Who is the person in the fire & cloud?
Moses assumed him to be YHWH, but God is a Spirit (John4:24) thus cannot be seen, neither be seen as a person:
• In Exodus 3:2 Moses sees and talks to a person in the burning bush.
• In Exodus 34:5 there is a person in the cloud with Moses. Who is that person? Obviously that person is a sent messenger not coming out of his own name, but in the name of YHWH.
Exodus 3:2 "And the angel <04397> of the LORD <03068> appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed
04397: Malak, meaning angel, servant or messenger.
03068: YHWH; name of God.
So the Basic Scripture actually says here: "YHWH's servant appeared unto him' !
Exodus 34:5 "And YHWH (03068) descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the YHWH (03068)".
So actually it wasn't God proclaiming Himself about Himself in Exodus 34:6. Praising oneself doesn't suit anyone.
Exodus 34:6 says:
"And the (servant of) YHWH (03068) passed by before him, and proclaimed YHWH, GOD YHWH merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth".
The messenger reveals to him who and how God is: merciful, gracious, long-suffering and overflowing in goodness and truth.
Surely any angel of GOD YHWH could have been sent to Moses or even accompanying him that way. But would that be prudent? Moses clearly recognized this person and identified him as YHWH's. Sending different persons wouldn't serve that clarity and insight.
Luckily for us there is a New Testament and Paul speaking and writing with God's Spirit this about who was there with Moses in the desert:
"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ", 1Corinthians10:4.
To be sure it is good to read the elaborate explanation here of the AMP15 Bible saying this:
"{Avoid Israel’s Mistakes}
For I do not want you to be unaware, believers, that our fathers were all under the cloud [in which God’s presence went before them] and they all passed [miraculously and safely] through the [Red] Sea; And all [of them] were baptized into Moses [into his safekeeping as their leader] in the cloud and in the sea; and all [of them] ate the same {I.e. divinely provided manna.} spiritual food; and all [of them] drank the same {I.e. divinely provided water from a rock.} spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.", 1Corinthians10:1-4 (AMP15).
God's Presence through the messenger sent in His Name YAHWEH: Christ.
I think it is save to say Christ is the person Moses met and also accompanied Moses after the Exodus of Egypt!
"God is a Spirit", John4:24.
Yet Christ hadnot been revealed and introduced at that moment of time. And Moses only knew God to him introduced as YHWH. He assumed the messenger coming in YHWH's Name personified Him, was YHWH. In a way that is true concerning the message, but not concerning the messenger himself. Yes the messenger represents God as a sent messenger, but God isnot a visible person. God is a Spirit and can be seen only as a cloud, lightning, fire, wind. God didn't proclaim Himself.
Judaism rejects the New Testament and Christ. So they cannot fathom or understand this all just as Moses couldn't.
The churches reject God as a Spirit with their trinity godhead and they reject Christ as Lord of God (Romans 10:9) and as God's Servant (HighPriest: Hebrews8:1-2). So they cannot understand this all either and their Bible translations underline their ignorance and disbelief. The Messianic church and JWs church do the same for the same reasons.
Moses however can say he didn't know about Christ and can savely say that a messenger (angel) of God visited him being YHWH. But church members cannot do that, because they have the New Testament and should know Christ, the anointed of God YHWH...
Everyone should know their persons and know them by name, because eternal life depends on it says Christ in John17:3 as follows:
"This is life eternal: that they know Thee, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent".
• God is a Spirit and called YHWH. He is the Alpha & Omega.
• Christ has a risen body (Romans 8:11) and is called Yeshua (derived Jesus).
Read more here:
How to link with God through His Spirit?
1st Aid kit for church members