Skip to content Exodus 33-34: Seek His Presence, Not Just His Blessings Feb 23 · 14 min ...more
Exodus 33-34: Seek His Presence, Not Just His Blessings
February 23, 2026 · 14 min
Explore the significance of God's presence in our lives and how it sets us apart as believers.
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Sin's Separation and Moses' Pursuit of God's Presence 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning. 2 very powerful chapters chapters today. We're looking at Exodus chapters 33 and 34. Verse 5 of chapter 34, the lord descended in0:21 the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the lord. Now in these, chapters, these 2 chapters, we see the people's repentance, for the creation and the worshiping0:33 of the golden calf. Moses again interceding with God on their behalf. And then in chapter 34, the covenant is renewed, including the people's requirements toward God and what God promises to0:45 them. Verse 1, chapter 33. Then the Lord said to Moses, depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying to0:57 your descendants, I will give it. And I will send my angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the1:09 Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are1:20 a stiff necked people. Alright. What truth do you see here in these first 3 verses? Sin separates us from God. You know,1:32 Moses is a type of messiah interceding for the people. And in that intercession, he declares a truth that I think the church we've got a grasp. Right? We need to grasp this today. Look at1:44 verse 12 of chapter 33. Moses said to the lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by1:56 name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in2:08 your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people. Notice God had said to Moses, you brought these people out. And and Moses is responding to God, these are your people. You2:20 brought them out. You know, David and so Moses is saying, look, I wanna know your ways so I can know you better. And then I can walk in those ways. David wrote something very similar in Psalm 1 43. 8 says, calls2:32 me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for in you do I trust. Calls me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. You know, that that is a prayer that God would honor.2:44 Lord, show us the way in which we should walk. And, of course, that's what we're finding out is we're abiding in his word. Verse 15. And he said to him, this is Moses speaking to God, if2:55 your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is3:07 it not in your going with us? So that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth. You see, it is the presence3:19 of God in our lives that sets us apart from the rest of the world. It it is not religion that provides distinction. It's not a title. It's not a label. It is the presence of God.3:31 And we read here with Moses that that presence, by being in the presence of the God presence of God, Moses radiated that that glow from3:43 being in the presence of God. You see, being a Christian, having the title Christian is not what separates us. It's a label. That's a title. It's the presence of God that3:55 sets us apart from the rest of the world. Verse 17. And Moses said and and the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken, I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and4:07 I know you by name. I know that had to be a relief to Moses. Verse 18, Moses said, please show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and4:19 will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious whom I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But he said, you cannot4:31 see my face, for man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock. And while my glory passes by, I will4:42 put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face you shall not see.4:55 See, Moses' intimacy with God is revealed here in his request. Alright? He he he he had dwelt in the presence of God. He wanted to see God. The Lord says, seek my face. And and that5:07 was, you know, as we desire to be in the presence of God, we will seek him. Now compare this to the response of the Israelites when the presence of God the presence,Renewing the Covenant: God's Name and Character Revealed 5:18 not the face of God. The presence of God was seen at Mount Sinai when he came down and and and met with him. They wanted to hide. In fact, they wanted Moses to go and commune with God. They5:30 didn't want to be a part of it. Our sin nature causes us to pull back from the presence of God. You know, when we're, if there's something in our lives that shouldn't be there, if we're walking5:42 contrary to God, we're not gonna wanna be in his presence. That's a really good checkup. If we're not wanting to be in the presence of God, something's not right in our lives. But when we experience God's grace5:54 as Moses did, we desire that which at 1 time in our life repulsed us, and that is the presence of God. In fact, as we see here with Moses, we're not6:05 satisfied with the promise of God's presence. We actually pursue that presence. Wow. This is a powerful passage. I wanna are you like Moses?6:18 Are we like Moses? Do we desire the presence? Are we pursuing the presence of God? Alright. There's a lot more in today's passage. Chapter 34 is filled with spiritual principles6:30 as God lays out the duties of the covenant and the promises that come with it. And, and and here's the the first thing we see in, chapter 34. It's, b y o s. Bring your own stone. The6:42 Lord said to Moses, cut for yourself 2 tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. The 10 commandments had literally and figuratively6:54 been broken. The people repented, and God is now going to renew his written covenant on stone. But this time, having broken the law of Moses or the law of God, Moses had to come to God7:06 presenting the slate to be written upon by the finger of God. And so it is with us. We must bring our hearts to God, having repented of our breaking of7:18 the law, yielding our hearts to him, and God writes his law upon our hearts, his law of grace. Verse 4. So Moses cut 2 tablets of stone like the first, and he rose early in the morning7:30 and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand 2 tablets of stone. The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the7:42 name of the Lord. Now there's something very significant here. Alright? Notice that the presence of the Lord is manifested in what? What what is it? His7:53 name. Now look back at the previous chapter when Moses asked to see God's glory and God's response. Verse 19, chapter 33. And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will8:05 proclaim before you my name, the Lord. I won't show you my glory, but I'll show you my goodness, and I'll proclaim before you my name, Jehovah. The name8:17 of the Lord. And there are 21 names for God which describe him. It's not, again, it's not it's not a title, but it's a declaration and manifestation of his presence. This8:29 is why the name of God and the name of Jesus are so powerful. It's not just a title. It is, and it's why it shouldn't be used8:41 lightly or taken in vain. The name of God declares his character and his presence. Verse 6, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and8:53 gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but9:04 with but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generations?9:16 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and he worshiped. Now this is 1 of the most significant theological statements in the bible. In fact, we're gonna9:28 see we're gonna see it about 6 more times during our journey. As I said before, God's name communicates his character and his covenant. He is9:40 merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but but by9:51 but who will by no means clear the guilty. Now in the, the, ancient Near East, a person's name embodied their identity and their character. In fact, a name10:03 wasn't given right away often at birth until a character was determined of that that that child. A name was much much more than a label. God's name communicates10:15 self existence, faithfulness, dependability, mercy, graciousness, slow to anger, justice, abounding in love, and consistency. He doesn't change.Covenant Duties: Separation, Worship, and Prioritizing God 10:27 Now this helps us understand why profaning the name of God is so offensive because it maligns his character and his very nature. Alright. Verse 10, chapter 34.10:39 And he said, behold, I am making a covenant before all your people. I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom10:51 you are shall seek the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the11:02 Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land in which you go, lest it11:14 become a snare in your midst. You shall tell tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their asherom. For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord11:26 whose name is jealous is a jealous god. Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and you are invited, you eat his11:38 sacrifice. And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods, and make your sons whore after their gods. This, again, speaks to the separation. This is the the principle11:50 that we draw from, not accommodating the corrupt culture of the land. Again, as Jesus described, what we are to be in this new testament, in12:02 this new testament era is that we're to be in the world but not of the world, distinct and separate. This is a clear, clear spiritual principle for us today. 1 more passage, verse 23.12:14 3 times in the year shall all your males appear before the lord god, the god of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. No 1 shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord12:25 your God 3 times in the year. 3 times, all of the males over all the adult males were to make their way to the temple, the tabernacle to worship God. Now and12:37 what he's saying there, don't worry about, I'm gonna provide. This connects with the Sabbath. You put me first. And and and look at this promise. You know, put me first, God says, and I will do the heavy lifting for you.12:49 God says, I'll be your provider and your protector. You know, don't worry about your home when you're going to worship me. I'm going to protect you. And this is a spiritual principle. Put13:01 God first. This is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 6 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these other things that the world seeks will be13:13 added unto you. Wow. Isn't this a great passage? Well, father, we thank you for your word. Thank you, father, for your word. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that's leading us on this journey. And and I do pray that the13:25 Holy Spirit would help us as as Moses said, show me your way that I might walk in it. As David said that, Lord, we say the same thing. Lord, show us through the enlightening enlightenment of the Holy13:36 Spirit your ways, your word that we might walk in it, that we might dwell in your presence and fellowship with you. Thank you, father, for we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.13:48 Thanks for joining me this morning. And until next time, keep standing on the word.13:56 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:08 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at f r c dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Sin's Separation and Moses' Pursuit of God's Presence5:14 Renewing the Covenant: God's Name and Character Revealed10:27 Covenant Duties: Separation, Worship, and Prioritizing God
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