THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #143 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #124

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3828

THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #143

THE LIFE OF MOSES #124

MOSES AT MT. SINAI #23

THE TRANSFORMING GLORY OF GOD #7

NOW SHOW ME YOUR GLORY ( PART 2 )

THE 3 SINS GOD ABHORS

In today's devotion, we shall see that God's glory was not manifested in a  dramatic fashion before Moses who requested for it.

Instead, It was a quiet and unexpected revelation of His very nature - what He loves ( to show mercy and compassion ) but also what He detests ( the 3 sins of His people ).

Exodus 33: 18 -19

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."

God’s glory is almost impossible to describe. One person defines it as “the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections” (John Piper). 

Moses had already seen glimpses of God’s glory at the Burning Bush, and when he entered God’s presence on the mountaintop. 

Now he wants to see the fullness of God’s beauty and greatness.

God granted Moses’ request, sort of. God said He will let His goodness pass before Moses. Even then, Moses would only get a glance. This isn’t the full glory of God; it’s only a partial revelation. If Moses saw all of God’s glory, it would destroy him. The glory of God is more than any human could bear. 

But it’s also what we need - to see God for who He truly is.

Let us read what God said of sin in the original Hebrew context in Exodus 34:6-9 when He revealed His Divine Attributes

" 'Then Yahweh passed before him and called out, Yahweh, Yahweh, God [El] of tenderness [rachum] and compassion [hanan], slow to anger [erech appayim], rich in faithful love [rav hesed] and constancy [truth = emet], 7maintaining his faithful love to thousands [notzer hesed laalafim], forgiving fault [noseh avon], crime [noseh peshah] and sin [noseh hattah], yet letting nothing go unchecked, and punishing the parent's fault in the children and in the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation!' "

8Moses immediately bowed to the ground in worship, 9 then he said, ' If indeed I do enjoy your favor, please, my Lord, come with us, although they are an obstinate [stiff-necked] people; and forgive [pardoning = venakeh] our faults and sins, and adopt us as your heritage.' 

The 3 sins that were specifically mentioned are

1.Chattah

2.Peshah

3.Avon

 

Let us study them separately:

1. Chattah is similar to the English word for sin in general.

It means " missing the mark" as in the Greek word Hamatia.

2. Pesha is translated as "transgression"...a wilful act to spite God. It suggests defiance and rebellion, going beyond the limits of God's Torah ( Law ).

3. Avon is translated as  "iniquity" - our deep rooted sins which is a wilful distortion of God's will by serving our own selfish ends. 

These may be our  "blind spots" embedded in our sin nature which we bring into church - what some call sins of unchanged character e.g. personal addictions related to drugs, sex or alcohol.

Of the 3 sins, Avon ( iniquity or unrighteousness ) is considered the most deep-rooted and difficult to uproot.

All three sins are forgiven by Jesus our Messiah if we repent. That indeed is the good news of the gospel of Christ  by the cleansing power of His Blood.

1 John 1:9, ESV: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Only God through Jesus can offer us the free and gracious gift of eternal life when the wages of sin is what we earned - which is death.

This revelation of God's abhorrence of sin tells us of His attribute of justice - that He must punish sin in every generation.

But the curse of sin can be stopped by the other side of Him - His mercy and compassion.

For His Chesed Love ( covenantal love for His prople ) is so " rich" that He can forgive and pardon the three glaring sins that He mentioned.

Such is the grace and mercy of God our Father that if we believe in His Son ( Jesus the Messiah ), we shall not perish but gain eternal life - which is His kind of life that stands outside time past, time present and time future, something too wonderful for our finite minds to grasp or comprehend.

Such is the love of God which Paul tried to describe in words in

1 Corinthians 2:9:

"but just as it is written: “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HUMAN HEART, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”