Exodus 33 reveals just how intimate a relationship Moses had with God. We are told the Lord would speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. And these are just a few of the things God said to him: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest…I am pleased with you and I know you by name…I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence”.
These are simply amazing thoughts to consider, and one is prone to a bit of jealousy when we look at the relationship Moses shared with the Lord. But it was not a perfect one. Moses’ fallen humanity still got in the way. This is perhaps no more apparent than when Moses asks to see the glory of God and the Lord replies, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”.
When Moses saw God—or at least what God could safely reveal—he became aware of his mortality and sinfulness. Consider what Isaiah said when he was given a vision of God in his very heavenly throne room:
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." — Isaiah 6:5
Yet this will not always be the case. A day will come when the dwelling of God will be with man. The curse that has been running through the blood of man since Adam will be wiped from our veins. The reign and rule of sin will be ended. The perishable will be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the LORD God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. — Revelation 22:3-5
Does this not make you ache for the return of Christ? To know God closer than Moses did, closer than a friend? Does this not make your heart pulse with a compassion for the lost to join us in the city of God and of the Lamb?
1. How would you describe your relationship with God right now? Friends? Colleagues? On speaking terms? What is the closest you’ve ever felt to God? What is the furthest?
2. In what ways do you think Moses had a closer relationship with God than we do today? In what ways do you think we have a closer relationship to God than Moses did then?
3. How do you think your relationship to God will change when you get to heaven? What does the Bible tell you about that time? What do you most eagerly anticipate about that change?
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