I Will Not Go Up with You (Exodus 33:3-4)

3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” 4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. (Exodus 33:3-4, ESV) 

The most devastating news for a follower of God to hear is that God will offer you health and wealth, but that his very presence will not be with you. For many in this world, such a statement is not troublesome in the least. For many in this world would love to have God’s gifts, but they care nothing for the presence of God because their chief end is to satisfy their own passions and live for their own glory. They may be religious, possibly even moral people, but their lives are devoted to their own well-being, and therefore, God is nothing more than a tool to be wielded for their own ends. 

But the Christian who has grasped the wretchedness of his own indwelling sin, his utter inability to save himself, and also the magnitude of the sacrifice of the only Son of God on the cross for the sins of the world, such a life is detestable, unthinkable and ultimately undesirable. The words, “I will not go up among you” are completely disastrous, for there is no joy to be had without the presence of God. Christianity without Christ is worthless and all the riches in the world cannot compare with that supremely valuable treasure that is hidden in the field. 

But, this is something only the redeemed heart can shout! The redeemed heart is not a heart of stone, but a heart of flesh that beats for the joys of Christ. It is the redeemed heart—the heart that has experienced the great love of God that shouts, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God!” It is the redeemed heart that says, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

And if this is the heart’s desire of the true, redeemed, worshipper of God, how could there be happiness in the Promised Land or in the believer’s eternal rest, if God is not there? How could anyone whose desire in life is to “depart and be with Christ” be satisfied with anything less than the very presence of Jesus? To see his hands that sustained our weary bodies during our earthly pilgrimages, to hear the voice that calmed the seas amidst our most severe trials, to see the scars that cover the wounds from which the precious blood of our salvation poured—how could we be satisfied with anything less than Christ himself?  

If I cannot have Christ now, then life has no lasting joy. If I cannot gain Christ when this life ends and I enter into glory, then I have more anguish than a widow who has lost her entire family in a tragic accident. If I cannot ever have Christ, then I am dead even as I now live.

How supremely valuable and beautiful He is! He is my soul’s food, my bread of life, the manna that came down from heaven. He is the fountain who has quenched my thirst for righteousness and as I drink from him I thirst no more. He is my eternal rest, the shepherd whose very presence leads me beside still waters and lays me down in green pastures. And he is my Lord and King, the one who will crush all my enemies and vindicate my soul. Ah Lord, Jesus, let me never forget that I am but a poor creature in need of daily grace. Guard me from the temptation of finding joy in the fleeting treasures of Egypt or in anything other than you. And whether I am surrounded by your many blessings or assaulted by many troubles, let me never forget that the unshakeable joy of my heart is You. What a joy it is to know that we as believers shall never hear such disastrous words, because we are united with Christ!  

Written by: Samuel Chua