Temple Baptist Church - 5-4-2025
Exodus 33:12-34:8
II. The Attributes of God
“The Glory of God’s Presence” Part 1
A. This morning, we found an insurmountable task! An attribute of God that has never been totally revealed to man: His Glory. Yet, in many ways through divine revelation and the Word of God, we have touched the “hem of His garment.”
B. There have been times when I needed to see God's glory, and there will be times when you need to do so.
1. In Times of Great Trouble.
2. In Times of Great Disappointment.
3. In Times of Great Discouragement.
4. In Times of Great Confusion.
5. In Times of Great Hurt.
C. In our text, we find such a time. Moses, the meekest man in the world, has been called aside to Mt. Sinai. There, he saw God in a bush that burned but was not consumed. God had an insurmountable task for Moses.
1. God had a seemingly unreasonable task for Moses. Egypt was a dominant world power that controlled the known civilizations during Moses's time, and delivering Israel from their grasp was unfathomable.
2. God had a fearful task for Moses. To return to a land where he was under the sentence of death and confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth.
D. Verses 12-13. Moses’ requests were reasonable. Verse 12: don’t send me alone. Verse 13: Show me thy way.
E. Verse 14. God’s answer was a twofold promise!
1. God’s Presence. Exodus 33:14. “MY presence shall go with thee!” That alone should have been enough.
2. God’s Person or Performance. “AND I will give thee rest! Resting in His presence in the hard places ahead.
F. There are two distinct aspects of God’s glory in His answer to Moses that I wish to examine.
1. The Glory of His Presence. What God is. Verse 17. “I will do this thing also”
2. The Glory of His Person or Performance. Who God is. Verses 19-20. “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee”
G. There is so much in these verses that I will have to break it down into two parts:
1. The Glory of God’s Presence.
2. The Glory of God’s Person or Performance.
H. Verse 18. “Shew me thy glory” This morning, I want to look at the Glory of His Presence.
Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
“I AM THAT I AM” speaks of God’s Presence. God lives in an ever-present moment of time. God has no time; therefore, God is not controlled by time. God owns time!
1. This is a subject beyond human comprehension, but one which is somewhat biblically explained. I say “somewhat” because we will never fully understand who God is until we are like and see Him as He is.
1 John 3:1-3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
a. “it doth not YET appear what we shall be” In this phrase, we find that, though we are the sons of God by faith, we are not in a perfected state. The word “YET” speaks of a time when we shall be like Him.
b. “when he shall appear, we shall be like him” At death or the rapture of God’s church, we shall all be changed according to 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4.
c. “for we shall see Him as He is” Here we find the glory of His presence. We will, for the first time, see Him as He is.
d. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” Seeing Him and being like Him come through a process of purification that will end in perfection when we get a glorified body and the sin nature is eradicated.
2. The Glory of His Presence is Unapproachable Light.
a. God IS Light. 1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
b. God IS Life. John 1:4-5 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
c. God’s Garment IS Light. Psalms 104:1-3 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. (2) Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: (3) Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
d. God’s Dwelling is an Unapproachable Light. 1 Timothy 6:14-16 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: (15) Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; (16) Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
Only God can inhabit the light that He “dwells” within. Man can neither dwell therein nor approach it.
Daniel 2:20-22 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: (21) And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: (22) He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
e. God’s Face is an Unviewable Light. Exodus 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Men have never, while in the flesh, been able to see and behold the Father. As we cannot gaze upon the sun in its strength, we cannot view God in His!
f. God’s Face is a Glorious Light. Revelation 21:22-23 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (23) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
g. God’s Face is an Eternal Light. Revelation 22:1-5 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (3) And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (4) And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (5) And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
3. The Glory of His Presence in Shekinah Glory. Like the terms Trinity and Rapture, the word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept does.
a. The ancient Jewish Rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, Shekinah, a form of a Hebrew word meaning "he caused to dwell,” signifying a divine visitation of the Lord God's presence on earth in a viewable form.
b. This occurred in both the Old and New Testaments before the complete canonization of the Scriptures.
1) God has made Himself viewable to His people before canonization by shrouding His Glory in Theophanies, Christophanies, and Anthropomorphisms.
a) The Old Testament. The Angel of the Lord, the Rock of Horeb, the Bush that burned but was not consumed, the pillars of Cloud and Fire, etc. Though they saw such things, the Old Testament walked by faith also.
b) Faith is mentioned 24 times in Hebrew chapter 11, the “Hall of Faith” chapter.
Hebrews 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
b) The New Testament.
1a. Jehovah God, the Voice of God manifested in the flesh. John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1-2 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (2) (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
Colossians 1:14-15 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (15) Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
1b. Jesus Christ manifested a visual of His future glory to His disciples. Matthew 17:1-2 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, (2) And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
1c. The glorified Christ manifested Himself to the Apostle Paul in conversion. Acts 9:3-4 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: (4) And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
1d. The glorified Christ manifested Himself to John the Beloved to open the Book of the Revelation
of Christ. Revelation 1:10-15 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (11) Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. (12) And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; (13) And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. (14) His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; (15) And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
2) Now that both Old and New Testaments have been canonized and translated, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit more clearly than ever through the lens of our Bible. Today, we do not see an Encarnacion or vision of God because we walk by faith, not sight. No rose petals falling from the skies, no statues that shed tears, no “corn flakes” that look like the image of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Conclusion: We who read and study God’s Word have seen the “invisible God” through His wonderful revelation in Scripture.
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