Moses
– Freeing
Yourself to Know God
·
What
if someone came into your house and conducted séances, orgies, and immorality
of all kinds?
·
Remember
the promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) Isaac (22:15-18) and Jacob (28:13-14)?
·
When
Israel came to Mt. Sinai, God appeared in great majesty (Exod. 19:16-19)
·
God
made it clear who He was (20:1-2), and gave them the 10 Commandments (20:3-5,18-22)
·
During
this time, Moses ascended the mountains several times, and received additional
instructions on how they should worship the Lord (Chapters 20-24). On one of
these visits, Moses stayed 40 days and nights, and received instructions for
building the Tabernacle (Chapters 25-31). During this time Moses was away, the
Hebrews reverted to idolatry. They violated the first commandment, which they
had just received!
·
Had
the Israelites forgotten the miracles in Egypt? The Red Sea? The miracles in
the desert? Had they forgotten what they had just seen at the foot of Mt.
Sinai? 70 elders had seen God's glory with their own eyes (24:9-11)
·
The
people grew restless, and they quickly fell back on their pagan background. The
people convinced Aaron to fashion a "god" for them (32:1-6) How could
Aaron, of all people, do this?
·
The
people also engaged in immoral activity (32:6)
·
The
Lord's reaction is explicit (32:9-10) God had run out of patience. He was ready
to wipe them off the face of earth and start over with Moses (32:10)
·
Moses'
reaction is astounding, especially given all the grief Moses has received from
these people. Moses intercedes for the people (32:11) and reminds God of His
promises (32:12,13) He even offers to be separated from God (32:32)
·
God
relented (32:14), and Moses goes down the mountain to see what is going on.
Moses is furious at what he sees, to the point where he breaks the tablets God
had inscribed (32:19,20)
·
Aaron's
rationalization is almost funny. He blames the people, and acts like the calf
just magically fashioned itself (32:21-24) Must have forgot he was the one who
made it (32:3-4)
·
Moses
set about restoring order. The people had given God a bad name (32:25)
·
The
Levites apparently shared Moses' anger (32:26-29)
·
God
still demanded punishment (32:30-34)
#1) No one can love as Moses
loved apart from God's supernatural power and grace
#2) We must always be on guard
against taking God's love and grace for granted
#3) Jesus Christ is the only one
who has demonstrated God's love to the fullest degree
For
next week read Exodus 33:1 - 34:17
