God's Character

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about trying to discern if what we are hearing and reading is truly coming from God. Now, I believe that God speaks to people. But I have to challenge some people when they declare that God told them something and I knew it wasn't right. Have you ever had that happen to you? How would you respond if your friend claimed that God told him he didn't have to forgive someone who had offended him? What would you say if someone told you that God told them it was okay to get back at someone because they deserve it?

Our God is Holy and loving. And I can tell you that God will never say or do anything that is unholy or unloving. And He would never call us to do something unholy or unloving. If anyone ever says that God told them to do something that is contrary to God's nature, we can be confident that they have not heard that from God. God always speaks in ways that are consistent with His character. He makes no exceptions. God will never speak out of character.

So let's take a look today at God's character. I think we have a pretty good idea of what His character is but let's see what the Bible says. We will be using Exodus 34 and hear the very words of God about His faithfulness and unchanging character. And I think that once we have seen all of this, we will gain a newborn confidence to trust God in what He says.

PRAYER

Exodus 34 is very encouraging and inspiring passage from the OT. At this point in biblical history, the Israelites had forsaken God after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. But while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving God's commandments, the people made an idol of a golden calf and worshipped it. As a result, Moses became very angry and he threw the stone tablets that were inscribed with the Ten Commandments to the ground and broke them, which symbolically broke the covenant that the people had with God. But through all of this, the event led us to an act of mercy. God agreed to reenter a covenant with His wayward people.

Exodus 34:1-5 – “The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. 3 No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”

********4 Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him. 5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.”

In the beginning of all of this, God had provided the stone tablets that He inscribed the Ten Commandments on. But this time, Moses was instructed to carve them. It’s as if God said, “I’ve already cut these stone tablets once and you broke those, so you cut them out this time.” It seems like this represented the people's need to participate in drawing near to God in order to renew the covenant. So, Moses was instructed to carve out the stone tablets, but God would write on the tablets what He had written before.

God tells Moses to climb Mount Sinai in the morning because it was going to take some time and effort to climb to the top. No one was allowed to go with Moses. Even the flocks and the herds were forbidden to graze near the mountain.

Let's go back with what God told Moses when he first ascended the mountain. Remember when he told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground upon which he was standing was holy ground? So, the Israelites were to treat the entire mountain as Holy when God met with Moses on it.

In ancient times people always assumed that the gods dwelt on the mountain tops. The pagan shrines were many times constructed on the high places. Keep in mind that God didn't live on the mountain. But He did descend to the mountains in a cloud. And he stood with Moses there. As we picture this in our minds, we can see that God met with Moses in a personal way.

I'm pretty sure that Moses enjoyed this intimate fellowship with God. Yet God told Moses he could not see Him and live. This tells us that there was a limit to how much Moses could experience Almighty God.