Moses was a man just like us. He had a relationship with God that was unique in the Bible. He spoke to God face to face as it were. Do you know God want to speak to us? That He yearns to speak to his people?

Moses wants the presence and the Glory of God to go with him and the people. He would not move unless the cloud went before him. Oh, that we would be like that! To hunger for the cloud of God’s Glory to be with us. But then God says an astounding thing to Moses "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name.". To have God know you by name when he had just revealed him self as this awesome God of Fire and Cloud and Glory. Do you know He knows us all by name? He knows when a sparrow falls and he knows the hairs on our heads. He is the same God. This shoud send chills down our backs.

(Exo 33:18 NASB) Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"

(Exo 33:19 NASB) And He 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."

(Exo 33:20 NASB) But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"

(Exo 33:21 NASB) Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

(Exo 33:22 NASB) and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

(Exo 33:23 NASB) "Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."

Show me Thy Glory! Moses what are you talking about? Didn’t you see the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day? Didn’t you see the cloud of Glory resting on the mountain top for 7 days? Moses wasn’t talking about those manifestations though and God knew exactly what Moses yearned for. Moses yearned for an ever-deeper relationship with this God of the burning bush, this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this God of Glory. Oh people of God, do we yearn like this to seek this Holy one out, to seek his Glory?

(Exo 34:5 NASB) And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD.

(Exo 34:6 NASB) 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;

(Exo 34:7 NASB) 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."

(Exo 34:8 NASB) And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.

(Exo 34:9 NASB) And he said, "If now I have found favor in Thy sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate; and do Thou pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Thine own possession."

(Exo 34:10 NASB) 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.

Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. The King of the universe was arrayed before him, speaking astounding words of a God of such Holiness and Glory. Certainly it was a fearful thing. We need to fear our God! He is indeed awesome and glorious all without and within. Has He placed you in the cleft of the Rock of Jesus and covered you there with His hand? Has he spoken to you his fearful, wonderful name? Look now what follows.

(Exo 34:29 NASB) And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.

(Exo 34:30 NASB) So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

I don’t know the physics of the Glory nor how the skin can glow but I understand what it means. God was showing the people the Glory of his presence stamped on Moses face. They were afraid to come near him. This was God showing his approval of His servant. I have read of Maria Woodward Etter, the great female healing evangelist of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, actually being surrounded by a cloud of glory for short periods of time as she preached. Smith Wigglesworth went to New Zealand in 1921 to have meetings. He called the leading preachers and men of God of the town he was in to a prayer meeting. Twelve men showed up. They all prayed their prayers and then Smith started. Soon the twelve had to leave because the cloud of Glory came into the room. The next night a thirteenth man came who had heard about the meeting the night before. He intended to stick it out. The prayers started and then Smith prayed. The cloud of Glory descended and twelve left. Finally the thirteenth man left too, he could not last as Smith stayed and basked in the presence and Glory of God.

People of God, did you know that God does not change? He wants to bless us at this day and time but we seem to be too distracted from all around us. The little robbers of Glory, little distractions of gossip, lust, pride, rebellion.

Now look at two more instances where the Glory of God is present. Both are about the temple. The first instance in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the second in Solomon’s temple.

(Exo 40:33 NASB) And he erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work.

Exo 40:34 NASB) Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

(Exo 40:35 NASB) And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

(Exo 40:36 NASB) And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out;

(Exo 40:37 NASB) but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.

(Exo 40:38 NASB) For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

(1 Ki 8:10 NASB) And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

(1 Ki 8:11 NASB) so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

(1 Ki 8:12 NASB) Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

Now in both of these instanced the Glory of God drove people away from it. The holiness of God in full measure few of us could stand. We have to be covered by His hand. We are too full of sin and it tendrils run deep. But is that the way it is supposed to be? Are we heirs of a lesser promise? Does the Old Testament contain all the power and we today have received a fading glory where God has distanced Himself and no longer shows Himself Glorious?

(1 Cor 6:19 NASB) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

(1 Cor 6:20 NASB) For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.