Exodus 34:1-91And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. (Exodus 34:1‑9)
It is evident that this time at Mount Sinai was of immense importance as to the revelation of grounds on which God can be in relationship with men. Of course these are imperfectly unfolded here; for only in Christ have they been fully manifested. Still, as to the ways and dealings of God, we get principles of immense importance. In 1 Cor. 10 we read, " these things happened unto them for ensamples;" that is, as marks and sign-posts to us; only (as in Hebrews) we must let in the light which has been given subsequently.
It is of all importance for our souls clearly to apprehend the difference between the grace found here and the foundation ground on which our souls rest. It is of importance that we may know God; for we know Him in His daily dealings, and we know Him in salvation. We must never forget this broad truth, (" otherwise grace is no more grace,") viz., that the ground on which God was dealing with the people was law, though grace had come in. This is of amazing importance.
Moses attempted to put the people on the ground of grace, but he failed. He went up, hoping to make atonement. So he said, " If thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." But this would not do with God. He said unto Moses, " Whosoever hath sinned, him will I blot out of my book." Whosoever sinned was to be blotted out, although grace had come in. The people never stood on mere law; for they had broken the covenant as soon as it was given, and then grace had come in; for at the intercession of Moses they are spared. (32:14.) Now here we get a mixture of grace and law, a thing which, alas! we find in so many souls. God spares them, but puts them under law, after He had spared them.
In speaking a little from this scripture, I wish to bring out the distinction between God's dealings in government and His grace in salvation-between His dealings with a soul in respect of its relationship with Him and the ground of that relationship.
As to Israel, the ground on which God set them as a nation as to acceptance was obedience-their obedience. Now that ground was tried and it utterly failed. "What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" God has pronounced upon this probation" All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
But now, as to righteousness, a totally different thing is brought in-now we get a principle entirely new. For "now the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe." God in grace has come in; and now it is not my obedience in order to acceptance, but the obedience of another for my acceptance. Now the acceptance is singly Christ's and nothing else; and "therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." Faith does not rest on anything in me. Faith rests on something out of me, that is, on Christ. As regards acceptance, the soul rests, first, on the precious blood of Christ, in which it bad no part except in shedding it, and then in Christ's acceptance for righteousness. "We are made the righteousness of God in Him." "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (This is, of course, connected with life, but of this I do not speak now.) The law rested righteousness on-personal obedience. "Whosoever sinneth I will blot out." Grace rests righteousness on the obedience of another; and so now it is not the sinner who is blotted out, but his sins, let them have been never so vile. "Their Sins and iniquities I will remember no more."
Now we must never confound the dealings of God with the ground of acceptance. How often is a quickened soul desiring the love of God above all things, and filled with fears because not finding an answer to this love! which plainly shows that he has never found rest in the righteousness of another.
As regards this revelation of the goodness of God to Moses-" I will make all my goodness pass before thee," &c.-it is not the righteousness of another that is revealed as the ground of acceptance. Here He proclaims the name of His relationship with Israel, "Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim, merciful and gracious." Now this is not the name by which He has revealed Himself to us. "To us there is one God, the Father." This is the name which Jesus has declared to us. "I have declared to them thy name, and will declare it, that. the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." Now that is not the character of the revelation here. It is the name of God as in connection with Israel. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,... forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." That is not atonement. But the very thing God is now doing is clearing the guilty. Here I get God gracious, and merciful, and patient; (if Ahab humbled himself, God would not touch him;) that is, this revelation of His goodness is as to His manners and ways with them. As to His ways with them, He forgives them. He retreats into His sovereignty, and so He is able to spare them. This is a blessed revelation of the character of God as to His dealings with His people in relation to their walk, for here there is no question of acceptance. I must be perfect to have acceptance-I must be righteous to have acceptance. And this we get in Christ. "Who of God is made unto us righteousness." Once fully settled on the ground of grace, we get here a blessed pattern of the gracious ways of God in His dealings with us. All these dealings are founded on acceptance. If I am not clear on acceptance I shall confound the judgment of particular failures, and God's disapprobation of these, with the ground of acceptance in the blessed person and work of the Lord Jesus. In Moses personally we get the ground of acceptance, but in the people we do not. Whenever Moses came to the people they could not stand before the glory of his countenance: he had to hide it. If I see the glory of God in the face of Moses I dare not look at it-it confounds me-I cannot answer to it; but the moment I see the glory in the face of Jesus, I see that it is in one who put my sin away. I come now to God because my sin is put away. I cannot stand in the presence of God at all unless my sin is entirely put away. Who, knowing what God is, and what sin is, could dare to go into His presence if sin is not fully gone? So if now we can go there at all, it is because sin is put away. Then all the affections get into play. Having got to God and learned His perfect love, all the exercises of the soul are according to the holiness of the house to which I have been brought. I get chastening if it is needful, and if it is needful, help.
Now suppose I find in myself stiff neckedness, what am I to do with it? God in government may strike, as He did the rock by the hand of Moses; but that will not get me through the wilderness. The earth may open, as in the case of Korah and his company; but neither will that do. Here it is that priesthood comes in. Priesthood is to maintain my soul in righteousness before God in the place to which I have been brought. Thus we are enabled at all times and in all circumstances to be constantly reckoning on grace as to the daily government of God.
God had said, "Put off your ornaments" (humble yourselves) that I may know what to do with you. Then he said, I'll not cut off, but I'll not go with you: I'll send an angel. I know-you will be rebellious, and if I were to go with you, I must cut you off. But Moses pleaded with God on the ground of grace; (for he was in the place of grace;) and the moment he did so perfect grace came in. (See chap. 33:12-14.) Thus we get three things: 1st, God says, " I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone that I may consume them;" 2nd, " I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way;" and 3rd, Moses says, "If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people." Thus we see that Moses, on the ground of the revelation of the grace of God to himself, gives, as a reason for God's going up, the very reason which God had given why he could not go up. And so, as soon as I have learned grace, the very evil I find in myself-my stiffneckedness (and it is awful; for who has every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?) is a reason for pleading with God to be with me, because I am stiffnecked. Have you got over, your stiffneckedness? No, you have not. Will you ever get over it? No. Well then, you must have God. What a sense of grace is in this that Moses (who entered into the grace) says, Be with the people, for they are bad. Have your hearts entered into this, to be calling on God because you are bad? If not, you do not know grace.
Are you thinking of mending before you go to God? Can you mend? If you fail, you may think I cannot go to God, but I'll go to Christ as a mediator. That is wronging God. It is not said, If any man repent, but " If any man sin, we have an advocate." That is, I have failed, but Christ has not failed. He is still before God. The intercession of Christ is the activity of God's own grace to break down, to humble, and to bring us back to Himself. For now that we are in Christ, He will allow of nothing inconsistent with Christ. It is this that brings out the knowledge of God. There is blessedness-there is joy. Is it not? He does not say, I'll pray the Father, but calls on our hearts to trust His love. What marvelous love! It is patience beyond all thought. Have our hearts this kind of confidence in God to say, Go with me, for I am stiffnecked? If, when I have sinned, I say, Perhaps He will blot me out, it is standing on law; but the moment I understand that Christ died for me, and that He is my righteousness, the ground is altogether altered, and I find God occupied with me constantly, and I say, Go with me, for I am a poor, stiffnecked, rebellious creature. What a God we have! No wonder if God be with me when I am walking with Him; but to know that he is occupying Himself with my failings! Well may we say, "We joy in God!"
Thus we have seen the entire difference between the ground of acceptance with God, and the government of God with His saints. And the one must be known in order to the blessedness and profit of the other. For the full connection with God as to His holiness, I must have the full sense of perfect acceptance. You may see one person occupied with the government of God, with exercises of heart, &c., but all in the dark as to acceptance; whilst another is free as to acceptance, but careless as to God's daily dealings. We cannot neglect either without loss, for we have less of God.