YOU ARE MY PROMISED LAND
For several months this year I have been studying the book of Exodus. And in this study, I have found powerful themes that point to Jesus. It has been a revelation to me to see the grace of God in this OT book.
As I was listening to Christian radio, a song was played that suddenly resonated with me and with what I had read in Exodus. The song was called “My Promised Land” by Josiah Queen. Remarkably, it reflected the heart of Moses in Exodus 33 when he met with God. The song begins like this:
You had me standing on a mountain
Walking through barren lands
You took my hand and You said
You can have this world
But I won't go with You
Oh, I won't go with You
But I ran out of places
And feelings I was chasing
All I have is You and You alone
And I said, hold on, wait a minute
I don't want what You ain't in
And I don't wanna go
Unless I'm going there with You
It's You there, rain or shining
You're the sun on my horizon
You are my everything
My Promised Land is You
The context of Exodus 33 follows the dreadful “golden calf” incident at the base of Mount Sinai. You remember the people were camped out down there while Moses was up on the mountain with God. With all that God had done for Israel, their deliverance from Egypt, the Red Sea crossing, and so on, the people respond by making an idol.
Yahweh says to Moses that he and the people can go and take the land that was promised, but God isn’t going with them. If he did, Yahweh says he would kill them all. God is fed up with the rebellion of this people. He would ditch them to start over with Moses. The children of Israel can have all that was promised, but they don’t seem to want Yahweh, so Yahweh won’t go with them.
Moses speaks for the people, he responds on their behalf, he pleads for them. He begs God to reconsider. This is a prayer we need to pray. Moses asks three things of God, requests that reflect our own deepest need.
First: “I want to know you” (Ex. 33:12-14)
The key verse in this first request is, “If I have found favor in your sight, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you,” (13).
Moses tells God, “You made me the leader of these people, but you got to help me.” He asks who God is sending with him. An angel? Cool! But God says he won’t go with these “stiff necked” people, or he may consume them. Moses doesn’t want an angel, he wants God. He says, “I want to know you.”
Moses already had a friendship with God, amazing experiences with God, the burning bush, face-to-face talks, intimate encounters. He’s found favor with God – something that is repeated in this text. God knows Moses like a friend. But Moses isn’t satisfied with just being known, he wants to know God.
This is not reading your Bible through in a year knowledge. This is not knowing about God. Moses is talking about knowing God in a personal way. James Packer, who wrote Knowing God, said, “A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great of knowledge about him.”
Think of someone you have always wanted to meet. Maybe you follow them on twitter (X), Instagram, or read their books or watched their movies. You have admired them from afar. But do you know them? Really know them?
Packer talks about God, the Almighty Creator, the Lord of hosts, the great God before whom all the nations are a drop in the bucket. And he comes to you and begins to talk to you through the words of the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. You come to realize that God is opening his heart to you in this way, making friends with you. That’s staggering to consider, isn’t it?
Moses prays what we should pray for, that God would reveal more of himself to us.
Second: “I want you to be with us” (Ex. 33:15-17)
Moses is tenacious. He doesn’t give up. God says “okay” to his request to know God more. But Moses amps up his request with another. Moses says, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here,” (15).
Here’s where Moses challenges God on what he said about not going with the people. Moses responds that the only thing that makes this people special is that God is with them. And how will it look to the other nations if God abandons the people he chose. There is no point in leaving Mount Sinai and heading to the Promised Land if God stays behind. God has to go with them.
They can have everything they want in this life, but God will not go with them. I think this is a test. I’m pretty sure it is. And Moses advocates for the people for God to go with them. It’s not like God reluctantly goes with Israel. He loves them. But do they love God? Do they want Yahweh as their only God?
Can you imagine God saying you can have anything you want in this life but not his presence. All your dreams could come true but not have God.
John Piper said, “The critical question for our generation – and for every generation – is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?”
Heaven without Jesus? Absolutely not. And Moses plainly lays this out with God: God, if you’re not going there, I don’t want to be there either.
Third: “I want to see you” (Ex. 33:18-23)
Moses pushes further with his third request, “Now show me your glory,” (18). The literal wording is, “Cause me to see your glory.” It’s still sounds demanding. But what does it even mean?
Have you ever prayed that God would show you his glory? It sounds audacious. Would we know it to see it?
John Piper described seeing God’s glory as seeing “the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.” How does God reveal this to Moses?
Yahweh replies to Moses, “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,” (19). But God would not show his face to Moses.
What we get out of this revelation is the character of God. I have heard many people say that God is angry in the OT. But here we see in this text the grace and mercy of God towards a people who are persistently sinful. He keeps giving them chances to do better.
As human beings, we have an innate desire to see the glory of God. It’s in us as a natural desire. Sharon and I started watching the 20th season of AGT and it is amazing to see not only the singers and illusionists, but also the brilliant things people can do with their bodies. We love to be in awe of such feats. And how many of us yelled when Perfetti scored the winning goal in the Blues-Jets series? My neighbor said she heard yelling all over town. These are snippets of glory. Seeing the Grand Canyon, watching the canola grow – these are snapshots of glory. But it points us to the greater glory that we long for in God. Only God’s glory will truly satisfy our hearts’ longing.
The Apostle Paul described this event with Moses and Yahweh as a limited experience. Moses could see God’s glory, but Moses had to veil his face for the people. Now that Christ has come, Paul says that with unveiled faces we can see the glory of God more fully than ever. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” (2 Cor. 4:6).
And that’s why heaven without Jesus is heaven without glory. Truly, it’s not even heaven at all.
A few weeks ago, Michael preached about Abraham seeking a blessing from God. Abraham said in Genesis 15:1-6 when God reveals himself to him, “What will you give me?” It was a “duh” moment. Michael explained that God was giving himself to Abraham. What more did he need?
As Josiah Queen crooned, “You are my promised land.” God is all I need.
I invite you this week to pray the bold and audacious prayer of Moses asking these three things of Yahweh:
I want to know you…
I want you to be with us…
I want to see your glory…
We could have everything this world has to offer. The joys, pleasures, experiences, prosperity and all kinds of good things…But if God isn’t in it, can we say, “Then I don’t want it”? Because he is what we need most.
AMEN?
No comments:
Post a Comment