Exodus 34:1-7 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 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, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
The LORD heard Moses’ heartfelt intercession for the children of Israel and restored His testimony to them. There was a difference in the tables this second time that the LORD gave the testimony. The first time, God provided the tables upon which He wrote the testimony. This time, He commanded Moses to hew the tables and make them like the tables that the LORD had originally provided. However, it was still the hand of God that wrote the words on these tables just like at the first.
Being a stiffnecked people, we may experience in our lives transgressing the word of God to the point that we do not feel we are able to bear His testimony. The LORD has already done His work in choosing and fashioning us to bear that testimony. If we fall into idolatry, we must (by God’s grace) repent and return unto Him that we might again bear His testimony. He has no need to prepare the original work again, but it is still His hand that will write His testimony in us again.
Just as He had promised, He appeared to Moses in the mount on this occasion, passed before him, and proclaimed to Moses the name of the LORD. This was more than God simply stating that He was (and is) indeed the “self-Existent, Jehovah.” The LORD proclaimed to Moses the very Authority and Character of God. He proclaimed His core attributes of mercy, grace, longsuffering, abundant goodness, and truth. He declared from His own mouth to Moses that grace abounds!
He also declared that His abundant grace, mercy, and truth did not dilute His righteousness in despising iniquity. While we know that the blood of Christ has washed us clean of our sins for all eternity, we also know that this does not prevent the chastening hand of our Father in our lives as we live here. He punishes iniquity throughout all generations without losing His capacity for grace, mercy, and abundant truth. Paul understood this when he wrote “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid (Romans 6:1-2).”
Having had such a revelation of the character and power of God, Moses did the only thing he could do. Moses made haste, bowed his head, and worshipped. Beloved, every time God blesses us to glimpse something of His great character, like Moses, it causes us to bow before the LORD and worship. May we be blessed to know all the days of our life that He is worthy of our adoration!