After the title has passed (Ex 33:17-23)
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The third Sunday of November at the end of the year is traditionally celebrated as Thanksgiving. You can call it Thanksgiving without the word harvest. This is because it is a season to give thanks for the grace God has given us over the past year. We went through a lot of things in the year of 2011. Sometimes it was enjoyable, and sometimes it was difficult to bear. There are happy and grateful moments, of course, but as we pass through difficult and difficult times, we realize that there were many graces and things to be thankful for.
The Exodus event, which is the background of this text, is a foreshadowing of God's salvation of mankind. God called Abraham, who lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, and made a covenant to give him Canaan as an inheritance and to make his descendants God's people. The Exodus incident is the story of the Israelites, descendants of Abraham, who saved them from there in order to fulfill the covenant that God Himself made while they were being enslaved in Egypt. The history of the Exodus is the process of not only delivering Israel from Egypt, but also leading them to Canaan, the promised land flowing with milk and honey.
The crime of forgetting grace
The Exodus event, a foreshadowing of the salvation of mankind, can be divided into two major stages. The first step is to leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea to the Wilderness of Sinai. The next stage is when we received the law from God on Mount Sinai. This means that a new order has been established that stipulates that the people of God who have been saved must live by keeping God's ordinances and laws. It is as if all of God's plan to save Israel was fulfilled. Now, toward the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey, the Israelites had to go forward with a heartbreaking confession of faith and praising God who had saved them.
However, while Moses was receiving the Law on Mount Sinai on behalf of the Israelites, the people sinned against God. At a very important moment, the Israelites did the absurd thing to make and worship a golden calf. As a result, the covenant relationship with God was in danger of being broken. God, who brought down the ten plagues in Egypt, brought the Egyptian army that were pursuing them, and made them cross the Red Sea, as well as protected and guided them with a pillar of fire and cloud in the wilderness, gave the thirsty people to drink living water, and gave the hungry people The cult of the golden calf occurred when the people of Israel betrayed the gracious God who was satisfied with meat.
Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days, and the people were tired of waiting because Moses was slow to come down, so they made an idol of a golden calf. This is because Israel did not really know who God is even after experiencing God's grace. It is not easy to understand that the Israelites, who received such great and wonderful grace, changed their minds so easily that Moses, who went up to Mt. But the reality is that we are too. Everyone's heart is like the people of Israel. Even those of us who go to church and believe that we have a good life of faith, do not know how many times, at any one moment, we easily betray God just because we are ‘slower’ than we want. Because God's response is slow, Israel may be like us, resenting and complaining, eventually betraying God and making and serving idols on their own. On this morning of Thanksgiving, we need to discover what we are and repent.
God's Wrath and Moses' Intercession
God was angry with the Israelites. He promised to destroy Israel and create a new nation through Moses. To be honest, even Moses probably hated the Israelites. So we could have said, “Do as God pleases.” But Moses intercedes for the Israelites who sinned against God. Moses' prayer, earnestly asking for forgiveness and salvation for the people of Israel, even without his name removed from the book of life, symbolizes the intercession of Jesus Christ. Jesus sacrificed himself to save us.
As a result, God's wrath was withdrawn. God commands them to lead the people to the promised land and leave Mount Sinai. As Moses came down from the mountain and entered the Tent of Meeting, the pillar of cloud came down again and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Now we have to leave according to God's command, but Moses prays to God again in the tent of meeting. This is the text of Moses' prayer again.
Show me the glory of God
God took away his wrath and allowed him to go back to the Promised Land, but Moses is uneasy. In a situation where he did not know what was going to happen on the way to lead those ignorant people to Canaan, Moses demanded God's walk. I pray, ‘I won’t go unless God goes with me’. God comforted Moses and promised that he would be with him. Then Moses asks again, “How do I know that I have received God’s favor?” God says, “I know you by name.” It means ‘I know what Moses is worried about and what he is worried about’. Then Moses asks, “Show me the glory of God.” At this time, God says, "I will make all my good things pass before you, and I will declare the name of the LORD before you." Then he said, “I am gracious to whom I will show mercy, and to whom I will have mercy I have mercy.”
People want sensory experiences. Moses' desire to show the glory of God must have been the same. You have to see what you can't see and feel what you can't touch to be sure. That's why Thomas said, "I believe in the resurrection only when I touch the marks of Jesus' nails and spears." But faith is not acquired through physical sensations or experiences. Faith is believing and accepting as it is because it is the faithful promise of God. Nevertheless, Moses could not easily believe God's promise to be with the Israelites. Considering what Israel has done so far, Moses' position must have been very unsettling in a situation where he did not know when he would commit another sin. That's why he asked, "Show me the glory." This means ‘show me God’s face once’. It means that you must see the face of God to truly believe.
Also, to Moses who sought the glory of God, God covered Moses with a rock and showed his back after the glorious reality of God had passed. The Rock typifies God Himself and Jesus Christ. It is a promise that God will protect Moses and the people of Israel like a rock. In this way, God is the protector of Israel and our protector. Also, although Moses was a great leader, he was only a weak human just like us, and moreover, he could not see the image of God because he was a sinner before God. But the important thing is that after the glorious appearance of God has passed, I can see the glory of God by looking at his back.
There are many times when we realize that it is the grace of God even in our religious life and our daily life. I thought I would be satisfied only by seeing the face of God, but it is saying that I can fully feel that glory just by looking at the back. I didn't know at the time I met difficult things. Even in the midst of the problem, I know that there are experiences in which we feel embarrassed and confused because it seems that God does not exist, and even a small amount of faith seems to disappear due to anxiety. However, after the circumstances pass, I can feel that the Lord who loves me has protected me, gave me grace, and made me realize the glory of God Himself.