I KNOW YOU BY NAME!

Exodus 33:  NLV

7Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. 11The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. 12Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

18Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

 Wow! All of this is amazing but I want to speak on the part where God said, I know you by name. Now it is obvious that, by God being God, that He knows everyone that He created by name so there must be a deeper meaning to this. God is telling Moses that we have a special connection, a special relationship that is like no other in the camp. When God said He know him by name He was saying I speak to you like no other face to face meaning audible understanding like two friends speak. He is saying I share things with you that I share with no other because you have favor in My sight. God also showed his sovereignty by saying I will have compassion for whomever I choose to. The reason he said this is that the prior verse that I did not highlight, God said He will not go with them because they are a stiff necked people and He might kill them out of anger. But He changed His mind because of the favor He saw in Moses. He took care of Moses when he allowed Moses to get a gimps of His back.


Now, Moses saw the back of Jesus Christ. How do I know this? The reason is because the bible tells us that the Father never leaves heaven. The Father, God head, always sit on the throne. No one has seen the Father, "who is in heaven", except for the Son. Later we know that He became flesh and showed Himself to man as a human so that He could suffer death, and now we receive Him through the Holy Spirit. TheThree working separately as One. I don't want to get too deep into this but just to say that before Jesus came, God introduced Himself as I Am that I Am. The people understood that there is only One God and there is. God introduced Himself the way He wanted to be introduced at that time period  and by the prophets, He gave clues as to the fullness of God. It wasn't until Christ came that God introduced Himself as what we call the trinity God the Father, Jesus as the Son of God and the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost as the Comforter revealing the prophecy. Now back to Moses, Jesus showed his back to Moses and said, I will cause my GOODNESS to pass in front of you AND I WILL PROCLAIM MY NAME, THE LORD, in your presence. My Lord. He did something for Moses that he has done for no other. Gills commentary explains it like this: God's goodness, Which is his glory; the glory of the Lord lies in his goodness, and that appears in the works of his hands, in the methods of his providence, especially in the distribution of his sovereign grace and mercy, and particularly in his pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of Christ; for as it is "the glory" of a man "to pass over a transgression",



and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee: his name and his nature, his perfections, and the glory of them, as displayed in Christ; or when he is about to pass, or while he is passing by, lest he should pass by unobserved, I will proclaim aloud and give thee notice that he is now passing by thee, whose name is Jehovah, and whose nature, glory, and goodness, are as follow:


and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy: signifying that notwithstanding the children of Israel had sinned against him in such a manner as they had, yet he should show favour, grace, and mercy to them, in pardoning their sins; and it should be distributed, not according to any merits of theirs, but according to his sovereign will and pleasure, and not to all, but to whomsoever he thought fit; and in this would be seen his glory: and so it is with respect to grace and mercy, as displayed in Christ to sinful men; it is not in proportion to their deserts, but according to the purpose and good will of God, and that not unto all, but unto some whom he has appointed, not unto wrath, but unto salvation by Jesus Christ, and which is to the glory of his grace; and the more enlarged view men have of this, the more clearly and fully does the goodness and glory of God pass before them.

Now let's flip to present by going to: John 11:11

11I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

God is speaking about those who are born again. It is God that lives on the inside of us that makes us greater than John the Baptist not because we are a better person than he is but because it was made possible by the work of Christ. 

Now let us look at Exodus again and see what God had done at Moses request because He know Moses by name through having favor or grace in God's sight. Now, thanks to Christ, we also have a special relationship with God. Like Moses we can say He knows our name. And now because of what Christ did for us we have a direct contact with God because, even though we don't see Him, He lives on the inside of us and is always with us at all times. And because of this, we have direct contact with the Father as well for we are able to pray saying Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name. That we are separated from the rest of the world because He has separated by sanctifying us. And it is the Holy Spirit that teaches us His ways through His word and in our hearts. That His ways is not taught by man, but by God Himself! What a fellowship, what peace we have, what a privilege we have. 

Praise Him for we have favor with God!

God bless you.