Sunday December 10, 2023 | Cedrick Baker
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” 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 the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
God proclaims to Moses that his character is faithful, even when his covenant partners are not faithful to him. Jesus was born to demonstrate God’s covenant faithfulness, coming to those who were not looking for him or able to recognize him when he came. God remains faithful to us today, never leaving nor forsaking us, even when we do not seek him or we rebel against him.
These verses capture a conversation between God and Moses, in response to the rebellion by the people of Israel. The point of these verses is to announce the character of God when those he has called do not respond well to him. They explain how God consistently shows love to the Israelites, even though they consistently don’t show it back. They are undeserving. In verse 6, God uses the Hebrew word “hesed” translated “steadfast or loyal love” to describe himself. This word expresses his promise-keeping loyalty that is motivated by deep personal care. It’s abounding, doesn’t run out and is completely merciful.
We see this steadfast love throughout the story of Moses as he leads the Israelites. When the Israelites rebel and plan for a return to Egypt instead of trusting God to lead them into the Promised Land in Numbers 14, Moses reminds God of his promise to Israel by quoting the focus scripture from this series. Moses intercedes for the people and reminds God of his steadfast love, saying: “Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now” (Numbers 14:19).
God also uses the Hebrew expression “emet” to describe His faithfulness. This word is translated as “to consider someone trustworthy.” We read about this in Deuteronomy 7:7-9. Nothing the Israelites could do would change his nature, his stance toward them. This is also found in the New Testament as 2 Timothy 2:13 states, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful [true to his word and his righteous character], for he cannot deny Himself.”
In our lives today, we are looking for faithfulness in a world that is untrustworthy. People are trying to find spaces where there are people who can be trusted in an increasingly unstable and polarized world. And when we look around and find that people fail us left and right, God remains one who can be trusted as he has shown loyalty and keeps his promises.
As we reflect on God’s faithfulness there are three things to remember. First, we are unable to earn his love and faithfulness. We can’t work ourselves into and out of his love and faithfulness, because this is about God’s character not ours. Second, God’s loyalty is empowering as we are faced with troubling times. God’s faithfulness does not remove the difficulties. Instead, he promises to remain with us no matter what, bringing the best possible good out of every situation that comes our way. Third, this is good news to the world. Jesus entered the world that did not know him and did not receive him to show forth the true character of God, the kind of love that the world not only needs, but the kind of steadfast devotion that makes life worth living.