“The glory of God is His character.”
Exodus 34:5-8
(5) And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
(6) And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
(7) 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.
(8) And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Explanation
In the previous chapter, Moses had asked God to show him His glory. This passage is the realization of that request. When God moved to “show” His glory, He did so with a declaration of His character.
“…all the words which the language contained to express the idea of grace in its varied manifestations to the sinner, are crowded together here, to reveal the fact that in His inmost being God is love. But in order that grace may not be perverted by sinners into a ground of wantonness, justice is not wanting even here with its solemn threatenings…”
Keil & Delitszch, Exodus 34:1-8, e-sword ver. 11.1.0
If we want the world around us to see the glory of our God, declaring His character in word and in action will go a long way.
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
Nathan M. McConnell 