As a Christian, I always think it is exciting when I find a verse in Scripture that gives me a clear picture of the Character of God. In Exodus 34, God tells Moses that He will pass by him and show him some of His glory. In fact, God says that His glory is so great that Moses will not be allowed to look on His face because the sheer magnificence of God would kill him.
As God passes by Moses, He puts His “hand” over Moses’ eyes to protect Moses from seeing His face and dying. After He is gone past Moses, he takes His hand away and Moses is allowed to see God’s “backward parts”. As God is passing by, He says something to Moses that gives us a bird’s eye view into the very character of God.
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, 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…”
Exodus 34:6-7a
“…The LORD, The LORD God…” God is telling Moses, “I am Jehovah, the self-existant, eternal One”. God has always existed and will always exist. The word “God” in this verse means Almighty. God is full of strength and power.
“…merciful and gracious…” Merciful means “full of compassion”. God is not a harsh God just waiting to pounce on His children who get out of line. God has mercy on us and knows our trials and sorrows. God is gracious, He is kind, friendly and benevolent.
“…longsuffering…” God does not rush to judge His children who sin against Him. Instead, He is patient and slow to anger. When someone does something wrong to us, we immediately get our defenses up and think, “How dare she…” this is not so with God.
“…abundant in goodness and truth…” God is overflowing with kindness and truthfulness. You need not doubt anything God says. He always speaks from a heart of honesty and goodwill. God is not trying to “trap” any of His children in sin. He genuinely wants the best for them.
“…keeping mercy…forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin…” The word “keep” means literally, “to guard”. God guards His mercy towards us. He forgives all of our sins, from the “smallest” sin we commit out of ignorance, to the “largest” sin we pre-meditate. God forgives it all when we repent and ask Him.
“…by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children…” At first glance this statement may seem to contradict the statement before it. This is not so. The meaning is this: If you repent and wholeheartedly seek after God, He will always lovingly and graciously forgive you. However, since God is just and righteous, He will not “look the other way” when you sin willfully with an unrepentant heart. God’s attribute of justice means that He must judge sin. Though we see through the beginning of the scripture passage that He does not enjoy doing so, His very character necessitates that He must judge. Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
These verses were so encouraging to me as I read my Bible this morning. God is not watching me critically, waiting for me to make a mistake. Instead, He watches me in love and even friendliness. He is kind and patient with me and wants me to do right.
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