Q2. Gracious God

[Pastor Ralph]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh’s character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

[ChrisShg]

Our Lord Yahweh is a compassionate and loving God. He is also a just God, who has to punish sin wherever it is found. He is both just and merciful and through Jesus our Lord has shown both justice and mercy to us all. It is all about Grace. for it is in wrath he remembers mercy. This is my prayer today, that in God's wrath and anger of the sin in my life, he has shown mercy and to me, this is the Grace of God written all over in Yahweh's character!!

[Sue M]

Yahweh is in the heart of establishing a special covenant relationship with the people of Israel. While Moses is on Mt. Sinai, Israelites are down below making a golden calf to worship (Ex. 32). In response, Yahweh shows His purpose, justice, mercy and grace in STILL standing on His promises to bless Israel and all the world through the Messiah to come 

[Katy]

Yahweh is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, all of these beautiful characteristics are why God is full of grace and is grace. God is composed of grace. God understands us and is full of compassion towards us, He sees our weaknesses and He cares for us. God is gracious to us not because we deserve it but because He responds to us as needy creatures and He freely bestows us with His kindness and grace.  God is slow to anger, He does not respond to our transgressions with anger. He gives us time to change our ways and He prods us and guides us in the way we should go. God’s loving kindness to us show no bounds. God is always faithful, in this world there are very few people that we can say are faithful all the time but God shows His faithfulness over and over again. All of these attributes in Yahweh’s character are attributes of grace.

[Krissi]

I always thought that Moses was speaking about God in this passage; it was not God self-revealing His own character -- I was wrong. It's odd, though, that God announced Himself by name as He passed in front of Moses -- "Yahweh ... Yahweh ..."  Surely, Moses knew it was God! Yet God made certain that Moses didn't have any doubt or second thoughts about His presence.

Another mistake I have made is to think of the OT as law and the NT as grace, as if they were separated dispensations. Having said this, grace is a much bigger concept -- a more frequent word? -- in the NT. If God progressively revealed Himself in biblical history, Christians, perhaps, should not read back into the OT the NT idea of grace.

But this, too, could be wrong. Since we know God is grace/gracious, why not read this later revelation back into earlier ones? It's accurate, after all.

Just thinking aloud ...

[Liliane]

God, from the beginning, always intended for a loving relationship with all His creation, specially mankind. 

[BoazNigel]

I suppose the fact that God was willing to reveal Himself to Moses is an indicator of His grace

He reveals Himself as " ... compassionate ... gracious ... slow to anger ... abounding in love & faithfulness ... maintaining love ... forgiving wickedness, rebellion & sin ... Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished ... "

1. compassionate God understands our weaknesses & what we struggle with

2. gracious God is merciful & kind

3. slow to anger God is not 'quick tempered' but thoughtful

4. abounding in love His love (חֶסֶד hesed) hesed is not merely an emotion or feeling but involves action on behalf of someone who is in need & is always towards us

5. faithfulness God is dependable - to be trusted

6. forgiving wickedness & sin what greater demonstration of grace is there than 'forgiveness' - God forgives & in fact sent His Son to die in our place to make forgiveness possible

7. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished ... God is not an 'easy touch' - sin cannot go unpunished but knowing the character of God we can rest in the truth that the repentant are forgiven 😆

[Jen]

Here we have some words to describe God's character.  Here we see grace written throughout this passage.

We learn that God is 

1 ) merciful to us in our plight so to speak

2) gracious in His response to our plight

3)slow to anger, long suffering to us in our plight

4) abounding in steadfast love to us in our plight

In the Old Testament God gives us the law to teach us what he expects of us.  That is grace.  He gave us the way to look ahead to the finished work of Christ on the cross by the sacrifice of innocent little animals to pay the price for us.  That is His grace.

God pleads with us over and over again not to turn our backs on Him but to walk in His ways. That is grace.

He has given us His Word so we can learn of Him and love Him and obey Him for in Him we have safety and our defender. That is grace.

Look at Micah 6:8  what does the Lord expect of us, but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your (our) God. That is grace.

The law and grace are to me one and the same. We have to be taught both.

Too many people look at the abuses done by man and define God by those and not His love, truth, mercy and His justice, His law which is full of grace.

God Bless!

Jen

Father have mercy on me.   Keep your strong hand on me so I might not stray from you. Help me to comprehend the immenseness of your Word and the simplicity in it.

Thank you for all my brothers and sisters in Christ because I learn so much from them and when I cannot comprehend questions they have it spelled out for me as emotions and thoughts whirl around in my head like stew.

Thank you for men like Matthew Henry and the wonderful commentaries written.

Thank you for Pastor Ralph and these studies.  Help me to be faithful to this study as I have many distractions as a caregiver and I need these to keep me grounded in your Word

In your Word.

 

[tvt010]

I've learned that GOD has so much love for us. He is so patient with us even when we are in our struggles and weak moment.

I love how GOD displays HIS compassion, steadfast love, longsuffering, gracious and forgiveness.

[Somikazi]

In this passage we learn of the nature and attributes of God.  In chapter 33: 18 Moses pleaded with God to show him his glory and God chose to grant Moses his request in 34:6.  Moses went up the pinnacle of Mount Sinai and God descended on the cloud and stood there with him.  God proclaimed a message to Moses about who He is " The Lord, the Lord, God- this name-Yahweh the same name for God that Abraham, Isaak and Jacob knew.  God presented himself as eternal, omnipotent and unchangeable, he is the same yesterday, today and forever.  After repeating his name twice, God reveals his glorious attributed to Moses.  He is merciful and gracious - God is full of compassion, he lavishes us with undeserved free gift of his love. Long suffering - our God is slow to anger, he not short tempered and is patient with us nor matter how many times we fall in sin, he forgives us.  That is grace.  Abounding in goodness and truth- God has abundance of love, he is faithful and just.  

[Andy23]

We learnt that Moses has asked to see God's glory (Exodus 33:18). God grants his desire, but  protects Moses from His Shekinah glory so Moses would not die.  God showed Moses such compassion, abounding in love and grace in that moment.

It has everything to do with Grace, God gave Moses his desire though it was dangerous, but shield him while granting his wish.  

[hanks]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) 
What do we learn about Yahweh's character in His self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace? 
In passing God calls out His name, Yahweh, Yahweh which Moses already knew (3:14), as Jehovah, the LORD, the great I AM, the self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, and sovereign God; together with a list of attributes. Compassionate, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, longsuffering, loving, loving-kindness, and faithful. Suggesting a close relationship with His people. The attributes listed here emphasize God’s kind, caring, and benevolent character. His whole being includes all of His attributes: He is entirely merciful, entirely loving, and so forth. All these attributes, and more are contained in the word grace. 
 

[Liliane]

God knows the fallen human nature and perceives it with love and a merciful look. Because He is pure love, He will eventually send His judgement on earth. He needs to do it because of  Love. So, He died for us and set up a plan so that mankind can be forgiven, and go through a cleansing process of getting closer to Jesus ‘ character and will, day by day, little by little. 

[Lottie]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh's character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? That He is compassionate, gracious, merciful, lonsuffering or slow to anger, and faithful.

 

 

What does this have to do with grace? It is because of His very nature that He is gracious towards us who don't deserve it. Because of His love for us he is slow to get angry with us and instead extends His grace towards us when we sin. His grace reaches out through His forgiveness when we sin. He doesn't punish us for our sins because of Jesus on the cross. His grace reaches out to us when we are hurting and in need and He is comapssionate. Because of His grace He can be faithful to us even when we stray from Him. He is always ready to take us back cause that is who He is. He is love and love shows itself in all of His attributes.

[Roozita48]

We learn about Yahweh’s character in His self-revelation to Moses that He is the “God of All Grace.”  This grace encompasses His mercy, compassion, graciousness, tenderness, longsuffering, faithfulness, and His lovingkindness.

[Debra Grant]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh’s character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

God will give us the desires of our heart. He will protect us as he did Moses not letting him see his complete body or glory because it was too much and could harm Moses.

God is compassionate, merciful, and will give us things we don't deserve because he loves us. God is patient and slow to anger even when we don't understand or express our love for him.

[MountainTrek1]

2.  That Yahweh's and Moses are both deep and mysterious.  This deepness reveals mercy.

[blezed]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh’s character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

We learn that God is a God of all Grace.  He is compassionate, gracious, patient, loving and faithful surrounded with love.

 

 

[haar]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh's character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

We learn about Yahweh's character that He is the Lord God who is compassionate, graciously forgives sin and is slow to anger.

His compassion made him to bear with Moses and his generation as well as our generation. All these are available to us unmerited but by his grace alone.
 

[Rob Mc.]

God's cares about us and what we are experiencing as we live our human, “natural” lives. He understands that we are, in fact, human and have carnal weaknesses; so his compassion and understanding go out to us.   He responds by providing His unending grace, giving to those of us in need mercy and understanding.  His mercy is given because he identifies with our suffering.  In dispensing His grace, He is responding to that suffering.  

God is patient.  He listens to us without anger.  He shows forbearance and an even temperament. He is not made immediately angry by our human words and deeds. God is the Ultimate Father, treating his children (us) like every good father should.

[AKINYELE AYOMIDE PETER]

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh's character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

I learnt about God character has been a God of grace and deals with humanity in his grace which is culminated in his love towards humanity.

God character can only be extended to us through his grace, all that pertaineth to life and godliness is made available to us by his grace.......in that grace lies all the enablement for humanity to replicate his character.

[Zanele Tlhakanelo]

When we read  the Book of Exodus, we see how the Israelites over and over turned against God. How they forgot the good and precious things God did for them. But God still remained faithful and kept His promises that He made to their forefathers. In Exodus 32 we read about the Israelites asking Aaron to make a gold calf that they will worship. Did God remove Aaron to be the Priest? Not at all. Despite Aaron disobeying God, He still allowed him to serve His people. God is forever patient with us. How many times have we disobeyed Him but He kept His promises because He is just, faithful and forever gracious and merciful. His Word says" He who has promised, is faithful". Let us not take His grace for granted by sinning but note that He will forever be our Heavenly Father. 

[faith & hope 2017]

Exodus 34 tells us how Moses went back to the mountain to talk with God after he addressed the hebrews for their grievous sin against God by making and worshipping the golden calf Aaron made. Moses had destroyed the first two stones where God wrote the ten commandments upon witnessing the evilness and sins of the hebrews.  Now He has returned to the mountain to complete the conversation of Yahweh. Yahweh demonstrated His charactered in being merciful in that He understood their weakness and very gracious in showing kindness that He did not destroy them.  He, in my opinion, did not agreed with what they did, but He did not hold it against them. Even though Yahweh was definitely upset with with them but He showed great patience and love. 

Grace is an expression of love and Yahweh had a deep abounding love for the hebrews. Thank Him for His grace that abound much more and is more than sufficient. 

 

[Janzie]

On 10/6/2022 at 7:19 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Exodus 34:6) What do we learn about Yahweh’s character in his self-revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai? What does this have to do with grace?

We learn in what God said to Moses - And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  I had wondered why He said twice, the Lord, the Lord?

Because God Himself is Grace.  Everyone one of His attributes point to grace - compassion, grace, patience, love faithfulness, forgiveness - nothing we deserve.

[JOLLAM BANDA]

Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. And this is the grace of God to his people through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God's favour to his people because it is neither earned nor deserved.