And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
On the summit of Sinai in the morning Moses stood alone with the tables of stone he had hewn, and the Lord came down in the cloud and stood close beside him in communion and announced His name before him. The name thus proclaimed is His character, merciful and gracious, patient and longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet just and by no means clearing the guilty. That character is His glory, giving the true light on the Father against the charge that He is exacting, harsh and merely condemnatory, and it was afterward fully declared and lived out by Christ. At the revelation Moses hastened to bow and worship and to plead that the Lord would go among stiffnecked Israel, pardon their sin and take them for His inheritance, and his prayer was granted with renewed favor. The proclamation is given as the heritage of God's children that they may receive that love into themselves and repeat it to the world in family, dealing and daily association, bringing the atmosphere of heaven instead of misrepresenting Him.
Setting and Meeting
The meeting took place in the morning on the summit of Mount Sinai. Moses had hewed two tables of stone like the first, and at the command he rose early and went up alone with the two tables in his hand, with no man seen on the mount and no flocks or herds feeding before it. He remained in the mount forty days and nights alone, with no man permitted to go up with him or to approach the mount during his absence, and he was miraculously sustained all that time as at the first. The Lord wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
The Lord descended in the cloud to the top of the mount and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. This was the answer to Moses' pleading to see His glory and for the Lord to go before him, meeting him in the cloud, talking with man and coming very near to those who will be moved by His Spirit. Moses had lived in close communion, held fast to the promises, gained assurance and grown bold to ask greater things, and the Lord put him hidden in the cleft of the rock and declared His character before him in close communion. That long communion came before Moses carried out his work for God including executing justice on the idolaters.
During that long communion the face of Moses reflected the glory of the divine presence. When he descended from the mountain it shone with dazzling light unknown to himself. Aaron and the people in their conscious guilt were afraid to come near him, and in compassion for their fear he put a veil upon his face thereafter whenever he returned to the camp from communion with God, holding out to them the pledge of God's reconciliation and restored favor.
Name Reveals God's Character
The name proclaimed on the mount is explained by the declaration that follows it, which reveals who the Lord is by revealing His character. That character is merciful and gracious, patient and longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving sin, yet just toward guilt and by no means clearing the guilty. The Lord's name therefore expresses His character, and that name is the heritage of those called by the Father's name.
In its fuller form the proclamation keeps mercy for thousands and forgives iniquity and transgression and sin. Yet by no means does it clear the guilty, but allows iniquity to have consequences across generations by visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Mercy and forgiveness and justice belong together in the one revelation of what God is like.
The glory shown to Moses is this character, and in it are to be seen wondrous things in God's law. There law condemning sin and gospel revealing Christ are blended, so that Jesus Christ is the glory of the law. As Moses beheld God's character as His glory, so the glory of Christ is beheld by beholding His character, enabling people to see Christ as the law's glory.
That proclamation gives the correct light on the Father against Satan's misrepresentation and charges. Against the false picture that God is exacting, overbearing, harsh and condemnatory, only justice visiting transgression without mercy, it declares Him good, loving, compassionate, gracious and merciful, pardoning the sinner who confesses sin. Against the charge that He is the author of suffering, misery and death, it reveals a Father to be trusted.
That same character of the Father was afterward declared and represented by Christ. Through Him all communication between God and men has come since the Fall, when He clothed divinity with humanity to sympathize with men and to restore buried truth about God. In Him was revealed the highest, purest, holiest elements of human nature, as Father and tender Shepherd, as husband to the widow and father to the fatherless, and Jesus came to this earth to declare that same name and reveal the Father to the world. The proclamation of the name of the Lord is thus a decided representation of what God is like in richness of goodness, mercy and compassion, the very love circulating in the character of God.
Worship and Representation
The unveiling of divine character filled Moses with joy, and he made haste to bow his head toward the earth and worship. From that worship he pleaded that if he had found grace the Lord would go among stiffnecked Israel, pardon their iniquity and sin, and take them for His inheritance and people. God granted that prayer with renewed favor and with promise of mighty works for Israel.
The declaration assures repentant sinners that God will forgive them and look on them with favor. He is a present help in every time of need. This same revelation taught David that God is merciful and good even when His ways are mysterious, giving confidence to trust promises and remember works. God's teaching, patience, greatness, mercy, promises and wonders are not limited to Israel but may be claimed by all who need them.
The revelation was given to equip Israel to represent God's character to the world. That calling remains the heritage of God's children and God's people today, who are called by the Father's name and are to represent and repeat that character to the world. The very love circulating in the character of God is to be imparted to the children of God and reproduced in them, in their families and dealings with others and association with fellow men, bringing the atmosphere of heaven. Israel misrepresented Him by pride, stubbornness, and using Scripture to justify error, injustice and sin. True religion reflecting this revelation produces love and never cold iron hard-heartedness, high-handed oppression, neglect of the needy and suffering, or gathering all to glorify self regardless of others.
To maintain connection with God, professing Christians must act like Christians and must study this account. There is need of entire consecration to God and then proving Him. This meeting belongs with other mount experiences where beholding God's glory gives moral power for duty. It teaches the need for continual fresh revelation, daily advance, and set-apart prayer in order to know God to represent Him in all work for the people, to be changed from glory to glory and made holy. That communion came before Moses carried out his work for God and prepared him for that hard work, including executing justice on the idolaters.
On the summit of Sinai in the morning Moses stood alone with the tables of stone he had hewn, and the Lord came down in the cloud and stood close beside him in communion and announced His name before him.
The name thus proclaimed is His character, merciful and gracious, patient and longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet just and by no means clearing the guilty.
That character is His glory, giving the true light on the Father against the charge that He is exacting, harsh and merely condemnatory, and it was afterward fully declared and lived out by Christ.
At the revelation Moses hastened to bow and worship and to plead that the Lord would go among stiffnecked Israel, pardon their sin and take them for His inheritance, and his prayer was granted with renewed favor.
The proclamation is given as the heritage of God's children that they may receive that love into themselves and repeat it to the world in family, dealing and daily association, bringing the atmosphere of heaven instead of misrepresenting Him.
Setting and Meeting
The meeting took place in the morning on the summit of Mount Sinai. Moses had hewed two tables of stone like the first, and at the command he rose early and went up alone with the two tables in his hand, with no man seen on the mount and no flocks or herds feeding before it. He remained in the mount forty days and nights alone, with no man permitted to go up with him or to approach the mount during his absence, and he was miraculously sustained all that time as at the first. The Lord wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
The Lord descended in the cloud to the top of the mount and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. This was the answer to Moses' pleading to see His glory and for the Lord to go before him, meeting him in the cloud, talking with man and coming very near to those who will be moved by His Spirit. Moses had lived in close communion, held fast to the promises, gained assurance and grown bold to ask greater things, and the Lord put him hidden in the cleft of the rock and declared His character before him in close communion. That long communion came before Moses carried out his work for God including executing justice on the idolaters.
During that long communion the face of Moses reflected the glory of the divine presence. When he descended from the mountain it shone with dazzling light unknown to himself. Aaron and the people in their conscious guilt were afraid to come near him, and in compassion for their fear he put a veil upon his face thereafter whenever he returned to the camp from communion with God, holding out to them the pledge of God's reconciliation and restored favor.
Name Reveals God's Character
The name proclaimed on the mount is explained by the declaration that follows it, which reveals who the Lord is by revealing His character. That character is merciful and gracious, patient and longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving sin, yet just toward guilt and by no means clearing the guilty. The Lord's name therefore expresses His character, and that name is the heritage of those called by the Father's name.
In its fuller form the proclamation keeps mercy for thousands and forgives iniquity and transgression and sin. Yet by no means does it clear the guilty, but allows iniquity to have consequences across generations by visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Mercy and forgiveness and justice belong together in the one revelation of what God is like.
The glory shown to Moses is this character, and in it are to be seen wondrous things in God's law. There law condemning sin and gospel revealing Christ are blended, so that Jesus Christ is the glory of the law. As Moses beheld God's character as His glory, so the glory of Christ is beheld by beholding His character, enabling people to see Christ as the law's glory.
That proclamation gives the correct light on the Father against Satan's misrepresentation and charges. Against the false picture that God is exacting, overbearing, harsh and condemnatory, only justice visiting transgression without mercy, it declares Him good, loving, compassionate, gracious and merciful, pardoning the sinner who confesses sin. Against the charge that He is the author of suffering, misery and death, it reveals a Father to be trusted.
That same character of the Father was afterward declared and represented by Christ. Through Him all communication between God and men has come since the Fall, when He clothed divinity with humanity to sympathize with men and to restore buried truth about God. In Him was revealed the highest, purest, holiest elements of human nature, as Father and tender Shepherd, as husband to the widow and father to the fatherless, and Jesus came to this earth to declare that same name and reveal the Father to the world. The proclamation of the name of the Lord is thus a decided representation of what God is like in richness of goodness, mercy and compassion, the very love circulating in the character of God.
Worship and Representation
The unveiling of divine character filled Moses with joy, and he made haste to bow his head toward the earth and worship. From that worship he pleaded that if he had found grace the Lord would go among stiffnecked Israel, pardon their iniquity and sin, and take them for His inheritance and people. God granted that prayer with renewed favor and with promise of mighty works for Israel.
The declaration assures repentant sinners that God will forgive them and look on them with favor. He is a present help in every time of need. This same revelation taught David that God is merciful and good even when His ways are mysterious, giving confidence to trust promises and remember works. God's teaching, patience, greatness, mercy, promises and wonders are not limited to Israel but may be claimed by all who need them.
The revelation was given to equip Israel to represent God's character to the world. That calling remains the heritage of God's children and God's people today, who are called by the Father's name and are to represent and repeat that character to the world. The very love circulating in the character of God is to be imparted to the children of God and reproduced in them, in their families and dealings with others and association with fellow men, bringing the atmosphere of heaven. Israel misrepresented Him by pride, stubbornness, and using Scripture to justify error, injustice and sin. True religion reflecting this revelation produces love and never cold iron hard-heartedness, high-handed oppression, neglect of the needy and suffering, or gathering all to glorify self regardless of others.
To maintain connection with God, professing Christians must act like Christians and must study this account. There is need of entire consecration to God and then proving Him. This meeting belongs with other mount experiences where beholding God's glory gives moral power for duty. It teaches the need for continual fresh revelation, daily advance, and set-apart prayer in order to know God to represent Him in all work for the people, to be changed from glory to glory and made holy. That communion came before Moses carried out his work for God and prepared him for that hard work, including executing justice on the idolaters.