Show Me Your Glory: Exodus 33:12-23

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.

After the golden calf. After the judgment. Moses needed clarity. The mission remained, but the terms had changed. Who will you send with me? The question of companionship.

You have said, I know you by name and you have found favor with me.

Moses reminded God of their relationship. You know me by name. I have favor. These were not small things. But Moses wanted more.

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.

Teach me your ways. Moses didn't just want commands—he wanted understanding. Know you, not just know about you. And the final appeal: your people. Not my people. Yours.

The Lord replied, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

The answer: Presence. My Presence—literally, my face—will go with you. The very thing threatened to be withdrawn after the calf was now promised. And rest. The goal of the journey.

Then Moses said to him, If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

Moses pressed further. Without your Presence, don't send us. Better to stay here than to go without God. The land without the Presence was worthless.

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?

The distinction question. What makes Israel different? Not military power. Not cultural sophistication. Your Presence going with us. That alone distinguishes.

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.

Complete agreement. I will do what you asked. Pleased with you. Know you by name. The relationship affirmed.

Then Moses said, Now show me your glory.

The request that stopped heaven. Show me your glory. Not your commands, not your promises, not your provisions—your glory. The deepest request a human can make.

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.

The response was both yes and no. All my goodness—you will see that. My name proclaimed—you will hear that. Glory translated into goodness and name.

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Sovereignty declared. Mercy is not earned; it is given. Compassion flows from divine freedom, not human deserving.

But, he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.

The limitation. Face-to-face vision would kill. The unfiltered glory of God is too much for flesh. No one survives it.

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.

The accommodation. A place on a rock. A cleft—a crack, a protected space. God's hand covering Moses. A partial viewing made possible by protection.

Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.

The back, not the face. Afterglow, not direct light. The glory after it passed, not while it blazed. Enough to sustain, not enough to destroy.

Moses asked for glory and received goodness, name, mercy, compassion—and a protected glimpse of God's back. It was enough. It was more than any human had received. And it pointed to a day when the glory would be visible in a face—the face of Christ, the image of the invisible God.