" A PLACE BY ME"
Turn with me to Exodus 33:12-23. It reads as follows:
12). And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and Thou hast notlet 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.
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.
14) And He said , My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
15) And he said unto Him, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
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.
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.
18) And he said, I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory.
19) And He said, I will make all my goodnees pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD befor thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and willshew 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.
These scriptures are foretelling events that are not only going to change Moses's life, but will eventually affect every person's life that is born upon earth. Verse 13 states that "....Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way". Show me now thy way! JESUS is the way. JESUS saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) Many people have read this, but haven't ever understood what Moses was asking God to let him see. He was actually saying, show me JESUS CHRIST. Show me the One I want to see. Show me now. Do not wait until tomorrow. Yesterday is gone ; show me now.
There is only one way that you can know God and that is through JESUS, the true way. You cannot know God outside of JESUS CHRIST. Moses wanted to find grace in God's sight and to be able to see his nation's place in God when he said,
..."consider that this nation is Thy people." Moses had his hands full. I have a little church with several hundred people and sometimes, I want to swing from the rafters because there is a mean and lieing devil running around all over the place causing a lot of presssures on peoples lives. But can you imagine being a pastor over two million people and all of them right around you. You cannot pass by a tent that somebody is saying, "I don't like this manna do you? I remember when we used to raise them cucumbers down there in Egypt land. Boy, them was the best melons I ever ate." And then I can see Moses tunning around crying, "God, why are they talking this eay?" It upset him. It brought him into hardship, sometimes. And God said, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." (Exodus 33:14) Here was a man that needed rest and help. Verse 15 - And said unto him, "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." In other words, Moses was saying, "I don't want to go anywhere without you LORD. I don't want to leave here without your presence." Why would he say such a thing? Because he had been through so much and had seen so much that he knew one thing, if God is with you and God is for you, It does not do the devil any good to be against you.
If God is for you, you can make it through anything. You can survive. But Moses was saying to God, "If your presence is not going with me, I'm staying here. This is it" Verse 16 confirms this by Moses stating, "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." (Exodus 33:16) It is a wonderful thing when people start talking about how the presence of the LORD is in these meetings. But if you go about to set me up as the dominant factor in this move, then God will not have it and if you think you are the dominant factor in this move, God will not have that. But how people judge whether we have found grace in God's sight is , that God is with us and his presence is in our midst. When I walk through these doors, I can feel the presence of God and His awesome presence. Friend, that group there, was only a spiritual type of what the real JESUS people and the real Jews are. You might not agree with me, but when you belong to God and to the real body of JESUS CHRIST, you are different from the ways of the world.
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