Exodus Chapter 33 Verses 8 – 9

• (Build the tabernacle at home before you build the Tabernacle elsewhere) We read here and other places of the Lord talking with Moses but we don’t know all that much about what God said. We have some, no doubt, but we most certainly don’t have it all. Why? I like what Guzik suggests because it resonates with me personally, “Much of it was of a personal, strengthening nature to Moses.”
• There’s always more to do than there are hours in the day. Especially for folks in ministry. And it’s easy for me to get caught up in the tasks that must be completed…but it’s super important to not just do the things but to also take moments in time to just speak with God on a personal level. Allow Him to speak to you about just you and Him. That strengthening is critical for continuance.

Exodus Chapter 33 Verse 10

• A couple of things here in this single verse. First, Moses is an example. He didn’t ask to be, we don’t read that “Moses acknowledged that he was an example,” it simply was that way. It is the same with you. Whether you are in leadership at church, work, at home, at school, or whatever. Each person is an example to others and many times folks follow that example, and sometimes not. Doesn’t matter, you need to know the fact, that each of us are an example to those around us. Perhaps an example of failure sometimes…perhaps an example of integrity…but at no times are you not an example.
• The presence of God was visible upon Moses. Do you see that? I want you to know, if you are pressing into the Lord, if you are serving Him, it IS visible. You may not see it but please, don’t lose heart. We do.
• Finally, the people worshipped in their own It’s wonderful to be here and to seek the Lord together, but the real worship is when you leave here. Individually, on your own, worship the Lord in your own homes…look what it says here, “all the people rose.” My desire is as yours, that you and I would rise up to people of great faith and character…victory and strength…I so wish I could do that work for you here…but that’s not the case. That rising happens when you are home…the encouragement is done, the instruction is finished, the tooling is complete…the advancement is up to you individually (and let me just say how extremely thankful I am to those that advance…)

Exodus Chapter 33 Verse 11

• This is a good example of how we must put the entire canon of scripture in play in order to rightly interpret each element. In just a few verses, verse 20, God will say, “You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me, and live.” And so, we know that Moses did not gaze into the face of God…so what does this mean then here when it says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face?”
• Ok, this certainly may be an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, a theophany, because they were sitting with Jesus in the Upper Room the night He was betrayed and Philip said to Him in John 14:8-9, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
• However, we do know from Numbers 12 specifically verses 6-8 what it means that God spoke to Moses face to face. “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord.” So, then what does it mean back in Exodus 33 that the Lord spoke to Moses face to face? It means that Moses heard clearly, simply, directly and other prophets heard in dreams and visions.
• I would love to tell you that if you do as Moses did, be faithful in all things in the Lord, that the Lord will also with you speak face to face…but that’s not fair…and it’s not doctrinally correct. Why? Because each and every one of you now has access to God face to face positionally in Jesus Christ. I’m getting a little ahead of myself and this will make even more sense at the end of this chapter…but look, you want to take all of the “dark sayings” out of the Word of God and God’s voice in your life? All of the confusion, difficulty and disorganization and questions…it’s not about you being perfect so that God will speak to you…Jesus already did that for you…now you just need to seek hard after Jesus!
• You want to see God…know Him face to face…it’s not about you being perfect, its now about you seeking the One who is…

Exodus Chapter 33 Verses 12 – 17

• It almost appears to be an odd situation…Moses just came off of the mountain where he was there with the Lord…for that matter, Moses saw that the Lord was with him in the escape from Egypt and in the provision in the wilderness…why is he so desperate? It’s almost like a crisis of faith. God, are you with me? But notice, God is not upset with this. God responds, reassures, refortifies Moses…so is this a crisis of faith? Not at all! This IS faith!
• Yes, Moses has seen so much, experienced so much, gotten so much proof and reassurance already…so why does he cry out again? Simple, because time has happened…things have happened…and that’s ok! We serve a God that thankfully doesn’t expect me to be less dependent as He continues to show Himself faithful but rather more dependent upon Him!
• Also, I want to point out something, because we are hearing a word almost on repeat in these verses that is used quite sparingly in the Old Testament. The word It is actually, (and this is wonderfully helpful in understanding God’s grace), it is actually the word “favor.” Cool, its chen in the Hebrew. You just don’t see it too much in the Old Testament, why? Because John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” It is through Jesus that grace is not earned or found by you and by me but given and poured out upon all mankind.
• Finally, one last thing here, Moses didn’t want to do anything without the Lord with him…and what he had just gone through was traumatic…and so he checks his spiritual pulse. A very good thing to do. God, am I with you still…? Am I walking in your will? A very good thing to do…The enemy would love for you to get off track and onto a path of destruction and either not sense it, realize or care about it.

Exodus Chapter 33 Verse 18

• (Moses is bold…but his boldness is based on grace) Understand, all this really means is, “Lord, I want to be in Your presence.” God IS And so, to be in His presence is to indeed see His glory. The glory that was before creation, the glory of God that walked with man in the cool of the day before sin entered into the bloodstream of Adam… All Moses is saying here is, “Draw as near to me as possible, Lord.” What a great request of God…and equally as great is God’s revelatory response…

Exodus Chapter 33 Verses 19 – 23

• (Literally, the afterglow) (God’s glory is in God’s goodness and that is His name. Moses asked to see His glory, God responds with, “I will make all My goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.”) Where is it…how and where is the closest that we can draw near to God…where is it and how is it that we can hear His name and in that understand His character…where and how is it that we can glimpse the glory of God…revealed here…right where God the Father has called us and desires to put us…secured in the Rock Himself. Positionally and personally within Jesus Christ. Jesus said this and now we understand it a bit better (John 1:18), “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”