the privilege of knowing...
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:5-7
What a remarkable privilege. That we, the created beings of an almighty God, might be given access to the Lord’s self-proclaimed description of his own nature. I am no biblical scholar, but it seems likely that this passage, in context, is the Lord’s continuation of a few verses earlier, in Exodus 33:17-20, where we read
...And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And 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,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
And then comes the Lord’s proclamation of his name in chapter 34, from above. The God upon whose face we cannot even look without being destroyed allows us the intimate privilege of hearing, in his own words, who he is: YHWH, YHWH, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Already, even as he gives the law to Moses for the first time, we are seeing his redemptive purpose, his all-consuming love. And yet, even in the midst of his abounding mercy, he is still just: he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Justice and mercy, side by side. The lion laying down with the lamb. A God uninterested in a relationship with his creations does not bare his nature to them. No, these are the words of a God who through Moses is setting the foundations of a compassionate mercy which He will one day extend to all of mankind through the person of Christ. And he is setting those foundations, not through a cold impersonal means, but through the form of an intimate, knowing relationship in which even as he knows Moses, he allows Moses to know him, just as the same gift of intimacy will one day be offered to us all. Created beings, nothing before their creator, given loving access to the depths of his true nature and being. And that is a remarkable thought.
Exodus 34:5-7
What a remarkable privilege. That we, the created beings of an almighty God, might be given access to the Lord’s self-proclaimed description of his own nature. I am no biblical scholar, but it seems likely that this passage, in context, is the Lord’s continuation of a few verses earlier, in Exodus 33:17-20, where we read
...And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And 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,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
And then comes the Lord’s proclamation of his name in chapter 34, from above. The God upon whose face we cannot even look without being destroyed allows us the intimate privilege of hearing, in his own words, who he is: YHWH, YHWH, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Already, even as he gives the law to Moses for the first time, we are seeing his redemptive purpose, his all-consuming love. And yet, even in the midst of his abounding mercy, he is still just: he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Justice and mercy, side by side. The lion laying down with the lamb. A God uninterested in a relationship with his creations does not bare his nature to them. No, these are the words of a God who through Moses is setting the foundations of a compassionate mercy which He will one day extend to all of mankind through the person of Christ. And he is setting those foundations, not through a cold impersonal means, but through the form of an intimate, knowing relationship in which even as he knows Moses, he allows Moses to know him, just as the same gift of intimacy will one day be offered to us all. Created beings, nothing before their creator, given loving access to the depths of his true nature and being. And that is a remarkable thought.
posted by a part at 12:59 AM
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