READ: Ex. 34:1–9: … The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD … If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord go among us … and pardon our iniquity …
The LORD gives further instructions to continue His covenant. Moses must cut two new tablets from the rock, which the LORD will then inscribe with His finger.
The next day Moses must ascend the mountain alone to the top to meet the LORD; no human or animal may come near the mountain. Moses obeys, and the LORD appears and passes by him. As He passes, the LORD reveals who He is.
Moses asks for a sign, but receives far more: he hears the LORD Himself speak about His glorious attributes and virtues. In essence, Moses now hears with his ears about the face of the LORD.
He does not see His face, but hears what it means when the LORD lifts up His face over His people and grants them grace and peace (Num. 6:24–26):
“The LORD, the LORD. (the covenant God of unchanging faithfulness) God (the Almighty), merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in steadfast love; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty (the second commandment)”.
Such is God; such is His glorious face for those who fear Him. At the same time, His face is dreadful for those who do not fear Him, who oppose Him, and who do not confess their sins.
Moses hears of the LORD’s glorious attributes, but also of the necessity of forgiveness. He again implores the LORD to go with His people and to forgive the stiff-necked people, of whom he himself is one.
Here Moses shows himself to be a type of Christ as intercessor. But only Christ Himself has laid the ground for forgiveness through His once-for-all sacrifice. Christ pleads on that basis daily at God’s right hand, and His Spirit ensures that He is with us always, to the end of the age.
Who is “the guilty one” in verse 7?
Sing: Ps. 68:4