The LORD said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain." So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exodus 34:1-5
There are three points to be underlined in these brief verses. The first is that the restoration of the presence of God to His people and the renewing of the covenant with them is associated with the renewed giving of the law. The moral law had to be delivered afresh since it had been violated. It is interesting and significant to see the interaction of grace and law here. The law is first of all a revelation of the divine character before it is an enunciation of His requirements from His creatures. It is when what He is becomes obscured that what He demands is neglected. In the second place, this reminds us that when we grieve the Spirit of God and lose fellowship with Him because of our sin, we must go right back to the beginning again. Here, it is as if God were saying to Moses: 'I am not in a hurry, Moses. We will go right back to the beginning and start all over again'. The real answer to the question put in the words of the hymn, 'Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?' is 'exactly where you lost that blessedness, at the point of your sin, and to that point you must now return'. But it is not quite the same as before. Something is always lost by sin, even when it is forgiven. The first tables of stone were the work of God (31:18, 32:16), but these were hewn by the hand of Moses, a subtle and significant indication that things were now different. Thirdly, we are presented with the wonderful picture of a man toiling up the mount of God and God coming down in the cloud to meet him. This is the real meaning of worship and fellowship. If this could be true of our coming together in the house of God - and it could be, as it needs to be - how completely would our services be transformed, and with what holy awe and expectation we would come to His house!