New Stone Tablets (Exodus): Have you ever wondered what God is really like? When God remade his covenant with Israel, Moses asked to see his glory. The Lord allowed Moses to experience as much as he could bear, revealing multiple aspects of his good character. Yahweh is the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love, and so much more. God is great. God is good. Recorded on Mar 2, 2025, on Exodus 33-34 by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.
Sermon Transcript
We’ve been working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom, which is almost done! After today, we only have one more week before starting a new series for Lent. But we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. It’s the defining story for the people of Israel and reveals so much of who God is (character and nature), which is probably why it’s the most referenced story in the whole bible. But also, we’ve seen that the Exodus is a great picture of the gospel and the Christian life — a story of God rescuing a people by his grace, then teaching them to follow his word and Spirit through the wilderness of life as they make their way to the Promised Land. This is our story in Christ, too. Today, we’ll consider a story that reveals who God is. Have you ever wondered what God is like? I guarantee your friends and neighbors and coworkers have wondered this at some point. A.W. Tozer wrote in The Knowledge of the Holy, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” (Tozer, A. W.. The Knowledge of the Holy (p. 9). (Function). Kindle Edition.). But we don’t have to wonder what God is like because God has told us in his word. But few passages in the whole Bible match ours for today in terms of what we learn about God. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 33:18.
Exodus 33:18–34:3 (NIV), “18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” 1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.” This passage starts in the middle of a conversation between Yahweh God and Moses, his prophet and the one God chose to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. Just a reminder, the people of Israel had been camped at Mount Sinai for several months, as the Lord gave Moses the Law, instructions for the building of the Tabernacle, and so on. However, while Moses was meeting with the Lord, the people rebelled against God by making a golden calf to worship and go before them. This broke God’s covenant relationship he had just made with them, which Moses vividly portrayed by breaking the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them. Israel only survived because Moses interceded for them. But the question remained: Could sinful people live with a holy God in their midst? Last week, we saw that God gave his people some space, but Moses interceded again, and God recommitted to going with his people as they made their way to the Promised Land. When Moses asked God to go with them, the Lord replied in v. 17, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” This must’ve been such an incredible thing to hear God say. I’m sure it was this affirmation of God’s care and commitment to Moses that emboldened him to ask to see God’s glory in v. 18. We’ll talk more about the glory of God next week, but for now, the glory of God is the radiant beauty of all the attributes of God combined. It’s the full revelation of all of who God is. Moses had already asked God to teach him his ways. Now Moses was asking to know God himself. The Lord replied that Moses couldn’t see the fullness of his glory and live. Even a faithful man like Moses would be destroyed in the full presence of the glory of God. However, God came up with a plan to allow Moses to have a greater experience of his glory. The Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” Basically, I’ll give you as much as you can handle. This would not only be a special experience for Moses but would confirm the covenant that Israel had broken. This is why he was to bring new stone tablets to replace the ones Moses had broken. This wasn’t just a renewal of the covenant; this was a whole new covenant. This wasn’t a vow renewal; this was getting remarried after a divorce. The Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” He told him, “Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.” Do you think Moses got any sleep that night? Probably not! Well, what would happen the next day?
Exodus 34:4-7 (NIV), “4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” So Moses carried out the plan God made to allow him to see something of his glory, or to see his goodness and hear the proclamation of his name. Ancient people believed there was spiritual power in knowing someone or something’s true name. Maybe there’s something to that because there is real power in considering what God said when he appeared to Moses in the cleft of the rock. Yahweh, Yahweh (“The Lord, the Lord”). This is God’s true name for his covenant people, Israel. This wasn’t a general God; this was a very specific divine being. This is the name God revealed to Moses from the burning bush. This is the God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the God who rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. And what is Yahweh like? First, he is the compassionate God. What if he wasn’t compassionate? What if Yahweh had no regard for the weak and the lowly? What if Yahweh only paid attention to the strong? He wouldn’t have even noticed Israel, right? But he is compassionate. He cares for the lost and the least of these. He “opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (Pro 3:34; 1Pe 5:5). His heart is moved to help. But Yahweh doesn’t provide just the bare minimum. Second, he is the gracious God. Yahweh gives gifts people don’t deserve. He blesses beyond measure. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). But he is especially gracious to his covenant people. He doesn’t believe in karma. He saves people by his grace, not because they have earned it. Third, he is slow to anger. Is there any greater news about who your creator is? Yahweh doesn’t have a hair trigger. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around him. He is not quick to anger. If anything, he is quick to forgive. He is the God of second chances. We’ve seen that repeatedly in the Exodus story. Fourth, he is abounding in love and faithfulness. The Hebrew word translated as love here is hesed, the great theme of the book of Ruth, as we saw last summer. Hesed is translated as loyalty, kindness, covenant faithfulness, or some combination of those concepts. God is abounding in steadfast-loving-kindness and faithfulness. He will not easily give up on you. He will be faithful to his word. You can rely on him. You can trust your life to him. Because of these attributes, is it any surprise that he maintains “love to thousands, and [forgives] wickedness, rebellion and sin?” This is just Yahweh being Yahweh. This is what God is like. If someone knew God and heard about what he did for Israel, or later, what Jesus did through his death on the cross to save sinful people, they would say, “That sounds like something Yahweh would do.” But fifth, he is not unjust. Yahweh is patient and kind, abounding in love and faithfulness: “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Yahweh is holy and is the perfect judge. He is willing to forgive but will not ultimately turn a blind eye to those who hard-heartedly reject him or hate him. This phrase doesn’t mean God punishes people because of the sins of their parents, although children and grandchildren are often negatively affected by the sins of their parents or grandparents. Other passages in the Bible make that clear. Instead, this means that God will be equally just in every generation. He won’t punish one generation and then sweep another generation’s sins under the rug. Back in Exodus 20, when God spoke the Ten Commandments, he said, “…I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” As just as Yahweh is, his love far outweighs his justice (to a thousand generations!). Of course, these are not the only attributes of God. This is not all of who God is. This is just what Moses was able to experience there on Sinai that incredible day. We know from the rest of God’s word that he is infinite in wisdom and power; he is transcendent, outside of time and space; he is uncreated and perfectly self-sufficient; he is three, and he is one; and more. But think about how you would describe yourself. If you met someone at a party and they asked you to tell them about your personality, what would you want them to know about who you are? Would you try to make yourself seem smart or tough or kind or funny? Well, this is what God wanted us to know about himself. But these attributes make perfect sense of how God acts in the Exodus story. Have we seen God’s compassion, his grace, his slowness to anger, and his loving faithfulness? Have we seen his forgiveness and his justice? Yes and yes and yes. We could infer all these aspects of Yahweh’s character from his mighty deeds, but God wanted to make it clear. He wants us to know him just as he knows us. But imagine if you were Moses. How would you respond to this revelation? To this theophany, this experience of the glory of God?
Exodus 34:8-10 (NIV), “8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.” 10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.” This is God’s word. So, Moses’ immediate response was to bow down to the ground, a physical posture of humility and honor, and worship the Lord. To give God the glory, gratitude, and praise due his name. But how could he not praise God for this revelation of the glory and goodness of his character? This is the only right response to a personal encounter with Yahweh God. But from this posture of worship and praise, Moses looked for reassurance that the deal was still on — that the Lord would forgive them, go with them, and that they would still be his people, his inheritance, just as he had promised. And look at how God responds. He affirms he is indeed making a covenant with them once again. That’s what the new stone tablets were for. To remake the covenant Israel had broken. “I am making a covenant with you.” But then, in this relationship with God, they would see some crazy stuff. “Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.” In other words, “What I will do for you will blow your minds.” (How cool is that?) But how true it would be. The story of what God would do for his covenant people would be so incredible that “Even angels long to look into these things” (1Pe 1:12). Why? Eventually, God’s people would again need a new covenant. They would again break this covenant and would be sent into exile, a disaster far greater than the golden calf. But despite this tragedy, Yahweh was the same. He doesn’t change. His character was the same as he revealed to Moses on that day. So because of who God is, because he is compassionate and gracious, because he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast-loving-kindness, God would again faithfully save his people. But this time, instead of sending a prophet like Moses, he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. And instead of punishing the people for their sin, Jesus himself bore the wrath of God against sin when he suffered and died on the cross. But on the third day, he rose again from the dead, victorious over Satan, sin, death, and hell. So today, anyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be forgiven, have a real relationship with God, and live forever in his kingdom. Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved. This is the good news of the gospel. It starts with understanding who God is and what he has done through his Son and Spirit. Now, you can get a bit of this through the general revelation of creation. You can tell that God is great from the world he has made, but you can’t see his goodness unless you listen to the special revelation of his word and see what he has done for his covenant people. The gospel confronts us by addressing our sin and weakness and need. But it offers hope and love and peace by faith in Jesus’ name. Why does this matter for us today? Well, because I agree with Tozer that what you think about God is the most important thing about you. It shapes everything in life for good or bad. Most modern people believe that God exists, that something or someone must be behind it all. We just can’t believe all this is just an accident. But far fewer people know who God is or what he is like. Well, this is what God is like: he’s willing to be patient and merciful with people who are an utter mess. He’s willing to enter into a real relationship with people. He’s willing to forgive them and go with them and rescue them when they need it once again. We see that God is great, and he is good. How could we do anything in response to this revelation, to this good news, but respond in worship like Moses? So today, may the whole of our lives be an offering of worship, of praise and thanksgiving to God. May we hold nothing back but trust it all to him. He will go with you. And you will only get to know him more and more as you learn to walk with him. And what could be better than that? Let us pray. Our glorious God and Father in heaven, and the Lord Jesus Christ, would you give us your Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know you better? I pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of your glorious inheritance in your holy people, and your incomparably great power for us who believe (Eph 1:17-19). Thank you for revealing yourself to us. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for Jesus. We love you and give you all the glory, honor, and praise. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
