The Name Proclaimed: Compassionate and Gracious | Exodus 34:1-9
Exodus 34:1-9 · September 9, 2026 · 47 min
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Exodus 34:1-9 picks up after the golden calf, with God telling Moses to carve two new stone tablets and come back up Mount Sinai alone. This sermon walks through the renewal of the covenant, the descent of Yahweh in the cloud, and the proclamation of his own name and character.
Much of the sermon sits on verses 6 and 7, where God describes himself as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, forgiving iniquity and yet not clearing the guilty. The preacher traces this same confession through Numbers, Nehemiah and the Psalms, explains the Hebrew image behind "slow to anger," and works carefully through what it means for God to visit iniquity on the third and fourth generations while showing loving kindness to thousands.
The closing turns to Moses as mediator and priest, praying that God would go in the midst of a stiff-necked people and take them as his own inheritance. That prayer is then set alongside the high priestly prayer of John 17, where Jesus prays not only for the apostles but for all who would believe through their word.
In this sermon
- Why Moses carves the second tablets while God still writes the words
- God's law does not change even when his people fail to keep it
- The parallels with Exodus 19, and why Aaron and Joshua are barred from the mountain
- Forty days and forty nights as a pattern of testing in Scripture
- God's condescension in descending in the cloud rather than speaking from afar
- The proclamation of Exodus 34:6-7 repeated in Numbers 14, Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 86
- The Hebrew image behind "slow to anger" as long of nostrils
- Loving kindness to thousands set against iniquity visited to the third and fourth generations
- Moses praying as mediator, including himself in "our iniquity and our sin"
- The request to be taken as God's own inheritance, echoing Exodus 19:5
- Moses as a type of Christ, and John 17 as the better prayer for future believers
- Psalm 103 and sins removed as far as the east is from the west
Chapters
0:00 Recap and the plan of chapter 34
2:53 Reading Exodus 34:1-9
5:15 New tablets, unchanged law
7:28 Parallels with the giving of the law
10:07 Yahweh descends and passes by
12:50 Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger
13:24 The same confession across the Old Testament
18:07 Why the name Yahweh is repeated
23:00 Third and fourth generations explained
27:57 Moses bows and prays for God's presence
34:45 Moses as a type of Christ
35:50 The high priestly prayer of John 17
40:15 As far as the east is from the west
Scripture: Exodus 34:1-9 · Exodus 32:19 · Exodus 19 · Exodus 33:18-23 · Numbers 14 · Nehemiah 9 · Psalm 86 · Exodus 20:4-6 · Deuteronomy · Exodus 33:3-5 · Exodus 19:5 · John 17:9-23 · Psalm 103:12 · Romans
Chapters
0:00 Recap and the plan of chapter 34
2:53 Reading Exodus 34:1-9
5:15 New tablets, unchanged law
7:28 Parallels with the giving of the law
10:07 Yahweh descends and passes by
12:50 Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger
13:24 The same confession across the Old Testament
18:07 Why the name Yahweh is repeated
23:00 Third and fourth generations explained
27:57 Moses bows and prays for God's presence
34:45 Moses as a type of Christ
35:50 The high priestly prayer of John 17
40:15 As far as the east is from the west
Transcript
We love our children here at Mercy and Grace. Brothers and sisters, we will continue where we left off in the book of Exodus, chapter 34. We will start chapter 34. Pastor B had finished chapter 33. So why don't you open up your Bibles to Exodus chapter 34. So real quick, kind of an intro and a recap, right? Right. So God in the previous chapter, right, 33, he announced to Moses, Moses's reconciliation to Israel. And now what God is going to do, he's going to give proof of that promise that he made to Moses. Right. He's going to proceed to settle his covenant and communion with them, right, with God's people. In this chapter, we're going to we're only going to get to two points today. But really you can say there's four key points within this chapter of 34. The first portion is that the Lord orders, or the orders that he gives to Moses to come up to the mountain. This is the next morning that's going to happen, and Moses is going to bring two tablets of stone with him up to the mountain. The second is that the Lord is going to meet him there, and the Lord is going to proclaim his name as he said that he would. Thirdly, which we won't get to, but there's some instructions that the Lord is going to give to Moses, and there's a discussion that he's going to have with him and it's for another 40 days and 40 nights and there's no break in between. And in the end of the chapter, you can say there's honor that the Lord puts upon Moses because Moses is going to come down from the mountain with his face shining right And we get to that eventually And what the Lord is doing here he is dealing with Moses as the public person right Moses is the public figure to the people. Moses is the mediator between Yahweh and Israel. We've seen that already. And then also, too, we can cling to the fact that Moses is a type of the great mediator, which is Christ himself, right? We're going to see that there's a replacement of stone tablets. those tablets are a concrete physical sign right between a symbol of the covenant between god and his people which is now going to be replaced moses had of course destroyed those tablets earlier right uh back uh with the golden calf incident and that was back in chapter 32 verse 19 where that happens and i'll read it real quick it says now what happened as soon as moses came near the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses's anger burned and he threw the tablets from his hand and shattered them at the foot of the mountain right so Moses now commanded to make some new tablets and bring them up and God is now going to command in a similar way so that he can once again renew the covenant with God's people with these tablets which will carry his law so with all that being said I ask that you stand if you can for the reading of God's word for today's Exodus 34 and I'll get through verses 1 through 9. Again, I am reading from the LSV Legacy Standard Bible, kind of similar to Pastor B's New American Standard Bible with some slight variances. Exodus 34 verse 1 says Now Yahweh said to Moses Carve out for yourselves two stone tablets like the former ones and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered So be prepared by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on top of the mountain. And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain, even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain. So he carved out two stone tablets like the former ones, And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him, and he called upon the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, Yahweh, Yahweh, God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth. He keeps loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. Verse 8, And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. And he said, If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though they are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your own inheritance. Church, this is the reading of God's word. Let's pray one more time. Heavenly Father, thank you again, Lord, for your word. Thank you for calling us to gather together, Lord, to hear you speak today. And I pray that's what happens here. I pray, Lord, that you fill us all with your spirit. And then may he give us an understanding of your word today And may we be edified in our faith strength and father as you are glorified today in this service Lord We love you we praise you we thank you In Jesus name we pray Amen Church you may be seated So as I mentioned already in verse one right Moses is ordered to cut these new tablets. If you realize the first set of tablets, a couple of chapters ago, those were made by the hand of God. And these were, so what now with Moses creating the tablets as he's instructed, obviously are not identical in their creation. Perhaps the Lord did it this way to demonstrate that although the covenant is being renewed, and that's what he's doing here, it's not a super healthy covenant, so to speak. It's not like the original one. And it can't be like the original one. And for obvious reasons, I hope we can see that and it's probably based upon the infidelity of Israel. Yahweh does, however, write the words on the stone tablets. So just like he did the first time, he wrote down his law. This now time again, Moses is creating the tablets, but the Lord is still going to continue to write on the tablets, and it will not be Moses. According to the Bible in verse 28, the word that the Lord is going to write on the tablets is going to be the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments. In other words, it's God's law, and it's God's law that remains the same. He doesn't change it because the people fail to keep it. That's one thing we can cling to about God, about knowing that about our Father. is that his law, his truth doesn't change even though his people fail to keep it. These second tablets of stone, once again, are a tangible token of God's very unique relationship that he has with Israel at this time. And the replacement, again, of these tablets is a sign that he's renewing his covenant with his people one more time. And as we go on in the following verses, right, he prepared them in the morning and came up in the morning to Mount Sinai and the Lord is talking to him, present yourself to me on top of the mountain. And he tells him in verse 3, and no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain. And the Lord even talks about the flocks, the herds. Don't even let these animals graze near the mountain. So Moses' remakes of tablets is a lot, and the way that how he's to present himself to the Lord is reminiscent to the account that happened in the past. There's a parallel that happened. This is back in Exodus chapter 19. In chapter 19 of Exodus, Moses is instructed to come up to the mountain in the morning time. Here in chapter 34, Moses is instructed again, come up in the morning time. In Exodus 19, the Lord tells Moses, nobody is to come with you. And he tells him again in this chapter, no one is to come with you at this time. The animals were told to stay away from Mount Sinai or keep the animals away from the mountain back in 19. And what does he say here again? Keep the animals away. Don't let them graze near the mountain. So there a lot of parallels here The Lord isn changing the way that he going to present his law to Moses to present to the people He going to keep it the same There is a distinction though between the first event and now the second one. The first time, Aaron was allowed to accompany Moses up to a certain point. This time around, he says no one is supposed to come, and we can include Aaron in that, right? Aaron is barred from following Moses or accompanying Moses. It's probably obvious, why Aaron can't accompany Moses because of what happened and Aaron's role with the golden calf. So this would be again where you done messed up, Aaron, you don't get to accompany me this time again. In addition to, Joshua is not even allowed to come up with Moses at this time because Joshua was there the last time as well. Moses is going to go up to the same mountain and the time frame that Moses is going to be there with the Lord is actually 40 days and 40 nights. Later on in chapter 34, the scriptures will inform us of that. So what was the time frame when he went up the first time? 40 days and 40 nights. So again, the Lord is keeping things the same and probably he does it again for another 40 days and 40 nights is to try whether the people learn their lesson and whether they learn to wait. If you notice, the number 40 in the Bible is used a lot of times for testing of something or someone. How many days and nights did the Lord spend out in the wilderness? Jesus 40 How many years did they wander in the wilderness 40 right Testing The next verses it says So Moses carved out two stone tablets like the former and Moses rose up early in the morning, went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. Verse 5, Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him, and he called upon the name of Yahweh. So here we have the Lord now descending, right? He is coming down. And this was a promise that he gave to him back in the previous chapter. So Yahweh comes down and he passes by Moses and he proclaims his name to Moses. In other words, go ahead and turn back there to chapter 33. Look at verse 19. Because Moses had asked the Lord, he prayed in essence for him to show himself. And so in chapter 34, the Lord is answering Moses' prayer. But if we look in verse 19 of chapter 33, he says, then he said, oh, I'm sorry, look at 18. Then Moses said, I pray you show me your glory. Verse 19, and he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Then Yahweh said, behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock, And it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. And so now fast forward to the following next chapter here And in verse 5 it says Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him and he called upon the name of Yahweh So here is the Lord responding in the affirmative to Moses And Moses is... So what Moses... What the Lord said he would do in 33, this is now what he's doing for him. Right? And the Lord descending speaks of his condensation. Condescension. No, not condescension. Condescension. In other words, the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, is humbling himself, right? And he takes notice to those who also humble themselves. So humility, the nature of humility the Lord expresses is a great deal that we as believers too can also emulate. The Lord didn't have to humble himself, right, and condescend to Moses in this way, but he did. Why? Because he is gracious and he is compassionate. And this is how he is going to renew his covenant with his people. He could have done it from the mountain without coming down. He could have done it from the sky. He could have just had the voice and not come down. But the Lord who is rich in mercies decided to, you know what, I am still going to come down to my people. I'm still going to show myself to them, right? The next verse is, Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, Yahweh, Yahweh, God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth. He who keeps loving kindness, right? The Lord is talking about himself here. Who keeps loving kindness for thousands and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren and to the third and fourth generations. Yahweh's proclamation concerning himself is very important here. And the way that he starts off and goes through describing himself is basically the formula of how he's expressed or he's described or he describes himself later on in the Bible. In the book of Numbers in chapter 14, he says, The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression. but he will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations it's a repeat of what he just said right here in the book of nehemiah in chapter 9 says they refuse to obey we're not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them but they stiff neck stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in egypt but you are a god ready to forgive gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. And one more in the book of Psalm chapter 86, the psalmist writes, but you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious. Again, hopefully we don't get tired of hearing that about the Lord, right? Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. So these terms and these phrases is used throughout the scriptures to testify to the centrality as a testimony of who God is, and his nature. It almost like these are creeds found in the Bible Creeds describe something or they help us to understand things So we can say that here in the book of Exodus, when he says in verse 7 how he's loving and kind to the thousands, you can say that's kind of like a creed. And what the writers of the Old Testament, or the writers of the Bible, but specifically in the Old Testament, is exactly what they're doing. They're just repeating the beautiful character and nature of God to remind what? His people. To remind his people of how he is and what he is. These divine descriptions to God are foundational for the Israelites and their knowledge of God throughout the entire Old Testament. God's mercy is still proclaimed towards Israel despite their failure. Well, failures we can say, right? Because the more familiar you get with the Old Testament and God's people, you can see how often they fail. Remarkably, remember, this is said to Moses in light of the golden calf incident, right? What a horrible incident it was, right? These people saved from slavery, right, to Egypt and saw the miracles and everything that the Lord did, the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the feeding them of everything, right? and they get to a point where Moses goes up to talk to God and they waiting on the Lord and then they fall into this debauchery and idolatry at the foot of the mountain where the Lord is up top It's a very horrendous thing for them to do. These verses here, 6 and 7, is an echo back actually from chapter 20 of Exodus. If you guys want to turn there. Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 4. So I said, in other words, verses 6 and 7 of 34 is pretty much a repeat of what the Lord said in chapter 20, beginning in verse 4. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them for I, Yahweh, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children and on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. Verse 6, But showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. So again, back to 34, you can see here what the Lord, again, He's saying, look, don't worship anybody else but me. We went through this already, church, right? But he reminding his people again Even though you did violate my word my law horrendously I am still going to show you that grace. I'm still going to show you that mercy. I'm still going to show you that I'm loving and I'm kind. And he did, right? He did execute judgment on those who showed iniquity. But then he's also going to say, I'm going to extend my mercy to the thousands and thousands, like generations beyond generations beyond generations. And you notice, right, this divine announcement back to 34, chapter 34, the divine announcement begins with the repetition of his name, Yahweh. Again, in the Bible, when you see things repeated right after each other, Yahweh, Yahweh, that's important. When Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto you, everything coming after that is a very important thing to remember. Again, it's quite common to use a word or a name or an adjective twice. In the Hebrew, it's a purpose of emphasis. So thus the name Yahweh encompasses all of God's attributes to basically together. So in the name itself, Yahweh, we know that it means I am that I am, right? But also too, what the writer is saying and what Yahweh, what the Lord is saying himself, He's like, everything I just described to you guys, my mercy, my grace, the loving compassion that I have, the forgiveness that I give you is all encompassed in that name as well. Matthew Henry, I love what he says here. He says, He made himself known to Moses in the glory of his self-existence and self-sufficiency when he proclaimed that name. I am that I am. Now he makes himself known in the glory of his grace and goodness and all sufficiency to us. Close quote. Again, Matthew Henry is making that same distinction. in the name itself of Yahweh. All his nature and characteristics are there for us to see and to grasp onto. Right? And so in verse 6, again, the Lord passed in front of him and called out, Yahweh, Yahweh, compassionate and gracious. These two attributes, again, already mentioned back in chapter 33, which we read in verse 19. And they're being mentioned here a second time. Immediately after you proclaim the name Yahweh. Right? and so it draws attention to the importance of that. Yahweh, Yahweh, gracious and compassionate. And then the following characteristic after his compassion and his graciousness is that he is slow to anger. Or in other words, he's patient. In the Hebrew it actually literally expressed in the terms of being long as the nostrils That sounds kind of weird to us right Long in the nostrils It a metaphor It used when someone is angry right When someone gets angry those of us who have kids, right? When your nostrils flare like a raging bull, that's what the Hebrew word is describing here. I mean, my dad growing up would make faces at me with big eyes and flared nostrils. I see some heads nodding. I can look at my kids now and they're smiling at me because that's what I would try to do. You make big eyes and your nose flares, right? But you can see that the writer is trying to draw a picture here. God's nostrils take a long time to ignite. God's nostrils take a long time to ignite And that's huge for us We want him to be slow to anger, don't we? Because how often do we sin? Every day, probably all the time So the writer is saying, hey, Yahweh, Yahweh Compassionate and gracious, slow to anger But may we never take that for granted May we never take his compassion his grace and his nostrils not flaring right away his slow to angerness May we never take it for granted And then following description says, abounding in loving kindness and truth. Often these words are coupled together in scripture, they express one main idea. God will keep his side of the covenant. Why? Why will God keep his side of the covenant? He will keep his side of the covenant because that's what he promised to do. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Because if it was dependent upon the people, right? I will only keep my covenant if you do this. He wouldn't be able to keep his covenant, would he? Absolutely not. So because he is abounding in loving kindness and truth, the Lord will keep his covenant because he promised to do that. And again, he will extend his mercy to the thousands, the thousands of generations. Now granted, the number thousands at this time was probably the largest number known. Now we have numbers that extend beyond thousands, right? Billions, zillions, kajillions, right? Whatever the billions number you want to add to it. Infinity. But what the writer is saying again it not only to thousands it thousands beyond thousands beyond thousands beyond thousands And the book of Deuteronomy writes the same writer Moses says know therefore that Yahweh your God is God the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. But he does go on to say that he visits punishment on offenders only to the third and fourth generations. Does that mean that He doesn't hold people accountable once you give back a certain point in our lives or certain generations? Absolutely not. Or does it mean that He's going to punish the sins of the kids because of their parents? Because that wouldn't be fair, right? Every sinner is held accountable. Now that's not what that means either. Remember, in light of the idolatry that took place with the golden calf, in reference to the covenant community, the community as a whole committed an awful deed, right? Or awful deeds. And in this case, when the community commits with the golden calf idolatry, the entire community suffers. right so if the parents are being idolaters, who's watching the parents? The kids. And what are the kids probably going to do? Be idolaters like what? Their parents. Kids are sponges, are they not? Your kid will say something, a word that probably slipped out of your mouth or on the radio or something. You're like, where did they get that? because they heard and watched you or somebody else that was going on. But what I'm getting at is here is when the community and the heads of the community fall into sin, the people under usually follow suit. So when he says you're visiting the iniquity onto the third and fourth generations, that's what he's referring to. Because it's serious, right? but then his mercy and his grace that he shows to the thousands of generations is greater and better than having to visit the iniquity of the people from the third and fourth generations so yeah he's going to hold sinners accountable but the mercy that he shows is greater than that okay God in his long suffering and his graciousness remember that he is going to be faithful or that I sorry his faithfulness is boundless Remember that We are here today sitting in church listening to the word of God saved by his grace because his faithfulness to his covenant is boundless, right? He does forgive the misdeeds of his people. And in this case with Israel, he did forgive them of what they did with the golden calf incident. Notice how Moses uses three words to describe what's going on here, right? He describes the sin in order to demonstrate that they are all covered by the work of God. The Lord who was merciful, compassionate, he's a loving God. And one scholar goes on to say that we are looking at the most important statement of forgiveness in the Old Testament. Let me read that one more time. Verse 6, Then Yahweh passed out in front of him and called Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, so to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. Again, one scholar said, we are looking at the most important statement of forgiveness that you can find in the Old Testament. Remember, the God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New can I get an amen Jesus displayed the same characteristics and nature that we can read here right Which is shown by Yahweh himself So let us always remember that The God of the New Testament is the same God as what we say in the Old Testament. And I hate to use that phrase because it sounds like there's two different gods, right? But we hold to, it's just what? One God. Thank you, pastor. One God. verses 8 and 9 and moses made haste to bow low towards the earth and worship and he said if i have found favor in your sight oh lord i pray let the lord go along in our midst even though they are a stiff-necked people and pardon our iniquity and our sin take us as your own inheritance all right so moses now responds to god's overwhelming overwhelming and awesome presence here by immediately doing what bowing to the earth and worshiping god moses is doing what every sinner should do when they have when they encounter god's mercy and his grace he worships him and these two verbs that are used right bow and worship are often conveyed one single conveying one single idea which is a reverence and a humility before one who is far greater than the person who was worshiping. And in this case, it's God, right? It's Yahweh. And then Moses right after he bows and he worships the Lord rightly Moses you can say in a gentle way as the covenant mediator and as a high priest for the people because Moses is acting like a priest here, he prays, right? He prays that God would go with Israel. Because he says, in our midst, right? One more time. I pray let the Lord go along in our midst. He makes this request to God. This is what the Lord said he would not do though. You guys remember that back in the previous chapter? Let's look at that. Chapter 33 verse 3. go up to the land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way. And look at verse 5. So Yahweh said to Moses, say to the sons of Israel, you are a stiff-necked people. Should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Now Moses here, he knows what the Lord said, but Moses is actually praying for the Lord to do the opposite Lord come and be in our midst again moses is like lord if we found favor in your sight if my repentance and the repentance of the people is enough please accompanying us be with us and moses cites that their sin is the very reason for the presence of god actually in effect he is asking the compassionate and merciful Lord of grace to dwell in his tabernacle amongst his people and to forgive their sin. That's what he's asking the Lord to do here, right? He also emphasizes Yahweh's attributes of mercy and grace, seeking that they would be applied to Israel's sins, right? So Moses is praying and using words of who God is, right? Moses is clinging to what he understands about the Lord, his mercy, his grace, his compassion, his willing to forgive his people. So Moses is praying in that way. And you know what? Moses too, as the mediator, as the high priest, he's also including himself, right? Among the hard-hearted stiff-necked people, right? Because what does he, How does he word it? Verse 9, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though they are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin But Moses didn fashion the golden calf right He didn go in and commit idolatry to the Lord right No. But what he's doing, though, he's actually holding himself responsible for the actions of the people. Why? Because he's the mediator. He's the priest, right? He is the spiritual leader. Well, he's a physical leader, and he's also the spiritual leader of the people. So he's holding himself accountable too for what they did. That's why he's using the word like our, our sin, our iniquity. And then Moses asked God another humbling and important item here. He asked him that, Lord, will you take possession? Take us sinners as your own possession, as your own inheritance, he says. this is the verb used of someone appropriating something as like private property and this is a this is an amazing request that Moses makes to the Lord here again take us as your own inheritance notice what he doesn't say because remember the people were promised land right land flowing with milk and honey right the good land but he doesn't ask for that here he doesn't say give us our inheritance in the land rather he requesting God to do what he said he would already do all the way back from Exodus chapter 19 In Exodus chapter 19, it says, So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all the people, for all the earth is mine. So Moses is clinging back to something the Lord had said previous and a while ago. again moses is recalling the lord in his truthfulness the lord in his faithfulness again moses is being a good mediator here he's being a good covenant mediator and a good priest he understands the truthfulness of god he understands the characteristic of the nature of god right the lord we can say wants to forgive his people here And he did. But Moses is ensuring that he also forgives Moses himself and continues to forgive his people because Moses wants the Lord to be with the people in the midst because he knows they can't do anything without who? Without the Lord. Now, I keep mentioning, you know, mediator, high priest or priest, right? And we said this before, probably as we started the book of Exodus or specifically with Moses, we can say that Moses is a type of Christ. Moses is a picture of Christ Christ is a mediator between who God and man Christ is the high priest Approximately from Moses to Christ is approximately 1400 years. Christ would come as the mediator, the high priest, the prophet of God. And you know Christ would make this same prayer in a sense to the Father? Let's go to the book of John. The book of John chapter 17. And this is kind of just a little segue, side nugget. John chapter 17, the gospel of John chapter 17. And if you think about it, the things that Moses did for the people, Jesus did the same thing. But Jesus did it in a better way. Jesus led the people out of captivity, which was sin. Jesus fed the people with bread and water, right? But it was his word and it was his spirit, in essence. Jesus is the better Moses. so Jesus and Jesus is the is the keeper of a better covenant as we know in the Bible So it's safe to say that Jesus offered a better prayer than Moses. And let's read real quick. Start in verse 9. Your Bible probably calls this the high priestly prayer, and it's a great prayer to cling to. But look at what Jesus says. We'll pick it up in verse 9. He says, I ask on their behalf, and I do not ask on behalf of the world, but out of those whom you have given me, for they are yours and all the things that are mine are yours and yours are mine and i have been glorified in them and i am no longer in the world and yet they themselves are in the world and i come to you holy father keep them in your name what was the name that the lord proclaimed yahweh right the name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are while i was with them i was keeping them in your name which you have given me and i guarded them and not one of them perish but the son of perdition so that the scripture would be fulfilled and that's judas iscariot verse 13 but now i come to you and these things i speak in the world so that they may have joy i'm sorry that they may have my joy made full in themselves and i've given them your word the world has hated them because they are not of the world even as i am not of the world i do not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one they are not of the world even as I am not of the world Sanctify them by the truth Your word is true As you have sent me into the world I also send them into the world For their sake, I sanctify myself that they themselves may also be sanctified in truth. Now, real quick, officially the Lord is speaking about his disciples and his apostles. And those who are his at this time. here's the here's the mercy and compassion of the Lord to the thousands of generations right here verse 20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone but for those who also I'm sorry, but for those who also but for those also who believe me through their word brothers and sisters if you write in your Bible or if you highlight on your phone Bible or whatever you got, highlight that, write on that, and you can put future believers there. That is exactly who the Lord is talking about. This is a fulfillment of his mercy being shown to the thousands of generations. Right, because who would go out to preach the gospel after Jesus left? The apostles and the disciples. Verse 21, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you in me and that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me We end on this verse Again, Moses got the answer to his prayer, right? The Lord showed himself. Jesus is saying here the same thing. Almost like, Lord, allow those who believe me and those who will believe in me through the preaching of your word from those whom you gave me, the apostles, and those whom I am praying for and those whom I am praying for in the future, when they believe, we will all be one. like the Lord will be in the midst of his people and he's in the midst of his people now in the midst of us now to close this out it's safe to say back in Exodus in chapter 34 we've covered I hope the mercy and the forgiveness of God and I found this story and it's a great story actually. There was a German math professor years ago who was converted and he became a member of this particular congregation that he had heard a preacher through One morning at a men's study at this church, the preacher of the congregation commented that God has taken our sins as far as the east is from the west. And that was from Psalm 103, verse 12. And we read that this morning, or this afternoon, the beginning of the service, our Old Testament reading. the preacher turned to the math professor and he asked him, how far is the east from the west? He asked the math professor, because that's numbers, right? The math professor responded in tears to the preacher and says, men, you cannot measure, for if you put your stake here and keep the east ahead of you, and the West behind you, you go around the world, you will come back to your stake. Your stake, your stake. And the East will still be ahead of you, and the West will still be behind you. The distance is immeasurable, and thank God, that is where my sins have gone. Close quote. The Lord informs us through His Word that when he forgave you of your sins and when he forgives you of your sins, you're going to be forgiven. the place where they go is immeasurable. As far as the east is from the west, I separate the sins from you, brother and sister. And you can't measure that. And that's a good thing. You know, may that give us the assurance or may it strengthen the assurance that we have and or give us assurance if we were questioning if I'm still his when I fall short. Because the Lord takes our sins to a place where you can't measure it. In other words, you can't measure his mercy, you can't measure his grace, you can't measure his forgiveness. And it brings to mind what Paul writes in the book of Romans. What can separate us from the love of God? And Paul gives this long list. Go back and read it when you have time or highlight it. and he breaks on every single thing that we think would separate us. And Paul says, nope, not one of those things, not even you yourself. So these attributes of forgiveness and mercy are a very important part of the nature of God All his attributes are very important but forgiveness and mercy is ultimately important I think And it's beautiful for us to see, through the scriptures now that we have, how God demonstrated his forgiveness and mercy through the work of his son, Jesus Christ. God has forgiven his people because of his son. when he sees us now, he doesn't see you and your sin, right, as a believer. He sees his son. I don't want to get too far or digress too much, but that's that great exchange that we mentioned before, and pastors mentioned it plenty, I've mentioned it plenty here. The righteousness that's needed to stand in front of God and not be condemned is through the work of his son, Jesus Christ. and our sins are placed on the son when he went on the cross all of this is happening in my mind and I can't fathom it but the Lord says or Jesus says that you love me before the foundations of the world and that when the lamb was slain before the foundations of the world I end on this I promise Think about that We are just these infinitesimal specks in the grand scheme of things, and the Lord, and if you're His, I know you guys, you guys are His. You were a thought in His mind. when they were coming up with the plan of redemption. Rest on that. Find comfort in that. Because it's real. And don't we need comfort in this world? Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord. The best comfort we can have is through Christ. Yahweh himself. Amen? Let's pray. Gracious God and Father in heaven the all one Lord that you are thank you Father for your word today that we were able to read and hear and pray for you Lord that we leave here with a better understanding or a continual understanding, Lord, of your mercy and your grace. Thank you, Lord, that despite the sin of your people, Israel, you did not leave them nor forsake them. Thank you, Lord, that despite our sins now as your people, you don't leave us nor forsake us. Lord, would you give us these avenues to come to you to seek forgiveness. And we thank you, Lord, that your forgiveness will never run out. Thank you, Lord, that we can never exhaust your compassion, your mercy, and your grace. So Lord, I pray that we can leave this place now, again, just ever thankful. May we continue to draw close to you, Lord, through hearing your word preached, through singing of these songs, confessing our sins, and taking of communion, Lord, which is the reminder of that mercy and grace you show, Lord. So we thank you, Lord. We love you. We give you all praise, all honor and glory, and those who agree, say amen. Amen. Thank you very much, church. I ask Pastor B to come forward for communion. Again, this is the time.
Exodus 34:1-9