The Faces of God: EXDOUS 33:11-34:7
Here’s an interesting question: “Does God have faces. If yes, how many?
First of all, we know that this is not literal, since God is not human, so as to say He has a face or faces. So, this must be a spiritually oriented question. The reason for this is that we read in Exodus 33:11, “YHVH would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another.” Yet in another part of scripture, we read: “You can not see my face, for man may not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). So, how did Moshe and God speak “face to face?”
The English reads, “face to face,” but in the original Hebrew it reads, “Panim El Panim” or “faces to faces.” The word “El” could also be read as “God” because that is one of His names. So we could also look at it as “faces God faces.” It makes no sense in English, but in Hebrew, it does make sense.
When a person has mood changes, the face changes as well. We can make “sad faces’ “happy faces,” “ angry faces,” etc So, let’s read on and see if we can understand “Panim El Panim”. Moshe wants to see the glory “HaKavod YHVH,” he goes back up for a second copy of the commandments.
“Show me thy glory!” the LORD responded; “I will make all my goodness go before thee,” yet, he said that no one could see the “face” of YHVH, who can look upon the pure essence of YHVH? For it would drive the spirit out of the body, so, as YHVH passed by, Moshe saw the “after-effect”, the “tail end”. It could be similar to my experience in seeing Haley’s comet back in 1986. While I was in college, I went to Lynchburg College Observatory, which was open to the public. We could see Haley’s comet going back out into space. I saw the “tail end” of the comet, which was just a faint glow at that time. Now Moshe gets the second set of the tablets, and YHVH gives them to him with these words:
“YHVH, YHVH God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and their children’s children……” (Exodus 34:5-7)
Could we dare say that these “attributes” or “personalities” could be expressed in the words “Panim El Panim,” The “faces of God’s character?” He has the face of mercy, the face of Grace, the face of long-suffering, the faces of goodness and truth, the face of forgiveness, yet He also has the faces of judgment, punishment, wrath, and jealousy. “El Kana” (Jealous God). This is something to think about.
These are good descriptions of our God. He IS full of mercy and showed us grace, in that we were yet sinners. He came to earth in human form and died for us all. He is “long suffering” in that he puts up with our “stuff’ our “attitudes” and “rebellions” and gives us second, third, and fourth “chances” to repent, He could have wiped out Israel in one second, but he didn’t. He gave us his Torah, the Bible which is full of “goodness” and IS the TRUTH, he forgives sin, but ONLY when we come to him as repentant sinners and trust Yeshua as our Savior and LORD. He does not clear the guilty ONLY WHEN the guilty DO NOT REPENT! And yes, the sins of the fathers can affect the children, just look at the public schools today, the students are rebellious, disrespectful because they have learned that from THEIR PARENTS!
If the kids hear the parents fuss and cuss, they will too. . Children will copy their parents in all ways; however, the blood of Yeshua can heal all of that. The generational curses can be cut short when YESHUA comes into the lives of families.
Moshe returns to the congregation with the new set of tablets, and YHVH instructs him and reminds him of his commandments, “Yes, I will go before thee…only observe all that I am commanding thee this day….
Moshe comes down “glowing” like a thousand-watt light bulb. Why? He has been in the presence of YHVH right there, in the middle of the Shekinah glory! If he glowed with God’s glory, Moshe being a sinner like all of us, can you imagine how Adam and Eve glowed before the fall? Being in constant fellowship with Elohim? It was only after the fall that the “light covering” was left, and they found themselves “naked!” Moses had to cover his face with a veil because he noticed that the shining glory that covered his face was fading. So, this "shine" was something temporary: (2 Corinthians 3:13-16)
Yeshua said, “Ye are the light of the world.” Yes, we are, yet we have no light of our own; we reflect the light of Messiah Yeshua in our own lives. Is our light bright, like that which reflected from Moshe? Or…dim?
STANDING ON THE ROCK! (Exodus 33:12-23) Let's go back to chapter 33 to hear Moses ask YHVH a very interesting question: “You say bring these people up, but who is going with me?”
Without guidance, we can go nowhere. It is like walking in the dark without a flashlight or being in the middle of the ocean without a compass. Where will we go? Who will lead us? Adonai has the answer Moshe is searching for.
“My presence goes, and I shall give you rest” (vs 14). The “Ruach Elohim”(Holy Spirit) will go with the people, and they will receive “shalom”. There are two kinds of rest, “physical rest” from our labors, and “spiritual rest” that is from within us. Before, we were burdened down with the curse of sin, but once we accept Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Christ) as our LORD and Savior, we have his “presence” inside of us to give us “peace” (shalom)
Moshe wants to experience the “essence” of YHVH, but who can know who He really is? Can we grasp the meaning of the universe? The mind of God? We are limited to what we can fathom as fallen beings, but YHVH listens to Moshe and gives him an answer.
“I shall cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I shall proclaim the Name of YHVH………See, there is a place with me, and you shall stand on the ROCK……. (Exodus 33: 19,21)
There was a special place, a special ROCK, where Moshe was placed, he “Stood” upon the ROCK (HaTzur). In the picturesque/symbolic ancient Hebrew, the letters can symbolize, “The first Tzadik to receive the nail.”
The ROCK symbolizes YESHUA, who IS the TZADIK (the righteous one) who received the Nail and paid our sin price in full, and thus…giving us SHALOM (rest) from our spiritual torment of being lost, sinners.
The name YHVH proclaimed is HAVAYAH, (the essence of existence), who is “Haya” (the past), Hoveh (the present), and “Yiyah” (the future), and who is YESHUAH (salvation of YAH). So, Moses "stood" or was "Placed in the cleft of a certain ROCK" while all the goodness of Adonai went before him. He caught a glimpse of HIS GLORY. Yet we can realize this. A physical sight or glimpse of something glorious passes away. It is here for a few minutes, then vanishes, yet the Written Word and God's Holy Spirit are something permanent. They stay with us. So, let us not concentrate on emotional feelings, or soul-stirring visions or sights, but rather on the eternal promises of HIS WORD, which stay with us forever.
Shalom
Here’s an interesting question: “Does God have faces. If yes, how many?
First of all, we know that this is not literal, since God is not human, so as to say He has a face or faces. So, this must be a spiritually oriented question. The reason for this is that we read in Exodus 33:11, “YHVH would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another.” Yet in another part of scripture, we read: “You can not see my face, for man may not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). So, how did Moshe and God speak “face to face?”
The English reads, “face to face,” but in the original Hebrew it reads, “Panim El Panim” or “faces to faces.” The word “El” could also be read as “God” because that is one of His names. So we could also look at it as “faces God faces.” It makes no sense in English, but in Hebrew, it does make sense.
When a person has mood changes, the face changes as well. We can make “sad faces’ “happy faces,” “ angry faces,” etc So, let’s read on and see if we can understand “Panim El Panim”. Moshe wants to see the glory “HaKavod YHVH,” he goes back up for a second copy of the commandments.
“Show me thy glory!” the LORD responded; “I will make all my goodness go before thee,” yet, he said that no one could see the “face” of YHVH, who can look upon the pure essence of YHVH? For it would drive the spirit out of the body, so, as YHVH passed by, Moshe saw the “after-effect”, the “tail end”. It could be similar to my experience in seeing Haley’s comet back in 1986. While I was in college, I went to Lynchburg College Observatory, which was open to the public. We could see Haley’s comet going back out into space. I saw the “tail end” of the comet, which was just a faint glow at that time. Now Moshe gets the second set of the tablets, and YHVH gives them to him with these words:
“YHVH, YHVH God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and their children’s children……” (Exodus 34:5-7)
Could we dare say that these “attributes” or “personalities” could be expressed in the words “Panim El Panim,” The “faces of God’s character?” He has the face of mercy, the face of Grace, the face of long-suffering, the faces of goodness and truth, the face of forgiveness, yet He also has the faces of judgment, punishment, wrath, and jealousy. “El Kana” (Jealous God). This is something to think about.
These are good descriptions of our God. He IS full of mercy and showed us grace, in that we were yet sinners. He came to earth in human form and died for us all. He is “long suffering” in that he puts up with our “stuff’ our “attitudes” and “rebellions” and gives us second, third, and fourth “chances” to repent, He could have wiped out Israel in one second, but he didn’t. He gave us his Torah, the Bible which is full of “goodness” and IS the TRUTH, he forgives sin, but ONLY when we come to him as repentant sinners and trust Yeshua as our Savior and LORD. He does not clear the guilty ONLY WHEN the guilty DO NOT REPENT! And yes, the sins of the fathers can affect the children, just look at the public schools today, the students are rebellious, disrespectful because they have learned that from THEIR PARENTS!
If the kids hear the parents fuss and cuss, they will too. . Children will copy their parents in all ways; however, the blood of Yeshua can heal all of that. The generational curses can be cut short when YESHUA comes into the lives of families.
Moshe returns to the congregation with the new set of tablets, and YHVH instructs him and reminds him of his commandments, “Yes, I will go before thee…only observe all that I am commanding thee this day….
Moshe comes down “glowing” like a thousand-watt light bulb. Why? He has been in the presence of YHVH right there, in the middle of the Shekinah glory! If he glowed with God’s glory, Moshe being a sinner like all of us, can you imagine how Adam and Eve glowed before the fall? Being in constant fellowship with Elohim? It was only after the fall that the “light covering” was left, and they found themselves “naked!” Moses had to cover his face with a veil because he noticed that the shining glory that covered his face was fading. So, this "shine" was something temporary: (2 Corinthians 3:13-16)
Yeshua said, “Ye are the light of the world.” Yes, we are, yet we have no light of our own; we reflect the light of Messiah Yeshua in our own lives. Is our light bright, like that which reflected from Moshe? Or…dim?
STANDING ON THE ROCK! (Exodus 33:12-23) Let's go back to chapter 33 to hear Moses ask YHVH a very interesting question: “You say bring these people up, but who is going with me?”
Without guidance, we can go nowhere. It is like walking in the dark without a flashlight or being in the middle of the ocean without a compass. Where will we go? Who will lead us? Adonai has the answer Moshe is searching for.
“My presence goes, and I shall give you rest” (vs 14). The “Ruach Elohim”(Holy Spirit) will go with the people, and they will receive “shalom”. There are two kinds of rest, “physical rest” from our labors, and “spiritual rest” that is from within us. Before, we were burdened down with the curse of sin, but once we accept Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Christ) as our LORD and Savior, we have his “presence” inside of us to give us “peace” (shalom)
Moshe wants to experience the “essence” of YHVH, but who can know who He really is? Can we grasp the meaning of the universe? The mind of God? We are limited to what we can fathom as fallen beings, but YHVH listens to Moshe and gives him an answer.
“I shall cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I shall proclaim the Name of YHVH………See, there is a place with me, and you shall stand on the ROCK……. (Exodus 33: 19,21)
There was a special place, a special ROCK, where Moshe was placed, he “Stood” upon the ROCK (HaTzur). In the picturesque/symbolic ancient Hebrew, the letters can symbolize, “The first Tzadik to receive the nail.”
The ROCK symbolizes YESHUA, who IS the TZADIK (the righteous one) who received the Nail and paid our sin price in full, and thus…giving us SHALOM (rest) from our spiritual torment of being lost, sinners.
The name YHVH proclaimed is HAVAYAH, (the essence of existence), who is “Haya” (the past), Hoveh (the present), and “Yiyah” (the future), and who is YESHUAH (salvation of YAH). So, Moses "stood" or was "Placed in the cleft of a certain ROCK" while all the goodness of Adonai went before him. He caught a glimpse of HIS GLORY. Yet we can realize this. A physical sight or glimpse of something glorious passes away. It is here for a few minutes, then vanishes, yet the Written Word and God's Holy Spirit are something permanent. They stay with us. So, let us not concentrate on emotional feelings, or soul-stirring visions or sights, but rather on the eternal promises of HIS WORD, which stay with us forever.
Shalom
