Exo 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
Exo 33:2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

Not once did the children of Israel go it alone. In every battle the Lord fought for them. The only exception are those times when they were out of the will of God or had sinned in some way which removed God's hand of protection from them and in those cases, they lost the battle. As long as the Lord was with them, He fought for them.

Israel was a nation completely dependent upon God. If God was not with them, they were weak and could not win.

Exo 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.

God had to send a mediator or an angel. God Himself could not come in the midst of them because He was very holy and His judgment would fall quickly and consume them because of their sins.

God's desire is to dwell with His creation but sin hinders that. When Jesus comes again removing all end time rebellion and sin, God will be able to dwell with us. There will first be a period of 1000 years to test man and see if they appreciate the rule of Christ upon the earth. After that 1000 years Satan will be let loose to see who will rebel and who will be faithful to the Lord. The rebellion will be put down once and for all and God will come down to dwell with us.

Exo 33:4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

In a time of mourning or a time of repentance, people did not wear ornaments such and jewelry or trinkets to decorate themselves but removed them for the purpose of showing humility before the Lord.

Exo 33:5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
Exo 33:6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

To go ahead and wear refinery and ornaments would have been a sign of pride and rebellion. They had sinned against God by worshipping the golden calf and they needed humble themselves before God showing Him that they were repentant for having any thing to do with idol worship. 

Exo 33:7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
Exo 33:8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
Exo 33:9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

Wow, imagine being so close to God and so favored by God that He can allow us to enter into His very presence like Moses did.

Yet that is exactly what is provided for us through faith in Jesus Christ. Not only is the door open for Jews in this respect but Gentiles who believe and turn from sin can now have access to the presence of God. The Holy Spirit comes to abide with those that believe and obey God. It is for all who believe both Jew and Gentile, men and women, adults and children. There is no respect of persons with God.

Israel was the elect and chosen of God to bring forth the savior into the world. After that occurrence all people of the whole world can believe and receive Jesus Christ.

Moses was not perfect but He was obedient and believed God's word. Faith counts for everything. Without faith we can't receive anything from God.

When those people made and worshipped the golden calf it showed lack of faith in God. Even if Moses was dead, God was not dead. They should have waited on God to give them a new leader if Moses was dead. When Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they fell into unbelief and sinned against God. Unbelief leads to all other sins.

Exo 33:10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door.

They willingly worshipped when they saw something with their natural eyes. Yet there is a scripture that promises a blessing to those that have not seen and yet believe.

John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Exo 33:11 And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Joshua desired to seek God for Himself but he was careful to stay within the bounds and not venture further than he was permitted to go. Yet he stayed close desiring the presence of God. He was to become the next leader after the death of Moses because of his faithfulness.

Exo 33:12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
Exo 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

Moses found grace with God similar to Noah who found grace and was saved from the flood saving 7 others with him. Our faithfulness may very well save others other then ourselves.

Exo 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

The actual presence of God is one of peace, comfort and refreshing. It is only fearful if we are coming into His presence with sin in our lives and no attitude of repentance. If we come to God as sinners but willing to repent it is totally different.

Exo 33:15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

This should be our attitude, "If the Lord isn't with me, I do not need to go."

This may solve some of our difficult decisions in life. For instance if we wonder whether or not to see a certain movie or go a certain place we can ask ourselves, "Would the Lord go and watch this particular movie? Would the Lord go here or there if going would not be fruitful in doing the work of God. A lot of times we tell ourselves that we can go here or there in order to be a witness or to be a light but most of the time, we do not witness and the influence is present to draw us away from Christ instead of bringing someone else to Him.

Exo 33:16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

Israel had a chance to become the greatest of all nations and dwell in the presence of God. It is not God that departed from them and it is not God who departs from us. It is us who depart from Him by going our own way and not living in His fellowship. It is never God that moves away.

I wonder sometimes how much longer the United States will exist as a nation. We were never perfect. The days of slavery were a blight on our nation's history. At least though the majority of the people feared God and believed in Him. This enabled us to have His protection. With His help we obtained freedom from England, got through the civil war, abolished slavery, won other wars like World War 1 and 2. We were never attacked on the mainland after becoming a strong nation until September 11, 2001.

Except for the incident at Pearl Harbor during WW2, we have been safe from invaders. What changed? Did God change? No. We did.

He is no longer welcome in our schools, prayers are not allowed by the public especially if the name of Jesus is mentioned. The ten commandments is removed from many court houses. His word is ignored. We only call upon Him when trouble comes. Any other time we pursue our own pleasures and have nothing to do with Him.

He doesn't have to send judgment, all He has to do is go away and remove His hand of protection. God will not stay around if we do not want Him. Without His protection we are prey to any and all that Satan would desire to bring upon us.

Exo 33:17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
Exo 33:18 And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
Exo 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

This has always been God's desire. He prefers to show mercy rather than judgment.

Exo 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

Until the day our natural bodies are changed into spiritual bodies that can never die, we could not see the face of God and live. We would be too overwhelmed.

Exo 33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
Exo 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
Exo 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Moses' faithfulness allowed Him to be able to see God but He could not see His face.

Faithfulness pays off in the long run. Being wishy washy and unfaithful results in ruined lives and wasted years. It is always our choice.

Exodus 34