Exodus 33
Mathew Enoch Mount
If the Father goes with the Israelites even for a moment he might
destroy them all
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people
you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your
descendants.' 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the
Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3
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 on
the way." 4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began
to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to
Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were
to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off
your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.' " 6 So the
Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb. (NIV)
Moses the friend of God meeting God at the Tent of Meeting
7 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. 8 And
whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at
the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the
tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come
down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10
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. 11 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. (NIV)
The Presence of God, Glory of the Lord, Name of God, and Goodness of
God
12 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.' 13
If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and
continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your
people." 14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I
will give you rest." 15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does
not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 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?" 17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I
will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you
and I know you by name." 18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
19 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. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my
face, for no one may see me and live." 21 Then the LORD said, "There
is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 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. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you
will see my back; but my face must not be seen." (NIV)
The point that Exodus 33 makes clear is that the Father could not go
with the Israelites even for a moment because he might destroy them as
a result of having no covering (or very little covering) between
himself and the people. We learn that this problem was solved in part
by the tent of meeting, but latter the temple had to be built and the
ark of the covenant had to be made to put inside of the temple in
order to shield the people from God the Father in order that they may
not be destroyed. Overall, what is very notable is that the people
worshipped at their tents while Moses went into the tent of meeting,
and this tells us that Israelites saw their own tents as being like
smaller versions of the tent of meeting (this demonstrates the kingdom
of priests worshipping God with what God has entrusted to them).
The fact is that Moses requested that the Father teach him his way in
order that he may continue to find favor with God and in order that he
may know God, and Moses asked this of God as it was necessary for the
leading of his people whom God put Moses in charge of (verses 12-13).
As we know from the scripture, Moses said these things as he
demonstrated that he was in need of God’s charity (or agapie as often
translated as love in 1 John like in the phrase "God is Love" or "God
is Charity"). The point is that Moses did all the things that he was
supposed to do for the most part, but he requested that the charity of
God be administered to him in order that he may enter into a better
understanding and relationship with God in order that he may know him
better and serve him better.
God told Moses that his presence would go with him, and God said that
he would enter his rest (14). The point to be made in this is that
God granting this presence to Moses and that his rest being granted
was the most direct response that God had for Moses requesting the
charity of God. God the Father did not give his charity to everyone,
but he did give his charity to Moses as Moses was the faithful servant
of God that requested the charity of God in order to do his service
better and to know God more. The presence of God and the rest that
Moses entered was the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and we know
charity came from the deepest recesses of God as this charity was the
blood of the lamb because the curtain that shielded the presence of
God from the common people was torn when Christ body was torn.
Verses 15-16 show that Moses requested that the presence of God go
with both him and his people, and Moses indicated that he did not want
to even move on until the presence of God went with him and his
people. What thus distinguished God’s chosen people from the rest of
the world is that they had the presence of God with them, and this was
satisfied by the ark of the covenant and the temple. What the New
Testament however teaches is that our bodies are temples and that the
body of Christ is a temple, furthermore we even learn that the kingdom
of God is within us (KJV says "among us"). Overall, God granted the
request of Moses because God was pleased with him and knew him by name
(17), and this shows us that God’s charity was given out to Moses and
his people simply because it was his good pleasure to do so.
Moses asked God to show him his glory (18), and this glory is defined
by the Father in verse 19 as the Goodness of God, his name, and most
importantly the sovereign choice of God the Father to have mercy on
whom he has mercy and to have compassion on whom he has compassion.
If you can remember the robe of Jesus Christ was placed upon him as a
mocking of his true title as king, and we learn from the prophets that
the train of the Father’s robe fills the temple (Isaiah 6:1) as like
an elusion to the glory of God (in fact we latter read in Isaiah 6:10
that God commands to make the hearts of the people callused and their
ears dull). Overall, my point is that the robe that shrouds the
charity of Christ and the charity of God the Father is an expression
of the Glory of God in that the true character of God is shielded from
the world in order that God does not destroy us all, furthermore the
only way to penetrate the barrier is to offer ourselves as living
sacrifices like Moses (and the martyrs) did before the throne of God
the Father, and when we are thus put to death in the old nature in
this way then we will enter the rest and the presence of God (the fact
however that we do this and are blessed by this comes about as a
result of the choice of God the Father to give us charity in this act
of worship).
In other words Jesus when asked by a man what a man must to be saved
thus said that to be saved a person must follow the commandments of
moral law, to sell everything that he had, and lastly to come and
follow him. The point to be made is that Christ was willing to give
his charity that was shielded by God’s glory, but first in order for a
person to be saved they had to offer themselves up as a living
sacrifice in order to obey divine commands (loving God with all our
heart, mind, soul, and strength). Overall, the point to be made is
that Judas killed himself as something like a living sacrifice, but it
was the wrong kind of living sacrifice because the sacrifice of Judas
was very self seeking for service to himself as if he saw himself as
his own God with his own law apart from God’s law (very different from
Moses).
We are told that Moses was not shown the face of God because if he saw
the face of God then he would parish, but we know that if we offer
ourselves as living sacrifices to do the special will of God then we
will see God’s face in one way or another even if it is unclear to us
(Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see
face to face) 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV) We learn that Moses was put
into the cleft of a rock and that God the Father passed by in order to
show his back to him, and that was the most that Moses saw of the
goodness of God the Father (21-23). Overall, my point is that their
is a order of events that happened to demonstrate free will as
existing to make interaction with God, but we must remember that God
created Moses and it is the choice of God the Father to administer
charity to Moses enough in order that he be born first of all, in
order that he be given his place in life second of all, and in order
that everything happen the way that it did third of all, and my point
in all of this is that the purpose for God to give people free will is
that out of rebellion to God everyone would be separated from God from
birth and God would make himself known through his charity to his
chosen people.
We thus (whom are being saved) should invest the love of God (his
charity) wisely into people by using our talents in various ways to
build the body of Christ. The Holy Ghost or the presence of God will
often shield the charity of God in us from the rest of the world whom
is not saved, and if the Holy Ghost works in our lives, then we will
know when to invest our talents into others in order that God’s
choices may be administered throughout the world. Overall, the reason
why people took advantage of me when I believed in the Armenian
doctrine is because I was fooled or was rebellious to the notion that
we must administer God’s choices in giving out charity because I
believed that people use their free will to come to the conclusion
that Jesus is the Christ and thus obtain salvation and that charity is
given to help people to arrive at that conclusion, but now I realize
that it is not by our own will that we are saved but instead it is by
the will of God the Father to save us through a long course of events
in our life that eventually may involve a person’s personal calling to
be part of the body of Christ and thus special revelation as well.