Holiness of God: Part 2
Giving of the Law by. Gustav DoreThis is continuing a series on the Holiness of God. If you have not read part one you can access it here. I will be referring back to it quite often. Our main focus on the last blog was Isaiah’s experience when he saw God seated on His heavenly throne. The radiance and the glory of God was so great that Isaiah felt as if his whole being was falling apart. This is what happens when someone comes in contact with an infinitely holy God. Remember, the word holy is the only word that is used to describe God in the repetition of “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts”. As a reminder, the Hebrew language uses repetition to put emphasis on something. To repeat an adjective three times is to describe something or someone in the ultimate and highest degree. The focus of this blog will not be much different but we will now turn to Moses and his encounter with the Holy God.
The Wrath and Mercy of God
We come to the point in Exodus where Moses has already gone up to meet the Lord once to receive the ten commandments. After he descends from Mount Sinai he finds out that the people of Israel have built a golden calf and worshiped it as the God who brought them out of Egypt. This was a direct violation of the second commandment. In anger, Moses drops the tablets and they break. Scripture tells us the Lord knew what happened.
(Exodus 32:7-10 ESV) “And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
These are some strong words that God used against Israel. The words “my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them” sound like they come out of fire and brimstone sermon. My hope at this point in our series is that you can start to see why this was not an overreaction. God graciously lifted them out of slavery and brought them out to freedom with the abundant treasures of Egypt and has even promised to bless them with their own land. The degree of their sin is magnified because they are disobedient to an infinitely holy God. But Moses intercedes for the people.
(Exodus 32:11-14) “But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 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 the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”
While God is wrathful He is also merciful. He had every right to punish Israel at that moment. He spared them however because Moses interceded on their behalf and appealed to God’s unwavering covenantal promises to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. While God would at times prune and chastise Israel He would never completely cut them off. His plan of Salvation to bless the whole world through Abraham’s seed was to be fulfilled through this people. This, however, is what it means for God to be holy. As I described in my last blog, God is not just one attribute. He is not merely love or merely wrath or merely merciful but is altogether Holy.
Before we move on I would like to make a quick comment concerning verse 14. Some translations use the word “repent” rather than “relented”. Repent literally just means a change of mind. When we repent we make a 180 degree turn away from our lives of sin and follow God. With that said, I do NOT believe this verse literally means that God changed His mind as if He didn’t know Moses was going to intercede for Israel. Scripture tells us in both Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29 that “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind”. Another aspect of God’s holiness is tied up in His Sovereignty and perfect Omniscience(all-knowing). This is a point that I cannot simply pass over. To say that God does change his mind would mean that He is not Sovereign or Omniscient. This is called Open Theism and I cannot stress enough that this line of thinking is completely unbiblical and should be avoided.
The Face of God
We now come to one of the key texts in the book of Exodus that reveals the holiness of God. The opening of Chapter 33 tells us about a tent of meeting where Moses would go to speak with God. Moses is concerned that because of the sins of Israel that God will not go before them when they set out to take possession of the promised land. God tells Moses that he has found favor in his sight and grants that He will go up with them into the land. Then something very interesting happens when Moses asks God to do something for him.
(Exodus 33:18-23) “Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot 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 will 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 shall not be seen.”
There is much we can unpack here but I want to focus on one detail. No one, including Moses, could look directly upon the face of God and live. If you remember in my previous blog on Isaiah 6, not even the seraphim could look directly upon God. The purpose of one of their 3 pairs of wings was to cover their eyes in the full presence of Yahweh. If the sinless angels could not even look upon the full glory of God then surely sinful men cannot do it as well. Psalm 5 makes this very clear “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you”. Evil cannot even stand in the presence of God. It was for Moses’ own good that the Lord denied his request. However, Moses did get to see his backside and even that is enough to have a huge impact on Moses.
God’s Testimony of Himself
We open up Chapter 34 with Moses ascending Mount Sinai once more to receive a new set of stone tablets that were previously broken in Moses’ rage. When Moses reached the summit, the LORD descended in a cloud and proclaimed about Himself:
(Exodus 34:6,7) “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 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 the fourth generation.”
God, Himself lists out the attributes that make Him holy. He is gracious, slow to anger, abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness towards His people, and forgives their transgressions. However, He will not let the unrepentant go free. He will punish the sins of fathers to the third and fourth generation. That is the nasty impact that sin has. Once again we have this concept that God is not the sum of just one attribute but many and this is what makes him holy to the ultimate and highest degree. Moses recognized this immediately and bowed his head toward the earth and on behalf of the people of Israel asked God to pardon their sins for they are a stiff-necked people (Exodus 34:8,9). As a result, God accepts Moses’ repentance and renews his covenant with Israel promising to drive out the people of the promised land so they may possess it. Then He established the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:10-28).
The Face of Moses
As we close chapter 34 Moses descends from Mount Sinai after being sustained by God for 40 days and 40 nights with no food. When the people saw him there was something astonishing about his appearance.
(Exodus 34:29,30) “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”
Because Moses was in the presence of the holy God for so long there was a visible difference in his appearance. His face shone and the people of Israel were frightened. As we have seen with Isaiah, when we come in contact with holiness it is natural in our sinful state to be in fear. For this reason, Moses had to wear a veil in the presence of the people.
The Effect of Holiness
Just as the holiness of God had an effect on Moses, it should have an effect on us as well. When we humble ourselves, repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus, God grants us the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit we are being transformed over our walk with Christ to be made more in His image. This means we are gradually continuing in our progressive sanctification, putting to death the deeds of the flesh and growing in grace day by day with the renewing of our minds. This is how we ourselves become holy as God is holy. For this to happen something needs to occur first. There is an added significance to the veil that Moses wore.
(2 Corinthians 3:12-18) “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
There is a veil that spiritually blinds the eyes of those who do not believe in Christ. In the same way that this blindness kept the Jews from seeing Christ in the old testament, we are also blinded to the truth of the Gospel. In order for this blindness to be removed, the Holy Spirit must work in our lives to help us see Christ. Once we have beheld the glory of our Lord we cannot help but follow Him. This is where the road to holiness begins for the Christian. And in the same way that Moses had an effect on the people around him, we too will live in a way that will make people ask us for the reason of the hope that is in us.
