Exodus 33:20-22 (NKJV) 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
Recently we looked at Exodus 33 and Moses’ encounter with the Lord. Israel were so rebellious and so full of unbelief that The Lord told Moses he would send them into Canaan but his presence could not go with them or it would destroy them. Moses intercedes for Israel once again and once again, his faith enables God to do what Israel’s unbelief made impossible. In response, Moses asked to see God’s glory.
We have already stated this, but I think it bears repeating. Moses had seen what most of us are looking for when we think of God’s glory. He had seen signs and wonders beyond imagination. Yet he still asked to see God’s glory. I think we could learn something from this. We interpret God’s glory by the outward. That is part of what his glory is. However, Moses understood that God’s real glory was something deeper. That is what Moses wanted to see.
How do you interpret the glory of God? How do I interpret it? Both are irrelevant. We need to know how God himself defines his glory. He tells Moses, “I will show you my Goodness.” God’s goodness and his glory is the same thing. If we want to see his glory, we need a revelation of his goodness.
What does it take to receive a revelation of the goodness of God? Today’s scripture gives us at least one key. God tells Moses that to see God’s glory, his goodness; he must be in a particular place. He must be standing on the rock. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul calls Christ a rock. I believe this is a type of salvation. We cannot know God’s goodness unless we know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the father.” (John 14:8) Take the time to walk with Jesus in the Gospels. You will see the goodness of God in operation. You will see him heal the sick. You will see him forgive sinners. You will see him cast out devils. You will also see him confront the evil of the Pharisees. All of this is the goodness of God in operation.
You will never see Jesus doing anything evil to anyone. Even when he confronted the Pharisees and drove the moneychangers from the temple, this was a manifestation of goodness. Evil keeps man from God and from attaining all that God wants for him. Jesus drove out evil so good could prevail.
As we continue to follow him, we see him deal lovingly and gently with those who need him. We see him go out of the way to minister to the Samaritan woman. We see him forgive the woman caught in adultery. We see him heal a lame man on the Sabbath. When he did that, the Pharisees accused him of doing something bad because he did it on a holy day. He let them know that they were confused about what was good.
Matthew 12:9-12 (NKJV) 9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”–that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Jesus had to tell the Pharisees that it was good to heal a sick man even though it was against the letter of the Law. The Pharisees understood religion but they did not know the goodness of God. We need to understand that it is possible to know doctrine or religious tradition but if we do not understand the goodness of God, we do not know him.
When are born again we become “new creatures in Christ.” Many things happen to us in this process but one of them is that the glory or goodness of God is revealed in our hearts. We must be born again or we will never understand his goodness.
The Lord also tells Moses that he will put him a “cleft in the rock and cover him with his hand.” Moses had to stand on the rock first. We must first be born again. However, there was something deeper that God had to do with Moses before he could understand his glory. He had to “hide him in the rock and cover him with his hand.” This reminds me of something Paul wrote to the Colossians.
Colossians 3:1-3 (NKJV) 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
To understand the goodness of God it is not enough to be born again. That is the door but many Christians come to Jesus and never understand the goodness of God. They struggle thinking that God cannot really love them because of their past. They never feel they are worthy of the blessing of God. Consequently, they never walk in the fullness of salvation.
We see here that there are some things we need to do not to be saved but because we are saved. They would do no good if we were not standing on the Rock. However, once we are born again, there are things we must do to understand the true nature of what has happened to us. This includes understanding the depth and reality of the goodness of God. Paul tells us.
We must seek those things that are above. We live in the natural world. We cannot ignore that fact. We cannot live in the world without dealing with the world. We seek food and shelter. We seek pleasure and the fullness of relationships. Paul is not saying that we should just ignore the natural world. He is saying that we must also seek to know and to walk in the world above. That is the world of the spirit.
How do we do that? The New King James says we must set our minds on these things. I believe that is part of it. How do we set our minds on things above? We start by setting our minds in the Word of God. God has written down his thoughts and his attitudes. As we read his Word, we feed our spirit. It is in his Word that we will learn of his infinite goodness.
It is not enough to read the Word. We must keep it in our minds. We must meditate in the Word of God. God told Joshua to do this “day and night.” The result would be that he would have “good success.” (Joshua 1:8) I cannot help but notice the word good in that verse.
The King James Version says we should set our “affections on things above.” This is a little different picture. While we must set our minds on the Word of God and the things of God, we must also set our affections on higher things. The term affections speak of that about which we like to think.
We may have affection for a person, a place or a thing. When we do, we think about it. We dwell on it. We want to be with it or with them. Where is our affection? Is it primarily set on earthly things? If so, I think we will find it difficult know the goodness of God. We must cultivate affection for the things above through the study of the Word, prayer and worship. If we do, we will find that the goodness of God will become more evident both in our understanding and in our daily experience with God.
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