Exodus 34: There are many ways that God has revealed Himself to man in His word, but in Exodus 33:18 Moses beseeched the Lord that He would show him His glory. God told him that He would “make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee…” God proclaimed to Moses Who He was. God’s proclamation of Himself is what He gave when asked to show His glory. Here is what God proclaimed in Exodus 34:6-7, “…The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, (7) Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

“The LORD, The LORD God” God started off describing Himself to Moses with His proper name. The use of LORD in the King James Bible is the translation of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHVH. The four letters in the Hebrew are transliterated to Jehovah at times in the King James Bible, but primarily it is simply translated LORD. The meaning of this name in Hebrew comes from the root word hayah which means to exist or to be. God uses this name with Moses to tell the children of Israel that I AM is Who sent Moses to them. Before that, He was only known by His name God Almighty (Exodus 6:3). This name, Jehovah, speaks of God’s eternal presence. He always has existed.

“Merciful and gracious” After God identifies Himself with His proper name, He goes on to proclaim the two most wonderful proclamations of Himself towards mankind. He is merciful and gracious. Mercy is when God does not give man what he deserves. The first occurrence of the word is found in Genesis 19:16 where it says the Lord was merciful to Lot and his family and pulled them out of Sodom before its destruction. Grace, on the other side, is when God gives to man that which he does not deserve. God’s mercy saves a man from the penalty of sin. God’s grace first provides mercy but it does not stop there. It goes on to add so much more benefit for the saved man. In His grace He allows man to be able to obtain an eternal inheritance in Heaven. God is merciful and gracious.

“Longsuffering” God has proven Himself to be longsuffering towards man. Towards the saved man, God is longsuffering in that He does not take away his salvation when the believer sins. Towards the lost man, God is longsuffering every moment of that man’s life by not ending his life with him still in his sin. God would be just to punish man and kill him the first time he ever sinned against God, but God in His longsuffering is not willing for man to perish, but rather that he should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4). When an unforgiven sinner stands before God on judgment day, His longsuffering will be one of the greatest reasons that man will have nothing to say against God. He will look back on his life, and see God’s longsuffering throughout it, and he will have nothing to say in his defense.

“Abundant in goodness and truth” What God created, He looked at, and it was good. All that God does is good. There is no unrighteousness or sin in him (Psalm 92:15, 1 John 3:5). God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). When these two characteristics are put together, the conclusion is that God is holy, that He is separate from all of the rest of creation. All the rest of mankind is not good, and full of lies and deceit. God is abundant in goodness and truth.

“Keeping mercy for thousands” God is merciful, but here He demonstrates that His mercy is not only reserved for a few certain people. This is in line with what is said in Romans 5:19 where it says that by the obedience of Christ, many were made righteous.

“Forgiving Iniquity and transgression and sin” The abundance in goodness of God necessitates that sin be removed from His fellowship. Because God is holy, man’s sins have separated him from God (Isaiah 59:2). This attribute of God, that He is forgiving of man’s iniquities, goes along with His merciful and graciousness. It is because of man’s sins that he is in need of a Savior. God had no obligation to do anything to redeem man and reconcile him back to God. However, because of His mercy and grace, God made provision for man’s redemption through Jesus Christ.

“Who will by no means clear the guilty” God’s attributes must all be taken together as a whole when considering Who He is. If only His love and grace are considered, His justice will be overlooked. Some would get the idea that because God is love, He would never punish anyone for eternity. However, when we realize the abundance of goodness and truth of God, we realize that His justice demands satisfaction. God is willing to forgive, but at the same time He will be no means clear the guilty. The dilemma that man faced was the fact that he is guilty of sin. However, God in His grace and mercy sent His Son to die in man’s stead, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18), so that God would be able to meet the demands of His justice at the same time allowing man to be justified (Romans 3:26).

“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” God’s righteousness and holiness are once again brought to light in God’s proclamation of Himself. This visiting of the iniquity does not mean that God is going to judge the children eternally based on the actions of the fathers. God is declaring that if nothing is done about sin, it will permeate through the children, and the children will follow in their fathers’ footsteps. It is also saying that physical consequences will come upon the children as a result of the sins of the fathers. In Leviticus, the Bible instructs that the people were to confess their sins, and the sins of their fathers, and then God would remember them (Leviticus 26:39-42).

Application: The application of the doctrine of God the Father is much greater than could ever be written. It permeates every area in the saved and unsaved man’s life. Attitudes and actions alike are affected when it comes to God.

Because God is holy, Christians are to be holy. Because God is omnipresent, believers can rest knowing that He is with them, but at the same time it causes them to be pure since He is watching. Because God is loving and merciful, man has a hope for salvation, but at the same time because He is righteous and just, man should know that only through His way is there forgiveness of sins. The list goes on and on. “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36).