Christ in all the scriptures
God's self revelation and proclamation of His name Exodus 34
This chapter is a reminder that the bible is a revelation of God. This chapter ranks high among the number that proclaim the awesome character of God. Only God can reveal God Himself, as is stated in many places, notably: Matthew 11v27; Romans 8v27; 1st Corinthians 2v10. Christ is the ultimate revelation of God in visible, audible, tangible form. The people of Israel are being prepared for worship, after their disgraceful idolatry and shameful behaviour in the matter of the golden calf. First they must realise the nature of the God whom they worship. In the broad scope of the chapter we have:
The repetition of the holy demands of God in the second tables of stone v1-4.
The revelation of the awesome character of God v5-17.
The requirements of God for His people in worship v18-28.
The radiance of the glory of God in the face of Moses v29-35.
At the heart of all this is His self-revelation, pronounced in unmistakable terms:
"And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, "THE LORD, THE LORD, GOD MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS, LONGSUFFERING, AND ABUNDANT IN GOODNESS AND TRUTH, KEEPING MERCY FOR THOUSANDS, FORGIVING INIQUITY AND TRANSGRESSION AND SIN,AND THAT WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY; VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN, AND UPON THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN, UNTO THE THIRD AND TO THE FOURTH GENERATION."
This is the God of Israel, this is the God whom we worship, there is so much here we dare not gloss over it, as we tend to do. The bible has many titles of God, and we miss much if we don't study the shades of meaning. All these attributes apply to Christ our Saviour who is very God of very God.
"The Lord, the Lord..." This is His fundamental name that applies to all His attributes-refer Isaiah 42v8, "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images". It is the Hebrew Jehovah, which means "The eternal One", which is, which was, and which is to come, cited many times in scripture. It defines the unchanging character of God, and applies to His many attributes. There are at least 12 Jehovah titles in scripture, and, in all these, God remains, and ever will, remain constant.
Jehovah (about 6000 times) Elohim (about 2500 times)-the supreme object of worship;
Jehovah Elyon-the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth;
Jehovah Jireh-the God who provides;
Jehovah Nissi-the Lord our banner;
Jehovah Ropheca-the Lord our healer;
Jehovah Mekadeshkem-the Lord who sanctifies;
Jehovah Shalom-the Lord our peace, who reconciles us;
Jehovah Rohi-the Lord our shepherd;
Jehovah Tsebahoth-the Lord of hosts, who commands vast armies;
Jehovah Tsidkenu-the Lord our righteousness;
Jehovah Shammah-the Lord ever present;
Jehovah Saviour-Jesus, who deals with all our sins.
All of these aspects and more are resident in Him at all times and in all situations. This amazing title is repeated twice (apparently the Hebrew language has no superlatives, and emphasises by repetition). This underlines the importance of this name relative to all that He is.
"God..." El, (about 250 times) the diminutive form of Eloah; signifies "strong", "first". It is a title which shews God to be the Mighty one, the First great cause of all. El is attached to many names such as Samuel, Daniel, etc. Israelites loved to name their children with reference to God. "El Shaddai" is God Almighty, God All Sufficient, and occurs 7 times, while Almighty on its own occurs 41 times. This title proclaims His right to make decisions and His power to effect them without challenge. We speak today about human rights, when we should be focusing more on Divine rights, for His will shall be ultimately unopposed. The might and authority of God (inherent in the title El) are intrinsic to all His attributes.
"God, merciful and gracious..." Merciful, for He withholds from us what we deserve, because of sin; Gracious, because He lavishes us with favours which we don't deserve. This is the opposite of the caricature the ignorant world presents of God. His mercy is strong and irrevocable; His offer of mercy and grace is without grudging, and comes with all the strength of Almighty God. Both are dispensed in abundance (1st Peter 1v3 and Romans 5v15,17, 20). Both will outlast the rolling ages of eternity (His mercy endureth forever-Psalm 107v1, 118v1, and 136, every verse; also Ephesians 2v7; Titus 2v11-14). The grace of God is described as "unsearchable riches"-Eph.3v8. Many books have been written on the mercy and grace of God, and many more could yet be. It is God, the First great cause of all, whose power and authority is the greatest of all, who is dispensing mercy and grace to us in a limitless supply that will outlast eternity! This is our God, this is our Saviour. A reading of Nehemiah 9v13-23 reveals the extent of His merciful goodness to a rebellious people.
"God longsuffering..." God suffers, and He suffers long! Sin is abhorrent to Him in all its manifestations. It is a veritable challenge to His throne inspired by Satan, and proliferated by human kind. How much He suffers we can only imagine. As well as being a thrice holy God, He is a God of infinite compassion toward human beings who were (without choice) born into a sinful fallen race. I recall being inspired by the words of Psalm 103v14 "He knoweth our frame, He remembereth we are dust". As an old friend once quipped, " He remembers, I wish we would remember how frail we really are". His suffering is compounded by His omniscience of all things and all people at all times. Sometimes what we know horrifies us, how much more the God who knows all? His longsuffering is proof of His goodness, faithfulness and His desire to grant us salvation. The word is made up of two words which, together, mean long tempered, the opposite of short tempered. It means slow to anger-Joel 2v13, He waits and waits long years before He acts, the subject is huge. His longsuffering is documented in scripture, He is longsuffering toward the wicked-Isaiah 42v14, "I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself"; Romans 2v4, "Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee unto repentance?"; Romans 3v25 "Christ Jesus...whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God"; Romans 9v22, "God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction"; 2nd Peter 3v9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". For nigh on 2000 years now, God has extended the day of grace to an undeserving world which crucified His Son, and still He waits. While the world goes on ignoring Him, and living in sin, still He waits and suffers. He is longsuffering toward His people-Acts 13v18, "And about the time of 40 years suffered He their manners in the wilderness"; Nehemiah 9v30, "Many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy prophets"; Isaiah 30v18, "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you at the voice of thy cry..."; 1st Timothy 1v16, Paul was chosen to demonstrate all longsuffering for a pattern (a model) to all believers; longsuffering is one of the fruits of the Spirit which should be the norm for all of us-Galatians 5v22. Longsuffering is part of the nature of God, which He wishes to be reproduced in us. How long did He wait until we were saved? How long has He waited in our converted days for us to hear His voice?
"God, abundant in goodness and truth..." All this is in the context of God's humility, He descended in the cloud (v5) to speak with Moses. No less humility was it when Jesus stooped to take human form to reveal God to us. A similar phrase is used in John 1v14 where it says Christ became flesh, and dwelt among us in visible moral glory, full of grace and truth. Both go together, He never dispenses grace at the expense of truth, but grace to man, and loyalty to God in perfect balance. The common notion that God is a capricious, vengeful, God is far from the truth. He combines the riches of goodness with reality, and He does it in abundance. There is no frugality or austerity or hypocrisy with God. The vision of God passing by him, and communing with him for 40 days, was so radiant and brilliant that his face shone with reflected glory, and he was unaware of it, but everyone saw it. The remaining verses are an expansion of this abundance of goodness and truth. Just how kind is God, how much does He shew His lovingkindness? The answer is here, "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, (the three biblical words that summarise the meaning of human sin) and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." In the first part His grace to those who are justified; in the second, His government and ultimate judgment on unbelievers-an example of grace and truth working in harmony. Exodus 20v5-6 puts it like this-government on those that hate Him, grace on those that love Him. There are no half measures with God, people either love Him or hate Him. He is a jealous God, it is part of His nature, it is written in His name. He has a right to be, He created us, He sustains us, He secured redemption for us. He wants all of us, not just part of us; He wants love, for the alternative is hate. James wrote, as if to verbalise this, "The Spirit that dwells within us lusteth to envy"-James 4v5. To love Him is give our all, as He gives us His all-possibly a reference to Numbers 11v29.
Moses bowed his head in worship, as we should do, for this is our God, this is our Saviour, and He deserves the very best we can give.
