount Sinai
and present yourself to me onthe top of the mountain.
No one else may come with you.
In fact, no one is to evenappear anywhere on the mountain.
(05:12):
Do not even let the flocks orthe herds graze near this
mountain.
So Moses chiseled out twotablets of stone, like the first
ones.
Early in the morning he climbedMount Sinai as the Lord had
commanded him, and he carriedthe two stone tablets in his
hands.
Then the Lord came down in acloud and stood there with him
(05:35):
and he called out his name.
Yahweh the Lord passed in frontof Moses, calling out Yahweh
the Lord, the God of compassionand mercy.
I am slow to anger and filledwith unfailing love and
faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to athousand generations.
(05:56):
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children to the third and
fourth generations.
Moses immediately threw himselfto the ground and worshipped and
(06:17):
he said O Lord, if it is truethat I found favor with you,
please travel with us.
Yes, this is a stubborn andrebellious people, but please
forgive our iniquity and oursins and claim us as your own
special possession.
So we have this incredibleencounter with god and in verse
(06:37):
one, god asks moses to cut newstone tablets, because moses
destroyed the first ones.
If you remember from the story,he threw them down on the
ground when he saw that Israelhad created a golden calf and
were worshiping it.
Those broken tablets spoke ofthe holy laws of God that had
been broken by the Israelites.
(06:59):
This was an opportunity for God.
This was God's invitation forMoses to be a part of the
restoration.
God was inviting him to be apart of the process of
rebuilding what was brokenthrough sin.
God wanted Moses to be involved.
It took planning and tools andeffort to carve new tablets out
(07:23):
of stone.
This wasn't popping intowarehouse stationery and buying
a ream of paper.
This was real work.
It took time and precision andcare, and God wanted Moses to
sweat over this task, to bepersonally invested in the
(07:44):
restoration.
This is an invitation to deeperintimacy, chance for moses and
god to work together on thisproject.
Moses cut the stones, but godwould write on them.
Up on mount sinai.
These tablets would be passeddown for generations and finally
find their resting place in theArk of the Covenant.
Now, inside the Ark of theCovenant, there were three
(08:06):
things the hidden jar of manna,aaron's budded rod and the Ten
Commandments.
The jar of manna was ahuman-created vessel that was
filled with the miraculous breadfrom heaven.
Aaron's walking stick that,budded with flowers, was a tool
of man that was touched andtransformed by the divine.
(08:28):
And the Ten Commandments wereanother amalgamation of human
work and the work of God.
Moses cut the stones and Godwrote on them.
The Creator, god, invites us tobe a part of his work.
What an unfathomable privilegeand gift.
(08:49):
He knows that we're broken andflawed.
He sees our frailty and all ofour failures.
He knows our scars and ourhurts and he partners with us.
Anyway, why?
Why would a perfect God do that?
Because he is most glorifiedwhen broken things are filled up
(09:13):
with the divine.
He is magnified when crackedvessels overflow with holy oil,
when dead sticks come to lifelike it's springtime.
He's glorified when it'sobvious that our success could
not be measured back to our ownpotential or ability.
His power is made perfect inweakness.
(09:38):
Just like Moses, god wants usfriends, you and me, to be
involved in the work ofrestoration.
He wants to work with us asbroken and flawed as we are.
His invitation is to deeperintimacy Through partnering with
him and sharing himself withthe whole world.
What a crazy thought.
(09:59):
We are just like that potholding the manna.
We're like the walking stick ofAaron and we're just like those
raw stone tablets.
God wants to fill us with mannato make what was once dead
bloom again, and he wants towrite on us with his finger so
the world can see the beauty insimple things that are dedicated
(10:24):
to the creator Right off thebat.
Here we see so much depth inbeauty in the section of
scripture, but there's so muchmore.
Then God tells Moses in versetwo and three be ready in the
morning to climb up Mount Sinai.
Present yourself to me on thetop of the mountain.
(10:44):
No one else may come with you.
In fact, no one is to appearanywhere on the mountain.
Do not even let the flocks orherds graze near the mountain.
When I read this, I see fourimportant commands here.
Moses was instructed to one beready Chiseling those new stone
(11:06):
tablets.
It took time and planning andhe needed to sort all of those
things out by the morning.
I think of the effort that I putinto planning a simple beach
trip with my family.
If we have a beach day, I tryto gather all the towels and the
toys and the umbrellas and thechairs and the sunblock and all
the bits and load the car thenight before we go.
(11:27):
I like to make the lunches andhave a plan for an easy
breakfast, so I know that wewill have a streamlined morning
that will not get off on thewrong foot trying to wrangle six
people in all of our bits,because I know how cranky
everyone can get me includedwhen I don't plan well, and if
I'm ready, then our time is muchsmoother.
(11:49):
Kinder people appear in the car, patience has not already been
depleted and dad and I are lessstressed and we have a greater
capacity to invest in our daytogether.
So God tells Moses be ready.
Moses needed to be ready to meetwith God, not be scrambling to
(12:11):
get ready and show up frazzledand tired and rushed.
He was to be prepared for thisimportant thing.
The next instruction from Godwas climb up Now.
Moses needed to climb amountain with two stone tablets
under his arm or strapped to hisback or something.
I bet you didn't know thatMoses was a CrossFit champ even
(12:34):
back in the day, but this showedhis intentionality and his
effort and his determination toclimb.
Number three the Lord tellsMoses present yourself.
Present yourself to me.
This simple instruction showshonesty, openness and
(12:57):
vulnerability.
There would be no faking and nohiding.
And then verse three says forMoses to come alone.
Moses all by himself.
Likewise we stand before.
Come alone, moses all byhimself.
Likewise we stand before Godalone.
It's not about our parents'faith or lack of faith.
It's not about our church orour friends or our spouses.
(13:20):
We stand before God alone.
These four simple instructionsare such great advice for us.
Be ready, plan ahead to spendquality time with Jesus like a
good beach trip.
Now, I know a lot of you arevery time poor and you're
exhausted and I hear thatbecause I have had large seasons
(13:41):
of my life like that as well.
But do your best to carve outgood time to spend with Jesus.
I know that it's not perfectand that's not always possible,
but when it is, carve the timeout and climb up.
Be intentional and determined.
Schedule that time.
Put in the effort of meetingwith God.
(14:05):
Present yourself when you showup to spend time with Jesus, put
off all the pretense.
Be raw and exposed.
Be honest and open.
Your father knows you and hesees all these things anyway.
Show him your weakness and yourdisappointment in your own
spiritual condition.
He knows it.
Be honest with him, presentyourself and the last thing,
(14:29):
come alone.
Don't expect it to be someoneelse's job to get you to Jesus
your pastor, your friends, yourspouse or kids.
They might encourage you, butit's on you, baby.
You got to show up All right.
Now we dive into some reallygood God stuff as he reveals
(14:50):
himself to Moses and to us andtells us what his glory looks
like.
In verses 5 to 7, we see thefulfillment of God's promise to
Moses.
In the last chapter, if youremember from the last episode,
we went through Exodus 33, whereMoses asks to see the glory of
God.
I'll read verses 19 through 23of Exodus 33, so you can
(15:13):
remember what God told Mosesthat he was going to do.
The Lord replied I will makeall my goodness pass before you
and I will call out my name,yahweh, before you, for I will
(15:39):
show mercy to anyone I chooseand I will show compassion to
the Lord.
Continued passes by, I willhide you in the crevice of the
rock and cover you with my handuntil I've passed by, and then
I'll remove my hand and let yousee me from behind, but my face
will not be seen.
So now imagine being Moses inthis moment, up on that mountain
(16:03):
that you climbed with God beinghidden in the crack of a rock,
so that you could endure thepower and gravity of this
experience.
So back in Exodus 34, we'rereading through the actual event
, and this is what it says inthe New Living Translation.
Then the Lord came down in acloud and stood there with him
(16:24):
and he called out his own namewith him, and he called out his
own name.
Yahweh the Lord passed in frontof Moses, calling out Yahweh,
the Lord, the God of compassionand mercy.
I am slow to anger and filledwith unfailing love and
faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to athousand generations.
(16:44):
I forgive iniquity to athousand generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children in the third and
(17:05):
fourth generations.
This is God's declaration of hisglory.
He begins by reminding Moses ofhis name.
Maybe this call to remembrancethe first time that God spoke
his name to Moses in the burningbush, bringing together that
first experience of God andlinking it with this fuller
explanation of the character,nature and substance of God.
(17:27):
God calls himself Yahweh, I am,or Jehovah, which means the
self-existent or eternal one,the Lord.
He reminds Moses that he is thegiver of existence, the
incomparable, absolute,self-consistent and unchangeable
(17:51):
one, the one who is.
Then God continues to tellMoses what his glory looks like,
and what is the very firstthing that he mentions?
Is it his wrath for sinners orhis power to crush the ungodly?
No, he says he is compassionateand merciful, slow to anger and
(18:19):
filled with unfailing love andfaithfulness.
The New King James translatesit merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abounding ingoodness and truth.
The title under his socialmedia profile would be merciful,
slash gracious.
His game show introductionwould be the great I am the God
(18:42):
of the universe, merciful andgracious, patient with sinners
and overflowing with love andgoodness.
Are these the very first thingsthat come into your mind when
you think of god, the father, orthe manifestations of god that
we see in the old testament?
I know for many of us.
(19:03):
This is not the case.
The dane ortling quote that Iread at the beginning of the
episode is so key.
The Bible is one long attemptto deconstruct our natural
vision of who God actually is.
In his book Gentle and Lowly,dane Ortlund says this.
(19:25):
Gentle and lowly Dane Ortlundsays this when we speak of God's
glory, we are speaking of whoGod is, what he is like, his
distinctive resplendence, whatmakes God God.
And when God himself sets theterms of what his glory is, he
surprises us into wonder.
(19:46):
Our deepest instincts expecthim to be thundering gavel,
swinging judgment relishing.
We expect the bent of God'sheart to be retribution for our
waywardness.
And then Exodus 34 taps us onthe shoulder and stops us in our
tracks.
The bent of God's heart ismercy.
(20:09):
His glory is his goodness.
His glory is his lowliness.
Psalm 138, 5 and 6 says greatis the glory of the Lord, for
though the Lord is high, heregards the lowly.
Consider the words of Exodus 34,6 through 7, merciful and
(20:33):
gracious, these are the firstwords out of God's own mouth
after proclaiming his name.
The Lord or I am the firstwords.
The only two words that Jesuswill use to describe his own
heart are gentle and lowly inMatthew 11, 29.
And the first two words thatGod uses to describe who he is
(20:56):
are merciful and gracious.
God does not reveal his gloryas the Lord the Lord exacting
and precise, or the Lord theLord tolerant and overlooking,
or the Lord the Lorddisappointed and frustrated.
His highest priority anddeepest delight and first
(21:20):
reaction, his heart, is mercifuland gracious.
He gently accommodates himselfto our terms rather than
overwhelming us with his.
I know that was a long quoteand if you need to hear it again
, push that little rewind buttonor slide back a minute in the
recording to let that sink in,because he puts it so, so well.
(21:44):
So let's keep picking theseverses apart, because there is
so much here to consider.
God tells Moses that he islong-suffering.
He has extensive endurance.
God's intense love causes himto be filled with patience, like
(22:06):
a marathon runner that justgoes and goes forever.
Ortlund puts it this way wetend to think divine anger is
pent up and spring-loaded anddivine mercy is slow to build.
It's just the opposite.
Divine mercy is ready to burstforth at the slightest prick.
(22:26):
And in his book, dane goes onto say that people are the
opposite of God in this, becausewe need to stir one another up
to love and good deeds and weneed to strive for patience and
love and long-suffering.
But God, he doesn't need anyprovoking to love.
It's his anger that needsprovoking to come to the surface
(22:49):
.
God's love and his mercy aregushing torrents, ready to flood
your life and to cover your sin, but his wrath towards you,
it's damned up and held back byhis fervent love.
He is long-suffering andmerciful at his core, my friends
(23:11):
At his center at his heart.
This is who he is.
This is reflected in God's laststatement about himself.
God says that he is merciful andgracious, long-suffering and
abounding in goodness and truth.
He continues on saying I lavishunfailing love to a thousand
(23:34):
generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children in the third and
fourth generations.
Now, here is usually where weerroneously tend to focus the
(23:56):
most attention and notice thatGod says that he lays the sins
of the parents on their childrenand grandchildren, and we want
to cry out at the perceivedinjustice of God making children
pay for the sins of theirparents.
But upon further inspection ofthis passage we can learn
something.
God begins this section sayingthat he lavishes unfailing love
(24:22):
to a thousand generations.
The implication here is thatGod's unfailing love will never
be stopped.
It goes on generation aftergeneration.
God is reaching out with loveand mercy, but the effects of
sin certainly flow down throughthe generations, don't they?
(24:43):
We've all seen the effects ofsins following a family and
breeding generational issuestime and time again.
Sin is cruel and it easilypasses from the parents down to
the children, doesn't it?
But the Lord is there to remindus not to lose heart, because
he has overcome the world andevery generational sin with his
(25:07):
generational love.
Sin must be punished.
God would not be a just judgeor a good, good father or a
watchful shepherd if he allowedsin to run rampant and continue
to destroy the world.
God is not soft on sin, but heis merciful to us and his love
(25:28):
can swallow up even the ugliestof sins.
Now, if the concept of divinejustice and punishment seems
hard for your mind to grasp, Iwould encourage you to listen to
episode number 28 in this Mosesseries, entitled Golden Calf
Failure and Judgment.
In that episode I unpack thedifficult topic of divine
(25:49):
justice and go into it a bitmore, but for now I want to move
on and read a few supportingscriptures that help our minds
to be recoded.
Joel 213, written by an oldtestament prophet, echoes the
truth that we have beendiscussing when he writes this
(26:11):
don't tear your clothing in yourgrief, but tear your hearts
instead.
Return to the Lord, your God,for he is merciful and
compassionate, slow to get angryand filled with unfailing love.
He is eager to relent and notpunish.
You hear that God is eager toshow compassion and forgiveness
(26:38):
and love to you and to me, andhe wants to offer it to the
whole world.
Another Old Testament proof ofGod's truest heart is written in
Ezekiel 33, 11.
Ezekiel 33, 11.
As surely as I live, says thesovereign Lord.
I take no pleasure in the deathof wicked people.
(27:01):
I only want them to turn fromtheir wicked ways so they can
live.
Turn, turn from your wickedness, o people of Israel.
Why should you die?
God's long-suffering heartdesires mercy and not judgment.
God is not pent up with wrathtowards you.
(27:23):
He's not waiting for you to getout of line so that he can
punish you.
Ezekiel 18.23 tells us that Godtakes no pleasure in the
destruction of the wicked, buthe is pleased when the wicked
turn from their sinful ways.
The New Testament speaks againand again and again of the
(27:45):
long-suffering and love of Jesus.
We can affirm these truths thatwe're talking about over and
over again through the NewTestament scriptures and over
again through the New Testamentscriptures.
But it's so important for us tounderstand that the powerful
God that we see punishing thewicked in the Old Testament is
the same God who heals the sick,who eats with prostitutes and
(28:07):
zealots and notices the unloved,and he gave his very life to
redeem our relationship from him, gave his very life to redeem
our relationship from him.
Maybe you skipped the OldTestament because the judgment
of God feels too heavy to bearand because you haven't sought
out the whole counsel of God'sword.
It doesn't quite make sense toyou.
(28:29):
Maybe you've been living likeGod is perpetually mad at you or
looking for an opportunity topunish you, to take things that
you love and make you suffer forthe sin in your life.
This could be the very reasonthat you hide from God when you
sin, instead of running into hisarms, knowing that there is
safety and love and restorationwaiting for you.
(28:52):
This could be the reason thatyou want to turn to food for
comfort or too much media ordrugs or sex or alcohol or
anything that will take yourmind off of your life?
Are you thinking properly aboutGod?
Maybe today the Lord ispatiently lovingly correcting
(29:15):
your perception of him?
Ortlund says this in his bookthe Christian life from one
angle is the long journey ofletting your natural assumption
about who God is over manydecades fall away, being slowly
replaced with God's owninsistence on who he is.
(29:35):
This is hard work.
It takes a lot of sermons and alot of suffering to believe
that God's deepest heart ismerciful and gracious, slow to
anger.
The fall in Genesis 3 not onlysent us into condemnation and
exile.
The fall also entrenched in ourminds darkest thoughts of God,
(29:59):
thoughts that are only dug outover multiple exposures to the
gospel over many years.
Perhaps Satan's greatest victoryin your life today is not the
sin in which you regularlyindulge, but the dark thoughts
of God's heart that cause you togo there in the first place and
(30:20):
keep you cool toward him in thewake of it.
If you are pricked by thesethoughts, if you know that your
perspective of God has been off,I encourage you to take God's
advice to Moses in the beginningof the section of scripture.
Remember God told Moses beready, come up, present yourself
(30:47):
and come alone.
God promises that he will nevercast aside or drive away those
that come to him.
His desire is for you.
He loves you.
He is not waiting to swing thehammer and punish you.
He is waiting to embrace you asa son or a daughter.
(31:07):
I pray that God would help ourperspective to be this and that
we could look at the wholecounsel of God and understand
more deeply the heart of God.
Thank you.
Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for
women to be encouraged by God'sholy word.
I'm your host, julie Colbeth,and I am overjoyed to dig into
the Bible with you today.
Do you ever struggle toreconcile the God of the Old
(00:41):
Testament with Jesus in the NewTestament, the God of the Old
Testament with Jesus in the NewTestament?
Do you feel relaxed walkinghand in hand with Jesus but
would prefer to avoid thepresence of God, the Father?
Do you dodge reading the OldTestament because your brain
just can't understand the Godthat you see revealed there?
If this is you, you are notalone, and today we are blessed
(01:04):
to be diving into a section thatbrings incredible clarity and
revelation to who God really is,as revealed in the Old
Testament passage of Exodus 34.
I cannot even explain howexcited I am to get into this
text with all of you.
Unbeknownst to me, the Lordorchestrated a whole chapter in
(01:26):
the book that I was alreadyreading that's devoted to this
text.
The book is called Gentle andLowly by Dane Ortlund.
This book has expanded myunderstanding of the goodness of
God in truly life-changing ways, and I would highly recommend
to add it to your reading listor listen to it on audiobook.
I will be sure to add a link toit in the show notes and I will
(01:47):
be quoting this book at lengthfor this episode, because I
couldn't find better words thanMr Ortlund had already supplied.
Dane Ortlund says that theBible is one long attempt to
deconstruct our natural visionof who God actually is.
And isn't that the truth?
(02:08):
We have many misconceptionsabout God that we harbor
consciously or unconsciously.
My hope and sincere prayer isthat this message would be one
of those moments ofdeconstruction, removing some
improper perspectives or falsenarratives in your heart towards
God.
The statements that God makesabout himself in this chapter
(02:32):
are some of the richest in theOld Testament and will help us
to see more clearly thecharacter and nature of God.
So, friends, sisters andbrothers, I want all of us to
just take a second unclench thatjaw, drop your shoulders, relax
your face and take a minute toconnect with God in this moment.
(02:57):
I want us all to take a nicedeep breath, deep breath Now.
Take a couple more as I praywith you, lord.
You have been our dwellingplace throughout all generations
.
Today, as we come to you,please show us yourself, show us
(03:19):
your very heart, teach usdeeply about your character and
remove the veils that havehidden your goodness from us.
Please move powerfully and helpus to have ears to hear Amen,
all right.
So in the last episode I wentthrough Exodus 33, and I kind of
(03:40):
left you hanging, because wesee this amazing interaction
with Moses and God.
Moses tells God that Israelrefused to leave Mount Sinai
unless the tangible presence ofGod went with them.
Moses was not content even tohave an angel lead them, he
wanted God alone.
He didn't just want theprotection and the provision of
(04:03):
the Lord, but he wanted thepillar of cloud and fire.
He begged for God to remainwith them, and God's heart was
touched.
He forgave Israel and promisedthat his presence would indeed
go with them.
So Moses took this opportunityto ask the Lord to show him his
glory, to reveal even more ofhimself.
(04:26):
Moses was hungry for God andthe Lord happily responded by
telling Moses that he couldn'tsee the face of God.
But God would hide him in thecleft of the rock, speak his
name and show Moses his back.
Now, this week, we get toexplore this incredible
encounter.
This is Exodus, chapter 34.
(04:48):
Then the Lord told Moses chiselout two stone tablets, like the
first ones.
I will write on them the samewords that were on the tablets
that you smashed Be ready in themorning to climb up Mount Sinai
and present yourself to me onthe top of the mountain.
No one else may come with you.
In fact, no one is to evenappear anywhere on the mountain.
(05:12):
Do not even let the flocks orthe herds graze near this
mountain.
So Moses chiseled out twotablets of stone, like the first
ones.
Early in the morning he climbedMount Sinai as the Lord had
commanded him, and he carriedthe two stone tablets in his
hands.
Then the Lord came down in acloud and stood there with him
(05:35):
and he called out his name.
Yahweh the Lord passed in frontof Moses, calling out Yahweh
the Lord, the God of compassionand mercy.
I am slow to anger and filledwith unfailing love and
faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to athousand generations.
(05:56):
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children to the third and
fourth generations.
Moses immediately threw himselfto the ground and worshipped and
(06:17):
he said O Lord, if it is truethat I found favor with you,
please travel with us.
Yes, this is a stubborn andrebellious people, but please
forgive our iniquity and oursins and claim us as your own
special possession.
So we have this incredibleencounter with god and in verse
(06:37):
one, god asks moses to cut newstone tablets, because moses
destroyed the first ones.
If you remember from the story,he threw them down on the
ground when he saw that Israelhad created a golden calf and
were worshiping it.
Those broken tablets spoke ofthe holy laws of God that had
been broken by the Israelites.
(06:59):
This was an opportunity for God.
This was God's invitation forMoses to be a part of the
restoration.
God was inviting him to be apart of the process of
rebuilding what was brokenthrough sin.
God wanted Moses to be involved.
It took planning and tools andeffort to carve new tablets out
(07:23):
of stone.
This wasn't popping intowarehouse stationery and buying
a ream of paper.
This was real work.
It took time and precision andcare, and God wanted Moses to
sweat over this task, to bepersonally invested in the
(07:44):
restoration.
This is an invitation to deeperintimacy, chance for moses and
god to work together on thisproject.
Moses cut the stones, but godwould write on them.
Up on mount sinai.
These tablets would be passeddown for generations and finally
find their resting place in theArk of the Covenant.
Now, inside the Ark of theCovenant, there were three
(08:06):
things the hidden jar of manna,aaron's budded rod and the Ten
Commandments.
The jar of manna was ahuman-created vessel that was
filled with the miraculous breadfrom heaven.
Aaron's walking stick that,budded with flowers, was a tool
of man that was touched andtransformed by the divine.
(08:28):
And the Ten Commandments wereanother amalgamation of human
work and the work of God.
Moses cut the stones and Godwrote on them.
The Creator, god, invites us tobe a part of his work.
What an unfathomable privilegeand gift.
(08:49):
He knows that we're broken andflawed.
He sees our frailty and all ofour failures.
He knows our scars and ourhurts and he partners with us.
Anyway, why?
Why would a perfect God do that?
Because he is most glorifiedwhen broken things are filled up
(09:13):
with the divine.
He is magnified when crackedvessels overflow with holy oil,
when dead sticks come to lifelike it's springtime.
He's glorified when it'sobvious that our success could
not be measured back to our ownpotential or ability.
His power is made perfect inweakness.
(09:38):
Just like Moses, god wants usfriends, you and me, to be
involved in the work ofrestoration.
He wants to work with us asbroken and flawed as we are.
His invitation is to deeperintimacy Through partnering with
him and sharing himself withthe whole world.
What a crazy thought.
(09:59):
We are just like that potholding the manna.
We're like the walking stick ofAaron and we're just like those
raw stone tablets.
God wants to fill us with mannato make what was once dead
bloom again, and he wants towrite on us with his finger so
the world can see the beauty insimple things that are dedicated
(10:24):
to the creator Right off thebat.
Here we see so much depth inbeauty in the section of
scripture, but there's so muchmore.
Then God tells Moses in versetwo and three be ready in the
morning to climb up Mount Sinai.
Present yourself to me on thetop of the mountain.
(10:44):
No one else may come with you.
In fact, no one is to appearanywhere on the mountain.
Do not even let the flocks orherds graze near the mountain.
When I read this, I see fourimportant commands here.
Moses was instructed to one beready Chiseling those new stone
(11:06):
tablets.
It took time and planning andhe needed to sort all of those
things out by the morning.
I think of the effort that I putinto planning a simple beach
trip with my family.
If we have a beach day, I tryto gather all the towels and the
toys and the umbrellas and thechairs and the sunblock and all
the bits and load the car thenight before we go.
(11:27):
I like to make the lunches andhave a plan for an easy
breakfast, so I know that wewill have a streamlined morning
that will not get off on thewrong foot trying to wrangle six
people in all of our bits,because I know how cranky
everyone can get me includedwhen I don't plan well, and if
I'm ready, then our time is muchsmoother.
(11:49):
Kinder people appear in the car, patience has not already been
depleted and dad and I are lessstressed and we have a greater
capacity to invest in our daytogether.
So God tells Moses be ready.
Moses needed to be ready to meetwith God, not be scrambling to
(12:11):
get ready and show up frazzledand tired and rushed.
He was to be prepared for thisimportant thing.
The next instruction from Godwas climb up Now.
Moses needed to climb amountain with two stone tablets
under his arm or strapped to hisback or something.
I bet you didn't know thatMoses was a CrossFit champ even
(12:34):
back in the day, but this showedhis intentionality and his
effort and his determination toclimb.
Number three the Lord tellsMoses present yourself.
Present yourself to me.
This simple instruction showshonesty, openness and
(12:57):
vulnerability.
There would be no faking and nohiding.
And then verse three says forMoses to come alone.
Moses all by himself.
Likewise we stand before.
Come alone, moses all byhimself.
Likewise we stand before Godalone.
It's not about our parents'faith or lack of faith.
It's not about our church orour friends or our spouses.
(13:20):
We stand before God alone.
These four simple instructionsare such great advice for us.
Be ready, plan ahead to spendquality time with Jesus like a
good beach trip.
Now, I know a lot of you arevery time poor and you're
exhausted and I hear thatbecause I have had large seasons
(13:41):
of my life like that as well.
But do your best to carve outgood time to spend with Jesus.
I know that it's not perfectand that's not always possible,
but when it is, carve the timeout and climb up.
Be intentional and determined.
Schedule that time.
Put in the effort of meetingwith God.
(14:05):
Present yourself when you showup to spend time with Jesus, put
off all the pretense.
Be raw and exposed.
Be honest and open.
Your father knows you and hesees all these things anyway.
Show him your weakness and yourdisappointment in your own
spiritual condition.
He knows it.
Be honest with him, presentyourself and the last thing,
(14:29):
come alone.
Don't expect it to be someoneelse's job to get you to Jesus
your pastor, your friends, yourspouse or kids.
They might encourage you, butit's on you, baby.
You got to show up All right.
Now we dive into some reallygood God stuff as he reveals
(14:50):
himself to Moses and to us andtells us what his glory looks
like.
In verses 5 to 7, we see thefulfillment of God's promise to
Moses.
In the last chapter, if youremember from the last episode,
we went through Exodus 33, whereMoses asks to see the glory of
God.
I'll read verses 19 through 23of Exodus 33, so you can
(15:13):
remember what God told Mosesthat he was going to do.
The Lord replied I will makeall my goodness pass before you
and I will call out my name,yahweh, before you, for I will
(15:39):
show mercy to anyone I chooseand I will show compassion to
the Lord.
Continued passes by, I willhide you in the crevice of the
rock and cover you with my handuntil I've passed by, and then
I'll remove my hand and let yousee me from behind, but my face
will not be seen.
So now imagine being Moses inthis moment, up on that mountain
(16:03):
that you climbed with God beinghidden in the crack of a rock,
so that you could endure thepower and gravity of this
experience.
So back in Exodus 34, we'rereading through the actual event
, and this is what it says inthe New Living Translation.
Then the Lord came down in acloud and stood there with him
(16:24):
and he called out his own namewith him, and he called out his
own name.
Yahweh the Lord passed in frontof Moses, calling out Yahweh,
the Lord, the God of compassionand mercy.
I am slow to anger and filledwith unfailing love and
faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to athousand generations.
(16:44):
I forgive iniquity to athousand generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children in the third and
(17:05):
fourth generations.
This is God's declaration of hisglory.
He begins by reminding Moses ofhis name.
Maybe this call to remembrancethe first time that God spoke
his name to Moses in the burningbush, bringing together that
first experience of God andlinking it with this fuller
explanation of the character,nature and substance of God.
(17:27):
God calls himself Yahweh, I am,or Jehovah, which means the
self-existent or eternal one,the Lord.
He reminds Moses that he is thegiver of existence, the
incomparable, absolute,self-consistent and unchangeable
(17:51):
one, the one who is.
Then God continues to tellMoses what his glory looks like,
and what is the very firstthing that he mentions?
Is it his wrath for sinners orhis power to crush the ungodly?
No, he says he is compassionateand merciful, slow to anger and
(18:19):
filled with unfailing love andfaithfulness.
The New King James translatesit merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abounding ingoodness and truth.
The title under his socialmedia profile would be merciful,
slash gracious.
His game show introductionwould be the great I am the God
(18:42):
of the universe, merciful andgracious, patient with sinners
and overflowing with love andgoodness.
Are these the very first thingsthat come into your mind when
you think of god, the father, orthe manifestations of god that
we see in the old testament?
I know for many of us.
(19:03):
This is not the case.
The dane ortling quote that Iread at the beginning of the
episode is so key.
The Bible is one long attemptto deconstruct our natural
vision of who God actually is.
In his book Gentle and Lowly,dane Ortlund says this.
(19:25):
Gentle and lowly Dane Ortlundsays this when we speak of God's
glory, we are speaking of whoGod is, what he is like, his
distinctive resplendence, whatmakes God God.
And when God himself sets theterms of what his glory is, he
surprises us into wonder.
(19:46):
Our deepest instincts expecthim to be thundering gavel,
swinging judgment relishing.
We expect the bent of God'sheart to be retribution for our
waywardness.
And then Exodus 34 taps us onthe shoulder and stops us in our
tracks.
The bent of God's heart ismercy.
(20:09):
His glory is his goodness.
His glory is his lowliness.
Psalm 138, 5 and 6 says greatis the glory of the Lord, for
though the Lord is high, heregards the lowly.
Consider the words of Exodus 34,6 through 7, merciful and
(20:33):
gracious, these are the firstwords out of God's own mouth
after proclaiming his name.
The Lord or I am the firstwords.
The only two words that Jesuswill use to describe his own
heart are gentle and lowly inMatthew 11, 29.
And the first two words thatGod uses to describe who he is
(20:56):
are merciful and gracious.
God does not reveal his gloryas the Lord the Lord exacting
and precise, or the Lord theLord tolerant and overlooking,
or the Lord the Lorddisappointed and frustrated.
His highest priority anddeepest delight and first
(21:20):
reaction, his heart, is mercifuland gracious.
He gently accommodates himselfto our terms rather than
overwhelming us with his.
I know that was a long quoteand if you need to hear it again
, push that little rewind buttonor slide back a minute in the
recording to let that sink in,because he puts it so, so well.
(21:44):
So let's keep picking theseverses apart, because there is
so much here to consider.
God tells Moses that he islong-suffering.
He has extensive endurance.
God's intense love causes himto be filled with patience, like
(22:06):
a marathon runner that justgoes and goes forever.
Ortlund puts it this way wetend to think divine anger is
pent up and spring-loaded anddivine mercy is slow to build.
It's just the opposite.
Divine mercy is ready to burstforth at the slightest prick.
(22:26):
And in his book, dane goes onto say that people are the
opposite of God in this, becausewe need to stir one another up
to love and good deeds and weneed to strive for patience and
love and long-suffering.
But God, he doesn't need anyprovoking to love.
It's his anger that needsprovoking to come to the surface
(22:49):
.
God's love and his mercy aregushing torrents, ready to flood
your life and to cover your sin, but his wrath towards you,
it's damned up and held back byhis fervent love.
He is long-suffering andmerciful at his core, my friends
(23:11):
At his center at his heart.
This is who he is.
This is reflected in God's laststatement about himself.
God says that he is merciful andgracious, long-suffering and
abounding in goodness and truth.
He continues on saying I lavishunfailing love to a thousand
(23:34):
generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellionand sin, but I do not excuse the
guilty.
I lay the sins of the parentsupon their children and
grandchildren.
The entire family is affected,even children in the third and
fourth generations.
Now, here is usually where weerroneously tend to focus the
(23:56):
most attention and notice thatGod says that he lays the sins
of the parents on their childrenand grandchildren, and we want
to cry out at the perceivedinjustice of God making children
pay for the sins of theirparents.
But upon further inspection ofthis passage we can learn
something.
God begins this section sayingthat he lavishes unfailing love
(24:22):
to a thousand generations.
The implication here is thatGod's unfailing love will never
be stopped.
It goes on generation aftergeneration.
God is reaching out with loveand mercy, but the effects of
sin certainly flow down throughthe generations, don't they?
(24:43):
We've all seen the effects ofsins following a family and
breeding generational issuestime and time again.
Sin is cruel and it easilypasses from the parents down to
the children, doesn't it?
But the Lord is there to remindus not to lose heart, because
he has overcome the world andevery generational sin with his
(25:07):
generational love.
Sin must be punished.
God would not be a just judgeor a good, good father or a
watchful shepherd if he allowedsin to run rampant and continue
to destroy the world.
God is not soft on sin, but heis merciful to us and his love
(25:28):
can swallow up even the ugliestof sins.
Now, if the concept of divinejustice and punishment seems
hard for your mind to grasp, Iwould encourage you to listen to
episode number 28 in this Mosesseries, entitled Golden Calf
Failure and Judgment.
In that episode I unpack thedifficult topic of divine
(25:49):
justice and go into it a bitmore, but for now I want to move
on and read a few supportingscriptures that help our minds
to be recoded.
Joel 213, written by an oldtestament prophet, echoes the
truth that we have beendiscussing when he writes this
(26:11):
don't tear your clothing in yourgrief, but tear your hearts
instead.
Return to the Lord, your God,for he is merciful and
compassionate, slow to get angryand filled with unfailing love.
He is eager to relent and notpunish.
You hear that God is eager toshow compassion and forgiveness
(26:38):
and love to you and to me, andhe wants to offer it to the
whole world.
Another Old Testament proof ofGod's truest heart is written in
Ezekiel 33, 11.
Ezekiel 33, 11.
As surely as I live, says thesovereign Lord.
I take no pleasure in the deathof wicked people.
(27:01):
I only want them to turn fromtheir wicked ways so they can
live.
Turn, turn from your wickedness, o people of Israel.
Why should you die?
God's long-suffering heartdesires mercy and not judgment.
God is not pent up with wrathtowards you.
(27:23):
He's not waiting for you to getout of line so that he can
punish you.
Ezekiel 18.23 tells us that Godtakes no pleasure in the
destruction of the wicked, buthe is pleased when the wicked
turn from their sinful ways.
The New Testament speaks againand again and again of the
(27:45):
long-suffering and love of Jesus.
We can affirm these truths thatwe're talking about over and
over again through the NewTestament scriptures and over
again through the New Testamentscriptures.
But it's so important for us tounderstand that the powerful
God that we see punishing thewicked in the Old Testament is
the same God who heals the sick,who eats with prostitutes and
(28:07):
zealots and notices the unloved,and he gave his very life to
redeem our relationship from him, gave his very life to redeem
our relationship from him.
Maybe you skipped the OldTestament because the judgment
of God feels too heavy to bearand because you haven't sought
out the whole counsel of God'sword.
It doesn't quite make sense toyou.
(28:29):
Maybe you've been living likeGod is perpetually mad at you or
looking for an opportunity topunish you, to take things that
you love and make you suffer forthe sin in your life.
This could be the very reasonthat you hide from God when you
sin, instead of running into hisarms, knowing that there is
safety and love and restorationwaiting for you.
(28:52):
This could be the reason thatyou want to turn to food for
comfort or too much media ordrugs or sex or alcohol or
anything that will take yourmind off of your life?
Are you thinking properly aboutGod?
Maybe today the Lord ispatiently lovingly correcting
(29:15):
your perception of him?
Ortlund says this in his bookthe Christian life from one
angle is the long journey ofletting your natural assumption
about who God is over manydecades fall away, being slowly
replaced with God's owninsistence on who he is.
(29:35):
This is hard work.
It takes a lot of sermons and alot of suffering to believe
that God's deepest heart ismerciful and gracious, slow to
anger.
The fall in Genesis 3 not onlysent us into condemnation and
exile.
The fall also entrenched in ourminds darkest thoughts of God,
(29:59):
thoughts that are only dug outover multiple exposures to the
gospel over many years.
Perhaps Satan's greatest victoryin your life today is not the
sin in which you regularlyindulge, but the dark thoughts
of God's heart that cause you togo there in the first place and
(30:20):
keep you cool toward him in thewake of it.
If you are pricked by thesethoughts, if you know that your
perspective of God has been off,I encourage you to take God's
advice to Moses in the beginningof the section of scripture.
Remember God told Moses beready, come up, present yourself
(30:47):
and come alone.
God promises that he will nevercast aside or drive away those
that come to him.
His desire is for you.
He loves you.
He is not waiting to swing thehammer and punish you.
He is waiting to embrace you asa son or a daughter.
(31:07):
I pray that God would help ourperspective to be this and that
we could look at the wholecounsel of God and understand
more deeply the heart of God.
Thank you.
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