God’s Self-Revelation (Exodus 34:6-7)

Paul J. Bucknell

Knowing God Series Index

A Closer Look at God’s Character from Exodus 34:6-7

Purpose: The study of Exodus 34:6-7 gives us a lot of insight as to what is of chief importance to the Lord: His character. Special insights are gained as we analyze them as a whole.

A person’s character will shape their decisions. From this revelation of God’s character in Exodus 34:6-7, we can start understanding God’s person. Here is the list.

Compassionate

Gracious

Slow to anger

Abounding in lovingkindness

Abounding in truth

Keeps lovingkindness for thousands

Forgives iniquity, transgression and sin

By no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the 3-4th generations.

We will not expound on each item, though this is tempting. Later chapters will do this! Instead, let us try to get a general grasp as to how God presents Himself.

The Lord leaves a lot out

The many things that God could have said could go on for miles and miles. He doesn’t talk about His creative or sustaining power.

God does not mention His wisdom or knowledge. Nor does God speak about His works, whether redemptive or otherwise. Nor does the Lord speak of Him being a spirit, omnipresent (everywhere at once) or a triune God.

We should be careful not to conclude God also does not have these attributes. There is much scriptural support that demonstrates that God is mighty, wise, etc. These things will be looked at later!

All of these things are secondary, though, at least in regards to what we need to know about God. All of His attributes are fully blended in God’s wonderful person.

What God describes Himself to be

As we look at this list, we will see that many of the terms are very compatible. One who is compassionate, is often also gracious. In order to be compassionate, one has to be slow to anger.

Other terms like lovingkindness are a bit vague as to their meaning because it is a distinctly Hebrew term and no good English translation.

This is God’s special covenant love. It combines two English words and so some older translations made up a new English word composed of two English words: loving and kind.

God interestingly tells us that He is forgiving. This is different than just telling us that He is compassionate. The phrase affirms that God is willing to commune with sinners. In other words, we have a hope that God will somehow work with us despite our sin problem.

God also carries out judgment

The last item, elongated by its description, reminds us that though God is forgiving, He also is a just God. That is, God will certainly judge the sinners. God is essentially that way. Unlike us who see contradiction in being compassionate and certainly bringing guilt upon a person and his family, God sees no inconsistency in this.

These are things we need to rightly understand if we are going to commune with God. They are at the heart of what we call as salvation or redemption. Hopefully, many are further explained in the lessons ahead.

Questions

Define or describe each term.
Which one stands out the most to you?
Which attribute means the most to you? Why?
Many have a hard time understanding the last description. Do you? How do you resolve it?

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