Sabbath School Week

Read for This Week’s Study

Exod. 33:7–34:35; Deut. 18:15, 18; John 17:3; Rom. 2:4; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 3:18.

Memory Text:

“And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation’ ” (Exod. 34:6, 7, NKJV).

We all need to grow in our walk with God. Without growth, we are dead. The apostle Peter declares: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Pet. 3:18, NIV). We need to be willing to grow. We are daily in God’s university, where there is no graduation but a constant learning process. In each stage of growth, you can be perfect if you allow God to mold you into the person that He calls you, in Christ, to be.

Think of a school. If first-graders learn how to read and count to 100, they receive a passing grade because their knowledge is perfect at that stage and scale of growth. However, if this same level of knowledge, and no more, was detected in a high schooler, it would indicate a colossal failure in his or her education. It is similar with our growth in the grace and knowledge of God. In each stage of our development, we can be as perfect in our sphere as Christ was in His.

This week we study how Moses, through knowing and following God’s instructions, was growing in his walk with the Lord.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 20.

Supplemental EGW Notes

After the transgression of Israel in making the golden calf, Moses again goes to plead with God in behalf of his people. He has some knowledge of those who have been placed under his care; he knows the perversity of the human heart, and realizes the difficulties with which he must contend. But he has learned from experience that in order to have an influence with the people, he must first have power with God. The Lord reads the sincerity and unselfish purpose of the heart of his servant, and condescends to commune with this feeble mortal, face to face, as a man speaks with a friend. Moses casts himself and all his burdens fully upon God, and freely pours out his soul before him. The Lord does not reprove his servant, but stoops to listen to his supplications.
Moses has a deep sense of his unworthiness, and his unfitness for the great work to which God has called him. He pleads with intense earnestness that the Lord will go with him. The answer comes, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” [See Exodus 33:12–23.] But Moses does not feel that he can stop here. He has gained much, but he longs to come still nearer to God, to obtain a stronger assurance of his abiding presence. He has carried the burden of Israel; he has borne an overwhelming weight of responsibility; when the people sinned, he suffered keen remorse, as though he himself were guilty; and now there presses upon his soul a sense of the terrible results, should God leave Israel to hardness and impenitence of heart. They would not hesitate to kill Moses, and through their own rashness and perversity they would soon fall a prey to their enemies, and thus dishonor the name of God before the heathen. Moses presses his petition with such earnestness and fervency that the answer comes, “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.”—Gospel Workers, p. 33.

But Moses discerned ground for hope where there appeared only discouragement and wrath. The words of God, “Let Me alone,” he understood not to forbid but to encourage intercession, implying that nothing but the prayers of Moses could save Israel, but that if thus entreated, God would spare His people. . . .
As Moses interceded for Israel, his timidity was lost in his deep interest and love for those for whom he had, in the hands of God, been the means of doing so much. The Lord listened to his pleadings, and granted his unselfish prayer. God had proved His servant; He had tested his faithfulness and his love for that erring, ungrateful people, and nobly had Moses endured the trial. His interest in Israel sprang from no selfish motive. The prosperity of God’s chosen people was dearer to him than personal honor, dearer than the privilege of becoming the father of a mighty nation. God was pleased with his faithfulness, his simplicity of heart, and his integrity, and He committed to him, as a faithful shepherd, the great charge of leading Israel to the Promised Land.—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 318, 319.

The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.

Read Exodus 33:7–11. Why did God ask Moses to build the tent of meeting?

We must not confuse “the tent of meeting” (built outside of Israel’s camp) with the tabernacle, which was later constructed and located in the center of the camp. We do not know how often Moses consulted with God in the tent of meeting. However, one thing we know for sure: Moses’ encounters with God resulted in a close friendship between them. “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exod. 33:11, NKJV). A friend is a person we can consult and openly discuss most everything with and trust that he or she will never reveal it to others. A friend is one of the nicest things to have and one of the nicest persons to be.

As recorded in Exodus 19–34, the story of Moses is very instructive of how God transforms our lives. How did God build a relationship with this outstanding leader? A study of the life of Moses shows how he grew in his knowledge, not only of God’s power but of His love and character. This is a crucial component of having a relationship with God.

Prior to arriving at Mount Sinai, Moses was mightily used by God even while being prepared for a special leadership role. In the land of Midian, while taking care of sheep, God inspired him to write two books: Job and Genesis. Then, in the dramatic event of the burning bush, he was called by God to lead Israel out of Egypt. He saw the defeat of the Egyptian gods and the mighty Egyptian army in the Red Sea. He observed for many weeks how God led Israel from Egypt to Sinai. After the experience resulted in his shining face, he led Israel for another 39 years, to the brink of the Promised Land. The biblical message states that Moses was a faithful servant of God (Deut. 34:5, Josh. 1:1), an unimpaired light in the darkness, a model prophet by whom others would be measured (Deut. 18:15, 18). He was an agent of change, even though the people did not always follow his directions and words. When they did, they prospered.

We may learn from Moses because his exceptional life story tells us what God can do when we let Him change us. What were some turning points in your walk with God, where you recognized how He worked powerfully in your life?

Supplemental EGW Notes

God honors those who humble themselves before him. Moses, disheartened by the discontent and murmuring of the people he was leading into the land of promise, pleaded with God for the assurance of his presence, saying: “See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people; and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.” And the Lord said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”
Encouraged by the assurance of God’s presence, Moses drew still nearer, and ventured to ask for still further blessings. “I beseech thee,” he said, “show me thy glory.” Think you that God reproved Moses for his presumption?—No, indeed. Moses did not make this request from idle curiosity. He had an object in view. He saw that in his own strength he could not do the work of God acceptably. He knew that if he could obtain a clear view of the glory of God, he would be enabled to go forward in his important mission, not in his own strength, but in the strength of the Lord God Almighty. His whole soul was drawn out after God; he longed to know more of him, that he might feel the divine presence near in every emergency or perplexity. It was not selfishness that led Moses to ask for a sight of the glory of God. His only object was a desire better to honor his Maker.
God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, and he understood the motives that prompted the request of his faithful servant. He answered Moses, saying: “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.” “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, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”
Moses had genuine humility, and the Lord honored him by showing him his glory. Even so will he honor all who will serve him, as did Moses, with a perfect heart. He does not require his servants to work in their own strength. He will impart his wisdom to those who have a humble and contrite spirit. The righteousness of Christ will go before them, and the glory of the Lord will be their rereward. Nothing in this world can harm those who are thus honored by a close connection with God.—“The Grace of Humility,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 11, 1897, par. 4–7.

The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.

Read Exodus 33:12–17. What did Moses ask the Lord to teach him? Why did he demand God’s presence to guide them?

Moses’ growth in the Lord was steady. He drew closer and closer to the Lord and sought to model himself after God’s image. One day when he was conversing with God in the tent of meeting, Moses suddenly realized that he did not know Him, and he uttered a specific prayer: “ ‘Show me now Your way, that I may know You’ ” (Exod. 33:13, NKJV). Moses was aware of his deep need to understand God on a new level. He discovered that the more he knew the Lord, the more he did not know Him. He recog­nized his need and wholeheartedly desired to know Him better. God willingly granted Moses’ wish.

By looking at the experiences of Moses so far, we can observe how Moses was drawn into a deeper, intimate relationship with the Lord and how he grew spiritually.

First, Moses climbed the mountain and “went up to God” (Exod. 19:3, NKJV). Then he went “to the top of the mountain” (Exod. 19:20, NKJV) and afterward approached the cloud, “the thick darkness” in which God resided (Exod. 20:21, NKJV).

On another occasion, “Moses entered the cloud” where God was, and he stayed with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights (Exod. 24:18, NIV). During these 40 days, God gave Moses two precious gifts: (1) the gift of the Decalogue written by God Himself on the two tablets, also chiseled by Him (Exod. 24:12), and (2) the instructions on how to build and furnish the tabernacle (see Exodus 25–31).

Then he spent another 40 days and nights with the Lord, interceding for sinners (Exod. 32:30–32, Deut. 9:18).

Yet, even after all this, Moses desired to know God’s character more concretely, and God soon gave him special insights to understand who He is. This knowledge Moses desired was not a mere intellectual understanding of God but an experiential knowledge of His person.

No wonder centuries later Jesus would say: “ ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent’ ” (John 17:3, NKJV). What better way for God to make Himself known to humans than by becoming a human Himself?

Do you know God, or do you just know about Him? What is the crucial difference between the two?

Supplemental EGW Notes

Moses manifested his great love for the people in his entreaty to the Lord to forgive their sin, or blot his name out of the book which he had written. His intercessions here illustrate Christ’s love and mediation for the sinful race. The Lord refused to let Moses suffer for the sins of his backsliding people. He declared to him that those who had sinned against him, would he blot out of his book which he had written; for the righteous should not suffer for the guilt of the sinner. The book here referred to is the book of records in Heaven, where every name is recorded, and their acts, their sins, and obe­dience are faithfully written. When any one commits sins which are too grievous for the Lord to pardon, their names are erased from the book, and they are devoted to destruction. Although Moses realized the dreadful fate of those whose names should be dropped from the book of God, yet he plainly declared before God that if the names of his erring Israel should be blotted out, and be no more remembered by him for good, he wished his name to be blotted out with theirs’. For he could never endure to see the fullness of his wrath come upon the people for whom he had wrought such wonders.—Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, pp. 285, 286.

After the Lord had given Moses all these gracious assurances, did he rest in satisfaction, and settle down in content?—No; he still desired something of the Lord; he prayed, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” The glory of God was revealed to Moses, and it will be revealed to those who seek for it as earnestly as did Moses.—“Our Need of Unselfish Love,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 28, 1891, par. 7.

We should plead with God for his blessings, as Moses pleaded with him in the mount. We have no time to wait. Our Lord is coming, and it is time to set our house in order. There is a great work to be done, and if you go to your neighbor with your heart all warm and glowing with love, do you not think that you can find the key to unlock your neighbor’s heart? The trouble with our work has been that we have been content to present a cold theory of the truth. We have not let our hearts melt down before those with whom we work. O that the Lord might quicken our understanding, and give us a realization of the time in which we are living! Many have walked in the sparks of their own kindling, but we should plead with God as did Moses, advancing step by step until we can say, “Show me thy glory.” Moses was in earnest in the matter, and the Lord put him in a cleft in the rock, and let his goodness pass before him. Have you thought of that? He let his goodness pass before him. O my brethren, what will not the Lord do for us, if we will but seek him with all the heart?—“Let Us Go Without the Camp,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 28, 1889, par. 10.

The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.