Moses II: Dwelling in the
Dessert
February 5, 2015
BMC- Exodus 33:12-23 (Exodus 25:1-40:38)
Through the Bible in a Year
Introduction: The Transfiguration
In Mark 9 we read that “Jesus took
Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were
all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His
clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach
them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses,
who were talking with Jesus.
“Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it
is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for
Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to
say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared
and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I
love. Listen to him!”
“Suddenly, when they looked
around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus
gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had
risen from the dead. They kept the
matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
“And they asked him, “Why do the
teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus
replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and
restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer
much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come,
and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about
him.”
This was a powerful experience of
God’s presence before the eyes of the disciples up on this mountain. Jesus was transfigured and the voice of God
was heard. And Moses and Elijah, men of
faith dead for many years, were somehow present and talking with Jesus. God was powerfully present, but this wasn’t
the first story of God’s presence on a mountain was it?
Moses In God’s Presence
In our readings for this
week, we went through Exodus 33, part of which was read for us this
morning. Here we learn that “Moses said to the Lord, “You have
been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you
will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor
with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your
ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this
nation is your people.”
“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence
does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How
will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you
go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other
people on the face of the earth?”
“And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I
am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said,
“Now show me your glory.”
“And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I
will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your
presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he
said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
“Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock
and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then
I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Moses had a very deep and intimate
relationship with God. It was said of
him that “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a
friend.” And God said that he would go
with him and give him rest, words that may sound strangely familiar. After all in Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come
to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” In the Lord’s presence, we are able to find
rest.
And in this story Moses declared
the importance of having God’s presence with them as they went out. For how else would God’s people be
distinguished from those of the rest of the world? And then Moses was able to stand on a rock
and experience God’s presence as God went by.
But Moses wasn’t the last to have this type of Mountain top experience
of God’s presence was he?
Elijah in God’s PresenceIn I Kings 19, we read of Elijah, the other person unexpectedly present on the Mount of Transfiguration. Elijah “traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah, like Moses was in need of God’s presence. He was in need of rest and renewal.
“He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have
rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death
with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me
too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence
of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains
apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord
was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard
it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of
the cave.
“Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing
here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have
rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death
with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me
too.”
“The Lord
said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.” And
God proceeded to give him instructions of what to do next.
God’s Presence
Moses
needed God’s presence as he led God’s people wandering in the wilderness. Elijah needed God’s presence as he followed
God’s instructions and experienced persecution for it. And each of them was there when God’s
presence was so powerfully revealed to the disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration. God’s presence is a
significant theme in these stories and in a variety of aspects in our reading
through Exodus.
The lengthy
and detailed instructions about the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle
revealed to us that God’s presence would be between the cherubim on top of the
ark. And the tabernacle itself was a
demonstration of God’s presence with the people while they were on the move and
dwelling in the dessert. The pillar of
cloud would descend on the tent of meeting when the people were to remain in
one location and it would rise up to indicate that it was time to move on. God was present with them wherever they went.
And isn’t
it interesting that within the tabernacle there was to be the bread of
presence? Bread represented presence for
the Israelites and Jesus used a loaf of bread during the Passover celebration
to represent his body. Now the bread serves
as an ongoing reminder of Jesus’ presence with us today as we continue to
celebrate this ritual when we gather together.
Don’t we
all long for God’s presence to be with us in all that we do? Don’t we resonate with Moses plea for God to
be with them as they wandered in the wilderness, leading them and setting them
apart from the rest of the world by God’s presence with them? Don’t we all hunger for the rest and renewal
that comes with being in the presence of God?
Preparing for God’s Presence
Certainly
we do not control God’s presence with us.
That is for God alone to determine.
And yet we read of the promise of God to be with God’s people. We read of Jesus’ promise that where two or
three are gathered there I am as well.
And while we can’t control God’s presence with us, it seems to me that
within these passages, we encounter some encouragements for dwelling with God
even in the midst of our own desserts.
First,
Moses asked for God to be present. Moses
invited God to be with him and the people of Israel. He asked for God to go with them and he
reached a point in his relationship with God in which he asked to see God’s
glory. We too can invite God’s presence
to be with us as we gather together, as we go about our lives, as we serve as
God’s kingdom ambassadors.
Second,
much of the last half of Exodus is about preparing for God to be present. We read these extensive instructions about
how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. These were physical places in which God would
be present with them. And the people
spent a lot of time preparing these spaces.
In the New
Testament we read that our bodies are God’s temple. And we know that the Holy Spirit dwells
within us. And while we can’t control
God’s presence with us, it does seem significant to me that we do our part to
prepare for the Lord’s presence. Isn’t
it one thing for us to simply ask for God to be present and another thing for
us to prepare ourselves for God’s presence to be in our lives?
This last
week, I hosted our Mennonite Pastor Peer group here at Bethel. We take turns doing this each month and each
of us typically hosts about once a year.
I invited the group to come, but I also made preparations for their
coming. I unlocked the doors and turned
the lights on. I set up the fellowship
hall and adjusted the heat. I made
coffee, hot water, an egg casserole and yogurt parfait. I extended the invitation, but I also
prepared myself and this space to receive them.
Now please
don’t miss understand me here. I am not
suggesting that in order to receive the presence of God, we have to be perfect
and have everything together. God loves
us for who we are, but I also think that we send an important message to God
about how much we desire God’s presence to be with us when we work at preparing
ourselves to receive God.
Third, we
give of what we have freely based on God’s prompting within us. We read in the beginning of Exodus 25 that
Moses was to receive the offerings from everyone whose heart prompted them to
give. And then it would seem that he was
to receive a variety of items in which people were giving out of what they had:
gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat
hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood;
olive oil; spices; onyx stones and other gems.
Aren’t we called to a similar sense of giving out of what we have and
what the Lord prompts us to give, how the spirit stirs within us?
We see a
very similar invitation of offerings for the tabernacle in Exodus 35-36. There is the same list there and we read,
“Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone
who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the
LORD for the work on the tent of meeting for all its service, and for the
sacred garments… All the Isrealite men and women who were willing brought to
the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had
commanded them to do.”
They gave
willingly of what they had. In fact they
gave so willingly that in 36:5-7 we read, “The people are bringing more than
enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done. Then Moses gave an order and they sent this
word throughout the camp, “No man or woman is to make anything else as an
offering for the sanctuary. And so the
people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was
more than enough to do all the work.”
Wouldn’t that be a great problem to have? Wouldn’t it be great to receive so much that
we needed to be restrained because there was more than enough to do the work
that the Lord had called us to?
As our
centennial history notes, we have encountered this at Bethel before. After the 1923 fire that destroyed the
building, people gave to build a new meeting house and some gave more than
their fair share. After the bills were paid, JY King and SC Plank were each
refunded $100 out of the building fund.[1]
Conclusion: Seeking God’s Presence
I’m sure
that each of us comes to worship here for a variety of reasons each week. But I trust that many of us come at least in
part for an encounter with the divine, to experience God’s presence. This is not a simple matter and it is not
something that we can control. There are
many things that go into our gathering together. And ultimately, we do not control the
movement of the Holy Spirit. And yet as
we gather, we can each do our part to prepare to encounter God in this place,
to welcome the spirit’s presence in our midst.
This
happens in a variety of ways. It happens
in our mindset and attitude, whether we come primarily for our own needs to be
met or whether we come receptive to whatever God may bring before us. But may we like those who have gone before;
invite God’s presence to be with us, prepare ourselves to welcome the Spirit’s
coming, and give of ourselves in receiving the Lord.
Amen.
[1] Uncommon
Threads: a centennial history of Bethel Mennonite Church by James O. Lehman
pg. 107-109
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