God showed his glory

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God also revealed His glory to Moses. Although God commissioned him to lead Israel into the Promised Land, the thought of doing so intimidated him (Ex. 33:12–13).

The Lord responded, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (v. 14). The Hebrew word translated “rest” refers not to a cessation of activity, but to protection and blessing. The Lord promised that He would be with Moses and provide for the needs and safety of His people.
Show Me Your Glory!
Although the Lord’s reply undoubtedly encouraged Moses, yet he wanted some kind of visible proof to verify that the Lord would indeed be with him. Therefore, he made this request: “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!” (v. 18) Moses was asking for an unveiled view of God!

The Lord replied, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you” (v. 19). That was a wonderful answer to Moses’ prayer, for it was a promise to put all His attributes on display before Moses. The Lord then explained how He would do that: “I . . . will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. . . . [But] you cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! . . . 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 take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (vv. 19–23).

The Lord was going to cover Moses with His hand as His glory passed by. That way Moses would not see His face, which is the essence of His Being. Scripture says that no man has ever seen the Lord’s face (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 John 4:12).

If anyone were to do so, he or she would be consumed. When the Lord removed His hand, Moses would see the back of the Lord. What does His back represent? The afterglow or radiance of the Lord’s glory. Of course, God does not actually have a face, hand, or back. As we noted earlier, Scripture characterizes the Lord in human terms to accommodate our finite understanding.

Perhaps God’s afterglow is like the radiance of the sun. No one has ever seen the actual sun. What we see are gaseous flames that leap off the sun. If we were to stand close enough to see the sun, we’d be consumed. Since the sun is that devastating and brilliant, what must God be like? The glory of all creation is but a partial and dim reflection of the Creator’s full glory.
The Shining Face 
The Lord then instructed Moses, saying:

Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the 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 (Ex. 34:2–3). 

When Moses reached the top of the mountain, “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord” (v. 5).

In fulfilment of His earlier promise, the Lord passed by Moses, proclaiming,

“The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth; who 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” (vv. 6–7). That is God’s composite characterization of His own glory. 

Upon hearing those majestic words, Moses “made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship” (v. 8). For forty days God revealed His law to Moses. When finally he came down from Mount Sinai, “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him” (v. 29). His face was reflecting God’s glory. When Aaron and the rest of Israel saw his shining face, they were afraid to come near him. Moses, however, called them to himself and spoke to them. Then he “put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away” (2 Cor. 3:13). The glory didn’t last.

Moses didn’t have any glow or light of his own. Therefore, God chose to send him off that mountain with a little afterglow of His own glory.

Author: J.MacArthur

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