Passage: Exodus 34:1-9

The Big Idea

The Law was written on stone: unfeeling, unbending, and impossible for us to keep. Moses had already broken the first set of tablets, a picture of what we all do with God’s Law. But when God gave the Law again, He also did something remarkable: He told Moses His name, who He is deep down. The LORD is merciful, gracious, patient, abounding in goodness and truth, forgiving thousands. The Law shows God’s standard; His name shows His heart. And the way to experience that heart is through Jesus.

Written in Stone (Exodus 34:1-4)

The LORD told Moses to cut two stone tablets like the first ones, which Moses had broken, and God would write on them again. So Moses cut the tablets, rose early, and climbed Mount Sinai carrying them.

The Law was written on stone: unfeeling, uncaring, inflexible.
It convicts every one of us.
Whenever we take it in our hands and examine it, we end up doing exactly what Moses did. We break it (Exodus 32:19).
We can’t keep it. We can’t soften it. It says what it says.
What does it say? Be holy. Be loving. Be perfect.
That’s the standard: perfection.
And anything short of perfection deserves punishment.
That’s how it works, every time. Except this time.

God Reveals His Name (Exodus 34:5-7)

The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses, and He proclaimed His name.

God could have come down in thunder and judgment. Instead He simply stood there with Moses.
And He explained His name, who He is, deep down inside.
This is how God wants to be known.

He passed before Moses and proclaimed:

“The LORD, the LORD God”

The great I AM.
The Creator of all.
All-powerful.
A good place to start!

Merciful

Not eager to throw lightning bolts at us.
He wants to be merciful. He simply is merciful.
Is that the first thing you think of when you think of God? It’s the first thing He mentions about Himself!

Gracious

He loves to be gracious and desires it. He’ll judge sin when He must, and He does it perfectly. But His nature is to be gracious.
Like a parent with a child, He wants and loves to provide everything His children need.
The Law is true and good. It describes how God Himself would live if He were a man. But it doesn’t reveal everything God is. And the greatest part of His character is grace.

Slow to anger (long-suffering)

Patient. Kind. Not exasperated by our constant failures.
He doesn’t want us to stay in sin, and He provides His grace for us to change. But patience with us is His natural state.

Abounding in goodness

He never runs out of goodness. He overflows with it!
That’s how God wants to be known: as the Good One. The Best One!
Grace is God’s goodness given to us.
It’s something you can’t fully explain until you experience it. That’s why the psalmist says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8).

Abounding in truth

His standards are high. That’s true.
And He can still accept us. That’s true too.
How can both be true? He gives us a gift: forgiveness, and His own perfect obedience credited to us!
So He can be full of truth toward us without striking us down every moment, which is what we’d deserve.

Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin

This work of redemption is God’s plan for generation after generation. He never gets tired of it.

(He also says He will by no means clear the guilty. He doesn’t pretend sin away. That’s why mercy for the guilty would cost Him so much: it would take a cross.)

Moses’ Response (Exodus 34:8-9)

Moses immediately bowed low and worshiped. He asked the Lord, if he had truly found favor, to go with them, to forgive their wrongdoing and sin, and to claim them as His own possession.

Moses responded with humility and worship.
When you are saved, that will be your response too!
When you learn God’s true character and receive His grace, there’s nothing left to do but worship Him from the depths of your washed heart.

How Does This Become Real?

You can hear all these things with your ears and not know them in your heart. How does it become real?

Jesus.

Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

The way to experience how good God is, is through Jesus. John says the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Jesus is God’s name, merciful and gracious and full of truth, in human flesh.

Paul says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes and is made right with God, and with the mouth he confesses and is saved (Romans 10:9-10).

Jesus said He is the door: whoever enters through Him will be saved, and will come and go and find pasture (John 10:9).

You can make this decision today: to believe everything Jesus says and walk through that door by faith.
Let everything in your life take its proper place beneath Jesus. Let go of every other trust. And you’ll see just how good He is.
Everyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame (Romans 10:11).

Grace Takeaway

The Law on stone tells us what God requires, and every one of us has broken it. But on the same mountain, God told us who He is: merciful, gracious, patient, overflowing with goodness and truth, forgiving sin. In Jesus, that name has a face. Come through the door He opened, receive His mercy, and you’ll do what Moses did: bow down and worship.

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The Gospel in God’s Name