Epiphany 2
Ex
33:12-23
1/20/19
Will God be with us or not? That is
the question that hangs over our text this morning. And now there was good reason to wonder. It hadn’t always been that way. Certainly Yahweh had been with Israel in the
exodus. At the Passover he had killed
the first born males of Egypt while sparing the Israelites who had placed the
blood of the lamb on their houses.
Yahweh led the people of Israel out by a pillar of cloud at day and a
pillar of fire at night.
When trapped between the Red Sea and
the oncoming Egyptian army, the pillar of cloud moved behind the Israelites to
separate them from the Egyptians as God brought the Israelites through the sea
on dry ground. Then he had bogged down
the Egyptians who entered the sea after the Israelites, and when the water
returned to its place he destroyed the Egyptians.
When Yahweh called Moses to be his
servant at the burning bush he had promised, “But I will
be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you
have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
God had kept his word and brought Moses and Israel to Mt. Sinai. There he told them, “Now therefore, if you will indeed
obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among
all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation.”
At Mt.
Sinai Yahweh had entered into a covenant with Israel. He had taken them to be his people. Oxen were sacrificed and the blood of the
covenant was thrown upon the people in order to signify that they were included
in this covenant. And then, something
remarkable happened. Where before Yahweh
had told Moses that no one was to go up or touch the mountain upon which God
had descended with fire and smoke lest they die, now Moses, Aaron and the elders
went up on the mountain and saw the God of Israel. We learn, “There was under his feet as it
were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he
did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God,
and ate and drank.”
All was
well. Moses went up onto Mt. Sinai to
receive the Ten Commandments and instructions for making the ark of the
covenant and the tabernacle. He was gone
for forty days and forty nights. During
his absence, the days dragged on and the people did not know when they would
end. And so finally they said to Aaron, “Up, make us gods who shall go before
us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we
do not know what has become of him.”
Aaron complied. They gave him
their gold and he made golden calf – an image used by the pagan religions of
the area. When the people saw it they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” They offered sacrifices to the golden
calf, and they celebrated with food and drink.
Yahweh sent
Moses down the mountain, and he confronted Israel about their sin. God was ready to destroy Israel and start
over with Moses. But Moses interceded for the people. He called Yahweh back to his own
promise. He said, Remember Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said
to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this
land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit
it forever.’” And so Yahweh relented.
This great
sin had happened in the chapter just before our text. Yahweh had now told Israel to set out for the
promised land of Canaan. He told them
that he would send an angel before them drive out the nations that we living
there. But then he added, “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I
consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Yahweh said he would not go with them as
before, because they were a sinful and stubborn. The people of Israel mourned
when the heard this.
In our text
Moses addresses this question of whether Yahweh will be with them or not. He states, “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 by name, and you have also found favor in my
sight.’” Moses asked to know God’s way –
what he was going to do – and he again called God back to his own word. After
all, Yahweh had told Moses that he knew him by name, and that Moses had found
favor in God’s sight.
Like several other occasions, Yahweh listened
to Moses’ appeal to his own word, and granted Moses’ request. In our text God says, “My presence
will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Yahweh promised that his presence
would go with his people. Yet Moses left nothing to chance. He reemphasized how
important this was as he said, “If your presence will not go with me, do not
bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in
your sight, I and your people? Is 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?”
It was the
presence of God with Moses and his people that during the era of the Old
Testament made them distinct – unique and different from every other people. God promised that the mercy seat – the cover
of the ark of the covenant – was his throne, and that by means of the ark and
the tabernacle he dwelt in the mist of his people.
However
this unique presence with Israel was not an end in itself. Instead, Israel was the means through which
God was at work for all peoples. In King
David and his sons God gave the promise of the Messiah who would bring
salvation and peace. In particular, the
prophet Isaiah revealed that God’s salvation was for the Gentiles as well.
We have
just celebrated during Christmas how God’s presence came to be with his people
in order to fulfill all of these promises.
John tells us that the Word – the Son of God – became flesh and dwelt
among us. During the season of Epiphany
we see how Jesus Christ revealed his glory – such as in the miracle of turning
water into wine. Through his miracles he
revealed that he was God in the midst of his people to save.
However, we
are never quite satisfied. We see it in
our text this morning. God had told Moses that his presence would go with him,
and that he would give him rest. But Moses now asked, “Please show me your
glory.” Moses had talked directly with God.
Just before our text we learn, “Thus
the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Apparently shaken by recent events, Moses now
asked for even more.
God granted his request – in
part. He said, “I will make all my goodness pass
before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.'” Yahweh told him the reason that he would do
this. He said, “And I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
Yet God
also told Moses that there was something he could not do. He informed Moses, “But, you cannot see my face, for man
shall not see me and live.” This was
something more than what had been described as “face to face.” It was a direct revelation of God’s glory that
was simply too much for sinful man to endure.
God could not – and would not – do this.
But there
was a way that he could reveal himself.
In our text Yahweh places Moses in the cleft of a rock and covers him
while his glory passes by. Yet he removes this protection in a way that allows
Moses an indirect perception. Moses
cannot see God directly. He can’t see
his face. But he tells Moses, “Then I
will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be
seen.”
God reveals
himself, but in a way that is indirect. That’s how it was with Jesus. Jesus
Christ was God dwelling in the midst of his people. The miracles where there to be seen. But it was not something that compelled people
to believe. On the contrary, many were
able to see Jesus and still reject him.
And this is
all the more true for the goal of Jesus’ ministry. On Good Friday, God revealed his saving glory
in the crucifixion of his Son. This was God acting powerfully to take away your
sins. And yet, it looked like nothing
except weakness and defeat.
As Jesus
was buried it appeared that he was not Immanuel. It appeared as if God was not with us. But this
impression could not have been more wrong.
On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. In fact, the Son of God had taken on humanity
in order to be the second Adam. He had become one of us – God with us – in
order to begin a new human existence that
cannot die. This is the life that
will be yours too when Christ returns, for his resurrection is the first fruit
of your resurrection.
While we
look for that day, we are sometimes like Moses.
We want more. We are not always
satisfied with how God reveals himself right now. Make no mistake: It is God with us sustaining
faith and giving forgiveness. But it is
not as direct as we would like.
The best
that Moses could do was God’s “back” – a revelation that was still indirect in
some way. We too continue to receive God’s revelation. Yes indeed, God is with us. But it is indirect. It is through means that call forth
faith. He reveals himself through his
inspired Word as the Holy Spirit uses that word to give faith and
salvation. He reveals himself in the
water and word of Holy Baptism, as we share in Christ’s saving death and
receive the promise of our own resurrection.
He reveals
himself in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Here our risen Lord uses bread and wine to feed us with his true body
and blood, given and shed for you. In
our text, Moses’ concern is whether God will be with his people during their
journey. Here in the Sacrament, Jesus
Christ is God with us for our journey – for our pilgrimage through life. With good reason the early Church described
the Sacrament as the cibus viatorum –
“the food of the travelers.” Christ feeds and nourishes us so that we can
continue to walk in faith as saints – as forgiven sinners. And through his body
and blood he guarantees our future, for our Lord said: “Whoever eats my flesh
and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
In our text
this morning Moses says: “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us
up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight,
I and your people? Is 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?” Because of
Jesus Christ, we know that God’s presence is
with us. Through Word and Sacrament he gives us forgiveness. And he points us to his direct revelation
that will occur on the Last Day.
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