After several months camped at Mount Sinai, the Lord God was ready to lead the people to the promised land of Canaan. However, they were going to have to leave their fine things behind. "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’” So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. (Exodus 33:3-6)
The Lord God is so faithful to us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (II Timothy 2:13) He made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He was going to keep it, even though His anger towards the children of Israel kindled to the point that He wanted to consume and destroy them, because they were a stiff-necked people. He was so upset with them that He told them to remove all their fine clothes and jewelry, all the things He had allowed the Egyptians to bless them with before they left Egypt. (Exodus 11:1-3) The only fine things that would remain among them is what they would use to make the tabernacle and everything within it, along with the garments the high priest would wear. (Exodus 20-31)
Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:7-8)
Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:7-8)
The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29) The Lord God was so upset with the children of Israel that He wouldn't allow His presence to even be within the camp with them; therefore, Moses set up a simulated tabernacle to meet with Him outside of the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:9-11)
Then 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 grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:12-14)
Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:15-18)
From his first encounter with the Lord God at the burning bush (Exodus 3); to his meetings with the Lord before he went before Pharaoh (Exodus 5) and all the plagues that followed; to the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14); to the Lord God sending bread from heaven and water from a rock while they traveled through the wilderness (Exodus 16-17); to the Lord God descending on Mount Sinai in the cloud and speaking with Moses and the children of Israel (Exodus 19); after all of that, Moses still wanted to see the Lord, that he may know Him and that he may find grace in His sight.
And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:19-23)
Remember we studied previously that after the Lord God descended in the cloud over Mount Sinai and gave Moses and the people the ten commandments and the laws, Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Exodus 24:9-11) The cloud covered the Lord God's face and His glory. All they saw was His feet. And He was covered in the cloud when He came to meet with Moses in the tabernacle of meeting.
Moses just wanted to see Him, and if we're honest, most of us feel the same way, just to behold Him, face to face. But the Lord God warned Moses, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” We are warned throughout scripture, No one has seen God at any time. (John 1:18) ...who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (I Timothy 6:16)
But thanks be to our Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus, The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18) Right now the clouds of this world cover the Father and the Son from our view, but He has so mercifully given us His Holy Spirit, "...another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." (John 14:16-17)
The Lord God is not outside the camp, far from the camp, away from us; but He dwells with us and will be in us. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30) For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) Even though we, just like the children of Israel may do things that kindle His anger to the point He wants to leave us and even destroy us, He won't. We may lose some of our rewards, but If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (I Corinthians 3:15) Never forget, but also never take for granted that If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (II Timothy 2:13)
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