There are some passages in the Bible that make you
feel like you are standing on a mountaintop.
Exodus 34:6-7, where God
shows His glory to Moses, is one of those passages. There are fewer passages in the Bible that
are more helpful to a person’s understanding of God, and for that reason, we
are going to spend the next few weeks here.
Understanding the context of this passage is
critical to understanding the passage itself.
In Exodus 32, the people have
committed idolatry by worshipping the golden calf and in Exodus 33:1-11, God says that He is no longer going to lead His
people to the promise land, but that He will send an angel to do so. To this, Moses prays in response in: [12] 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 favor in my sight.’ [13] Now therefore, if I have
found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in
order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your
people.” [14] And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give
you rest.” [15] And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me,
do not bring us up from here. [16] For how shall it be known that I have
found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us,
so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face
of the earth?”
[17] And
the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for
you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” [18] Moses
said, “Please show me your glory.” [19] And he said, “I will make all my
goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. [20] But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not
see me and live.” [21] And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me
where you shall stand on the rock, [22] and while my glory passes by I
will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I
have passed by. [23] Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my
back, but my face shall not be seen.”
[34:1] The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for
yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets
the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. [2] Be ready by
the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself
there to me on the top of the mountain. [3] No one shall come up with you,
and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds
graze opposite that mountain.” [4] So Moses cut two tablets of stone like
the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the
LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. [5] The
LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name
of the LORD. [6] The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the
LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's
children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 33:12-34:7 ESV)
Today we want to consider how we can see and savor
the glory of God’s grace and mercy. How
do we see and savor the glory of God’s mercy and grace?
I.
Understanding the Nature of God’s Mercy and Grace
Again, context is the key to understanding the
declaration of Exodus 34:6-7. From the context, especially in Exodus 33:18-20, we see three aspects
of the nature of God’s mercy and grace.
First, we see that God’s mercy
and grace are manifestations of His glory (33:18). Now, my
understanding of what God’s glory means is that it is the display of His manifold perfections. The context of this passage describes God
showing His “glory” to Moses as Him
causing all His goodness to pass
before Moses and proclaiming His name
(Exodus 33:18-22). So the way that God causes His glory to pass
before Moses is in a self-declaration
of who He is and what He is like. All of
these attributes described in 34:6-7
are manifestations of God’s glory and are necessary
to display God’s glory to Moses.
Moses asks God to show him His glory so that He
can know God and find favor in His sight (33:13). This is a profound lesson that we must learn:
that people must see and savor God’s glory in order to please
Him. Paul states that this is the way
that we are transformed more and more into Christ’s image: by “beholding the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). So we please God and change more into
Christ’s likeness by beholding God’s glory, and beholding God’s glory begins
with an accurate understanding of who He is and what He is like.
Second, God’s
mercy and grace are expressions of His goodness (33:19). This
self-declaration is not only called God’s “glory”
passing before Moses, but is also called “all
his goodness” that is passing before Moses.
God’s goodness is like a fountain from which these attributes flow.
Thirdly, we also see that God’s mercy and grace are completely unmerited (33:19), meaning God’s mercy and grace is never earned or owed. God is these things to
whom HE WILL and this is part of what
it means for Him to be God: that He
has the right to show mercy and grace
to whom He will. God never owes mercy
and grace to anyone. If either of these
is ever owed, then we are actually no longer talking about mercy and
grace. Paul would make this point as
well in Romans 11:6: [6] But if it is by grace, it is no
longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
So let’s describe God’s mercy as His unmerited compassion
expressed to those in distress and God’s grace
as His unmerited favor expressed to
those who are undeserving and ill-deserving.
This passage provides us with some examples of this grace and mercy in
saying that God is “slow to anger,”
that He is “abounding in steadfast love
and faithfulness,” and that He forgives sin.
II.
Understanding the Depth of Mankind’s Rebellion
We also are given a glimpse into the depth of
Mankind’s sinfulness in this passage.
Even Moses is not able to see God’s face and live (33:20). This is because
even a godly man like Moses is a fallen sinner and rebel before God. We also see the depths of the rebellion of
God’s own people in Exodus 32, in
that while Moses is on top of the mountain receiving the law, the Israelites
are at the bottom of the mountain breaking it.
The picture that Scripture paints of fallen
mankind is that of being completely
corrupted (physically, mentally, spiritually, and relationally) and in
rebellion against their Creator. Because
of Adam’s sin, we are born spiritually dead and are unable and unwilling to
seek God, please God, or understand the things of God (Eph. 2:1-3, John 6:44,
Rom. 3:10-12, 23, 8:8, 1 Cor. 2:14). We
have minds and hearts that are called evil and desperately wicked beyond our
own comprehension (Gen. 6:5, 8:21, Jer. 17:9).
This is bad news for people who must live with and stand before a God
who will by no means clear the guilty, for people who would be consumed before
a holy God!
You will never behold the glory of God’s mercy and
grace until you come to understand the depth of your own sinfulness and
rebellion against God. Here is one of
the reasons that we take God’s grace and mercy for granted. Here is one of the reasons that we do not see
these attributes of God as amazing: we all deep down think that God owes us His
mercy and grace. As I’ve said before,
grace is only as amazing as your understanding of your own sinfulness is accurate. God only “owes” us justice.
III.
Beholding the Manifestations of God’s Mercy and
Grace in Scripture
Let’s consider a few examples for the Bible this
morning in order to behold the glory of God’s mercy and grace in action. Consider first God’s mercy & grace in the
Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:14-24). A couple who deserved immediate death was
granted the mercy and grace of being clothed with the skins of a substitute
that would die that day instead of them.
They were also granted the mercy and grace of God’s promise to send a
redeemer to fix the mess that they had made.
Next, consider God’s mercy & grace in the flood. The wickedness of mankind had moved God to
judge the entirety of the human race with a global flood. But in Genesis
6:5-8 we read: “[5] The LORD saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. [6] And the LORD
regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
[7] So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the
face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens,
for I am sorry that I have made them.” [8] But Noah found favor in the
eyes of the LORD.” Noah was a sinner
like the rest of humanity, but God, who shows grace and mercy to whom He will,
chose to show unmerited favor to Noah.
Consider also God’s mercy & grace is in His dealings
with Israel. Israel is an example of a
completely undeserving and ill-deserving people and yet God remained faithful
in showing them mercy and grace. Nehemiah 9:30-31: [30] Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit
through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them
into the hand of the peoples of the lands. [31] Nevertheless, in your
great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a
gracious and merciful God.
The brightest example of God’s mercy & grace that
shines through the pages of Scripture and of history is His mercy and grace
displayed in the gospel. That God would
send His own Son for the underserving and the ill-deserving is the supreme act
of grace in the universe. 2 Corinthians 8:9: [9] For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might
become rich. Peter calls salvation a
receiving of mercy in 1 Peter 2:10: [10] Once
you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What makes us uniquely the people of God is that we have received God’s
mercy in a way that other’s have not.
The following is a lengthy passage, but it describes
the glory of God’s mercy and grace in a way that I can’t. [3] Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the
praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
[7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8] which he lavished
upon us, in all wisdom and insight [9] making known to us the mystery of
his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10] as a
plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and
things on earth.
[11] In
him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the
purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
[12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the
praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until
we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians
1:3-15 ESV)
[2:1] And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among
whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind. [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love
with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised
us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
[7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of
his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of
God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)
IV.
Placing Ourselves in the Stream of God’s Mercy and
Grace
Now, while we can’t earn mercy and grace, I do
believe that we can position ourselves to receive it. We could liken this to stepping down into a
stream in order to be in it’s current.
How do we do this? I think the
scriptures give us some helpful ways to so.
The first way we place ourselves in the stream of God’s mercy and grace
is by faith (Eph. 2:8). Wayne Grudem has a remarkable statement on faith being the most appropriate response to grace: "Faith is the one human attitude that is the opposite of depending upon one self, for it involves trust in or dependence upon another." It is by faith that we receive mercy and
grace at salvation and it is also by faith that we continue to receive grace
and mercy to grow as Christians.
Another way we place ourselves in the stream of
God’s mercy and grace is by repenting of sin in our lives. Proverbs
28:13 says, “[13] Whoever
conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes
them will obtain mercy. God loves to
show His mercy and grace to people who come to Him in repentance and
faith.
A third way we place ourselves in the stream of
God’s mercy is by humbling ourselves. 1 Peter 5:5 reads, “[5] Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Finally, we also place ourselves in the stream of
God’s mercy and grace by prayer. Hebrews 4:14-16 says “[14] Since then we have a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold
fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw
near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in time of need.” This is
essentially what we do at salvation: we plea for God’s mercy and grace offered
to us through Christ and we trust that He will do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment