This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We're in Exodus week seven, day three, so that means we're in chapter 33 today.
And this is a chapter, it's just an experience of the presence of God. I want to
just walk through with you a number of verses in this chapter, maybe read a few
more verses than we've usually read, because I want you just to catch this
experience of the presence of God that happens in this chapter, and then we want
to look at what that means in our lives.

As you walk through this chapter, it begins, chapter 33 begins with God telling
his people that his presence will not go with them to the promised land, that
instead an angel will go before them, not his presence with them. Listen to what
happens, verses one down to verse six. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Leave this
place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go to the land I have
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your
descendants.

I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 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. " When the people heard these distressing
words, they began to mourn, and no one put on any ornaments.

For the Lord had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites you are a stiff-necked
people. If I were to go with you for even a moment, I might destroy you. Now
take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do with you.

" So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb. Here they are,
this wonderful time of worship of God, and God's saying to them, "I'm so holy
and you're so unholy. For me to be too close to you is going to be dangerous for
you.

" They strip off their ornaments, those whatever decorations they were wearing,
whatever jewelry they were wearing. They're in a time of fasting, a prayer
before the Lord, and God's told them, "I'm not going to be with you. " But
that's not the end of this story of God's presence.

In the next part of this chapter, we see the people watching Moses experiencing
the presence of God. So first, my presence won't be with you, and now you see
them watching Moses experiencing the presence of God. In verses 7 to 11, "Now
Moses used to make 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.
And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the
entrance to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went
into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance,
while the Lord spoke with Moses.

Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the
tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance of his tent. 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 aid Joshua, son of Nun, did not leave
the tent.

" You're seeing the people experiencing God's presence. God's saying, "I won't
go up with you. " Moses is experiencing this presence.

And Moses, in seeing what's happening, the desire of the people. The next thing
that happens in this chapter is Moses prays for the presence of God to go with
them. Beginning in verse 12, Moses said to the Lord, "You've 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 found favor with me. If you are pleased with me,
teach me your ways, so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you.

Remember that this nation is your people. " The Lord replied, "My presence will
go with you, and I will give you rest. " Then Moses said to him, "If your
presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

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? " And then 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.

" We're not through in this amazing chapter with experiencing the presence of
God. Moses prays, "Will your presence go with us? " God says, "Yes," and then
Moses asks for something else.

Moses asks for an experience of the glory of God, the fullness of his presence,
the glory of God. Verses 18 to 23, "Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory. '
Then 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. But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and
live. ' Then the Lord said, 'There is a place near me where you may stand on a
rock.

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. Then I will remove my hand and you will see
my back, but my face must not be seen. '" What an amazing experience in the life
of Moses.

Now we all know that God is more than a person. He's more than an appearance.
But somehow he was able to put himself in some way into an appearance that
reflected his glory so powerfully that for anyone to look at it, his holiness,
my unholiness, I would immediately die.

And Moses is asking to see God's glory. So God says, "I'll let you see my back.
That's as much of my glory as you can see without dying.

I'll show you as much as you can possibly stand of my glory. " Reading through
these verses, this experience of the presence of God, one of the things we have
to look at is our experience now in Jesus compared to the experience of the
people of God in the book of Exodus. How is it different now in Jesus?

It's entirely different. These people were having to pray to beg that the
presence of God would go with them. Now in Jesus, because God has made you holy
in Jesus, because you can stand in his presence in Jesus, come boldly into his
presence in Jesus, the book of Hebrews tells us.

Now we have an assurance that the presence of God will not be taken from us. We
don't have to pray that kind of prayer ever again. How is it different now in
Jesus?

Now all of us equally experience the presence of God in our lives as believers.
They stood and watched Moses experiencing the presence of God. It was somewhat
of a spectator sport, and what a sport.

What a glorious thing to see the pillar come down, and you think that's the
height, that's the best you could ever get. It is not. Now all of us, through
God's Holy Spirit, come into our lives as believers.

We equally experience the presence of God. How is it different for us now in
Jesus? In Jesus now, we have all been given what God said he would give Moses.

God says to Moses, "My presence will go with you. " And Jesus says to us, "I
will be with you always. " God said to Moses, "I'll give you rest.

" And Jesus says to us, "I will give you rest. " We are distinguished as his
people, as his children because of Jesus. God is pleased with us because of
Jesus.

We are known by name before him because of Jesus. All these things that are said
of Moses, because of Jesus, they are true of you. They are true of you in ways
that are even more glorious than the life of Moses.

Oh, and that experience of the glory of God that Moses had, you and I now
experience the glory of God in Jesus. Second Corinthians 4, 6 and 7 says, "For
God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our
hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ Jesus. " But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the
all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We don't need anymore to hide in the cleft of a rock and see the back side of
God as he's walking away as if that's all we could stand. No, we see Jesus born
in a manger. We see Jesus living his life as a child, growing in favor with God
and man and wisdom and stature.

We see Jesus working miracles, teaching the people. We see Jesus hands
outstretched on the cross. We see Jesus resurrected from that tomb.

We see the glory of God. This experience that they had in this chapter that is
so glorious, the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus far outstrips it all.
In Moses' prayers in this chapter, he asked God to teach him his ways.

He asked that the presence of God would go with him and his people, and he asked
God to show him his glory. And in Jesus, you and I are promised all of that. We
can pray boldly for all of that, so let's ask him for it now.

Our Father, we pray that today you would teach us your ways. Help us to see life
like you see it, rather than seeing it selfishly. Help us to see with humility
how you're at work.

Lord, we pray today that your presence would go with us, your promised presence
through your Spirit. Help us to realize that you are there with us. And we pray
today that you'd show us your glory.

Help us to see through the eyes of Jesus what's happening in the world around
us, and help us to see that Jesus is involved in the world around us. Help us to
see even today Jesus in us, Jesus in others, and Jesus at work in this world.
Help us to see the glory of God today.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.