BS2B - UNDERSTANDING THE FATHER'S HOLINESS
First, let me say that it’s a daunting task to write a Bible study like this. Whatever we study will be but a tiny thimble of what God is like. But, what does God promise us?
Jeremiah 29:13-14A
So, if we seek to know God and His Son Jesus with all of our hearts, then He’ll keep revealing more and more of Himself to us because we have God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) within us to reveal the mind and heart of God to us (1 Corinthians 2:10). When the Holy Spirit reveals something of God to us, we’ll soon find that we are hungry to know more. And if we press on to satisfy that hunger what is another promise God makes to us?
Hosea 6:3
In this section of our study, we are going to refer to Exodus 32-34 as a good place to learn about God. For in these chapters God tells us a great deal about himself through his talks with Moses – a man God considered his friend (Exodus 33:11a). It would be good to read these 3 chapters of Exodus to get the entire context.
Moses is a man who has come to know God personally and is hungry to know more.
Exodus 33:13
He asks of God a bold request.
Exodus 33:18
This faithful servant of God is yearning for a more intimate communion with God than he has ever had before. He seeks for something that will surpass all former revelations. How does God answer this request?
Exodus 33:19-20
As long as we are “in the flesh” as humans we will only be able to look at God as in a dim mirror. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
That’s because God is absolutely holy. Holiness is the essential moral nature of God. To say that God is holy means that God is absolutely pure and free from all defilement. Since man is sinful by his fallen nature, the closer he gets to God the more he sees his own filth. That’s why God says to Moses:
Reread: Exodus 33:20
That word holiness scares us because God manifests his holiness in his hatred of sin…….
Genesis 6:5-6 / Deuteronomy 25:16 / Proverbs 15:9,26 / Habakkuk 1:13
……… in the separation of the sinner from Himself….
Isaiah 59:1-2
……….and in the punishment of the sinner.
Genesis 6:7 / Exodus 34:7 / Psalm 5:4-6
The pure light of God’s holiness reveals the blackness of our nature and the sins we have committed.
Job 42:5-6 / Isaiah 6:5-6
So, although Moses was a dear friend of God, he was still a fallen human and could only come so close. But, it’s one of the deep mysteries of God that One who is infinite and holy could love beings like us who are utterly sinful.
While God knows you and I intimately (because he made us) it’s also true that He yearns for us to know Him.
Jeremiah 9:24
And that is part of the wonder of God wanting to send Jesus to earth. Since Jesus would be fully God and also fully man, we would be able to relate to Him much easier than to God’s unseen spirit.
“The Holy One of Israel” – a name used of God over and over by the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel -- was going to come to earth in the form of His Son. What name did John use for Jesus in this verse?
1 John 2:20
Jesus was also called “The Holy One” and He was going to give us His Holy Spirit to remain with us forever. Therefore, even though Jesus would be more easily relatable to us, nevertheless He is God in all of His holiness.
So, the first thing for us to know as to how Jesus was like His Father was that He too was absolutely holy. Just as holiness is the essential moral nature of God the Father, so it is for Jesus. Because of the virgin birth, He was born free from all defilement and no sin nature was in him.
God is also calling us to Himself through His Son Jesus, and because they are holy, what are we called to be?
1 Peter 1:16
To be holy means to be set aside for God’s purposes (consecrated). If that consecration is real, how will it reflect itself in our lives?
1 Peter 1:14-15
Now, let’s go back to Exodus 32. Moses had been with God on Mt. Sinai and had come down the mountain with the two stone tablets where God had written the 10 commandments on them. Meanwhile, the people had grown tired of waiting for Moses and had demanded that Aaron (Moses’ brother) build them a golden calf to worship instead of God! When Moses came near to the camp and saw what was going on, what happened?
Exodus 32:19-20
Moses was angry, but God was even more so. He listened to Moses’ intercession for the people. What did Moses ask God to do?
Exodus 32:31-32
And what was God’s response?
Exodus 32:33-35
God then directed Moses to continue leading the people to the promise land but with one change.
Exodus 33:2-5
The thought that God would only send his angel with them and not Himself caused Moses to have another time of intercession (prayer) with God. And this is why Moses asked if God would show him his glory. Now in Exodus 34 God calls Moses to come back up the mountain with two new tablets of stone cut just like the first ones.
Exodus 34:4
We come now to the exciting moment when God shows Moses more of Himself. At the end of Exodus 33 where had God invited Moses to stand?
Exodus 33:21-23
And then what happened?
Exodus 34:5-7
Here we have God describing Himself – in His own words! Remember in Exodus 33:19 God promised to proclaim or fully declare his name to Moses. Now in Exodus 34:6 he interprets his name for all of us! Let’s take it one Hebrew word at a time with the help of Adam Clarke’s commentary.
“The Lord”, used three times in this verse, is the translation of Jehovah meaning the “self-existent” one. God says about Himself:
The Lord…..then….
The Lord God. The addition of the Hebrew “El” in front of Jehovah means the strong or mighty God.
The next Hebrew word is “rachum” meaning the merciful Being, who is full of tenderness and compassion.
Then comes “channum” meaning the gracious One; he whose nature is goodness itself; the loving God.
“erech appayim” comes next and means long-suffering. God is a Being who because of his goodness is not easily irritated. He suffers long and is kind. The phrase “slow to anger” means “long in the nostrils”. If you can picture an angry bull, he would be an example of one who is “short in the nostrils”. But God doesn’t have his finger on the trigger when He sees you and I. It takes a lot of accumulated provoking to draw out his ire (just the opposite of fallen human beings).
“rab” = the great or mighty One.
“chesed” = the bountiful Being; he who is exuberant in his beneficence. God shows us his steadfast love and faithfulness by refusing even to entertain the notion of forsaking us.
“emeth” = the truth or the true One. He alone who can neither deceive nor be deceived, who is the fountain of truth, and from whom all wisdom and knowledge must be derived.
“notser chesed” =the preserver of bountifulness; he whose beneficence never ends, keeping mercy for thousands of generations, showing compassion and mercy while the world endures.
“nose avon vaphesha vechattaah” = he who bears away iniquity and transgression and sin: the Redeemer, the Pardoner, the Forgiver; the Being whose prerogative alone is to forgive sin and save the soul.
“nakkeh lo yenakkeh” = the righteous Judge, who distributes justice with an impartial hand, with whom no innocent person can ever be condemned.
“poked avon” = he who visits iniquity, who punishes transgressors, and from whose justice no sinner can escape. The God of retribution and vindictive justice. And while God does visit generational sins down to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:7), his covenant love and faithfulness flows to thousands of generations.
Deuteronomy 7:9
There are eleven attributes listed here that are all included in the name Jehovah! For anyone thinking God to be an ogre, He is the exact opposite! Our response should be the same as Moses.
Exodus 34:8
It’s actually in consideration of our sins that God’s heart goes out to us in compassion. It’s true we are bent on turning away from God….but…. we are still His own children and He just can’t give us up!
Hosea 11:7-9
So, it’s not our loveliness that wins God’s heart but our unloveliness! This is who God is – the opposite of what the world is like.
Despite the way people behave and treat God, God stays the same! As you read these verses make a list of what God still is and does.
Nehemiah 9:17 / Joel 2:13 / Jonah 4:2
And since Jesus is like His Father, this is who Jesus is. The final proof of who God is, is found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. While Moses could not see the face of God and live, we can see God’s face in Jesus and still live. We have seen today what Moses couldn’t see: God, full of “grace and truth”.
John 1:14
Next Study: BS2C-Understanding the Father's Love