So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:11-17

Moses reminded the Lord God of His promise to accompany His people on their journey to the promised land. At that moment, Moses wasn’t thinking of himself, but of God’s people.

Moses knew that, on their own, the entry of God’s people into the promised land and their possession of it would not distinguish them from the other nations. All the nations had land (Deuteronomy 2:5,9,19,22), but they didn’t have the covenantal relationship with the Lord God that He had begun with His people (Exodus 3:9-10; 4:22-23; 19:4-6).

Only if the Lord’s Presence accompanied them would they have a distinct identity as His special people.

It is the same today: what distinguishes us from other people in this world is not our material achievements or our intellectual or biblical knowledge, but the Holy Spirit in us.

The word for separate or “making a distinction” is the relatively rare word that the Lord had previously used when speaking about the identity of His people (Exodus 8:22; 9:4; 11:7; Psalm 4:3).

Furthermore, when the nation sang praises to God near the Red Sea, they rejoiced in the promise of God’s victorious presence (Exodus 15:13-18). Would God go back on His word?

Moses was the Lord’s servant and the people had been chosen by God to be His people. That’s why they didn’t want an angel to accompany them, because there was nothing exceptional about that. What distinguished these people from other nations was the fact that their God was present with them, and that’s what Moses asked for.

Nowadays, God wants to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit, because what good is it if you achieve many things and don’t have the presence of God within you?

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’” John 14:23

Just as at that time, God’s presence in the midst of His people made them separate from all other people on the face of the earth, today, when we are baptised with the Holy Spirit, we become God’s prized possession.

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14

Just as God’s presence led His people to the promised land here in this world, the Holy Spirit leads us to the heavenly promised land.

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…” João 16:13