Exodus 33:2-5 says, “I [Jehovah] will send an Angel before you...Jehovah had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people; if I were to go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you.” This is God’s government. When Moses heard this, he must have been disappointed and wondered what he could do to save Israel from destruction. The Angel is Christ as God’s sent One, the second of the Trinity. Without the Angel, God had no way to go on with His people. He could not go with them in a direct way but indirectly through His Angel. However, this Angel was God Himself. This implies the Trinity.
Verse 9 says, “Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stay at the entrance of the tent, and Jehovah would speak with Moses.” In the original Hebrew text it is not clear whether the one speaking with Moses was Jehovah or the pillar of cloud. This is similar to what is recorded in the Gospel of John. The Lord said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (14:10b). The Lord also said, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). It is difficult to say whether the Son and the Father were two or one. When the Son came, the Father was also there. Likewise, in Exodus when the pillar of the cloud was there, Jehovah was there as well. The Lord Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” (John 14:10a). Similarly, Jehovah was in the pillar of cloud (Exo. 14:24; 34:5; Num. 14:14).
The pillar of cloud is the pneumatic Christ. The cloud in Exodus 19 becoming a pillar in Exodus 33 indicates that the cloud has more form, is more solid. The pneumatic Christ is Christ who has become the Spirit. The cloud is the Spirit, and the pillar of cloud signifies the pneumatic Christ. The presence of Jehovah is also the Spirit. The glory of Jehovah is Jehovah manifested, expressed.
Exodus 33:10-14 says, “When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship...And Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion...And Moses said to Jehovah,...You have not let me know whom You will send with me...He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses’ question was regarding a person, but the answer, Jehovah’s presence, was seemingly not a person. In Exodus Jehovah’s presence was the cloud, which signifies the Spirit. Today we have the presence of God as the Spirit. When we sense the Lord’s presence, we are sensing the Spirit. After Jehovah said to Moses, “My presence shall go with you,” He said, “And I will give you rest.” The subject changed from Jehovah’s presence to Jehovah Himself. This indicates the Trinity. The cloud signifies the Triune God remaining with His redeemed people for them to enjoy. The presence of a mother is dear and precious to her young children. This cloud is similarly the embracing and presence of the Triune God for the children of Israel to enjoy the Triune God. This is the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing.
Verses 15 through 19a say, “He [Moses] said to Him,...Is it not by Your going with us, so that we...are distinct from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?...And he said, Please show me Your glory. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you.” Moses requested God’s glory, but God answered with His goodness. God’s glory is God Himself expressed. God’s goodness is a general term that comprises all the divine virtues toward us, including mercy, kindness, compassion, grace, and reality. When God’s glory is incarnated, it becomes God’s goodness. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” Grace and reality are aspects of God’s goodness. Furthermore, the grace and reality in John 1 are very much related to God’s glory. When God’s glory comes in a hidden, covered way, it is God’s goodness. God’s goodness is all the good things of what God is. This implies God’s glory incarnated.
Exodus 33:19b says, “I [Jehovah] will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Grace and compassion are items of God’s goodness. Jehovah does not say, “I will proclaim My name,” but “I will proclaim the name of Jehovah,” making it seem as though the name of Jehovah is another’s name. This again indicates the Trinity.
Verse 20 says, “He said, You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live.” John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The thoughts in John 1 are all prefigured in Exodus.
Exodus 33:21-23 says, “Jehovah said, Here, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand upon the rock; and while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. And I will take away My hand, and you will see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” God told Moses first to stand on the rock and then to hide in the rock. The rock signifies Christ in His death as our standing and hiding. The hand of Jehovah signifies Christ as the covering of God’s manifestation in His dealing with His people. The incarnated Christ was God manifested yet in a covered way. Christ’s humanity was the “hand” to cover the manifested God. God manifested Himself to Moses, yet His manifestation, His glory, was covered by His hand, which signifies Christ in incarnation, God’s glory manifested within human nature. Christ covers us and also covers the manifested glory of God. Because of our sinful situation, there is the need of a covering, which is the incarnated Christ.
God’s arm is for saving and delivering us, and His hand is for holding and keeping us (John 10:28-29). According to Exodus 33, God’s hand is also for covering us. Isaiah 53:1-2 and John 12:37-38 reveal that the arm of Jehovah is Christ. Likewise, the hand of the Father in John 10 and the hand of Jehovah in Exodus 33 must also be Christ. Christ saves, holds, and covers us. The cleft of the rock is Christ in His death, who hides us but still allows us to see something of God. The details of the picture in Exodus 33 include the first of the Trinity as Jehovah, the second as His hand, and the third as His presence. In Revelation 5:6 we see that the seven eyes of Christ are the seven Spirits of God. This means that the third of the Trinity is the eyes of the second. In Isaiah 53 we are told that the second is the arm of the first. Moreover, Exodus 33 shows that the second is the hand of the first. This reveals something of the Trinity. Although this is not merely a doctrinal matter, we surely need to seek to understand such details in the Bible that are related to God’s being in His dealing with His people.