Grace in the Old Testament
284 | “So Good, You Are the Worst”
Experience the Grace of the Old Testament
Think the Old Testament God is all thunder, lightning, and judgment while the New Testament God is all gracious and loving? Think again! This week, we're diving into the exact moment God defined Himself right after Israel's absolute worst failure — the golden calf incident. It turns out Exodus 34:6–7 is essentially the "John 3:16 of the Old Testament." We pull apart deep Hebrew concepts like “rachum” (visceral, gut-level compassion) and “hesed” (loyal, covenant love), explore why Jonah tried to weaponize God's goodness as a complaint, and discover that Jesus isn't a shift from the Father — He's the perfect, face-to-face reflection of who God has always been.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: God’s grace isn't a New Testament update, it is the heartbeat of his character from the beginning.
This Week's Challenge: Before you check your phone in the morning, let the God of Sinai define his heart toward you: merciful, gracious, and abounding in steadfast love.
-
Old Testament Grace Intro
Ryan: you are so good, you are the worst. I
Bryan: Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast. I'm Bryan Schiele.
And thanks so much everyone for tuning in.
You know, many people feel like they're reading about two different gods when they flip from the Old Testament to the New Testament. They see a God of thunder and judgment on Sinai, and a God of bread and wine in the Gospels.
Ryan: But today we're looking at the moment God actually defined himself. It happens right after Israel's greatest failure, and what he says about his own heart is kind of like the John 3.16 of the Old Testament. Turns out grace isn't a New Testament invention.
Lord of the Rings Names
Bryan: So you guys did this thing when we were in Indiana that you all, you and Alan actually both evangelized to my daughter, um, but not in the ways that we think about. Uh, you guys told her about the, the joys of Lord of the Rings. And, uh, you know, she had been resisting watching that movie for so long, and then she got back and she's like, "Okay, fine."
And then she just had to, like, completely end to end binge all the movies, extended edition, and The Hobbit, extended editions. And, uh, so I've got the, I've got The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings on the brain here as we begin this episode. I'm just kind of thinking how important names are, and I was thinking about Thorin Oakenshield, how, like, his last name is Oakenshield because he used a big piece of wood as a shield.
Um, we're gonna talk a lot about what a name is and what it, what it means for, you know, to consider someone's name and who, what makes up a person's character. I just was kinda thinking, like, if you had a name in the Hobbit world, do you know what your surname might be, like, uh, like Oakenshield?
Ryan: Oh, man. I, I don't think give yourself usually.
Bryan: Like a call sign in the military.
Ryan: Yeah, I always thought, like, why do, like, rock stars, like, you know, The Edge and Sting, you know, get to, get to choose cool names for themselves? Like, call me The Fist, you know? Uh, power. M- Mister, you know, like, I don't know. I could go with that.
I-- Like, I would aspire to certain things to, you know... Like, I always loved Barnabas, the son of encouragement, but I would probably some silly name like Coughs a Lot or you know, because of my annoying asthmatic cough that I'm dealing with right now or, or something like that. What about you?
What's, what is, what name or what would you choose?
Bryan: Ryan Coughs a Lot is pretty sick. I like that a lot. Uh, no pun intended. I think I'd be Bryan Spreadsheet Smith.
Um, just something nerdy like that. I don't know. I, I feel like that's, uh, like super tight, um, just the way... Okay.
Bryan Spreadsheet Smith, I think is where I would land. Uh, yeah, I think
that's, that describes me fairly well.
I don't know. Uh, just something overly nerdy to think about.
God Declares His Name
Bryan: Um- Yeah, so as we kick off this episode thinking about names and how we describe ourself, I've been, uh, recently preaching through this, uh, series of verses in Exodus 34, which I just love so much. And I think, you know, if we, if we didn't get enough of it reading it on the last episode, um, can we just read it again?
This is Exodus 34, beginning in verse 6. It says, "The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.'"
This is God declaring over his people his own name and who he is and what he's all about, what his character is. And so if, if Ryan is, uh, Ryan Coughs a Lot and I'm Bryan Spreadsheet Smith, this is a great explanation of who God is, a God slow to anger, merciful and compassionate and gracious, and all of the things he describes about himself.
Golden Calf Context
Bryan: And I just kind of thinking about this story, do... You're aware, right, of when all of this happens? Uh, this is happening at the, after the golden calf has occurred, like right after it. And so what is that like when you think about God saying these kinds of things about himself in the context of where this story lands in the Book of Exodus?
Like, why is this important for God to say this at this time?
Ryan: Well,
if he, if it, it's kind of like a Romans 5 kind of thing. If, if it's true when we're at our worst, then it's, it's gotta be true all the times. Like, this is who he is. This isn't sometimes God is, is kinda nice to people, you know? This is his essence. This is fundamentally who God is,
he says, "I'm gonna show you who I am. I'm gonna declare my name, the Lord, Yahweh-" And I'll be gracious, I'm gonna be gracious to who I'm gonna be gracious to, but nobody can see my face. And so then we get to this, and he's proclaiming his name, Yahweh Yahweh, which has its own depth of meaning, his personal name, and then gives this picture of, "If I'm gonna describe to you myself, here's who you need to know that I am."
And so to answer your question, like this is a steadying anchor for the relationship of God with his people. Even at this moment, they need to know, of all, that, that he doesn't approve of sin, that he expects a, a kind of obedience and covenant loyalty. But even in the face of them breaking the covenant right at the beginning, he's slow to anger, he's gracious,
Bryan: Yeah, I think it just, you know, like we talked about a couple episodes ago, the kindness and severity of God, and how, like, putting these things together, just the, the way that God is able to express both of these things in His grace, in His, you know, mercy, in His compassion that He has here. We'll talk about that word in a second.
But, like, when you think about these words, it, you, you put that right alongside, you know, slow to anger, which not that God is angry as a characteristic, but that He is patient and slow to anger. But He's not gonna let stuff fly, and that's verse seven. You know, where verse seven goes. He's not gonna, He's not gonna pardon people who just willfully disregard Him.
So, you know, it's, it's this two-sided coin that we always think about when we think about God's grace and His mercy and His love and His generosity. Like, that God will not tolerate, though, sin and the way that, you know, people will willfully involve themselves in sin But it's also, like, this is the John 3:16 of Old Testament passages. This is, like, the most quoted verse throughout the Bible, uh, throughout the Old Testament at least. Um, these descriptions of God, especially in Psalms, all over the place in Psalms about, you know, God being these characteristics: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger.
You know, all these things that, like- People in the Bible constantly throw back to God as, as being this way. And so I think it's kinda cool just to start off and focus in on God being these things.
Compassion and Emotion
Bryan: And maybe, maybe it'd be helpful for us to think about some of these words. Um, two of the words so far that I've been preaching on have been rachum and khanun, which, uh, are compassionate and gracious.
This, word actually has, like, a womb-like characteristic to it, a quality to it.
Um, and it's like, like what happens when you have compassion touches you, like, in your core, like from down deep within you. Um, and we'll maybe talk about it a little bit, but this is, like, the kind of compassion that I feel like Jesus had to have been having all the time in his ministry when he looked to people and was like...
It just like, it was like a gut punch when he saw people who needed him so badly. And that's the very first word that God is using to describe of himself, that he has an emotional response to people suffering.
Ryan: And, and it's such a tender, like family
You know, we often make the point when we talk about agape that it is not just about our feelings. You know, agape love in the New Testament, that divine love that Jesus shows that we're supposed to have for our enemies.
Um, make that point because we wanna say it's a goodwill that you are acting with, that you are desiring for other people, and you don't always feel these warm feelings
Bryan: Like, there's an intentionality to it, like a choice to it, right?
Ryan: Yes. Which is different than this word, right? This word is whenever, you know, the, the Greek version of this would be whenever- The Good Samaritan s-sees the man on the side of the road, and he feels compassion, and then he shows mercy.
And so it is a feeling thing, but it is a, it's a merciful, compassionate kind of a, tenderness
Bryan: I, I think what I'm hearing you bring out here, and which something that resonates with me a lot, is I think sometimes we try to take God out of the emotional space, that God is a God of, like, reason and logic, and that He does very cold and calculating ti- kinds of things. But, like, the very first word that God is using about Himself here, besides Yahweh, Yahweh, which has, like you said, its own connotation, is an emotional word.
It's like a visceral, gut-level word that is, like, how do I feel about a God who has emotion and who feels deeply like this? And I feel like this is a... something that we just have to wrestle with maybe. And like you're saying, I, I appreciate that comparison to agape, is like, it's, it's not so much just a cold, calculating choice.
Of course, agape isn't really that either. It's not cold. But it is... Like, it's not a natural response to good things. Like, God is saying He is compassionate while His people are literally cheating on Him at the ti- Like, so, you know, this is still a choice, but it's like a, from His, from His depths, I think He wants, He wants a relationship with His people.
And so that first word here, compassionate, I just, it's so telling about who God is. And then you get to the next word here, which is often its pair. I mean, so often when it's quoted, it's quoted as He is a God compassionate and gracious. So, like, these two come together.
Grace and Favor Explained
Bryan: Um, but gracious is the second word, which is why really I think what we're talking about in this episode is how grace has always been in the Old Testament.
It's... We're talking about how grace has just extended for longer than many of us consider. You know, God was always a God of grace. He was always a gracious God, and we talked about it when we talked about His favor shown towards Noah, His favor shown towards Jacob, even though he was kind of a dirty dude.
But, you know, we we get to these moments where God is showing Himself as gracious, and this is, like, a willful choice to show somebody that they're valuable Even though they totally don't deserve it. That's al- that's who God has always been. A- and that's not a new invention in, like, the New Testament, for example.
Ryan: Well, and, and that just to use, for example, the Noah connection, it's-- it says there that he found this grace, this favor in God's eyes. The grace is not describing usually, like, the experience of the one who is receiving the grace, but rather the character, the disposition of the one who's showing it.
Like, you know, in our last, last, last week's story about Esther, Esther found this word, this favor, this grace in the eyes of, um, of the king.
know, to have that favor i- is from that g- usually the to the lesser this extraordinary kind of disposition to, to bestow goodness and blessings on this one, not based on, you know, u- usually not based on their greatness, but based on the favor of the one who's giving it. And that's what God has for us, is He, the far greater, show this, this
surprising, abundant, overwhelming kindness and goodness and has this disposition to give us good things and to see us well and to see us as someone who, you know, we say favorite, you know?
But it's like everybody is, is-- Everybody who comes before God seeking His favor is a favorite, like gets that kind of a,
Bryan: And I think, you know, we really could focus in this conversation about all of the characteristics here that God describes about himself, but just kinda maybe focusing on these two, that he is compassionate and gracious here in verse six.
Mercy Meets Justice
Bryan: And then you get to verse seven where he starts talking about, you know, the fact that he is not going to clear the guilty.
Uh, you know, he says he forgives iniquity, and transgression, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the father on the children, children's children to the third and fourth generation. So how do you square these two verses? I mean, if you, if you can. Like, when you look at these two verses side by side, you see a God who is compassionate, gracious, but he's not gonna let stuff slide, as he talks about later there.
How d- how do you tend to put these two in, uh, verses side by side and reconcile them together?
Ryan: Well, I mean, the first thing to see is this isn't God's indifference towards, towards people abusing others or showing reckless evil. I mean, he, he does not look on sin with any kind of lightness. He isn't saying, "I forgive because what's the big deal?" Rather, he, it-- you know, like this, this is a but, but it's not a yeah, but or an asterisk if, if we wanna kinda go back to our conversation a few weeks ago.
He isn't a judge who waves away evil as if it doesn't matter. Uh, you know, by no means will he clear the guilty. mercy shows up to meet evil and overcome it in, in His grace and, and this is gonna ultimately get us to the cross. But this is the-- this is really setting up the tension of the whole, not only the whole Bible, but, but like everything.
The whole moral story of, of existence is that free will beings are making these wrong choices, and God loves them, and God is gonna find ways to show them mercy and grace, but He's not going to, to allow sin not to have its consequences. So there is this constant, like, people falling into the pit that they dig, that God is going to express His wrath by letting that happen,
if you wanna bring violence, violence is gonna come back on you. And so this keeps happening, but God keeps in without
neglecting the justice
and,
and the consequences of these things
Bryan: I, I feel like that's really well said, that he's gonna give us over to the things we want to do anyway. Like, if, if you wanna be away from God's presence, he will allow you to go there, and this is what you'll experience when outside of his care and his love and his grace and all these things. But I think, too, here, like something I see in this passage, that he keeps steadfast love for thousands, But then he talks about visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and children to the third and fourth generation. Like, a smaller number of people there that he's going to punish than the thousands that he's going to show his steadfast love to. I think if you hold up these two numbers as he's laying them out here, I think you see that the scale leans very heavily towards love and mercy And that he, of course, will not clear those generations of people who decide not to follow him.
But he wants to bless, he wants to show love, and he wants to show that to thousands of people. And I think we see that so often, is that God is a gracious God. And, you know, when we square these two things together, I think it's helpful just to know that this is the full picture. This is the holistic picture of who God is.
But hi- His- He so often and vo- and more vocally describes himself in these positive, loving, emotional, caring terms than, than he does focus on his wrathful justice and, you know, the punishment that he'll bring on
Grace for Scoundrels
Bryan: people. as we think about verses like this, and we think about who God is and the grace that has been extended throughout time, we get to people like I talked about a, a few episodes ago, like Jacob, who is this schemer, right?
Who is also someone who received God's favor. And, you know, Jacob is not exactly the most, uh, obvious person to love. He's kind of a, a schemer and a deceiver. Why do you think God decides to show his favor to people like this, who, you know, some find to be really just a, a kinda scoundrel of a, of a person in the Bible?
Like, why does God hold him up in such high regard, um, in using him and blessing him in all the ways that he did?
I am.
Ryan: today. He's a scoundrel, uh...
Bryan: I said some people think he's a scoundrel.
Ryan: people
Bryan: Some
Ryan: that's a good way to distance yourself from
Bryan: right.
Ryan: Yeah, I, I-- He, he definitely-- He's-- I mean, it's in his name. He's like a, he was a deceiver. He was always grabbing, supplanting, um, a-and yet God Made this promise to Abraham, who was, who was not perfect in, in himself, but who had faith in him and, and showed loyalty to God.
And God is carrying promise for a future plan to bring about, you know, like the true Israel, the true Jacob, the, the perfect Jacob who is, is gonna come and fulfill things, but that's gonna come through generations of imperfect people. And so I, I don't think this is for Jacob even that, that this is coming about, but this is part of a larger plan for everyone, that he's trying to bring all of this, you know, let all of this play out and, um, you know, and but Jacob does put faith in him.
There is this turning at Bethel where he-- God is gonna be his God, and he's gonna be his servant. And, um, so, you know, we see we see the Bible's blatant honesty about the imperfections of Abraham and Jacob and, of these figures, and yet we see them pointing forward in this seed promise
Bryan: Yeah, I think that's, that's pretty well said. He's, you know, because of the promise that he's made through Abraham, I think Jacob is getting a huge pass. I, you know, and the fact that God says, "I'll show mercy to who I'll show mercy," is kind of, I guess, the idea here in this conversation. It's like God is gonna extend grace, not because somebody deserves it, not because they, "Oh, well, Jacob, you've just been such an amazing person."
I mean, he eventually renames him to wrestles with God as, like, this is going to be, you know, the people of, of his own possession are gonna be called wrestles with God. And it's like, yeah, is that the kind of person who deserves God's favor? You know, these are the k- these are the kids on the naughty list.
They should not be receiving the gifts that God is, is willing to give. And I think time and time again, you see stories like Jacob, um, you know, even ch- Abraham as he's, like, he's deceiving, he's lying, he's like, he's not a perfect person. Um, you know, all of these great stories of people of faith have these moments of like, "You aren't worthy of this.
You didn't earn this." And even yet, God still shows his favor towards them because he, he has a purpose in all of this. He's working things out. And even though these, you know, imperfect humans are messing up time and time and time again, I think we do see such a, I don't know, such a helpful reminder that, like, when I feel like I'm not worth it, just go back and read the story of the guy who wrestled with God.
Like You know? I mean, that-- Go- God can still show me grace and favor even when I've, I've messed up so many times.
Ryan: Well, and it's,
it's, uh, understanding what grace really means, right?
Hesed Steadfast Love
Ryan: And if I could add one more, I know you picked two of those words, and they were good ones. I'm gonna add that I think
Bryan: knew you were going there. Go for it.
Ryan: Okay. Okay, I wanna talk about hesed.
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: knew I was going? Okay. So this is the loving kindness word, the steadfast love word, but it also, y- you know, it's, it's used 250 times in the Old Testament or, or almost that many, and it's not one of those words that you just have a one-to-one with an English word.
And so, you know, grace, mercy, compassion, steadfast love, loving kindness, covenant love, there's all these different ideas. But, um, the-- I, I pulled up something when I was prepping for this from a book I really like called "The Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch," and this is the grace entry on-- And it's there talking about hesed.
If you wanna put the little phlegm in your throat for it, you can do that. Um, but hesed is the disposition of one person towards another that surpasses ordinary kindness and friendship. It is the inclination of the heart to express, quote, "amazing grace to the one who is loved." Covenant is only actualized between God and his people in the Bible where there is hesed, for it is a commitment, familial love that is deeper than social expectations, duties, shifting emotions, or what is deserved or earned by the recipient.
More than just an inclination or emotion, hesed incarnates itself in action. So it's not based on what you deserve. It's not would be expected. This is-- You used the word it's not natural. It's not, it's not what you would expect in this situation. It is from God's character of He keeps showing up and how could you forgive me again, God?
Th- uh, this is, this is too much. I'm not even gonna accept at this point.
Bryan: He keeps showing up Is so, it's such a good way to put that, right? I mean, like, the idea of grace. Like, do, do we deserve, you know, as the people, uh, arrange themselves in their camps as, as he would tell them to do in the tabernacle that they were... Do we deserve to have God at the center of our camp?
Do we, uh, do we deserve to be in God's presence? Do we deserve God to continue to keep showing up among us and his holiness to be, you know, radiating from his presence into, uh, into our camps? Like, do we deserve that as a people? Absolutely not. You know, do we deserve the grace and the hesed of the Lord our God today?
Absolutely not. But he keeps showing up, and that's, I think what I, I really just wanna highlight here as part of this conversation is that God is the God who just keeps showing up even though he absolutely could leave. Even though he has every reason to leave, he's still there, and his presence is still there.
Jonah Complains About Grace
Bryan: And that actually kind of leads me to a conversation about this guy Jonah, who, yeah, who is, you know, running away from God, and this is actually, I said that, uh, Exodus 34 verse six was one of the most quoted verses in all of the Bible. This is actually one of the places where this verse shows up again.
Jonah is actually using this verse. I think this is the only time in the Bible where this verse is used as a complaint against God and not as a glorifying statement about God, that, "God, you are a God who is gracious and compassionate. I knew that you were merciful and slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love," Jonah would say there in Jonah 4 verse two.
I mean, the fact that he's saying to God, like, "I knew this was you, and I knew you would forgive these Ninevites. I knew that this is what you were gonna do." And so he's basically weaponizing this verse against God. And, uh, what does that say about Jonah's character that he uses this as, like, the only time in all of scripture that this is seeming to be a negative thing about God?
Ryan: Yeah. It's, it's like, um, you are so good, you are the worst. I knew you would do this , you know? Like, like
Bryan: Oh. Oh, boy.
Ryan: was wanting the destruction of His enemies That were at one point enemies of God, and God was gonna bring judgment on them. But because they repented at the preaching, God showed mercy as He is reliable to do.
And yeah, it shows that Jonah, even when he didn't want it, he knew the character of God. it has to do with this grace doesn't make sense idea that we've come back to. Like, God's loving kindness, it doesn't seem fair. It doesn't square with what we want sometimes. I mean, we would take it for ourselves, of course, but even that sometimes gets us all messed up.
But for other people, the people, the really bad never
Bryan: Those people over there. Yeah, you know, it, it's funny 'cause grace doesn't make sense, but at the same time, don't you think Jonah completely understands that God is a God of grace? Like 100%, Jonah knows exactly what God is gonna do. "I knew it," he says. "I knew this is who you were. I knew exactly what you were gonna do."
So Jonah, I don't think Jonah's
struggling. He did. He just experienced it.
Like, I don't think he's a, I don't think he is struggling to know or believe in grace. I think he knows exactly what it is, but he just doesn't want to extend it to those people, like you said. And so I think he would much rather have seen Exodus 34:7 applied to these people and their iniquity and, you know, punishing them, but, like, he knew that God was gonna forgive them, and isn't that just such a weird...
Like, if you ever find, if I ever find myself in that mindset, I better check myself real hard because, God is saying who He is, andJonah's just such a, a bad dude, and I, I don't wanna be a Jonah. I don't wanna be that way. Like, I wanna, I wanna lean on God's grace, and I want to let that change the way I view other people, y- to be more like Jesus and to think about people the way that He thinks about them, and never to think like, "Oh boy, I, I, I really hope God doesn't save those people."
Like, how bad off would you have to be to, to get to that
Repentance and More Grace
Ryan: also highlights The lever, or at least a major lever between the first part of Exodus 34 and the last part, because they were in that last part of he's not gonna let it go unpunished if, you know, this wickedness. And then what brought them back into this amazing graciousness? They certainly didn't earn any relenting of disaster.
It is grace. But what brought them back into it was repentance. And so it really highlights the power of just turning, just
this, this change of mind towards God, orienting our way. And, and man, that changes everything.
Uh, your actions after that are gonna change. Your disposition thoughts towards God are gonna change. But God's changes a, a thousand times towards you
Bryan: Yeah. Well, and it just h- it highlights so much how God is-- I mean, He, He puts up with us, and I, I use that word very specifically. Like, you know, Acts 13, Paul is talking about this idea of God putting up with Israel in the wilderness. Like,
that is brought up so often as a reminder to me, like, stop complaining. Stop kicking against the goads.
Stop doing the kinds of things that you know God isn't happy with. And He is a gracious God, and He is putting up with you in those times, but, like, do you really want to be in a relationship with somebody where they're putting up with you? I, I don't want to... And, and that's where you get to this, like, understanding of grace, right?
What is grace? It-- I don't wanna make God feel like He's putting up with me. And so I think one of the reasons why Paul is talking about that in Acts 13 is just to get people to see, like, this is the same God, and don't, don't grieve Him the way that you might grieve Him, you know, through your sin and your choices and, and rejecting Him outright.
Don't make Him put up with you.
Ryan: Hmm. Well, y-you brought us to the New Testament, so I'm, I'm gonna go with another one in here in the New Testament, but it's Old Testament language, and it explains a lot of this Old Testament stuff, like the, the people of God. And so this is in James 4, which we're gonna have a whole episode. We're gonna get into James, but we've got so much to talk about.
So in chapter 4 verse four, "You adulterous people." He's going back to the prophetic complaint God's people that they are, uh, you know, they are playing with other lovers, you know, turning to other, other gods and not devoting themselves wholly to God. And that, as we'll get into with James, is, is the main theme, this completeness of devotion, which is different than perfection.
Uh, he's g-- he says back in chapter three, "Everybody fl- everybody in many ways," but this double-mindedness is not acceptable. God wants all of you, but He also gives all of Himself. And so you, "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose," it says, uh, "it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit' that has, He has made us." That's all very,
like,
a little intimidating. hard-nosed, like, show up with all of yourself or what are you even doing?
Give the Lord. Don't play both sides. Then it gives us a but six. It says, "But gives more grace." Therefore, it says, "God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble." He says in verse eight, "Draw near to God. He'll draw near to G- near to you." Um, when we humble ourselves, He lifts us up.
And so the idea, uh, but He gives more grace. But in connection with what? But in connection with the jealousy of God, the of God for everything. But He gives more grace than even-- This demand seems like too much. Well, He gives more grace. Not too much like he's asking for more than he deserves, but like maybe I can't do it, but he gives more grace, more than this, this overwhelming, uh, need that we have to do this.
He's gonna show more mercy. He's gonna forgive us. He's gonna give us help. He's gonna come to us in our need. He's gonna be there for us. It-- In this compassion, that's what, what we keep seeing even as they fall. They're brought back, they're restored,
Bryan: That's so beautiful. I, I-- You know, when we think about God, and He's not doing anything halfway. You know, when He, when He calls Himself gracious, He's not, like, metering out His grace. When He calls Himself a God of love, He's not metering out His love on people. Like, He's full of it. He's, He is just abounding in it.
Finding Jesus in Exodus
Bryan: And to remember that, you know, maybe that actually leads us to a description of Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John, uh, maybe as we get into our Finding Jesus segment. All right, so Jesus here in John 1:14, uh, just poetic, lovely intro to John's gospel refers to Jesus as full of grace and truth. And just thinking about how, you know, the connection with Jesus in Exodus 34, I think we totally see Jesus here. He is the one who is full of grace and truth.
He is, as Hebrews would talk about, the express image of God the Father here on Earth. He is, He is exactly who we see God being every time we look at Jesus. So I don't think it's gonna be very hard to find Jesus in Exodus 34:6-7. Uh, what insights do you have when you look back to the story about learning about Jesus?
Ryan: Well,
Jesus is the fullest expression of who God is, and that's-- the, the New Testament says that over and over again in Hebrews 1, in Colossians 1, in John 1, that this is how we start to see God most fully revealed is in the incarnation of Jesus. And so if this is who God is, it's not just who God is in Jesus, it's who God has been all the time.
So the two reflect each other. We can find, find Jesus in Exodus 34, and we can find Exodus 34 in Jesus, if, if that makes sense. So like will, will want to see I've heard it said, you know, some people like Jesus but don't like the idea of God or
Bryan: Oh, yeah, yeah,
Ryan: Like they've totally misunderstood both probably.
Probably not seen the holiness and righteousness of Jesus and, and the condemnation of evil and sin that comes in the form of Christ, but also haven't seen the graciousness and love and mercy that's seen in the God of the Old Testament,
Bryan: It was amazing, I think, when in that story in Exodus 34, the whole reason why God is actually saying that to, to Moses is because Moses said, "Show me your glory." Basically as a, like, prove to me that you are going to leave us here on this mountain, because, uh, they were-- there was some horse trading going on there as Moses was trying to convince God not to completely annihilate them.
And so Moses kept having to intercede and go back and forth with God, and finally Moses said, "Show me your glory." And then that's what caused God to pass before him and say over him his name and describe his character. And so when you think about seeing the glory of God, I-- this is like all that series that I did from 2 Corinthians, it just all coming back to me now.
Um, just thinking about, you know, seeing the glory of God, seeing an, the full demonstration of God's glory in the face of Jesus, and that was on full display at the cross. And I think about, you know, the grace of Jesus on the cross as I think about, like, the thief who he turned to and forgave and said, you know, "Today you'll be with me in paradise."
Like, this, this moment that, yes, I know if we wanna throw a bunch of caveats and asterisks around this story and, like, c- couch it in a bunch of other language, but like, that guy could not have done anything to that moment that earned... I mean, he deserved to be on the cross. He deserved to be punished for his, you know, insurrectionist thievery and whatever he was up to.
Like, he, he deserved to be there by his own admission. Like, "We deserve this." Um, but boy, for Jesus to turn to him and say, "Today you'll be with me in paradise," was just such a A move of, of full grace and a move of, like, full love and compassion over that man. And I think about that story a lot when I think about Jesus demonstrating God's glory and, uh, on display right there at, at the very end.
Ryan: idea of
Bryan: Sure. Just not, like, you know, the most quoted, obvious, like, uh, verse in everyone's lips
Ryan: Totally. Yes.
Zephaniah Love Song
Ryan: I mean, and it's because it's quoted so often in the Old Testament, and, um, I've heard another passage called that not for that reason, but because it expresses God's love in such a powerful way, and that's Zephaniah 3:17. you know, as we think about finding Jesus here, I'm, I'm taking us to another Old Testament passage that shows this, the same idea, but it's looking forward, I think, to Christ 'cause it talks about in that day, you know, the Lord has taken the judgments against you, and He's cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never fear evil again. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear not, O Zion. Let your hands not grow weak." And then this is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will you by His love.
He
will with loud singing."
This is this picture of God in Christ bringing us together, removing our enemies, and
q- both quieting us, like shh, shh, in His love, and, like, God singing a boisterous, loud song of ex- exultation and happiness and rejoicing over us in His love. Like, you know, like a love song, like a, a song of excited happiness in us.
And I think we-- it's easy to get all in the, mindset of, you know, God's disappointment, God's anger, God's frustration, and we certainly see, you know, that that is a storyline in the Bible, that, that God sees what He wants for us, and He wants so much for us, and we keep choosing, you know, the dark way. And yet this is a picture of a God and His people brought together such that He can sing happily over us and just, like, lose Himself in the joy of that moment
Bryan: Yeah. I think, uh, I have not thought about Zephaniah 3:17 in a long time, but I think that really does fit, and it, and it helps. I think the purpose of this conversation really has been to just sit with the fact that grace is not like a New Testament inv- invention. You know, this is not just like grace coming on the scene for the very first time when Jesus was born.
Like, this is God's oldest self-description of himself, his love, his joy, the, the fact that he really just wants a relationship with us. He wants to be close to us. He wants to rejoice with us like you're talking about there, and that's who God is. That's who God has always been. And for me to just remember that, especially as I see Jesus, Jesus is no different than God has always been.
He's the express image of God, and so every time I see Jesus and the compassion and the love and the connection he has with people who are suffering and struggling, I see God. I see God doing the same exact things. And so I f- I feel like this is all maybe just a, a good wrap-up to think about God as a God of grace and mercy and compassion and love and slow to anger and being the one who will punish iniquity.
And I mean, there's a lot of reasons why that is, is, uh, heartwarming, especially, you know, thinking about some of these Old and New Testament passages.
Daily Challenge and Wrap Up
Ryan: that a good place to bring in this challenge that you put in here? I, I like this challenge to bring our
Bryan: Yeah, so maybe as a challenge, uh, we, we were talking a little bit on some prior episodes about scripture before phone, um, and how that's just, you know, can be such a helpful reminder for us. But maybe before you check your phone in the morning, let the God of Sinai define his heart towards you as a God who is merciful, gracious, and abounding in steadfast love.
I think if you can start your morning by thinking about who God is and his character and his mercy and, and all the things that he's done for you, you know, maybe use some Hebrew words as you're thinking through it, like Chesed and all of these other words that, uh, just, you know, are real fun to say.
Ryan: roll
Bryan: Roll right off the tongue. Uh, yeah, go ahead and do that.
Ryan: it's such a good challenge bec- I heard somebody say,
maybe the most important defining thing about you is how you think of God or who you believe is.
It is just such a, such a driver of who you will be when you start to understand Go- if you understand a distorted picture of God, like if you understand God wrongly, then that can twist everything and, um, start to, to change your behavior, your prayer life, your, your faith, everything. But if you can s- let God tell you in his most iconic, most quoted description of himself, who he is, and meditate on that, that will really shape your relationship
Bryan: Yeah, and I think, uh, you know, my takeaway in this conversation is kind of tied to that actually, that if I start to think about God and describe God in a way that doesn't sound like Exodus 34, then I'm off the mark. I've come to the wrong conclusion. When I start to think of God in any way that does not, you know, line up with these verses that He describes Himself as, I should, I should tread, tread carefully and think about why I'm viewing God that way.
So as, uh, maybe a tie-in to what you were just saying there.
Ryan: uh, so
Outro and Next Episode
Bryan: this conversation about grace is not over. We will continue talking about God's character and his grace. In our next episode, we're gonna get a little mini episode out of the way where we talk about grace and how it changes us as people, and how it brings us together and breaks down some barriers.
Uh, we'll play a little game on that episode. Looking forward to that, and thanks everyone for tuning into the Bible Geeks Podcast. You can find us on our website at biblegeeks.fm. You can find show notes there. You can contact us there. There's a lot of resources there on our website as well. Go check it out.
And until the next episode, everyone, may the Lord bless you and keep you.