Worship: Behold Your God!
- Sep 12, 2010
- Series: Worship
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If you had 20 seconds to tell someone who you really are, what would you say? If God was going to tell you who he is in 20 seconds or less, how do you think he would describe himself?
That's exactly what he does for Moses on Mt. Sinai. Moses asked to see God's glory. God said that nobody can see his "face," his essence and live. Instead, God passes by Moses and declares his essential attributes.
What does he say? He says he is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving sin, and showing love to a thousand generations of those who love him. He also says that he will by no means clear the guilty. God is gracious and merciful, but not crooked. He doesn't wink at sin; he doesn't overlook wicked deeds.
People want God to be gracious to us and our friends, and to judge people like Hitler. Still, when we read that he will families that pass on particular sins from generation to generation, we get uncomfortable. But maybe our perception of justice is skewed by our own sinful heart. This is why we need God to reveal himself concretely, as he does in the Bible, and as he does so specifically in Exodus 34.
Moses' response was to fall on his face and worship the Lord. Hopefully, this will be ours, too.