Exodus 33:12-34.
1865 307 The intelligence and decision of Moses' soul in Exodus 33 is much to be observed. There was a good deal to solicit his confidence, had he not been fully persuaded that nothing but "sovereign grace" would reach his need.
Not to mention the terms of the Law from Sinai (for he had already refused them (see Ex. 20), fearing and quaking before them), he was solicited by the offer of the angel, who would either bless or punish according to Israel's desert. (See Ex. 23, Ex. 32)
And still more. Moses had been taken beyond the region of the fiery law, and beyond the place where he had heard the promise of this angel of the covenant, the conditional covenant, and had been introduced to "the shadows of good things to come," to "ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary." (See Ex. 25 - 31.)
This last was a great attraction, such as the religious mind of man has constantly yielded to. The Galatians were beguiled by this attraction. They returned to ordinances, "beggarly elements." There was the like tendency at Colosse. So among the Hebrews. But Moses stood this attraction as well as the other. And after all this, his conscience is still uneasy; he has got nothing which his heart can rest in, and he says to the Lord, "Show me now thy way." (Ex. 33:13.)
In answer to this the Lord promises His presence. (Ex. 33:14-17). But, however, desirable and mindful that was, Moses desires more, and he further says, "I beseech thee, Show me thy glory." (Ex. 33:18.)
Now all this was the way of a soul that had learnt its great necessity as a sinner; for neither the law, nor conditional covenants, nor shadows and ordinances, nor mere promises of high order, will meet a sinner's case; it demands "sovereign grace." And the Lord delights in such faith. He at once answers the demand it made, promising to deal with Israel, whom Moses represented and pleaded for, in sovereign and boundless grace. "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." (Ex. 33:19.) In Romans 9:15, where these words are quoted as the expression of sovereign electing grace, what satisfied Moses, Paul preaches as God's gospel for sinners.
Moses is then satisfied. He asks no more. This will do, though nothing less would. All that now remains is, that he gets what has now been promised. And, accordingly, on the next day he goes to the appointed place, and there the name is proclaimed, the name of Him who would deal in sovereign grace with him; and Moses bows and worships.
This is a beautiful path of faith. There is the urgency of a soul that knows its necessity, and there is the delight of the Lord in answering it. The urgency of Moses on this occasion may remind us of Abraham's demand in Genesis 15:8, and also of the Shunamite in 2 Kings 4, who would not be satisfied with the servant and the staff but must have the prophet himself.
"The glory of the Lord" passes before Moses. He reaches "the end of the law" and gazes with "unveiled face." (2 Cor. 3) He gets a sight of Christ, and an audience of the gospel. The light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God shines into him. He sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus. (2 Cor. 4) And no danger can possibly reach him; for the Lord shelters him with His own hand, while all that might or rather would have injured passes by.
This is very blessed. It is like the Lord shutting in Noah, when the waters were arising. It is like the Lord appointing the blood, while the sword of judgment went through the land. In the shadow of the divine hand Moses is hid, till "the back parts" were to be seen. The face in this passage, I believe, means the law or the dispensation that went before; the back parts mean the gospel or the dispensation that comes after.*
Nothing can surpass such a picture of the abounding grace of God and the security of him who took refuge in it. And how does Moses entertain it? He is "changed into the same image from glory to glory." He gazes and listens while the glory passes, and the name is published. His spirit drinks in the revelation. It was a cheering light. It was not an overwhelming but a gladdening brightness. The spirit of the believer lives in it. Moses worships — and all the request he has on his lips bespeaks his present satisfaction — "let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us." It is no longer a request for further revelations and discoveries of the Lord, but a request for the company of Him now reached and discovered.
Thus was he changed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Cor. 3:18.) Christ is filled to give assurance and liberty and joy, to end one's searchings and uneasiness as a sinner. And Moses experienced this. He was changed into the same image.
*[I cannot but gravely doubt this interpretation. It would be strange indeed if "the face" of God were appropriated to that which was "less comely," (the law), the "back parts," to that which certainly "has no need" (the gospel); and this for so slight a reason as one being prior in time to the other. It seems to me that by the "back parts" which Moses was given to see, it was set forth that, favoured as he was, this blessed man of God could only behold the ways of God when they were actually revealed; he could not anticipate but only, as it were, look behind Him, as He passed along. Also, the proclamation of Jehovah's name in Exodus 33 is not the gospel of the glory, but contrariwise what Paul contrasts with it — it is the ministration of death and condemnation, because it was only the mingling of mercy with the law, not pure grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that the gospel of the glory of Christ is announced, we do, all of us, behold in peace the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Ed. B.T.]