Holy Bible

Without the camp. Exodus 33:1-3 The Tabernacle without the camp I. First, then, they that seek the Lord must GO WITHOUT THE CAMP. 1. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that no man can be a true seeker of God who has anything to do with the camp of the profane. We must take care that our garments are entirely clean from those lusts of the flesh, and those blasphemies of the ungodly. 2. Again, we must as much come out from the camp of the careless as from the camp of the profane. The largest company in the world is not that of the profane, but of the thoughtless — not those who oppose, but who neglect the great salvation. 3. But we must go further than this: if a man would have fellowship with God he must go even out of the camp of the merely steady, sedate, and thoughtful; for there be multitudes whose thoughts are not God's thoughts, and whose ways are not His ways, who are in every respect conformed outwardly to the laws of God, and who rigidly observe the customs of upright society — who think, and therefore abhor the trifles of the world — but who, notwithstanding, have never learned to set their affections on things above. It is not enough to leave the Amalekites; thou must leave even the hosts of Moab, brother though Moab may seem to be to the Israel of God. 4. He that would know anything of God aright must even come out of the camp of the merely religious. Oh, it is one thing to attend to religion, but another thing to be in Christ Jesus; it is one thing to have the name upon the church book, but quite another thing to have it written in the Lamb's book of life. II. THIS GOING OUT OF THE CAMP WILL INVOLVE MUCH INCONVENIENCE. 1. You will find that your diffidence and your modesty will sometimes shrink from the performance of duty's stern commands. If Christ be worth anything, He is worth avowing before the world, before men, before angels, and before devils. 2. Peradventure when you go without the camp you will lose some of your best friends. You will find that many a tie has to be cut when your soul is bound with cords to the horns of the altar. Can you do it? As Christ left His Father for you, can you leave all for Him? 3. You will find, too, when you go without the camp, you will have some even professedly godly people against you. "Ah!" they will say, when you are filled with the Spirit, and are anxious to serve God as Caleb did, with all your heart — "Ah! young man, that is fanaticism, and it will grow cool by and by." 4. Another inconvenience to which you will be exposed is that you will be charged falsely. So was your Master, remember. Endure, as He did. 5. Again, you must expect to be watched. If you profess to go without the camp, others will look for something extra in you — mind that they are not disappointed. I have heard some say, "I do not like to join the Church because then there would be so much expected of me." Just so, and that is the very reason why you should, because their expectation will be a sort of sacred clog to you when you are tempted, and may help to give impetus to your character and carefulness to your walk, when you know that you are looked upon by the eyes of men. III. Now I come to use certain arguments, by which I desire EARNESTLY TO PERSUADE EACH CHRISTIAN HERE TO GO WITHOUT THE CAMP; TO BE EXACT IN HIS OBEDIENCE; AND TO BE PRECISE IN HIS FOLLOWING THE LAMB WITHERSOEVER HE GOETH. 1. I use first a selfish argument, it is to do it for your own comfort's sake. If a Christian can be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate he will be saved so as by fire. Would you like to go to heaven in the dark, and enter there as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? 2. But I have a better reason than that, and it is, for your own growth in grace do it. If you would have much faith, you cannot have much faith while you are mixed with sinners. If you would have much love, your love cannot grow while you mingle with the ungodly. 3. I beseech you, Christian men and women, come right out and be your Master's soldiers wholly for the Church's sake. It is the few men in the Church, and those who have been distinct from her, who have saved the Church in all times. 4. And for the world's sake, let me beg you to do thus. The Church itself can never be the salt of the world, unless there be some particular men who are the salt of the Church. 5. And now lastly, for your Master's sake. What have you and I to do in the camp when He was driven from it? What have we to do with hosannas when He was followed with hootings, "Crucify Him, crucify Him "? What have I to do in the tent while my Captain lies in the open battle-field? ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. Exodus 33:4-8 The work of Lent Arthur Brooks. Lent is a season with a likeness to Jewish ordinances, because man in his nature and wants is ever the same; it is a Christian season, because its one object is to make us know more of the nearness of God to man, which is the great fact of Christianity. In the text we have one of God's most explicit statements of the need of such observance; and we ask the meaning of that reason which He assigns for a season of special penitence and humiliation. 1. God wishes to know what to do with us. If the putting aside of ornaments, no matter how valuable or brilliant, is the condition of that process, it ought to be done; for God's action must be full of power and love; and to be told that His hand is to be felt in our life, must imply that a blessing is to be bestowed upon us far beyond anything that can come from any other addition. 2. Never at any stage of His revelation has God ceased, in one form or other, to prescribe temporary and voluntary relinquishments, in order that He may enter. The ornaments, or God's voice — that is the simple form of choice. 3. The object of God's dealings with men is, that He may destroy their sin. And there is no more fruitful source of sin than those ornaments which He tells us to put away. The things which gather about our lives are causes of separation from our brother. The innocence or the desirability of the ornament may make no difference in the result. Learning, applause, and culture may make us just as forgetful, or unsympathetic, or even cruel towards others, as the more material possessions of life. 4. We can see, therefore, that this command is like the call of a John Baptist: Make the way plain, the path straight and level, for the coming of the Lord; remove the stumbling-block which has been in thy own or thy brother's path. Men must learn to see their oneness as brothers, before sin can be done away; lives very different from each other must be placed side by side, and then new modes of thought and comparison will at once enter. How often one word, which gives us a glimpse into the real condition of another's heart, makes us ashamed of some feeling which we have been cherishing toward him! 5. But the sins against our brethren are not the only evil that our ornaments work, and do not constitute the only reason why they must be abandoned before God can do His work for us. Those very sins spring from a deeper injury which has been done to our souls. These things that have attached themselves to life come to be regarded as its substance, and to regulate its whole movement. What the text says to us, then, is this: Cease to depend upon the present condition and surroundings of life. Think of yourself as an immortal soul. Try to imagine yourself as cut off from all these pursuits and surroundings, for so, in fact, you must be at some time; then count over the treasures of your life, and see whether there is enough to support an immortal soul. 6. The Lenten call is a call to greater moderation in the use of the things of this life, so that they shall not become our masters; it is a call to exalt the true Master of our life, so that every ornament of our being shall be discarded for ever, which is got worthy to minister to His glory, or which attempts to fight against His supremacy, so that all which remains shall be used in obedience to His commands, and in subservience to His purposes. It is by this test that innocent and sinful indulgence in the things of this life is to be discriminated, that the line of the too much and the too little is to be drawn, and that we are to be made men and women worthy and fit to use the world rightly. 7. But why does God need that the ornaments of men's lives should be put off before He shall know what to do unto them? Is it not limiting His power to say that He cannot deal with us as we are, with all our ornaments upon us? The work which God is to do for us has for its greatest mark that it is dependent upon what we are. It is the work of overcoming sin. God, when He made man, gave him all he needed for full development and growth. His course was forward and upward, ever increasing in power and glory, while obedience and dependence upon God ruled his action. No redemption would be necessary for such a being. Man's sin, his desire after the things of this world, his willingness to build up his life with those, created the great necessity. The self-will of man called upon God for new action — action which His Divine wisdom could alone create, and which His Divine power could alone execute. That He may know what it shall be, He asks some indication of man's desire. There is nothing to do but to punish, to let the life which persistently holds to what has been its destruction, go its own sad way of separation from God, if there is no relaxing of the nervous grasp on earthly good and ornament. But at the very first sign of a willingness to put such things away, to bridle life's passion, and to restrain life's desire, the way of redeeming love is open. Man is ready; and God knows what to do, and He is able to make him His child once more. 8. Let us, then, rejoice at this season for putting away the mere ornaments of life, and in it open our ear anxiously, constantly, eagerly, to hear the word of His gracious intention. God's treasury is full of the true ornaments of life. He readily offers them to us. Receive them as readily, and the world's ornaments will lose their false glitter; our hearts will cease to desire them with that eager covetousness which conceals all the better impulses of the soul, and God will be able to do for us all the deep purposes of His wisdom and His love. ( Arthur Brooks. ) Repentance of the Israelites C. Simon, M. A. I. GOD IS NOT ABLE TO EXERCISE MERCY TOWARDS AN IMPENITENT TRANSGRESSOR. He cannot do this, because it would — 1. Be inconsistent with His own perfections. 2. Be ineffectual for the happiness of the persons themselves. 3. Introduce disorder into the whole universe. II. WHERE HUMILIATION IS MANIFESTED, MERCY MAY BE EXPECTED. This appears from — 1. The very mode in which repentance is here enjoined. 2. The experience of penitents in all ages.Application: 1. Consider what obstructions you have laid in the way of your own happiness. 2. Endeavour instantly to remove them. ( C. Simon, M. A. ) A fashionable sin Christian Age. The house of prayer is a poor place to exhibit beads, ribbons, ruffles, gewgaws, and trinkets. The evils of such extravagance are many. It keeps people from worship, when they have not apparel as gorgeous as their neighbours. It loads the poor with burdens too heavy to be borne to procure fashionable clothing. It leads many into temptations, debt, dishonesty, and sin. It causes many a poor shop girl to work nearly all Saturday night, that some customer's fine clothes may be ready for the Sunday show. It keeps people at home in cloudy or stormy weather, when, if they wore plain clothing, they could defy clouds and storms. It consumes the hours in dressing, crimping, and fussing, keeping people from church, and wasting time, hindering the reading of the Scripture, and making Sunday a day of folly. It makes the poor emulous, malicious, and envious, and plants many a bitter thought in the minds of children and others, when they see their neighbours decked in finery — often unpaid for — and feel that people are respected, not for their integrity of character, but for the fashion of their clothes. It is forbidden in God's Word. And yet we seldom find a minister that dare open his mouth against this fashionable sin. Christian people should dress plainly before the Lord, for example's sake at home and abroad, for decency's sake, and for the sake of Christ. ( Christian Age. ) The Lord talked with Moses. Exodus 33:9-11 Speaking to God The Study. In the minds of many prayer seems to differ widely from other forms of communication. Not perceiving any tangible object of address, they feel as if to pray were to talk with nothing. "How can you pray with vigour into the empty air?" asked a candid doubter. Even Christians sometimes lack the sense of communion, and then prayer is scarcely more than soliloquy in the form of petition. And yet speaking to God is really very much like speaking to men. Since God is a person, address to Him must conform to the general principles of personal address. I. In speaking to God, as in speaking to men, WE MUST ADDRESS THE INVISIBLE. Converse is mental, not physical. The form you see is not the man you talk with. We speak not to the ears which catch the words, but to the mind which perceives the thought. A mere lump of organized clay cannot be a party to conversation. If, then, one asks, How can you pray into empty air? we may reply by asking: How can you talk to a clod of clay? In every case, whatever direction be given to words or other signals of communion, the real address is to mind. One using an acoustic tube apparently speaks to the mouth-piece in the wall. But he really addresses a person in another room. Words are usually directed towards eyes and ears because through these mind is reached. So prayer seems to the prayerless as speech thrown into void space. It is really a direct address to the Infinite Mind which pervades all space. II. In speaking to God, as in speaking to men, we not only address the invisible, but THE PRESENCE OF A VISIBLE FORM, OR SYMBOL OF PERSONALITY, IS UNNECESSARY. The blind communicate without seeing a form, and the deaf without hearing a voice. We may speak to a person behind a wall or screen if only assured that he is within call. By letter we address friends hundreds of miles distant. Thus it is evident that prayer to God is only one of many forms of address to mind with no visible form present. We only need to know that the mind addressed is within reach by any means of communication. III. In speaking to God, as in speaking to men, THE ENJOYMENT OF COMMUNION IS VARIABLE, AND INCREASES WITH CUSTOM AND ACQUAINTANCE. Many people have heard of God, but are not acquainted with Him. They know Him only by reputation. They are not on speaking terms with Him. Hence they have not learned to enjoy His company. They do not love to pray. But let them reverently and sincerely cultivate an acquaintance with God, so as really to know Him, and they will delight in holy communion. ( The Study. ) Friendship with God Mr. Toller, of Kettering, invited a company to meet Robert Hall. Among the guests was Andrew Fuller, who, with Toller, had previously accompanied Hall in a forenoon walk in the country. They returned together at the dinner-hour; and Hall immediately went up alone to his own chamber. The company waited for some time, but he did not appear. At length a messenger was sent to say that dinner was ready. But as the servant approached the chamber, she paused and listened, for Hall was on his knees pleading with God in prayer. When this was repeated to the company, Fuller exclaimed: "Don't disturb him; he is with his best Friend." Friendship with God , in his "Confessions," tells a story, which he heard from his friend Pontitianus, to the following effect. Two courtiers in attendance on the emperor, who was then witnessing the public games, strolled into some gardens, and entering a neighbouring house, which happened to belong to a Christian, were attracted by a manuscript life of the hermit Anthony . As pastime, one of them began to read it, but his curiosity soon grew into a deep conviction, which made him cry out to his friend: "What attainment do we propose to ourselves so great as to be the intimate friends of the emperor? and even when arrived at, how unstable and full of peril is the position? But here, if I wish to be the friend of God, He will receive me immediately!" Communion with God There was each morning during his first sojourn in the Soudan one half-hour during which there lay outside Charles George Gordon's tent a handkerchief, and the whole camp knew the full significance of that small token, and most religiously was it respected by all there, whatever was their colour, creed, or business. No foot dared to enter the tent so guarded. No message, however pressing, was carried in. Whatever it was, of life or death, it had to wait until the guardian signal was removed. Every one knew that God and Gordon were alone in there together. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Exodus 33:14 God's presence giving rest C. Stanford, D. D. This is a word in season to every one who is weary. I. IN WHAT SENSE HAS GOD SAID, "MY PRESENCE SHALL GO WITH THEE"? He is present to the believer as a Friend whose love has been accepted, and whose conversation is understood with all the intelligence of a kindred nature. II. IN WHAT SENSE DOES THE PRESENCE OF GOD GIVE REST? 1. It tends to give rest from the terror incident to a state of condemnation. 2. It gives rest from the anguish which springs from a discordant nature. 3. It gives rest from the cravings of an unsatisfied spirit. 4. It gives rest from the distraction felt amidst uncongenial scenes and associations. 5. It gives rest from the disquietude which results from want of human sympathy. 6. It gives rest from apprehensions regarding the future. 7. The presence of God with us now is the pledge of perfect rest in the next life. ( C. Stanford, D. D. ) The pilgrimage of a true life Homilist. I. THE PATH OF A TRUE LIFE. 1. From captivity to freedom. 2. From scarcity to plenty. II. THE COMPANION OF A TRUE LIFE. God's guiding, succouring, and protecting superintendence. III. THE DESTINY OF A TRUE LIFE. "Rest." Not inactivity. Harmonious activity is the destiny of the good; activity in harmony with all our powers, with the order of the universe, and with the will of God. ( Homilist. ) A gracious promise B. Bailey. I. "MY PRESENCE SHALL GO WITH THEE." 1. By the presence of God, we are sometimes to understand His essential presence or ubiquity, which pervades all matter and space, and without which nothing could exist. 2. There is also the providential presence of God, by which He sees the wants, and provides for the necessities of His numerous family. 3. By the presence of God here is meant His gracious presence which He mercifully condescends to manifest in His house, and to reveal to His people. 4. The gracious presence of God is essentially necessary to His people, in order to show them the right way and enable them to walk therein. 5. The gracious presence of God is indispensable to His people to purify them, and make them ready for the heavenly Canaan. If ever we be made "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," it must be "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." II. "I WILL GIVE THEE REST." 1. The rest here mentioned has, undoubtedly, a primary reference to the land of Canaan, in which the people of Israel rested, after the toils, dangers, and fatigue of the wilderness. But then, there is something more implied in the word than this. 2. The people of God enjoy a comparative rest in this present world, inasmuch as they are delivered from the power and pollution of sin, and possess that kingdom of grace which consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 3. But there still remaineth a rest for them beyond the confines of the grave, in the participation of that felicity which is at the right hand of the Most High. ( B. Bailey. ) God's presence and rest J. Burns, D. D. I. THE JOURNEY. The people were in a journeying condition. 1. They had come from Egypt. A land of toil and oppression and misery. 2. They were journeying in the wilderness. A land of drought, sterility, and dangers. They had many trials and enemies. A true picture of the world through which believers are travelling. 3. They were travelling to Canaan. A land promised to their fathers; a land of freedom and rest, of plenty and happiness. II. THE PRESENCE. "My presence shall go with thee." This presence was — 1. Divine. 2. Visible. Pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. 3. Efficient. Not merely Divine recognition and observation, but with them to do all for them they required. 4. Continued. "When flesh and heart fail," etc. "This God is our God for ever and ever," etc. III. THE REST. "And I will give thee rest." 1. The rest of triumph after the conflicts of life. 2. A rest from the toils of wilderness journeyings. 3. A rest from the fears and dangers of the way. 4. A rest from the sufferings and afflictions of life. 5. A rest of eternal and heavenly glory. ( J. Burns, D. D. ) God's gracious presence with His people D. Macaulay, M. A. I. THE NATURE OF THE PRESENCE. God's gracious presence with His people is more than His natural attribute of omnipresence. II. While, however, God is constantly present with His own people, THERE ARE CERTAIN TIMES IN WHICH HIS PRESENCE IS SPECIALLY MANIFEST. III. THE MENTAL STATES WHICH PRECEDE THE GIFT OF GOD'S PRESENCE. 1. Earnest prayer. 2. The spirit of mourning and humiliation. ( D. Macaulay, M. A. ) God's presence promised Willard G. Sperry. I. THE NEED OF REFUGE IN GOD FROM THE LIVES OF OTHERS. Even in human society at its best the heart has no safe refuge. II. The prayer of Moses suggests THE NEED OF ONE WORN BY WELL-DOING. That well-doing brings exhaustion and despondency and so specially needs God's aid is a fact which we sometimes forget. III. The prayer of Moses expressed the need of one WEIGHTED BY THE SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY. He had a great work to do. He who feels little need of God has a low sense of personal responsibility. But he who faces all responsibility and tries to see his life as he will see it when the end of all things has come, has great need of God. To him life becomes a serious thing. For help he will often "lift up his eyes unto the hills," and will take help from no lower source. IV. This prayer of Moses RECEIVED A GRACIOUS ANSWER. It was the vision of God. ( Willard G. Sperry. ) God's special presence distinguishes His own people E. Payson, D. D. I. THE PROMISED PRESENCE OF GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE WILL, SO LONG AS THEY ARE FAVOURED WITH IT, PRODUCE A WIDE DIFFERENCE AND SEPARATION BETWEEN THEM AND ALL OTHER MEN. When God comes to dwell in the soul, He imparts to it a portion, not only of His own views, but of His own feelings. He not only illuminates the understanding with His own light, but, as an apostle expresses it, sheds abroad His love in the heart. II. THAT IN PROPORTION AS GOD WITHDRAWS THE MANIFESTATIONS OF HIS PRESENCE FROM HIS PEOPLE, THIS DIFFERENCE AND SEPARATION BETWEEN THEM AND OTHER MEN WILL DIMINISH. God is the Sun of the soul. When He favours it with His presence and exerts upon it His influence, it is enlivened and enlightened, and made to glow with love, and hope, and joy, and gratitude. But when He withdraws and suspends His influences, spiritual darkness and coldness are the consequence. Then it is night, it is winter with the soul. In proportion as He thus withdraws from His people, they cease to view Him as a present reality; they cease to have those views, and to exercise those affections, which constitute the grand essential difference between them and other men. Nor is this all. As holy affections decline, sinful affections revive. It remains only to make a suitable improvement of the subject. 1. With this view, permit me, in the first place, to say to each individual in this assembly, Do you know experimentally the difference between the presence and the absence of God? 2. Let me improve this subject, by inquiring whether this Church now enjoys the peculiar presence of God, as it once appeared to do? ( E. Payson, D. D. ) God's presence realized C. Stanford, D. D. Since God is everywhere, in what sacred and peculiar sense is He present to the believing heart? "Lord, how is it that Thou dost manifest Thyself to us, as Thou dost not unto the world?" The principle on which He does so is illustrated by some of the common facts of life. A man is present to his friend, as he is not to a stranger, though he may be at the same moment speaking to both. The light which floods the landscape with a deluge of beauty is present to him who sees it, as it is not to the blind man walking at his side. Music, though it may ripple round the deafened ear, is only present to him who hears 2. The discourse of the naturalist on his experiments, of the scholar on his books, of the mathematician who is talking with raptures on the beauties of a theorem, will bring things into the presence of initiated listeners, which are still remote from the minds of those in the very same company who have no sympathy with the theme. So, "two women may be grinding at a mill"; "two men may be in the field"; one a believer, the other an unbeliever; and although the Great Spirit is near to them both, there is a sense in which He is present to the one as He is not to the other; for, in the case of the believer, the causes of estrangement have been taken away, a new relation exists, a new life has been born, and God is present as a Friend, whose love has been accepted, and whose conversation is understood with all the intelligence of a kindred nature. Everything we need to secure that peace which the world cannot give is secured by the promise, "My presence shall go with thee," for that tranquil presence does not merely attend us, it enters the very soul, and sheds its benediction there. Plato seemed to have a glimpse of this glorious truth when he said, "God is more inward to us than we are to ourselves." What was to Him a beautiful speculation is to us an inspiring reality; for we are the "temples of the Holy Ghost." He dwells within us as a pitying, purifying friend, to kindle celestial light in our darkness, and by removing the cause of discord, and restoring the equilibrium of the soul, to give us peace at the very seat of life. Ignatius , from his eminent devotion, was called by his companions "The Godbearer"; and when Trajan said to him, "Dost thou then bear the Crucified One in thy heart?" his reply was, "Even so; for it is written, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" This honour have all the saints, yet all do not seem to be fully conscious of it. Only let us feel it; only let us own that inward authority, and listen to that inward voice; only let us act in obedience to the suggestions of that "Power that worketh within us to will and to do of His good pleasure," and we shall find that in proportion as we are actuated by the life of God within us, shall we feel "His peace." ( C. Stanford, D. D. ) Choice food for pilgrims to Canaan I. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE WHICH IS HERE PROMISED? 1. The acknowledgment of the people as being peculiarly the Lord's. 2. Preservation and protection. 3. Direction and guidance. 4. Real worship in the wilderness. What is bread, what is wine, and what is the table, if the King Himself be not there? 5. Communion with God. He is always ready for fellowship with His people. II. WHAT ARE THE DEMANDS OF THIS PRESENCE ? 1. That we rely upon it. Away with fear and melancholy. Treat it as a matter of fact, and be filled with rest. 2. That we use it. Exercise faith in God. 3. Do not lose it. Oh, how reverently, cautiously, jealously, and holily ought we to behave ourselves in the presence of God! 4. Glorify Him all that you possibly can. Seek out those who have lost His company, and go and cheer them. III. WHAT IS THE CHOICE BLESSING WHICH IS APPENDED TO THIS PRESENCE. "Best" — both now and hereafter. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Alone: yet not alone J. B. Brown, B. A. I cannot see that this choice of Moses, to walk in God's way, if but assured of God's presence, differs in anywise from the choice which that people was called on to make at that moment, and which God is ever pressing upon us all. In considering it in its broad human aspect, I observe — I. HERE ARE TWO WAYS ON WHICH THE CHOICE IS TO BE EXERCISED — TWO PATHS, WHICH VERY PLAINLY DIVERGE. It is the old, old choice — worldliness, godliness — duty, pleasure — God's will, self-will — the passions and appetites of the flesh or of the mind, the convictions of conscience and the Word of God. II. THE CRY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FOR REST. The longing of man's spirit amid all these strifes, discords, and confusions, is for rest. Nothing can eradicate man's conviction that strife and discord have no right in the universe; that they are abnormal; that the normal condition of things and beings is harmony, and that harmony is the music of rest. God must rest — rest even in working; and all that is of God and from God has the longing and the tending to rest. III. THE DIVINE ASSURANCE WHICH WAS TO MOSES, AND SHOULD BE TO US, AN ALL-SUFFICIENT WARRANT TO LEAVE THE WORLD AND THE PLEASURES OF SIN AND COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE DESERT UNDER GOD'S GUIDANCE, AS THE PATH TO THE HEAVENLY REST. ( J. B. Brown, B. A. ) Two kinds of rest J. B. Brown, B. A. There are two kinds of rest, or rather what goes by the name of rest, within reach of man. The secret of the one is, escape from trouble; the secret of the other is, entering into life. Life is the harmonious balance of conflicting forces, the calm control of all opposite powers. Escape from trouble is not permitted to man, though he thinks it is. It is a wonderful feature in man's constitution that he can find rest only in his highest, in the full culture and activity of all his powers. He tries to rest in a luxurious home, in a feverish orgy, on a wanton's breast. But who shall paint the anguish of the rest of the wicked? How many a man has gone out from a scene of uproarious merriment, to blow out his brains, in blank despair! There is no rest but in God. Man rests only in the fulness of his existence, in the completeness of his life. Moses found no rest in communion with earthly natures, but there was rest for him — it bathed his soul like the dewy moonlight the flowers — when he entered into that which is within the veil, and talked "of things unspeakable" with God. Having faith in the Saviour's power and love, the spirit rests amid the severities of discipline, yea, sleeps sometimes, as Jesus did while the storm was highest; for ever when the danger is imminent, and the foaming surges are parting to engulf their prey, the Divine presence within shines forth around, and immediately there is a great calm, and the spirit rests still. ( J. B. Brown, B. A. ) The Divine presence E. W. Warren, D. D. I. HELP COMES WHEN MOST NEEDED. The idolatry of Israel discouraged Moses. So the trials which bring us to God in dependence and prayer, bring the Divine presence and blessing to our aid. II. THE DESIRE OF THE SPIRITUAL MIND IS THE PRESENCE OF GOD. " If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hither." "Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." III. GOD SUPPLIES THIS WANT. "His name shall be called 'God with us.'" "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." "He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you for ever." The experience of this presence is a joy to be sought and found only in fidelity to God. It restrains from evil and inspires to good works. It gives rest from the uncertainties suggested by unbelief and doubt. It supplies the happiness of assurance and the calmness of peace. ( E. W. Warren, D. D. ) God's presence our rest F. B. Meyer, B. A. Rest must be sought deeper down than in circumstances. It must begin at the centre of our being, and in its accord with the being of God. His presence must be welcome to us and accompany us, or rest is a vain dream. I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES BY WHICH THIS ASSURANCE WAS CALLED FORTH. 1. Moses was a very lonely man. Perhaps more lonely in the midst of the two millions of people whom he was leading as a flock than he had been amid the solitudes of the desert tending the flock of Jethro. The very contrast between his lofty enjoyment of Divine communion and the people, always set

Benson Commentary Exodus 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: Exodus 33:1 . Go up hence, thou and the people — God here seems to disown them, and calls them no more his people, because of their perfidiousness and idolatry. Exodus 33:2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Exodus 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. Exodus 33:3 . I will not go up in the midst of thee — By my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof, God removes his tabernacle without the camp. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no particular and further kindness to thee. Lest I consume thee in the way — Lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So God shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that he, even in his judgment, remembers mercy to them. Exodus 33:4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. Exodus 33:4 . No man did put on his ornaments — This was a visible sign and profession of their inward humiliation and repentance for their sin, and of their deep sense of God’s displeasure. Exodus 33:5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. Exodus 33:5 . I will come up in the midst of thee — In anger, not in favour. This threatening hath a condition implied, except thou repent, as the next words plainly show. That I may know what to do unto thee — That I may either inflict my judgments or suspend them, as thou art penitent or impenitent. Exodus 33:6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. Exodus 33:7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. Exodus 33:7 . And Moses took the tabernacle — The tent wherein he gave audience, heard causes, and inquired of God; and pitched it without, afar off from the camp — To signify to them that they were unworthy of it. Perhaps this tabernacle was a model of the tabernacle that was afterward to be erected, a hasty draft from the pattern showed him in the mount, designed for direction to the workmen, and used in the mean time as a tabernacle of meeting between God and Moses about public affairs. And called it the tabernacle of the congregation — Implying, that whosoever would seek the Lord, that is, would seek either for his favour, or for counsel and direction, must come thither. Exodus 33:8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. Exodus 33:8 . When Moses went out unto the tabernacle — Namely, to intercede with God for the people, all the people stood every man at his tent door — Acknowledging themselves unworthy to approach nearer; and looked after Moses — To observe what signs of favour he should receive from God in answer to his prayers. Hereby, also, they showed their grief for God’s departure, their respect to Moses, whom they had lately slighted, their dependance on his mediation, and concern about the issue of it. Exodus 33:9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. Exodus 33:9-10 . As Moses entered the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended — This symbol of the divine presence having before gone up, and stood aloof from the camp, which was become unclean through their idolatry, now came down again, upon the removal of the tabernacle. And stood at the door of the tabernacle — Openly to assert the authority of Moses, with whom God showed himself present, though he had withdrawn himself from them; and to signify his approbation of what he had done, however severe and cruel it might appear to some of them. All the people rose up and worshipped — As soon as they saw the cloudy pillar, that sign of God’s presence, gave Moses the meeting; every man at his tent door — Hereby they signified their humble adoration of the Divine Majesty; their thankfulness to God, that he was pleased to show them this token for good, for if he had been pleased to kill them, he would not have showed them such things as these; and their hearty concurrence with Moses, as their advocate, in every thing he should promise for them. Exodus 33:10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. Exodus 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Exodus 33:11 . The Lord spake unto Moses face to face — Or , mouth to mouth, as in Numbers 12:8 . Not that God hath a face or mouth, or that Moses could behold it; which is denied, Exodus 33:20 ; but the sense is, he spoke with him freely, familiarly, and immediately, and not as he did to other prophets, in dreams, or visions, or by an angel. As a man speaketh unto his friend — Which intimates not only that God revealed himself to Moses with greater clearness than to any other of the prophets, but also with greater expressions of particular kindness than to any other. He spake not as a prince to a subject, but as a man to his friend, whom he loves, and with whom he takes sweet counsel. And he turned again into the camp — To tell the people what hopes he had of bringing this business to a good issue. But his servant Joshua departed not out of the tabernacle — Probably Joshua abode there to assist and direct those who resorted thither to seek God in Moses’s absence. And he seems to have been appointed to this work rather than Aaron, or any other of the elders, because they had, one way or other, been guilty of the late idolatry, and God would hereby punish them with a temporary suspension from his service and their office. Exodus 33:12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Exodus 33:12 . And Moses said unto the Lord — It is likely that Moses, being satisfied with the penitence of the people, returned to the tabernacle, and there had this communication with God, in which he is an importunate supplicant for two favours, and prevails for both. In this he was a type of Christ, the great Intercessor, whom the Father heareth always. He is earnest with God for a grant of his presence with Israel in the rest of their march to Canaan. Thou sayest, Bring up this people — Lord, it is thou thyself that employest me, and wilt thou not own me? I am in the way of my duty, and shall I not have thy presence with me in that way? Thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me — Thou hast only said, thou wilt send an angel before me, ( Exodus 33:2 ,) but holdest me in suspense whether thou wilt guide us in the pillar of cloud as thou hast hitherto done. For the Lord had left him at an uncertainty what he would do in case the people did repent, Exodus 33:5 . Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name — In a special and particular manner. Thou hast vouchsafed to me peculiar marks and testimonies of thy love and favour. The expression is borrowed from the manner of kings, who, of all their subjects, know few by name but their favourites, and those who have access to their persons. Exodus 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. Exodus 33:13 . Now, if I have found grace in thy sight — What favour God had expressed to the people they had forfeited the benefit of; and therefore Moses lays the stress of his plea upon what God had said to him. By this, therefore, he takes hold on God; Lord, if thou wilt do any thing for me, do this for the people. Thus our Lord Jesus, in his intercession, presents himself to the Father as one in whom he is always well pleased, and so obtains mercy for us, with whom he is justly displeased. Show me thy way — What course thou meanest now to take with us; that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight — That by proof and experience I may know how good thou art to them that seek thee, and may be assured that I have found grace in thy sight. He intimates that the people also, though most unworthy, yet were in some relation to God; consider that this nation is thy people — A people that thou hast done great things for, redeemed to thyself, and taken into covenant with thyself; Lord, they are thy own, do not leave them. Exodus 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee , and I will give thee rest. Exodus 33:14 . My presence shall go with thee — Hebrew, My face, I myself, my own person, as the same phrase is translated 2 Samuel 17:11 . Or, the angel of my presence, Isaiah 63:9 . The meaning is, I will conduct you myself, as I have done hitherto, by my glorious presence in the tabernacle. So that this is a revocation of the sentence pronounced Exodus 33:3 . And will give thee rest — Not only thee, Moses, from thy present perplexity, but in due time will bring thy people to their rest and settlement in the promised land. For it is evident that Moses’s care and prayer were more for the people than for himself. Exodus 33:15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me , carry us not up hence. Exodus 33:15-16 . If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence — Let us rather live and die in the wilderness, with thy presence and favour, than go into Canaan without it; for even that promise of rest I regard not unless thou be with us, and accept us. Thus he shows how highly he valued the special presence of God. He dreaded the very thought of going forward without it. For wherein shall it be known — To the nations that have their eyes upon us, and to future ages: by what other token shall it be manifest to them; that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? — That we really are thy people, and under thy peculiar protection and care? Is it not that thou goest with us? — Can any thing short of this answer this end? So shall we be separated, I and thy people — Distinguished by thy peculiar kindness, and the privileges vouchsafed to us; or shall be made wonderful, eminent, and glorious, (as the word ?????? , niphlinu, rather means,) above all other people. Exodus 33:16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. Exodus 33:17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. Exodus 33:17 . I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken — See the power of prayer! See the riches of God’s goodness! See, in type, the prevalency of Christ’s intercession, which he ever lives to make for all those that come to God by him! and the ground of that prevalency is purely in his own merit; it is because thou hast found grace in my sight — And now God is perfectly reconciled to them, and his presence in the pillar of cloud returns to them. Exodus 33:18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. Exodus 33:18 . I beseech thee, show me thy glory — Thy glorious majesty, the brightness of thy countenance, some such manifestation of thyself as becomes thy excellence, and such as shall be seen in the other life, or the highest I am capable of seeing on earth. Moses had lately been in the mount with God, and had had as intimate communion with God as ever any man had on this side heaven, and yet he still desires a further acquaintance. Show me thy glory — Make me to see it; so the word is: make it some way or other visible, and enable me to bear the sight of it. Not that he was so ignorant as to think God’s essence could be seen with bodily eyes, but having hitherto only heard a voice out of a pillar of cloud or fire, he desired to see some representation of the divine glory, such as God saw fit to gratify him with. Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. Exodus 33:19 . I will make my goodness pass before thee — Moses’s request was to see God’s glory, and God answers him by promising to show him his goodness; intimating that, however, in themselves, all God’s attributes are glorious, yet he glories most in the manifestation of his goodness, and that his creatures need this most. Pass before thee — So that thou mayest at least have a transient view of it. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious — I will show this peculiar favour to thee, and I will also be gracious to the people thou pleadest for; but not promiscuously to all: some, namely, such as turn to me in true repentance, I will pardon and save; but others, even all that are finally impenitent, I will eternally punish. Exodus 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. Exodus 33:20 . Thou canst not see my face — The full display of my glory, that light inaccessible, before which the angels stand, but which would be insufferable to mortal eyes; this no man can see and live. Exodus 33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: Exodus 33:21 . Behold, there is a place by me — Probably meant of some part of mount Horeb, where Moses had long enjoyed intercourse with God, and from which the tabernacle, where the cloud of glory now appeared, was at no great distance. And thou shalt stand upon a rock — If not that from which the water was miraculously brought, yet certainly one which, like it, was emblematical of Christ, ( 1 Corinthians 10:4 ,) through whom alone we can have the knowledge of the glory of God. For this glory none can see to their comfort but those that believe, confide, and take shelter in him. While my glory passeth by, I will put thee in a cleft of the rock — As the rock might limit Moses’s view of the divine glory, that he might not be overwhelmed by it; so the refulgent rays of the glory of God are limited and concealed by the humanity of Christ, and by faith we are hid in him, and secured from the effects of the glorious justice and wrath of God, which would otherwise consume us. I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by — My invisible power shall spread a cloud before thee, that thou mayest not be overpowered and struck dead by the excessive glory, and so be undone by thy own desires. Exodus 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: Exodus 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. Exodus 33:23 . I will take away my hand — Speaking after the manner of men: As soon as the dazzling splendours of my majesty, termed, my face, which it is impossible for man to behold and live, are passed by, I will, by degrees, withdraw the cloud that limited and concealed those splendours, and thou shalt see my back parts, or those rays of my glory which are not too bright and piercing for mortal eyes to sustain. To explain this further, the face in man is the seat of majesty, and men are known by their faces; in them we take a full view of men: that sight of God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who is gone past us, so that we only see his back. Now Moses was allowed to see this only; but when he was a witness to Christ’s transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Exodus 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: CHAPTER XXXIII. PREVAILING INTERCESSION. Exodus 33:1-23 At this stage the first concession is announced: Moses shall lead the people to their rest, and God will send an angel with him. We have seen that the original promise of a great Angel in whom was the Divine Presence was full of encouragement and privilege ( Exodus 23:20 ). No unbiassed reader can suppose that it is the sending of this same Angel of the Presence which now expresses the absence of God, or that He Who then would not pardon their transgression "because My Name is in Him" is now sent because God, if He were in the midst of them for a moment, would consume them. Nor, when Moses passionately pleads against this degradation, and is heard in this thing also, can the answer "My Presence shall go with thee" be merely the repetition of those evil tidings. Yet it was the Angel of His Presence Who saved them. All this has been already treated, and what we are now to learn is that the faithful and sublime urgency of Moses did really save Israel from degradation and a lower covenant. It was during the progress of this mediation that Moses distracted by a double anxiety--afraid to absent himself from his wayward followers, equally afraid to be so long withdrawn from the presence of God as the descending of Sinai and returning thither would involve--made a noble adventure of faith. Inspired by the conception of the tabernacle, he took a tent, "his tent," and pitched it outside the camp, to express the estrangement of the people, and this he called the Tent of the Meeting (with God), but in the Hebrew it is never called the Tabernacle. And God did condescend to meet him there. The mystic cloud guarded the door against presumptuous intrusion, and all the people, who previously wist not what had become of him, had now to confess the majesty of his communion, and they worshipped every man at his tent door. It would seem that the anxious vigilance of Moses caused him to pass to and fro between the tent and the camp, "but his minister, Joshua the son of Nun, departed not out of the tent." The dread crisis in the history of the nation was now almost over. God had said, "My Presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,"--a phrase which the lowly Jesus thought it no presumption to appropriate, saying, " I will give you rest," as He also appropriated the office of the Shepherd, the benevolence of the Physician, the tenderness of the Bridegroom, and the glory of the King and the Judge, all of which belonged to God. But Moses is not content merely to be secure, for it is natural that he who best loves man should also best love God. Therefore he pleads against the least withdrawal of the Presence: he cannot rest until repeatedly assured that God will indeed go with him; he speaks as if there were no "grace" but that. There are many people now who think it a better proof of being religious to feel either anxious or comforted about their own salvation, their election, and their going to heaven. And these would do wisely to consider how it comes to pass that the Bible first taught men to love and to follow God, and afterwards revealed to them the mysteries of the inner life and of eternity. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.