Passage: Exodus 33:18-23

The Big Idea

Moses asks God to show him His glory. God hides him in the cleft of a rock and lets His goodness pass by. Moses saw God’s glory from the outside. In Christ, we receive it on the inside: Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

The Crisis

All of us reach a crisis, a moment where we have to answer: “What am I doing? What am I pursuing?”

Career.
School: “What should I major in?”
Marriage: “This is too hard. Should I leave?”
Marriage: “Why am I still here?”
Ministry: “Is this a job or a calling?”
Life: “Do I have a purpose, or am I lost?”

We may think that crisis is something to avoid. But I’d suggest it’s a gift from God, meant to refine us from the inside out. He brought it into your life on purpose. Nothing just “happened” to you.

Our light and momentary troubles are producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17).

What Is Glory?

The Hebrew word for glory, kavod, carries the idea of weight, heaviness, value and worth. It also includes brightness and splendor.

God wants us to know how valuable and wonderful the riches of this mystery are: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Jesus is the glory of the Lord. And He’s in you.

Moses’ Problem

Moses had it right. He knew how much he needed God. He wouldn’t leave the place unless God went with him. He was realizing God was there to meet all his needs.

But he had a problem: how do I get what I need from God? I’m empty. He’s full. How do I receive what I need?

What we need, and God has, is real, heavy, valuable and wonderful. That’s glory.

Cotton candy or steak?

How can anyone give up everything to follow Christ? Renounce every other source of life and joy, take up the cross and follow Him? Why would we?

Why do so many kids raised in church walk away from faith? Often they got the cotton candy version of God: light, fluffy and unsatisfying. Not the steak: heavy, satisfying, a treasure beyond compare.

We need to see how glorious He is. I need to know Him deeply. That’s what Moses longed for: to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

“Please, Show Me Your Glory” (Exodus 33:18-20)

God answered that He would make all His goodness pass before Moses and proclaim His name, the Lord. He would be gracious to whom He chose to be gracious and show compassion to whom He chose to show compassion. But Moses could not see His face, because no one can see Him and live (Exodus 33:19-20).

The glory of God is His worth, the weight of who He is, what makes Him the best thing in the universe. In ancient times, the value of a coin was measured by its weight. Weight is how much substance is packed into something.

Moses wanted to see all that God is. Do you?

Look at God’s answer:

“All My goodness.” To know Me, you need to know how good I am.
“I will proclaim My name.” To know Me, you need to know My character.
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I choose to be gracious and compassionate. No one can earn it. I’m free to do what I want, and this is what I want to do.

There are things God must do: punish sin, uphold justice. And there are things He chooses to do: give grace to undeserving people. Love undeserving people.

“But you cannot see My face.” Moses, I can tell you and show you these things, but you can’t know Me at the deepest level. Not yet. Moses was a sinner, and he could only experience God from the outside: seeing and hearing.

And here’s where we’re different from Moses. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We get on the inside what Moses only saw on the outside.

In the Cleft of the Rock (Exodus 33:21-23)

God told Moses there was a place by Him where he could stand on the rock. As His glory passed by, God would put him in a cleft of the rock and cover him with His hand. Then He would take His hand away, and Moses would see His back, but not His face (Exodus 33:21-23).

God is so kind to Moses. He answers his request with everything Moses can handle, and more.

It’s also a beautiful picture of how we receive the hope of glory:

“A place by Me”: a close relationship.
“You shall stand on the rock”: faith in Christ, our Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4).
The cleft of the rock and the covering hand: God provides for His child’s weakness. He provides the place, puts you there, and protects you while you’re in it.

What was Moses’ only job? To stay in the place, in the Rock. Jesus is the Rock.

So if we want to know God’s glory, we:

Ask, in humility.
Draw near, and let Him draw us near.
Trust in Christ.
Abide in that place.

We Have Seen His Glory

“I wish I could’ve seen what Moses saw!” Get ready…

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Jesus is God, so He has the same glory God has. And we get it all in Jesus. Out of His fullness we have all received grace upon grace (John 1:16).

How do we receive His glory? The Spirit does it. As we look at the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces, we’re being transformed into His image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God is Spirit, and His glory is invisible. His Spirit does all the work of bringing it to us. And He doesn’t just show it to us, like “Look what I have!” He transforms us into the same glorious image.

How? He pours Christ into you, and what comes out is glory. Like pouring coffee into a sleepy person.

It doesn’t matter who you are. God is willing to give you this treasure, not just show it to you like He did for Moses. The life of Christ. The very Spirit of the most perfect Being in the universe. God wants to put it in you.

Grace Takeaway

Whatever crisis you’re in, God is using it to give you a far greater weight of glory. Ask Him to show you His glory. Then stand on the Rock, stay in the cleft He’s made for you, and let the Spirit pour Christ into you. Moses saw God’s back. You get Christ within.

← Pray Like You Know His Name | All Exodus notes | Tell Me About Yourself →