There are far too many worshipers in our churches who see God as a demanding, unapproachable God. Yet Moses and Joshua were as close as any to Him and they found Him to be most fascinating, awe-inspiring and welcoming. Joshua often stayed in the Tent of Meetings for hours and hours in the presence of the Lord.
When God called Moses to the mountain, Moses asked to see His face. God was very accomodating. He showed him His glory and then declared His name. The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed: "Adonai is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth, showing grace to the thousandth generaqtion, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty ......" This indicated His plan to be the substitute for our guilt. Exodus 33:11-23, 34:5-9.
Moses was convinced that man needs God to go with them, to be their personal God. He told God that if He would not go with the people into Canaan, "don't make us go on from here. For how else is it to be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and Your people, other than by your going with us? That is what distinguishes us from all the other peoples on earth." WOW Think about it.
Stop and think about that last statement. Our God goes with us and makes His presence known, and communicates with us. He hasn't gone silent just because we have the Scripture in our hands. "Lord, give us ears to hear You and the determination to be in a place of hearing."
God made a covenant to bring the whole nation into their inheritance. After He safely delivered them from slavery in Egypt, He gave Moses the Law that would govern the nation and create a unique people group out of which He would present to the world a savior/redeemer. The other thing Moses received from God was instructions for constructing a place of worship and the safe way to live that close to a holy God. In this season of redemptive history, this arrangement allowed the longing heart of God to move into the midst of the camp in the wilderness journey to their permanent home. They were given visible evidence of God's presence by the cloud over the Tabernacle and so many more things changed in this season to bring God closer to His people and make them aware of Him.
In this more developed pattern, the people actually enacted the plan of redemption that He Himself would experience in the fullness of time. I hope each of you reading this are familiar with covenant and Tabernacle. It is so very rich with meaning for us Gentiles and especially the Jews who acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They were looking forward in time to Messiah's redemption and we look back in time to this event. It is by grace we are re-connected to His heart, both under the Old Covenant and under the New Covenant.
Do you see the progression of God moving closer and closer to humanity, the apple of His eye? Various heroes like Daniel, Joshua, Job, Joseph had special relationships that are to teach us about God's character, faithfulness and loving heart and to what lengths He has been willing to go in pursuit of us.
But He has another move to make and we will talk about that in the next post.
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