“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].” (Ex 34:5-7 AV)
These words are words from the LORD regarding Himself. This is His testimony to Moses regarding His nature and the tenor of His relationship with mankind. He is full of mercy and grace, longsuffering, goodness, and truth. The manifestation of this nature is the justice mentioned that follows. Because He is merciful, then He will visit upon those who victimize others. Even to the third and fourth generations. What struck me this morning is the source of the words and not the mere words alone. The fact that God said this of Himself means more than if Moses testified of it. It would be true regardless. When a person testifies of the mercy and grace of God, it is limited by their experiences. When a person testifies of the grace of God, they cannot bestow it. When the LORD tells us He is fill of goodness, mercy, grace and truth, it means so much more.
Imagine if you will, a police officer stopped you and gave you several tickets. Perhaps is started with a speeding ticket. Upon inspection, he noticed you had a taillight out. Then, as he walked around the car, your registration sticker fell off your license plate. That is a big one. The more he looks over your situation, the more trouble it seems is coming. Praise the LORD, he let you go without being toted off to jail. Your summons comes in the mail. You have an appearance date before the judge. There are perhaps thousands of dollars of fines and too many points on your driver’s license. This is big. You go to a lawyer who looks over it all and notices the judge’s name. He has had much experience with that judge. He knows him very well. The lawyer feels his services are not needed because the judge is a reasonable and kind one. In fact, you visit several lawyers and they tell you the same thing. You cannot hire a lawyer because they all testify to the kindness of the judge. That may alleviate some, if not most, of your fears. Not all. The date of appearance comes. You sit in the gallery waiting for your case to be called. Finally, it is your turn. When you approach, the judge sees that you are obviously very nervous. You are sweating. You are breathing fast. You are jittery. You don’t know what he is going to say. Then he tells you he is a kind and reasonable judge. He never uses the law to unnecessarily punish the offender. He tells you to relax because the next few moments will not be so bad. You bring evidence your car has been repaired, and it was truly registered as the law required. Seeing you did everything in your power to be compliant and that you have suffered enough, he lets you off. All the lawyers told you he would be reasonable and kind. But it wasn’t until those words came from the lips of the judge himself that they because powerful and true.
This is the application I gleaned from this passage this morning. The words above are not Moses’ testimony of the God whom he got to know. The words above are not words carried down over the generations that preceded Moses. When Moses writes these words, they are the words spoken directly by God Himself. These words are not second-hand words. These words could not have been misconstrued by generations of tradition. These words were spoken directly from the lips of God to a man and nation who needed to hear them. These words are powerful words because of the source and well as the truth. This is how we need to see the entire word of God. The word of God was inspired by the Holy Spirit and spoken to man. God may have used the personality and ability of men to give His word, but it is still His word. It can be trusted. Each and every letter, syllable, word, and thought. It is all God’s word. We need to see it as such.
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