The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” Exodus 34:1-4
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I know your ways, isn’t it time you knew Mine?
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all. Psalm 139:1-4.
I am intimately acquainted with all your ways. Even before you speak, I know what you are going to say. I want you to know Me like that as well. Even before I speak, I want you to know My Word so well that you already know what I will say, that I speak peace (shalom) to My people and tell you wonderful things you could not know.
The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Daniel 2:47.
I will hear what God the LORD will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones. Psalm 85:8.
You can choose to go with the ways of the world, and many people spend their days and nights doing just that, from the morning “news” and newspaper, to idle radio talk shows on the way to work, to squabbles with your co-workers or gossip, complaining and judging, studying different clothes and hair styles in magazines, idle minds on impure or vain thoughts, evening news and game shows, perhaps an old movie, maybe gossiping with a friend on the phone about the latest scandal or negative news. And finally falling into bed with no time for prayer or reading the Bible.
If you have been born again from above, there is so much more to life than the world, the flesh, and the devil have to offer. It is time for you to know what you have been freely given by Me and to stand up out of the dust, shake off the chains, and use it.
But even better is to get to know Me. Then you can imitate Me as My dear children and ultimately have it all.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8.
Moses was the first person to ask Me who I was. I introduced Myself to people generally as by what I would do for them. And that was also how I first introduced Myself to Moses.
On Mt. Sinai (also known as Mt. Horeb) in a burning bush that was not consumed I came to tell him that I had heard the cries of My oppressed people and I had come to redeem and rescue them from the cruel slavery of Egypt, make them wealthy and healthy, and take them to the land I had promised Abraham and his descendants, a land of abundance flowing with milk and honey. I had come to heal them, prosper them, redeem them and ultimately set them free to be like Me. I had come to visit My people and give them rest.
Moses was inquisitive right away about Me. He wanted to know My Name. And I revealed it to Him. My Covenant Name that contained who I AM. I am the One who is, who was, and who is to come. I am the eternal one who has been alive forever and has no beginning or end. I am the creator of all but I Myself was not created. I AM. From everlasting to everlasting I AM God. My being is Love. My being is Light. And in that Light radiates My life. All that is alive exists and is generated in Me by My Word, which is living and working, and always has manifested among you, My Word has gone forth from of old and all things were made by My Word and for My Word and with My Word and I am My Word. My Word generates in My deepest being from My thoughts and plans and then as I speak it forth it is given birth into being by My Spirit. Jesus came forth out of My bosom as My Word made flesh revealing who I AM in My innermost being walking among you.
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And the LORD said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” Exodus 33:18-19.
I gave Moses a taste of what was to come and he was thirsting to know—My goodness manifested in My presence and power for Glory and beauty. But the next day and I showed up and gave Moses a look into who I AM.
The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. Exodus 34:6-7.
What did I reveal to Moses here and through him by My Spirit to you? Who I AM and always will be, My ways so you can know them and walk in them with Me. Imitate Me as My dear children and walk in lovingkindness, truth, and faithfulness. It brings wonders.
First, I declared Myself to be your God, the LORD, which is My special Covenant Name only for those who have entered Covenant with Me. It is the Name that promises eternal life with Me the One who is, who was, and who is to come. I am always there with you. It is the revelation of My ever present grace—My divine life pouring into you.
As Moses witnessed My goodness I placed Moses next to Me in the cleft of the rock as My brilliant glory passed by him so his human nature could sustain My presence in its full revelation of glory upon the earth and the rock is Christ. He shields you from the wrath of divine justice that will come upon the godless who have stayed loyal to the devil and destroyed the earth. Jesus keeps you secure in the Covenant for I seal you in the rock of Christ when you make Covenant with Him in beholding who I am in Him.
Next, I revealed My ways that you can always count on for I AM who I AM and I do not change. And you see the full revelation of My Ways and My nature in Jesus, My Word made flesh and dwelling among you. I am compassionate, in Jesus I shared your nature and understand your weaknesses and the effects of what Adam did to the human nature. I am full of grace and I extend that graciousness to you, My divine life flowing into you so that you can live bearing the fruit of My being as a branch attached to vine drawing all you need for life and godliness from Me as the source to which you have connected through My Word, just as I offered to Moses and My people, I offered them perfect connection to Me by living My Word in themselves.
Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5-6.
I revealed My patience and gentle kindness that I am slow to anger, in fact, in Jesus I have sworn never to be angry with you again for He bore all your sins and offenses in His own being by becoming sin for you so that in Him you are righteous before Me with My own righteousness. You are encased, enclosed, and clothed in the perfect Man who is also perfect God, Jesus, the revelation of My very being for I am abounding in lovingkindness and truth and faithfulness.
That word translated lovingkindness in Hebrew is “chesed (חֵסֵד)” which is not easily translated for it too big a concept to be held in one Word. It is translated as “love,” “kindness,” “goodness,” “grace,” “mercy,” “unconditional love,” “favor,” and “kindness.” This is the way My apostle Paul expressed it by inspiration of My Spirit to you:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7.
And next you see that I am truth. The word in Hebrew that is translated both as “truth” and as “faithfulness” is “emet (אֶמֶת)” which express My firm stance of faithfulness to you in the absolute truth of My Word. My Word is truth and it sanctifies you in the purity and absolute goodness of truth. There is no deceit, darkness or evil in the truth. It is continuing in My Word that reveals truth to you and truth sets you free of all that would hinder your walk of perfect protection, direction, correction, and ultimate perfection in this life of time and in eternity. Truth is eternal and never fails. You can build your life on the solid rock of hearing and doing My Word.
I then in this passage revealed that I keep and guard this amazing “chesed” as a Covenant bond for thousands (signifying forever) lifting, taking, and carrying (in Hebrew the word is “nasa or nasah (נָשָׂא) meaning to lift, carry, take, it is the same word used in Isaiah 53:4) your iniquity, guilt, punishment for guilt, transgressions, and sins but that I am also just and do not clear the guilty who have no repentance or turning from sin, who refuse the truth and destroy My people and the earth, in other words, those who keep the devil as their master and lord by obeying his lies rather than My Words of truth, and this continues on to those whom they produce that walk in the ways of darkness down to the third and fourth of their generations. But I also told My prophet Ezekiel that each person can turn that by turning to Me and breaking that bond with the devil in that person’s life and then changing things in the lives of those born to them.
The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die . . . But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord LORD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:4;20-23.
And what was the result of this revelation into My Ways to Moses? Grateful, loving, precious knowing worship in My presence, just as is the spontaneous worship and praise of those who have crossed over from earth into My Kingdom. And also intercession for others, just as you see the redeemed made perfect in Heaven holding the golden bowls of incense filled with your prayers before Me.
Moses made haste to worship as he bowed low toward the earth in worship. He said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O LORD, I pray, let the LORD go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own treasure.” Exodus 34:8-9.
And the result of the revelation of Myself and My ways of compassionate unconditional love? Covenant with the one who received the revelation of My nature with joy.
Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the LORD for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you. Exodus 34:10.
And My people who understood and lived this can all sing with My beloved Covenant man David by the revelation of My Spirit: “The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses,His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust . . . But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. Psalm 103:6-14; 17-18.
Equal to My majesty is the mercy that I show.
I love you. Be mindful of My Ways. My Ways are all for you. Are your ways for Me? When they are that is just the beginning of that marvelous grace called “Covenant.”