Exodus 33:14-2314And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. 19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Exodus 33:14‑23)
Moses had asked the Lord to show him the way he was to lead the people through the trackless Wilderness. It was going to be a difficult, journey and the people were wayward too, even though they were the people of God. What a blessed assuring answer the Lord gave to Moses. He said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” How can any of us go through the “wilderness” of this dark world, with all its trials, snares, and pitfalls, unless we have these two things for our portion? We need the sense of His presence in our souls day by day, and the enjoyment of His rest (both of conscience and heart) in every circumstance. Then at the end we shall enter into our promised land—the glory above. Oh, what a blessed portion is ours!
Moses then asked to see God’s glory. God had talked with him face to face but Moses wanted to see the fullness of that glory; but it could not be granted. He could, however, see God’s “back parts” after God had passed by. The glory of God did not, and could not, shine out until after redemption had been accomplished, and so Moses must stand in the cleft of the rock where God covered him with His hand until after all His glory had passed by—then he could see His back parts. Oh how good to know that all the claims of God’s holiness have been fully met at the cross, and so Moses’ place as looking back is in one sense typical of ours. We can look back upon the work of redemption and see God’s glory fully maintained there, and rejoice. No man can see God in His full Godhead glory (1 Tim. 6:1616Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)) but all that the creature can behold shines in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6).) Can you, dear reader, say that you are cleansed in the precious blood of Christ and fit for that glory? If so, let us look up and behold it now by faith. (2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).)
Perhaps we could learn a little lesson from this place where Moses stood in the cleft of the rock, which would he a cheer to us in times of trial. We may not always understand God’s way in all the sorrows He passes us through, but in it all we are safe in His hand, and the “afterward” of each trial He passes us through is blessed indeed. Dear reader, whether young or old, let us always trust His loving hand, for He will never send a trial or sorrow except, for our good, and even though we may not see His purpose in it at the time, it is His hand that is over our face and the “rock” is under us until it is past. And then what a sight awaits us —His glory—Himself!
Moses had broken the first tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written, for, as we have remarked before, if he had brought them into the camp it would have meant judgment upon all there. If God had dealt with the people according to pure law, He would have had to cut them off one and all, hut Moses took the place of a mediator. He stood between God and the guilty people and asked for mercy. How beautifully this brings before us the Lord Jesus, the Sent One of the Father, who stood between us and the judgment and did what Moses could never do, for He bore all the judgment in order to set us free. Moses could not make an atonement for the people, but the Lord Jesus has fully met all the holy claims of God against sin in order that we might be brought into the presence of God without fear.
ML 06/11/1950