Exodus 33

The Command to Leave Sinai

1The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.'
“Go” always starts with simply obeying God. Just like the first revival with Jacob in Genesis 35. They are back listening to the correct person. Following only God. They have a renewed hope of a better future thru being reminded of an old promise. Don’t we seem to forget we have a promised land waiting too?

2I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. He keeps his promise and sends the angel before them to clear the path. Also just like Genesis 35. He always keeps his promises!

3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." Our pitiful faithfulness and stubborn disobedience finally forced him to break all fellowship on earth. People think that seems harsh, but God the Father gets jealous when he goes to all this effort for us and we just keep disobeying. In the last chapter we saw what happens when he gets jealous. This was an act of Mercy to break fellowship and not kill everyone. First off, he cannot and will not have his holiness tainted with our lack of it. He did this because he loved us and promised our fathers. If he had not broken fellowship, he would have been forced to destroy us. Actually we would have killed ourselves. If someone said don’t poke yourself in the eye with that stick or you will go blind, how many times before you catch on? Well I did it twice and I did not go blind! Then why would you get mad at them when it blinded you the next time? They were just trying to save you the pain, but you did it to yourself! God the Father is no different now. He never changes. If he spent one minute with us now he could not take it! We just have a better intercessor in Christ!

4When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" 6Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Too often we do not realize the consequences of our actions until it is too late. Don’t put yourself in this situation. Turn back and ask for forgiveness. He is always waiting. He promises that! You know when it is too late? When we give up. He keeps asking until we have said no to him so many times we harden our hearts to the point of quitting for good. Never turning back like Israel.

Listen up! God not going with us on our daily walk should be the worst thing that can possibly happen to us! I learned this lesson the hard way. Within a couple months I had the two most important people on Earth tell me that they did not enjoy being around me. One was my Dad. He said you better fix some stuff or it is going to kill you and NOONE enjoys being around someone as miserable as you. He was worried about our family having heart issues and my stress and anger killing me. He did not want to cut off fellowship, but he was actually warning me than it could happen. Who wants to be around a self-destructive anger person anyway? Those two people hating to be around me was worse than any death of this body. I finally realized this is how God the Father acts also! He will do what he says if we ignore him and he will cut off the loving fellowship! Then discipline, to bring us back! That is a promise also!

The only way to really and truly repent and ask for forgiveness and restore fellowship is by baring everything before the Lord. Get rid of all those fake ornaments and stand and be judged like a man. He gave them all the ornaments to start with when they left Egypt in Exodus 12:35-36. We didn’t learn because he tried it again in the promised land and we blew it then too. He likes to give us nice things, he created them. This is stated in Ezekiel, but like everything else, we turn it into something bad Ezekiel 7:19-21. Once we start getting proud of our ornaments he gave to us, or hiding behind them and playing church, he will ask for them or in my case take them so we can see the problem. He knows the problem already, but needs for us to know there is one! This is just like the Genesis 35 revival also. They left sinful stuff under the tree before their journey. Adam and Eve stood before him and allowed him to change their clothes after receiving understanding of naked/sin Genesis 3:21. Their attempt wasn’t good enough. 1 Peter 3:3-4 is the example he is looking for. 3Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. We will stand and be judged again one day! I believe we will not be so ashamed then, if we allow this more often while here. The bitter drink like in Exodus 32 shows sin and when it does we must ask for forgiveness of anyone and everyone involved and with our hearts bared to all. Truthfully, we could not handle being shown all of our sins now or it would destroy us. This is why we can’t see his face until we get a new body. His glory always shows our sin and all people fear and fall on their face. I believe he saved us from this in Revelations 10:1-10 when he asked John to stop writing about the little book. That was merciful. It showed sin like the drink. Turned bitter in his stomach. This is shown in Ezekiel 2:8 thru Ezekiel 3:14 also. When we fully digest the word of God it should reveal how amazing a love he has for us and how amazing Christ’s love is by making us understand we deserve death every day but he gives life freely to all that believe and confess Romans 10:10. All that fear and obey. We will get a full grasp of this when we are forced to stand before Christ one day. All of us! You ready?

The Tent of Meeting

7Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Even after we blew it he is always right there close, but asks us to come to him on his terms, not ours. A little effort is required in any good relationship, correct? The important part here is us realizing where our help is.

8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. This is seeking God. They stood at the open door in sight of all to see how their example had fellowship with God. That door is the opening to our heart. If we do this we will see his spirit at work!

10And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. When we see the presence and the hand of God at work we should worship a little more often and a little more openly. Agree? Coming up we will learn from the best, David. His worship was open and it was big! He was a man after God’s own heart! God likes this worship if truly all about him!

11Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. God spoke to Moses like this because he was the most meek/humble man on the Earth! Numbers 12 Joshua never left the temple. Someone was always in God’s presence and preparing for service to come.

Like many other topics something about the “door” struck me so I looked up every verse about doors to get this understanding of it being the opening of our heart. God’s heart as well. There are about 239 verses in the King James Version, 164 in English Standard Version. I always read both and use either as references. I want to share the 1st one and last one in the Old Testament and 1st and the last three in the New Testament.

Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. He determines what is acceptable. How to stay in favor. Only blood offering is acceptable. The blood of Christ is the only way! We are to rule over sin after accepting Christ by doing what he tells us to do and not to do. By obeying his word! If not, sin will sneak in and attack.
Malachi 1:10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. Haven’t learned much have we? We would be better off to close the doors and not sacrifice at all, than make bad ones and let sin take over. Big fake show gets us nowhere. Sacrifices are only needed because we sinned. True sacrifice is ruling over sin/stop sinning after accepting Jesus.

Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. He knows your heart. Better in secret with good heart than the big fake show.
Revelations 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. On the cross he opened the door to heaven that none can shut. We are weak, but obedience in his word is how we rule over sin.
Revelations 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. He knocks on everyone’s door. All any must do is open the door like Moses and the people did and he comes in to fellowship with us. Proof is his spirit/the pillar of cloud.
Revelations 4:1-2 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. Open door, he calls, we accept and immediately we get the Holy Spirit! Awesome!

Moses’ Intercession

12Moses 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 favor in my sight.' Moses is human. He is struggling with not blaming God or questioning him disrespectfully. We all do this at times in our lives. If we say we don’t, we are lying or worse off we don’t even understand we are doing it. What he does next is the impressive part and the part we need to mimic!

13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." He humbly asks that if God has ever been pleased with him, to PLEASE show him how to be more acceptable. He knew Cain by name and Cain even sacrificed. Looks correct, but he found no favor with God because he did what he thought was good enough, not what God said was required. How does Moses find more favor then? By God showing Moses more of God’s ways/road. How to walk that narrow road the Bible so frequently talks about. Not even stepping to the right or the left, walking straight toward God. Like Jesus. More simply, it is God showing him what to obey! He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and later “the law” that showed what God thought was correct.

To me the most important part is why he asked for this. Like Solomon in 1 Kings 3:5-15, he is asking so he can better do the job God asked him to do. Leading God’s people. God had already told Moses that he would simply kill all these rebellious people and start over and make something big time out of him. Moses always thought about God’s people. This is the most impressive thing in the Bible to me and there is no deeper meaning than this! Once we truly understand that serving God is always about everyone else’s needs and never about ours, we can withstand any trouble. This is the way Christ’s love is explained in John 15:12-14. Paul understood this very well also. In Romans 9:1-3 Paul is wishing he could give up his own eternal salvation if it could be given to his brethren. Finally, in Philippians 1:20-30 Paul explains he is torn between his longing for a better life in heaven with Christ and the desire to stay on Earth and suffer to help us. He willingly chose to stay and help us!! This has really burdened me lately. I hear the church whine and long and even cheer for the rapture so we can get out of this terrible world and have it easy and the wicked can be punished for making life hard. This has made me sick! Amos 5 is very clear that this is not to be desired! The day of the Lord is the end of grace and mercy for a lost and dying world. Nothing left except judgment like Psalms 50! There is nothing good about this. Ezekiel 18:20-23 makes it clear God wants none to perish and all any has to do is turn. The end only came to Israel when they had none left to raise them up. We have an active part in when Jesus comes. Just like Israel did, if we will turn to him he will turn back to us. This is what God truly wants anyway, and if I can do anything about it, he WILL NOT be coming back on my watch! If he does, we failed!! Evil does not dictate anything. God and the obedience of his people do! If we are truly advancing his kingdom he would never cut that short! Bottom line is, if we really love like we think we do, we would hope the rapture is a looooooooong way off so more people can be saved. He will come back and it will be because we failed, but let’s see if we can’t fear the death of the lost more than our whining. Man, we refuse to suffer!!! Think about it, the first revival was needed for this very reason. Lack of mercy. They killed people trying to come to God just to make themselves feel better. Being selfish is not sustainable because we will just become more and more selfish like in Proverbs 30:15-16. This is killing the whole world and we will answer for it!

14And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." After finding favor thru knowing what to obey will we get answered like Moses did if we actually obey what God says. His Spirit will go with us and he will give rest. Listen up, you can try every way possible to find this rest, but if you are not in fellowship as a Christian you cannot find that peaceful rest you are looking for. He gives it when our spirit and his are at peace thru our obedience. All the stuff in the world won’t be enough. You can’t be lazy enough to get it, or our recent solution is we can’t drug it. None will work. This will be a theme as we go thru these revivals. Lots of hard work restoring fellowship before any peace and rest. If we break fellowship because of our disobeying, peace and rest are gone, then war or conflict. This is the example of our spirit and his spirit being at war if we are not obeying now. I believe the lack of rest is a plague of our day!

15And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" If God’s presence is not with us we should not leave until it is!!! The Holy Spirit is the only thing that sets us apart. We all still have the sinful flesh to deal with. The Holy Spirit is our only chance of understanding how to control our selfish desires to rebel. It guides our steps. If we obey, it helps us and is obvious to the entire world that we are God’s people. What is sad today is how hard it is to see this in Christians. I know for years not many people would have said they saw one bit of his Spirit in me. It goes before us and helps us on our way also. That has been in both revivals and is a promise! Not a promise of easy, but with his help we can make it through any struggle. Paul had his Spirit even after being beaten and thrown in prison even though he had done nothing wrong. There was something different about him. Most people in prison do not pray and sing to God for it. It changed the lives of the jailer and his whole house Acts 16:25-40. Our journey is never promised to be easy, but if we have his Spirit we can help him change lives! That is worth it!

17And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." 18Moses said, "Please show me your glory." He loves giving what we want when it is what he wanted to start with! It is awesome to see Moses be as humble as to still beg for this after receiving confirmation of favor. If you truly want to see the glory of the Lord, watch this!

19And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. What do you think all his goodness is? Let’s see. I will be gracious (stoop down in kindness to an inferior and have fellowship) with whom I will have fellowship. This is why Moses begged him to show him his ways so he may find favor? We only have his presence through humble obedience. I will have mercy (give life) to whom I will give life. Read Psalm 136 about his mercy and every verse shows him giving life and every verse ends with his life is forever. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." The next verses show this choice is Jesus. He is the only way to fellowship and life.

20But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." 21And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, Due to our sin, if we were to see how sinful we truly are by seeing how perfect he is, we would die. God is merciful to not allow us to see this. It gives more life. He graciously stopped in kindness to an inferior world and gave us a place where we could get a look at his glory. “By me” (at the right hand) Acts 7:55-56 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." “where you can stand on the rock”. Exodus 17:6 6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. God allowed the rock to be struck to bring life giving water. 1 Corinthians 10:4 4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. This made me look at John 19:34 a little differently, But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. It was a gracious and merciful thing for God to allow us to strike his rock so life could flow out. Isaiah 53:5 "But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received." God says it was gracious of Jesus to endure this 1 Peter 2:19-25 19For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. Why do we refuse to suffer for others?

22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Jesus is our only protection from God’s wrath and our only shelter in a tough world. Psalm 62:1-2 1For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. Only good place to be when the storms come, and they will come. Luke 6:48 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. The best place in the Bible to hear about his deliverance may be from David in 2 Samuel 22. It starts out with 2And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. Please read the rest of it!

23Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." Our only glimpse on Earth is Jesus. He took his hand away from Moses’ eyes and revealed what was to come later. In Luke, Jesus explains that how God reveals things to little children instead of the arrogant in understanding. Luke 10:21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Remember, Moses was the meekest man on Earth. Many times he tells us the end result and we refuse to see it. It helps if I read backwards sometimes. Start with God won! I will see his face later. That is good enough to keep me going. The struggles of this world should all go away! Time to help a lost world and a rebellious people see this! We have made everything too complicated due to our desire for self-knowledge and selfish gain. This is the first battle that Eve lost. God’s word is simple if you let it be. Look at all this crazy struggle with Moses and God’s people, Moses can hardly stand it, won’t go on without God’s help, Moses begs God to show him how to get through this or is it even worth it and what does God explain? JESUS! If I will only trust in him and follow his ways, then I will find favor and I will have fellowship with him. There is no other story in the Bible but this. That Simple!

Bez

I love you cause Jesus loves us both and there is absolutely nothing you can do about that!