FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CLEFT

November 25, 2012
MF Blume

  Scripture Text:


Exodus 33:18-23  And he said, I beseech You, let me see Your glory.  (19)  And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.  (20)  And He said, You cannot see My face. For there no man can see Me and live.  (21)  And Jehovah said, Behold! There is a place by Me, and you shall stand upon a rock.  (22)  And it will be, while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.  (23)  And I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back parts. But My face shall not be seen.

Song of Solomon 2:14  O My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful.

Psalms 91:1-2  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty.  (2)  I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust.


In Exodus 32, Israel fell into idolatry after they abandoned the thought of Moses ever returning down from Mount Sinai.  
·    Moses was there with God forty days and nights.
·    God did not inform him to tell Israel that would be the duration of time with God.
·    With no food nor drink, Israel felt Moses was gone.
·    So they abandoned faith in God along with thoughts of Moses’ return, and built and worshiped a golden calf.
·    Then Moses came down.
·    He smashed the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and destroyed the idol, making Israel drink the gold that was ground up from the idol and put in water.
·    (THEY SAY POWDERED GOLD IN WATER IS BLOOD RED!)

Chapter 33 shows God abandoning Israel, informing Moses He’d not personally go into Canaan with them, but He’d send an angel in his place.

In verses 7 – 11, the people watch Moses remove the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelt with them from the camp to a location outside the camp.
·    Everyone respectfully stood at their tent doors and watched Moses walk to the Tabernacle in hopes of something good coming from his time with God after this horrific abandonment .
·    It was a serious and sober time.
·    God’s presence moved from on top of Sinai and came down to the door of the tabernacle to meet Moses when Moses approached.
·    Everyone saw the miracle happen right before their eyes.
·    Everyone was on the edge.
·    What was next?

Exodus 33:12-13  And Moses said to Jehovah, Behold, You say to me, Bring up this people. And You have not told me whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.  (13)  Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found grace in Your sight, make me see now Your ways, that I may know You, that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.

Moses asked God how could it be that God knew Moses and Moses had a special grace with him if Moses did not truly know God’s way, nor even the angel whom God would send with them.
·    Moses said I WANT TO KNOW YOU.
·    “I want REAL grace in Your sight.”
·    “There’s more to You that I do not know.”
·    “I want to go beyond anything I have ever known about knowing you, Lord.”

Several years ago I realized that the cross was not something we learn about to get saved and then leave it and go onto to other things that are more deep.
·    I realized the cross is so deep that we barely scratched the surface of it when we learned it was God’s way of getting us from going to hell.
·    The greatest revelation of the glory of God that we could ever see as Christians will be found in the revelation of the CROSS.

When Moses wanted to go beyond any revelation he ever yet experienced, after having been on the Mountain with God for forty days without food or drink, supernaturally sustained in such an encounter with God was not even what Moses sensed was there to know about God.
·    Somehow Moses picked up a sense that there is FAR MORE TO GOD than he realized during this SPECIAL TIME when God set out to abandon them all.
·    Moses picked up on it and wanted to see it.
·    God said He’d go!
·    Moses interceded for Israel and came through for them!
·    It’s as though Moses felt something as soon as he himself said he found grace in God’s eyes and God knew Moses by name.
·    Something special was with Moses and he knew it.
·    It’s like he caught a picture of something about his relationship to God that he did not fully realize.
·    God even said he would not fully realize it, but God would bring Moses as close as possible to it.
·    WE HAVE MORE REVELATION NOW THAN HE DID THEN.
·    BUT even we do not see everything and we cannot in this life.

Exodus 33:13-14  Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew 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.  (14)  And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

The same cry I WANT TO KNOW YOU is repeated by Paul in Phil 3:10.

Philippians 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Moses wanted to KNOW GOD’S WAY!
·    He told God that he supposedly found grace in God’s eyes and had a special relationship, but yet what seemed to conflict with that was the fact that Moses did not really know God’s way enough to even know the angel God would send.
·    Moses wanted to be let in on these things if God really gave him favour.
·    Moses wanted to KNOW GOD MORE!


Exodus 33:17-23  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.  (18)  And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.  (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 shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.  (20)  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.  (21)  And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  (22)  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:  (23)  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

In the time when Moses sensed there was far more to God than ever realized before, and when God was able to show him all that He could in those early days so long ago before the cross, A HINT OF THE CROSS COMES INTO PLAY.

When MOSES acted like a MEDIATOR causing GOD TO REINSTATE HIS FULL BLESSINGS ON ISRAEL, a foreshadow of the CROSS occurs.

Moses went out of the camp to where the Lord demanded the Tabernacle be removed as the first step in abandoning Israel.
·    Jesus was crucified OUTSIDE Jerusalem.
·    Moses wanted to SEE THEY WAY OF GOD.
·    Jesus said I AM THE WAY!
·    Moses wanted SOLID ASSURANCE that God would forgive and be with them.
·    AND GOD DOES SOMETHING WITH HIM RELATED TO THE CROSS.

Notice that God had a special relationship with MOSES and it was associated with MOSES’NAME.
·    When Moses said YOU KNOW ME BY NAME and I FOUND GRACE IN YOUR EYES, the NAME OF MOSES is associated here.
·    What is interesting is that MOSES means DRAWN FROM THE WATER.
·    And the place where God commands Moses to SEE HIS GLORY was the CLEFT OF THE ROCK.
·    THE CLEFT was a place on MOUNT HOREB near the peak of Sinai where MOSES STRUCK THE ROCK AND WATER FLOWED FORTH!
·    Moses was to STAND IN THAT CLEFT in THAT PLACE where the water gushed out.
·    And FROM THAT PLACE MOSES WOULD COME FORTH having witnessed a GLORY OF GOD THAT HE NEVER KNEW BEFORE during the first time on the Mountain for forty days.
·    During this time, MOSES WAS IN THE MOUNTAIN ANOTHER FORTY DAYS!
·    But He never saw glory the first time like he saw it this second time!

THE CLEFT is the place of STRIKING in the rock.
·    God said it was a place NEAR HIM.
·    The place of situating oneself at the cross where Jesus died, so that we see WE DIED WITH HIM is the closest you can get to God.
·    To stand in the place of the cleft, or place of striking, is to stand in the place of Jesus’ death on the cross AS THOUGH WE DIED.

Moses wanted to go beyond the veil, so to speak.
·    He wanted to see the direct glory that was inside the cloud.
·    Moses was seeing a glory that was associated with FORGIVING ISRAEL  WITH GRACE AND MERCY, and restoring full presence of God with them SOLELY DUE TO THAT MERCY AND NOTHING ELSE.

Chapter 34 begins with a repeat of the overall TEN COMMANDMENTS on the tablets experience, and another forty days on the mountain.
·    But this time what is different is the POSITION OF MOSES IN THE CLEFT OF THEW ROCK.

There is so much glory of God in his GRACE that Moses could not see it directly.
·    He’d only see the afterglow.

Exodus 33:23  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.


But it is so glorious, that although we see far more than Moses…

2 Corinthians 3:7-14  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:  (8)  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?  (9)  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.  (10)  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.  (11)  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.  (12)  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:  (13)  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:  (14)  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18  But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.

…EVEN WE DO NOT SEE THE FULLNESS.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.  (10)  But when the perfect thing comes, then that which is in part will be caused to cease.  (11)  When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant, I reasoned as an infant. But when I became a man, I did away with the things of an infant.  (12)  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am fully known.


Even we see through a glass darkly!

Moses humbly includes HIMSELF in sin.

Exodus 34:5-9  And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah.  (6)  And Jehovah passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah! Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,  (7)  keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the sons, and on the sons of sons, to the third and to the fourth generation.  (8)  And Moses made haste and bowed toward the earth, and worshiped.  (9)  And he said, If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Jehovah, I pray You, let my Lord go among us. For it is a stiff-necked people. And pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.

Moses put himself as a sinner, even though he did not worship the golden calf.
·    THIS IS LIKE JESUS!
·    HE TOOK OUR SINS ON HIMSELF.
·    HE INTERCEDED!

God reinstates HIS COVENANT relationship with them.

Exodus 34:10  And He said, Behold! I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people in whose midst you are shall see the work of Jehovah, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.


The last time Moses descended with ten commandments, the people worshiped the golden calf.

This time it is FAR DIFFERENT.

Exodus 34:28-30  Moses stayed on the mountain with the LORD for forty days and nights, without eating or drinking. And he wrote down the Ten Commandments, the most important part of God's agreement with his people.  (29)  Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the Ten Commandments. His face was shining brightly because the LORD had been speaking to him. But Moses did not know at first that his face was shining.  (30)  When Aaron and the others looked at Moses, they saw that his face was shining, and they were afraid to go near him.


HE COMES OUT OF THE PLACE WHERE THE WATER FLOWED AT THE STRIKING, LIKE JESUS RESURRECTING FROM THE DEAD, IN GLORY!

Exodus 34:33-35  The face of Moses kept shining, and after he had spoken with the people, he covered his face with a veil.  (34)  Moses would always remove the veil when he went into the sacred tent to speak with the LORD. And when he came out, he would tell the people everything the LORD had told him to say.  (35)  They could see that his face was still shining. So after he had spoken with them, he would put the veil back on and leave it on until the next time he went to speak with the LORD.

In your mind remember that YOU DIED WITH JESUS.
·    Put yourself in the place of the STRIKING.

Song of Solomon 2:14  O My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful.

You are in the cleft NOW PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD there.
·    God put you there and wants a presentation.
·    Romans 6:13 says present yourself to GOD AS THOSE ALIVE FORM THE DEAD.

Romans 6:13  Do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God, as one alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

He wants to see your countenance.
·    In other words, you present yourself to him.
·    He wants to hear your voice SAY YOU ARE ALIVE FROM THE DEAD.
·    There you absorb the glory.
·    HIS RESURRECTION LIFE COMES ON YOU AND YOU SHINE IN RESURRECTION LIFE!

Romans 8:17-18  And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together.  (18)  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.


Notice that GLORY is associated with experience AFTER SUFFERING.

After standing in the place of the striking, joining himself to the striking as though he was truck, MOSES SHINED IN GLORY

In your mind when you obey the Lord and PUT YOURSELF IN THE DEATH OF JESUS AS IT IS YOUR DEATH, you obey the Lord.
·    And IN THAT PLACE he shows you revelation and glory!
·    The more you realize you cannot earn it and nothing you did deserves it, you truly understand GRACE.
·    The more you realize the revelation THAT IT IS NOT WHAT YOU DESERVE, let alone by your works, THE MORE GLORY COMES!
·    Do that in the midst of any need!
·    Apply the work of the cross to your troubles.
·    THROW THE TREE INTO THE BITTER WATERS OF LIFE!
·    When you do that, GOD STEPS IN WITH THE MIRACULOUS and you come out SHINING!

You leave the place of the striking where you’ve been drawn out of the water, so to speak, AND SHINE IN GLORY!

MAN’S GREATEST GLORY IS SEEN IN PASSING OVER TRANSGRESSIONS.

Proverbs 19:11  The judgment of a man puts off his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

If that is man’s glory to forgive, HOW MUCH GREATER IS GOD’S GLORY WHEN HE FORGIVES?!

Moses never saw glory like that the first time.
·    This involved FORGIVENESS, and THAT IS WHERE GOD SHINES!
·    He shines so much that HIS GLORY IS SOAKED UP IN YOUR FACE AND YOU START SHINING!
·    That is a lot of powerful shining!

Obey the Word and put yourself in the place of Christ’s death, and GOD WILL REACT WITH SUPERNATURAL GLORY ALL OVER YOU!

God put you there but it’s not enough.
·    You have to acknowledge that to kick his power into effect for you.

Even Paul associated KNOWING JESUS MORE with THE CROSS of suffering AND RESURRECTION.

Philippians 3:10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;


Psalms 91:1-2  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty.  (2)  I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust.

IN CHRIST do we trust!

In the place of his death and resurrection!