The Life of Moses (17)

There was great sadness among the people of Israel after their transgression at Sinai. The Lord had punished them, and about three thousand men were slain by the sword. Moses pleaded for them unto the LORD and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.” If the Lord would not forgive them, Moses presented himself as the one who offered himself: “Blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book…” However, the Lord would not do this. Moses could not be a mediator of reconciliation; Christ alone is this Mediator. The Lord, however, would send an angel with them to lead them to the promised land of Canaan.

A solemn question

Moses continued to plead with the Lord. It is true, God’s presence is life, and if instead of Him, an angel would accompany them, it was as if the Lord had forsaken His covenant people. Exodus 33:14 can be translated as a question as it is also in the Dutch translation: “Shall My presence go with thee, and shall I give thee rest?” No, without God’s presence all is empty and without any token of His favor and love. There are still people who in their wilderness journey do not desire and cannot go farther without the Lord. If He discovers them, then they see that they are without God in the world. There is a separation from Him, and that becomes the pain and burden of their life. How can they be reconciled to Him who is holy and just, yet have no fellowship with anything sinful when they are leprous all over? Whatever people may promise them, they need not the riches or the pleasures of the world, the honor of men, or whatever one might give them; being without God cannot satisfy or give them rest.

So it was with Moses. It was as if the Lord tried and tested him. The wilderness with the mountain of God was better than a peaceful life in Canaan. Moses had used the argument of Exodus 32:12a, “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?” Will the enemy mock with God as if He does not fulfill His promises, even if it is an undeserving people?

The answer

We read in Exodus 33:12, “And Moses said unto the LORD, See, Thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight.” In verse 13a Moses says, “Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way, that I may know Thee.” God’s presence or His face, which shows His disposition, His inclination, be it favorable or angry, is everything. It is true, the people deserved God’s angry countenance. Sometimes the Lord hides His countenance from His people. David asked in Psalm 4, “LORD, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.”

It is the experience of God’s true pilgrims that God’s kind face gives joyfulness and light. How is that possible? Christ was hanging on the cross under the hiding of the Father’s countenance. There was no light of His countenance but darkness upon Christ. He descended into the breach between God and us. God was against Him until He had paid the price for a sinful and undeserving people. In Him who is now the great Intercessor at the Father’s right hand, God’s presence can go with such a people.

A) This presence or face gives:

• An acknowledgement that they belong to Him, that they are His people indeed.

• Preservation and protection in the midst of all dangers.

• Direction and guidance into an unknown future. Psalm 32:8a tells us, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.”

• Real worship, that they may behold His face, that they may also adore Him.

• Communion—In this face they may see, when the Lord gives it, how it is in His heart. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”

B) His presence is sufficient for all their needs and trials.

C) His presence is also efficient. It does not only mean recognition and observation but it gives provision and supply.

D.) This presence is continual, even when the flesh and heart fails. God is the strength of their heart and their portion forever.

E) This presence gives also encouragement. Isaiah 41:10 tells us, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” That presence will also lead them to their destination.

He brings to the rest

The angel would lead them to Canaan, the Lord had said, but a Canaan without God would be worse than the wilderness. God’s presence will give them rest, or as can be translated, a resting place. There is the rest:

• Of triumph after the conflicts of life in the wilderness.

• From the toils and difficulties and trials of their journey.

• From fears and anxieties and the dangers of the way.

• From the sufferings and afflictions of life.

• From the spiritual warfare, from the burden of sin: “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

• Of the eternal and heavenly glory: “There is a place by Me.”

We read that Naomi said of Boaz to Ruth that he “will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.” “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” There are moments of rest here already when Christ invites, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

There is such a precious promise in Isaiah 63:9: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

He goes with them in His love and care. They may rest in:

1) His faithfulness: He will never leave them nor forsake them.

2) His immutability: “I am the LORD, I change not.”

3) His power: All power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth.

4) His love: Although He may hide His face, His love is an everlasting love.

5) His balm which He pours in their wounds.

6) His nearness, when He speaks to their heart

7) The Ark of God. There is safety.

8) At the heart of God when the pilgrims will be home.

To follow after Him, to let Him rule and reign, gives rest. It is such a great gift if we may be enabled to do this. He will do what He has promised.

(To be continued)

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