Exodus 33 & 34 - The Cleft in the Rock
- Chad Werkhoven
- Feb 25
- 6 min read
Be thankful for God's grace and your salvation. But don't be satisfied with it.
SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF...
Moses came down from meeting with the LORD upon the mountain to find the Israelites "running wild" before the golden calf, "and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies" (32:25).
Moses offered himself in intercession for Israel after the golden calf, pleading that God would forgive their sin or blot him out instead, and though the LORD spares the nation for the moment, He affirms that each sinner will bear his own guilt and sends a plague as judgment for their rebellion.
Exodus 33 - 34:10
33 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.
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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.”
34 The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “LORD,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the LORD go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you.
Q&A 122
Q. What does the first request of the Lord's Prayer mean?
A. “Hallowed be your name” means,
Help us to really know you,
to bless, worship, and praise you
for all your works
and for all that shines forth from them:
your almighty power, wisdom, kindness,
justice, mercy, and truth.
And it means,
Help us to direct all our living—
what we think, say, and do—
so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us
but always honored and praised.
Summary
As we've already seen multiple times these past weeks as we've begun our journey through the Bible, God doesn't fit in the boxes we like to keep Him in. We often bind God by His own attributes, thinking that His grace and patience are unlimited and will forever keep His wrath at bay. As the popular book claimed, we want to think that Love Wins, as if somehow God's mercy will always overcome His justice.
But passages like today's ought to cure us of such vapid notions. God's patience has run out on His stiff necked people. He tells Moses that He'll send an angel to lead the people back to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... the land flowing with milk and honey, but that they'd be going alone. I will not go with you, the LORD says, because I might destroy you on the way. Even God's just rejection is based in His grace!
Upon hearing these distressing words, the people began to mourn. Notice how different this reaction is for them. Whereas before their continual refrain was to blame God for bringing them out to the wilderness to die, they now recognize their utter sinfulness and simply and silently mourn.
But it's in the midst of this mourning that we see the gospel. God's people, even at their lowest, most sinful moments, have an intercessor - a mediator... a man who stands in the middle - shielding them from experiencing the fullness of God's anger that our sins fully deserve. Moses tells the LORD that if your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
Dig Deeper
The LORD gave Moses, and the people Moses represented, exactly what Moses asked for. 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." Notice that salvation isn't based on empty promises to do better or try harder, but fully rests upon the fact that upon the fact that the LORD knows us.
But Moses wasn't finished. He wanted more. He didn't even ask humbly, he simply demanded that the LORD show me your glory. And the LORD didn't even skip a beat. He told Moses I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence.
But Israel's mediator was limited. The LORD told him, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. The LORD's holiness would completely crush Moses' sinfulness. So the LORD put Moses in a cleft in the Rock and covered him. The LORD protected this sinful, limited mediator by the holy, perfect Mediator - the Rock, upon which we continue to stand before the face of the LORD.
Be thankful for God's grace and your salvation. But don't be satisfied with it. Like Moses, long to see God's glory as well. Pray that you, hidden in a cleft in the Rock, will fully experience all the wonders of the LORD and that you'll see how awesome is the work that the LORD has done and will do for you.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the grace He's given, and pray that you will experience and reflect His glory;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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