In Exodus 33, Moses didn’t know it, but God was about to bring him into a greater revelation of his glory and nature. This revelation would go far beyond friendship, far beyond intimacy. It’s a revelation God wants all his hurting people to know.
The Lord told Moses he was going to show him his glory. “’I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you...’ But he said, ‘You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live…. So it shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.’” (Exodus 33:19-22, NKJV).
The Hebrew word for glory in this passage means “my own self.” God was telling Moses, “I myself will pass by near you.” One translation says it this way: “I will hide you in a cavity of the rock, and I will defend you with the protectiveness of my power until I have passed by.”
What was the great revelation that God gave to Moses about himself? What is the truth about him that we’re to sanctify in our hearts? It is this: “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7).
Here was the greater revelation, the full picture of who God is. The Lord told Moses, “Come up to this rock in the morning. I’ll give you a hope that will keep you. I’ll show you my heart as you’ve never seen it before.”
Christ is the full expression of that glory. Indeed, all that is in the Father is embodied in the Son, and Jesus was sent to earth to bring that glory to all of us.