Exodus 33:18–23

The sovereignty of grace did appear. Their transgression and sin gave God His opportunity, if we may reverently use such a word of God. Now He could show His grace in a way not known before. Moses said, "Please show me your glory." But God said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you." Not His glory, but His goodness! Yet His goodness is His highest glory, the glory He delights in. The glory of judgment is His strange work.

Israel had undertaken to have the promises by their obedience. If God had dealt with Israel in righteousness, every one must have been cut off. What could God do but retreat into His own sovereignty? There He had a resource. If He is to spare any of them, it must be in this way of mercy. "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy." Man is entirely lost, so now God says, I will act for Myself.

He would have mercy (or, be gracious) to whom He would be gracious, and have compassion on whom He would. So this did not depend on what the people deserved. It was part of the Divine prerogative. God, because He is God, can act as He will. Now the reader should mark the time God chose for this revelation. Everything was lost as far as Israel was concerned, and lost by their own sin. Only then did God first speak of these feelings of His heart, His compassions. He could show them to people who had proved they deserved nothing but judgment.

Is this arbitrary? Very well: who can deny God His full arbitrary rights? Does He say, four times in the space of a short sentence, "I will," and mean nothing by it? Does a wise parent consult the opinions or whims of his little child as a guide to his child's training? Does he encourage or even tolerate the child's mocking of his authority? God's "I wills" stand, and only folly dares to quarrel.

For the time being, Moses had to be content to know the goodness and the name of the Lord, and along with that God displayed His grace and His mercy. Here we have the statement which Paul quotes in Romans 9:15, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy;" and by this God declares His sovereignty. The point is this: Israel had lost everything under strict law, and yet God chose to show mercy and continue with them. So Israel had no ground for objecting when God showed mercy to Gentiles in these Gospel days. From the days of the golden calf they owed their own existence to the mercy of God.

The law cannot meet a sinner's case. Neither can conditional covenants, nor shadows and ordinances, nor even promises of the highest order. His case demands "sovereign grace." And the Lord delights in such faith... Paul quotes these words in Romans 9:15 as the expression of sovereign electing grace. What satisfied Moses, Paul preaches as God's gospel for sinners.

Beloved friends, do not set your face against God. Do not oppose God. You leave God alone to exercise what I may call the prerogative of His love, and what will He do? "I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy," is His way of meeting the guiltiest sinner that ever walked the earth.

The face speaks of the full disclosure of a person. The time had not yet come for the Son to declare the Father, or for the Son to be sent. God let Moses see and value all that He had made known so far — the back parts. But God could not reveal the "face" at that time. Yet the face was there. The Father was there, waiting for the Son to come and make Him known.

Moses wanted the perfect light of God. That is what His "face" means. God answers him, "You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live." No one could meet God in the revelation of Himself. If God had revealed Himself to Moses, He must have made Moses know His hatred of sin. How could Moses have stood before Him if He let loose His wrath against sin? But God showed him His back parts. Moses never saw His face while on earth. But even the sight of His back parts made the skin of his face shine.

God wanted the issue to be plain, so that no one could be deceived about it for a moment unless he chose to be. So He lets Moses know, as the people's representative, that no one can see His face. God is unknown: there is no way to clear the guilty, and therefore no way by which man may stand before Him.

We are not told what the Lord said to Moses, but He spoke to him as to a friend, face to face (v. 11). This does not mean that Moses saw God's face (Ex. 33:20), but that there was a close intimacy.

God did not grant Moses what he asked. What He then revealed was not of the "face" of God, but His "back parts" (v. 23). It was not the Light in the full power of its shining, showing God in the fullness of what He is in moral nature and life. It was one ray of that Light, revealing in part the One it was reflected from.

God put Moses in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with His own hand. This is a beautiful picture of our position in Christ, and it is God Himself who gives us that place. As believers, God no longer sees us in the first man, Adam. Just as He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, He has united us with Christ. So we stand in perfect safety before God, covered by God's own hand.

We need no hiding-place now that would make the showing of the glory of the Lord only partial for us. There is no hiding in a cleft as the glory passes before us in John 17. Every ray of it falls on that face — the face once marred more than any man's. And we can look on the glory in His face, for it is the face of Him who gave Himself for us.

Then comes that glorious statement, "they will see his face." His face is connected with His glory in the revelation of Himself. Under grace the contrast is great. We can say, "God … has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." But what is still to come far exceeds that. Brought into favour, we shall live in the full light of the knowledge of God, perfectly revealed in Christ.

The Lord hears, and grants as far as it was possible for Moses to receive, the request he had made. He would make all His goodness pass before him, and proclaim the name of the Lord... But despite this favour given to Moses — this privilege of seeing the goodness of the Lord and bearing His name — he could not see His face and live. The Lord would put him "in a cleft of the rock" while He passed by.

Still, it is a great blessing to know that God always has a place for us, a place of perfect security and complete safety. This place is found by Him, or near Him. There is peace and quiet, protection from dangers, and eternal safety. Nothing can harm us in the presence of God. The natural man does not know this place by God, for he has turned his back on Him and has gone out from His presence.

The rock was the only safe place for Moses, for otherwise he would have been consumed by the glory of God. There is important teaching in Scripture about God as the Rock. In Deuteronomy 32 Moses spoke again and again of God as the Rock of His people. He was the Rock of their salvation, the Rock who gave them birth and fathered them. This picture is also often used in the Psalms. God was the Rock in whom David trusted, and whom he blessed as the God of his salvation.

Our place near God has been prepared by Christ. We see this pictured in the second part of this verse in Exodus 33: "you shall stand on the rock." God showed Moses a place on the rock. In the same way, we have found a sure foundation in Christ, the Rock of ages. He is the One on whom our faith can build, both personally and together.

We had no right to this place, for we were children of wrath and could not come into God's holy presence. How did God prepare this place near Himself? He did it by laying a sure foundation in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross. This enables us to stand before Him.

So the important lesson of Exodus 33:21 is that there is a place of shelter in God's presence, a place near God. It is a place given by God Himself to this end. The Hebrew word for "place" in this verse is very common in the Old Testament. In the book of Deuteronomy it is used for the place of worship that Israel was to seek in the Promised Land. In this place, which the Lord would choose, the people would come to meet Him and rejoice in His presence. We also have a God-given place of meeting, for God wants us to meet around His beloved Son. Christ is the centre of our worship, and we come to God through Him.

We need no hiding-place now, which would show us the glory of the Lord only in part. There is no hiding in a cleft as the glory passes before us in John 17. Every ray of it is concentrated on that face once more marred than any man's. We can look on the glory in His face, for it is the face of Him who gave Himself for us.

The rock was the only safe place for Moses, for otherwise he would have been consumed by the glory of God. Scripture teaches much about God as the Rock. In Deuteronomy 32 Moses called Him the Rock of His people again and again: the Rock of their salvation, the Rock who gave them birth and fathered them.

God gave Moses a place not only on the rock, but inside the rock… God put Moses in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with His own hand. This is a beautiful picture of our position in Christ. And it is God Himself who grants us this place in Christ. As believers we are no longer seen in the first man, Adam. Just as Moses was put in the cleft of the rock, we have been united with Christ. In this way we have found a place of perfect safety before God, a place where we are covered by God's own hand. All of this is God's work.

Which of us does not know this cleft of the rock? From it alone can we rightly see the glory of Him who passes by in the cloud of judgment. Yet we must notice that even so, it is not His "face." Here it is His ways of holy government that are in question. In the path of His judgments we do not meet Him face to face. We stand in a place of rest and safety, our cleft in the rock, hidden in His wounds, so to speak. Only from there can we rightly hold the glory of Him who — even as our God — is "a consuming fire."

The sovereignty of God in grace is an essential part of His glory. Israel had destroyed itself, and their only resource remained in Jehovah Himself. When all is lost, then is the time for grace to show itself. But you must stand in the right place to see the glory of this grace. God would put Moses in the cleft of the rock so that he might see it.

When Moses asks to be shown His glory, he is told that he cannot see God's face, for no one can see Him and live. What a clear announcement of a glory not yet revealed — the "excelling" glory of Christianity! Long after this an apostle says, as if echoing what is here: "No one has ever seen God." Then he adds, looking at the glory of the Word made flesh, "The only Son, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known."

We need no hiding-place now to make the sight of the Lord's glory only a partial one for us. There is no hiding in a cleft as the glory passes before us in John 17. Every ray of it shines on that face, once marred more than that of any man. We can look at the glory in His face, for it is the face of Him who gave Himself for us.

The Lord passed by, and His goodness passed by, proclaimed aloud before His servant. What could he say while, sheltered there, he saw it and heard it all? He hurried, bowed his head, and worshipped; and so, beloved, it always is.

Moses was a man greatly favoured by God, and God spoke face to face with him. But that light only made him cry out for more. He says, "Please show me your glory." Moses wanted the perfect light of God. This is what is meant by His "FACE." God answers him, "No one can see my face and live." The meaning of that is that no one could meet God in the revelation of Himself. If God had revealed Himself to Moses, He must have made Moses know His hatred of sin. And how could Moses have stood before Him if He let loose His wrath against sin? But God showed him His back parts.

God let him see the "back parts" of the Lord but not His "face," for no one could see that and live. Moses was only to see God after He had passed by, and so know Him by the way He had taken.

How much, dear friends, would you know of a man if you only saw his back? What they saw then was God with His back to them, and His face turned away.

God put Moses in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with His own hand. This is a beautiful picture of our position in Christ. Just as Moses was put in the cleft of the rock, we have been united with Christ. In this way we have found a place of perfect safety before God, covered by His own hand. All of this is God's work.

"I will put you in a cleft of the rock," the Lord says to Moses, "and cover you with my hand, while my glory passes by." And which of us does not know this cleft of the rock? From it alone can we rightly see the glory of Him who passes by in the cloud of judgment. Yet we must notice that even so, it is not His "face."

"I will take away my hand, and you shall see MY BACK; but my face shall not be seen." What a clear declaration of a glory not yet revealed! That glory is the "excelling" glory of Christianity. Long after this an apostle says, as if echoing this: "No one has ever seen God." Then he looks at the glory of the Word made flesh and adds, "The only Son, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known."

We need no hiding-place now to keep the showing of the Lord's glory partial. There is no hiding in a cleft as the glory passes before us in John 17. Every ray of it falls on that face once more marred than any man's. And we can look on the glory in His face, for it is the face of Him who gave Himself for us.

Nothing can surpass such a picture of the abounding grace of God and the safety of the one who took refuge in it... He gazes and listens while the glory passes and the Lord proclaims His name. His spirit drinks in the revelation. It was not an overwhelming but a gladdening brightness... He no longer asks for more revelations of the Lord. He asks for the company of the One he has now found.