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Scripture Reading: Exo. 33:2-23; 34:5-10
Prayer: Lord, we take You as our sin offering and trespass offering. Thank You for cleansing us. We praise You for opening Your Word to us, and we ask You to continue to be with us. Lord, infuse us with Your thought. Give us a clear, living word full of life supply. Defeat and shame the enemy.
In Exodus 33 and 34 God dealt with His redeemed people in a special way after their great failure of making and worshipping the golden calf. This failure happened not at the beginning of their journey but in Exodus 32 after they had experienced and enjoyed many positive things given by the Lord, including the passover, the pillar of cloud, the heavenly manna, and the living water from the cleft rock. The passover lamb, which was for their initial salvation, typifies Christ. After they experienced Christ in type in their initial salvation, they began to follow Jehovah. In their journey they first passed through the Red Sea, which is a type of the death of Christ, and dealt with their enemies. Afterward, on their journey through the wilderness they enjoyed the heavenly manna, which also typifies Christ, and the rock cleft to flow out the living water to quench their thirst, which typifies the crucified Christ flowing out the Spirit.
After the children of Israel had experienced and enjoyed all these wonderful things, they were brought to Mount Sinai as they followed the Lord in their journey. At Mount Sinai they saw something unprecedented in human history — God descended upon the mountain (19:18). They stood at the base of the mountain, and Moses, their representative, went up to the top of the mountain to stay with God. Although Mount Sinai is a negative type of the covenant of the law according to Galatians 4:24-25, Message 50 of Life-study of Exodus points out that Mount Sinai has a much more positive significance. Mount Sinai was not only where the Old Testament law was decreed; more importantly, the children of Israel were brought into the presence of God at Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:11) through sanctification (v. 10) and in resurrection (v. 11) to hear the speaking of God (v. 9). Furthermore, in fellowship with God they were brought into the knowledge of God to know the grace of God (v. 4) and the holiness of God (vv. 10-24) and to become God’s personal possession, God’s peculiar treasure (v. 5), a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (v. 6). They stayed at Mount Sinai for a considerable length of time. Moses went up on the mountain for two periods of forty days each (24:18; 34:28), which is nearly three months. Additionally, there was the time required for the children of Israel to make all the furniture of the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself. God remained on the mount in the cloud, and manna descended every day to feed the people. What a wonderful scene this is!
In spite of all these experiences of God and of His gifts, the children of Israel made and worshipped the golden calf. They did this when they were still eating manna and in sight of the cloud on Mount Sinai. It is difficult to comprehend how it is possible that a people who had experienced and enjoyed God to such extent could make an idol to worship. They were not ignorant; their forefathers gave them much knowledge concerning God while they were there in Egypt. Nevertheless, they committed such a sin before God, even while they were enjoying His supply.
Moses, who was on the mount with God, surely did not expect this to happen, but God saw it and told Moses, “Go, get down” (32:7). Moses went down with the two tablets of the Testimony, which were inscribed by God. When Moses saw the calf and the dancing, he could not restrain himself and threw down the two tablets, shattering them. Moses could not tolerate such a terrible sin. He did not pray to God to seek His will about what to do but immediately told the sons of Levi, “Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Let each man put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each man kill his brother, and each man his companion, and each man his neighbor” (v. 27). They slew about three thousand men that day. Actually, there was no need for Moses to pray, because he already knew what God wanted (v. 27a). He was a man who was in God’s heart and knew God intimately. The next day Moses returned to the mountain to appease God. Moses’ heart was for Israel and even the more for God. God would not give up His rebellious people, yet there was the need of a mediator to reconcile them. Moses, who knew what was in God’s heart, was such a mediator.
God’s answer to Moses’ petition for the children of Israel comprised two main aspects: God’s mercy and God’s government (34:6-7). God is merciful, yet He is altogether righteous and orderly. God’s heart was not to give up the children of Israel but to keep and preserve them. In His mercy God wanted to forget about Israel’s sins, but God’s government would not allow Him to do this. According to His government, God should have destroyed the people, but His mercy would not allow Him to do this. To carry out what was in God’s heart for His people, both God’s mercy and God’s government had to be satisfied. The only way God could deal with His people in a way that maintained both His mercy and His government was through the Divine Trinity.
Human fathers know the difficulty of dealing with rebellious children. We love them, but we must discipline them. We have to play different roles as a loving father and a chastising father. It is no wonder that in order to describe the Trinity, early theologians chose the Latin word personae, which denotes the various masks of a stage actor.
God’s dealing with this situation presents a detailed picture concerning the Divine Trinity. As we have seen, the principle is that the New Testament contains clear words concerning the Divine Trinity, but the details are in the Old Testament. The most detailed pictures concerning the Divine Trinity are in Exodus. God’s dealing with His redeemed people in Exodus 33 and 34 after they committed the gross sin of idolatry is a special part of this picture. Jehovah could deal with His rebellious people only through the Trinity as signified by the Angel, the pillar of cloud, the cleft of the rock, the hand of Jehovah, the presence of Jehovah, and Jehovah Himself. This dealing through the Divine Trinity was primarily to preserve God’s redeemed people so that they could remain in the enjoyment of God. Message 179 of Life-study of Exodus emphasizes the enjoyment of the three feasts and the Sabbath rest. However, we also need to see that this enjoyment can be recovered and maintained only by God’s dealing through the Trinity. Once God’s people lost their enjoyment through the sin of idolatry, the only way for them to be brought back to the enjoyment of God was to be dealt with through the Divine Trinity. Thus, in Exodus 33 and 34 the Trinity is for dealing with God’s redeemed people for the continuation of their enjoyment of the Triune God. In this we can again see that the purpose of the Divine Trinity is for God to dispense Himself into us so that we may enjoy Him.
Exodus 33:2-5 says, “I [Jehovah] will send an Angel before you...Jehovah had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people; if I were to go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you.” This is God’s government. When Moses heard this, he must have been disappointed and wondered what he could do to save Israel from destruction. The Angel is Christ as God’s sent One, the second of the Trinity. Without the Angel, God had no way to go on with His people. He could not go with them in a direct way but indirectly through His Angel. However, this Angel was God Himself. This implies the Trinity.
Verse 9 says, “Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stay at the entrance of the tent, and Jehovah would speak with Moses.” In the original Hebrew text it is not clear whether the one speaking with Moses was Jehovah or the pillar of cloud. This is similar to what is recorded in the Gospel of John. The Lord said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (14:10b). The Lord also said, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). It is difficult to say whether the Son and the Father were two or one. When the Son came, the Father was also there. Likewise, in Exodus when the pillar of the cloud was there, Jehovah was there as well. The Lord Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” (John 14:10a). Similarly, Jehovah was in the pillar of cloud (Exo. 14:24; 34:5; Num. 14:14).
The pillar of cloud is the pneumatic Christ. The cloud in Exodus 19 becoming a pillar in Exodus 33 indicates that the cloud has more form, is more solid. The pneumatic Christ is Christ who has become the Spirit. The cloud is the Spirit, and the pillar of cloud signifies the pneumatic Christ. The presence of Jehovah is also the Spirit. The glory of Jehovah is Jehovah manifested, expressed.
Exodus 33:10-14 says, “When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship...And Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion...And Moses said to Jehovah,...You have not let me know whom You will send with me...He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses’ question was regarding a person, but the answer, Jehovah’s presence, was seemingly not a person. In Exodus Jehovah’s presence was the cloud, which signifies the Spirit. Today we have the presence of God as the Spirit. When we sense the Lord’s presence, we are sensing the Spirit. After Jehovah said to Moses, “My presence shall go with you,” He said, “And I will give you rest.” The subject changed from Jehovah’s presence to Jehovah Himself. This indicates the Trinity. The cloud signifies the Triune God remaining with His redeemed people for them to enjoy. The presence of a mother is dear and precious to her young children. This cloud is similarly the embracing and the presence of the Triune God for the children of Israel to enjoy the Triune God. This is the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing.
Verses 15 through 19a say, “He [Moses] said to Him,...Is it not by Your going with us, so that we...are distinct from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?...And he said, Please show me Your glory. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you.” Moses requested God’s glory, but God answered with His goodness. God’s glory is God Himself expressed. God’s goodness is a general term that comprises all the divine virtues toward us, including mercy, kindness, compassion, grace, and reality. When God’s glory is incarnated, it becomes God’s goodness. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” Grace and reality are aspects of God’s goodness. Furthermore, the grace and reality in John 1 are very much related to God’s glory. When God’s glory comes in a hidden, covered way, it is God’s goodness. God’s goodness is all the good things of what God is. This implies God’s glory incarnated.
Exodus 33:19b says, “I [Jehovah] will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Grace and compassion are items of God’s goodness. Jehovah did not say, “I will proclaim My name,” but “I will proclaim the name of Jehovah,” making it seem as though the name of Jehovah is another’s name. This again indicates the Trinity.
Verse 20 says, “He said, You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live.” John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The thoughts in John 1 are all prefigured in Exodus.
Exodus 33:21-23 says, “Jehovah said, Here, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand upon 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. And I will take away My hand, and you will see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” God told Moses first to stand upon the rock and then to hide in the rock. The rock signifies Christ in His death as our standing and hiding. The hand of Jehovah signifies Christ as the covering of God’s manifestation in His dealing with His people. The incarnated Christ was God manifested yet in a covered way. Christ’s humanity was the “hand” to cover the manifested God. God manifested Himself to Moses, yet His manifestation, His glory, was covered by His hand, which signifies Christ in incarnation, God’s glory manifested within human nature. Christ covers us and also covers the manifested glory of God. Because of our sinful situation, there is the need of a covering, which is the incarnated Christ.
God’s arm is for saving and delivering us, and His hand is for holding and keeping us (John 10:28-29). According to Exodus 33, God’s hand is also for covering us. Isaiah 53:1-2 and John 12:37-38 reveal that the arm of Jehovah is Christ. Likewise, the hand of the Father in John 10 and the hand of Jehovah in Exodus 33 must also be Christ. Christ saves, holds, and covers us. The cleft of the rock is Christ in His death, who hides us but still allows us to see something of God. The details of the picture in Exodus 33 include the first of the Trinity as Jehovah, the second as His hand, and the third as His presence. In Revelation 5:6 we see that the seven eyes of Christ are the seven Spirits of God. This means that the third of the Trinity is the eyes of the second. In Isaiah 53 we are told that the second is the arm of the first. Moreover, Exodus 33 shows that the second is the hand of the first. This reveals something of the Trinity. Although this is not merely a doctrinal matter, we surely need to seek to understand such details in the Bible that are related to God’s being in His dealing with His people.
Exodus 34:5-10 says, “Jehovah descended in the cloud and took His place there with him [Moses] and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. Then Jehovah passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, God compassionate and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness with thousands of generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means clear the guilty, but visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the grandchildren, to the third and fourth generations. And Moses made haste and bowed to the ground and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord please go in our midst; although they are a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for Your inheritance. And He said, Now I hereby make a covenant: Before all your people I will perform wonders such as have not been produced in all the earth, nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Jehovah, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.” In this portion the Trinity is implied by the mention of Jehovah, God (El), and the Lord (Adonai).
Exodus 33 and 34 are in the section concerning the children of Israel’s sin of worshipping the golden calf, which occurred after they had experienced salvation by the passover lamb and the enjoyment of the heavenly manna and the living water from the cleft rock. In this dealing, God proclaimed His name, Jehovah, in showing mercy according to His character and in His governmental dealing according to His standing. God’s character is merciful, and His standing is governmental. He declared His name in these two things, which indicates that He has to take care of these two things for His name. If either of these two things were neglected, it would damage His name. Both His merciful character and His governmental standing were preserved in carrying out this dealing through His Trinity. The Trinity is needed for carrying out God’s dealing by taking care of His mercy and government. In dealing with His redeemed and rebellious people, God was nine items — the Angel, the pillar of cloud, the presence of Jehovah, the glory of Jehovah, the rock, the hand of Jehovah, Jehovah, God, and the Lord. These are all details of the Trinity.
God’s dealing with His redeemed people through the Trinity was for the purpose of keeping them in the enjoyment of His riches through His divine dispensing. Without the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah had no way to go with them in their midst. For Jehovah to be with His people, there was the need of the Angel. Today without Christ, God has no way to be with us. Furthermore, the cloud and the pillar of cloud were necessary for God to come to His people and stay with them. Similarly, today the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, enables God to come to us and stay with us so that we may enjoy His presence. The crucified Christ as the cleft rock is our standing and hiding before the manifested God. Hymns, #298 says, “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.” Hymns, #206 says, “I stand upon His merit; / I know no other stand.” Because the crucified Christ, Christ in His death, is our standing and our hiding, we can communicate with and contact God. The merciful and governmental God and the rebellious, stiff-necked people can be brought together only through the Angel, the pillar of cloud, the cleft rock, and the hand of Jehovah, which typify Christ as God’s sent One, the pneumatic Christ, Christ in His death, and Christ as the covering in God’s manifestation. Because of the operation of the Trinity in this way, we now enjoy God’s continual presence. Moreover, He manifests Himself to us, and we see Him in a hidden way. We have a standing and a hiding, a covering. This all-inclusive care of the Divine Trinity is for the purpose of His remaining with us to dispense Himself for our enjoyment.
