Moses loved God with all of his heart. He also loved his people very much. His heart’s desire was for God to dwell among his people and for his people to follow the ways of God.
This determined and compassionate leader spent many long hours interceding with God for the sake of his people up on the mountain. Then he and Joshua returned together to face the problems in the camp after God had warned Moses that the people of Israel had sinned greatly in his absence.
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for joining us in Lesson 180 of the COME AS A CHILD every-Thursday, ongoing, chronological Bible Study.
You may follow along with us if you wish as we step through The Exodus. If you want to read the main scripture reference for today, we will be venturing into the passages found in Exodus Chapter 32 and 33. If you missed last weeks lesson; you may find it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/i-will-go-up-to-the-lord-perhaps-i-can-make-atonement-for-your-sins-come-as-a-child-lesson-179/.
AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN TIME
I think the conversations that Moses encountered with God during this time are well worth pausing to remember. We have covered them a little; but let’s go a bit deeper. Let’s stop to consider some of these words from God before we go any further. Together we will try to digest exactly what they meant.
This is the scripture passage that records the conversation:
(Exodus 32:11-15) 11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth?” Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
SHOULD A MAN ARGUE WITH GOD?
Very few people have ever argued with God like this; much less changed His mind.
Apparently though, Abraham was successful in asking God to save Lot and his family from what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now we see that Moses too was successful in asking God to spare the people’s lives after their sins of the worshiping of the golden calf. Not all of the people were spared in the end; but many of them did survive that day.
It seems that God has a very soft spot for humans after all; so much so that He will overlook things that make Him very, very angry and He will often decide to show them mercy.
It is interesting to note that both Abraham and Moses followed the same pattern of negotiating when trying to persuade God to have mercy. They respectfully approached God and then they reminded Him of his own words and His own promises.
That, my friends, seems to be the only way to win an argument with God!
Also; it really helps a lot if you have a skilled negotiator; like Moses or in our case; like Jesus.
GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES
God had promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky.
He had promised to give Abraham’s ancestors the promised land, and to make it their inheritance forever.
These are sure promises that we can all look forward to; forever; as the spiritual children of Abraham.
One day all of God’s people, whether spiritual or physical descendants of Abraham, WILL be as many as the stars of the sky.
One day they WILL inherit the land that was promised to Abraham forever and ever. God said it; and the word of God cannot be undone. God always keeps His promises; but stiff-necked people often create unnecessary complications along the way.
Many lives were spared because of the faithfulness of Abraham and God’s promises to him.
Also; many lives were spared and changed because of the faithfulness of Moses.
TAKING CARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF A STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE
Moses, however, still had a lot of work to do with those who were left in the camp.
All sins carry consequences. We may be saved from our sins; but that only assures our eternal life. It doesn’t remove the consequences of the sins that were committed. Moses had a lot of “consequences” to deal with.
Moses had to deal with Aaron’s carelessness.
He had to rid the camp of the abominable idol.
Moses had to deal with those people who totally refused to change; who wanted to remain in their wicked sins forever.
Then Moses had to seek atonement to cover those who HAD decided to turn from their sins.
Moses tried to offer himself as a sacrifice to blot out the sins of the people; but God said no.
Let’s read the scripture passage below for a clear picture of this:
Exodus 32:33 – 34: The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
IDOLATRY CAN NEVER EXIST IN GOD’S KINGDOM
Though He was willing to show mercy to those who would repent; God was not going to let the names of those who sinned against him without regret remain in The Book of Life. If they would not repent or turn; they could not be allowed to stay in the Book of Life. Their names would be blotted out; meaning that they would be spending eternity separated from God and His people.
Idolatry can never exist in the midst of God’s Kingdom. Not now; not ever. It is forbidden for the sake of retaining the good.
Many died because of the sin of the golden calf. Those who were left standing in the camp did not go unpunished either. There were “consequences.” On top of all the other things that happened, the people had to deal with a plague. God sent it as an alternative punishment to blotting this leftover remnant of a nation out of the Book of Life forever.
If you ask me; a plague was not a very bad deal; when you consider the alternative.
LISTENING FOR INSTRUCTIONS
Moses was left to deal with those who survived.
He waited on God to tell him what to do next and soon God spoke:
Exodus 33:1-4 – Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
So God was going to keep His promises to Abraham after all; it would just happen in another way than Moses had expected. God was going to let the people who were left live; but He was simply not going to come to live among them as He had originally planned.
Can you blame Him?
We humans would still be fuming with anger; but this was God. Most likely; God’s anger had passed. His refusal to come among them was for a different reason altogether. This refusal to dwell among them was actually an act of mercy. God was afraid of what He might be tempted to do should they slip up and sin in such a way again. Stiff-necked people usually do that. He had called them a “stiff-necked” people.
MOURNING THE ABSENCE OF GOD AMONG THE PEOPLE
So Moses relayed this message from God to the people in the camp.
When they heard that God was not going to be living in the midst of them; they all began to mourn. They had spent years and years under Egyptian rule without being allowed to publicly and openly worship their God. They had been freed and led out into the wilderness to live with God among their midst. He had delivered them and performed miracles for them and they wanted to feast and celebrate before Him. That had been their original plan and first intentions; but things had gone terribly wrong. They suddenly realized how much calamity they had brought upon themselves by not staying true to God. He had always loved them. He had put His name on them and called them His people. He WAS The One True God of Heaven and Earth. How foolish they must have felt. Many of them had even been forced to give up their family members because they would not turn to God and walk in the paths of God. Now they were left standing alone; except for God. Suddenly they had realized that nothing else mattered to them BUT God. He was enough.
Would He forsake them now?
What had they done!
There at Mount Horeb they took off their ornaments (as God had commanded) and never put them on again.
Together they waited to see what God was going to do with them next.
The people taking off their ornaments would have reflected their earnest desire to leave the sin of idolatry behind. The gold of their earrings often contained carvings of pagan gods. They had received these golden earrings from the Egyptians who had worshiped idols. Removing them illustrated that they were serious about leaving that lifestyle for good. The fact that they never put them back on again illustrated how deeply they were committed to a permanent change.
PUTTING OFF THEIR ORNAMENTS
This act of “putting off their ornaments” was an honest effort of repentance on the part of the people. They were going to be travelling into a land of people who probably would become very hostile towards them. They were now strangers in a foreign land. Before they had all confidence in making this move; but it was because they had seen the mighty miracles of their God in their midst.
What would happen now?
No other people groups wanted these former slaves of Egypt called Israelites to come into their inheritance of the land of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Hivites and Jebusites. They all claimed the land as their own.
The Israelites knew they faced the possibility of some very hard battles ahead; and now God had said He would not be in their midst.
How would they win those battles now?
Joshua was a great leader when it came to military combat; but Joshua knew where his strength came from. Without God; Joshua would not be at all confident about the outcome of any battle with the enemy.
This new development in the plan changed everything for everyone.
A VERY SAD DAY FOR ISRAEL
God did promise to send an angel before them; but He had not committed to going any further with them.
Moses had spent a lot of time learning about how to prepare a place for God to dwell among the people. Now it seemed that would not happen.
Moses pondered what to do as the people mourned and wept for their sins against God. They had brought great trouble upon their nation with their sins.
God would keep His promise to Abraham.
Now they would all live long enough for another generation of Abraham’s descendants to be born and raised up. Their children would now be the ones to see the land of promise.
That terrible mistake with the golden calf might just have cost them about 40 years of wondering; a time long enough for God to raise up another generation of Abraham’s children.
People today look at the map and see that the Israelites could have reached the promised land in a very short time; and they wonder why they wandered around in the wilderness for so long.
The sins of a nation in idolatry carries very grave consequences.
What would happen to them now?
Moses pondered his next move as they mourned and stripped themselves of any remnants of Egypt and idols.
It was a very sad day for Israel.
The time was was a terrible time for Moses.
It was, most of all; a heart-breaking time for God.
There were no winners during this period of time in the camp of Israel as they sat in mourning and waited on their next instructions. The sins of many had affected the whole nation.
NO WINNERS IN A SAD PLACE
Have you ever been in such a place as this?
Do you think this could be the state of any nations of today?
Sometimes waiting to hear from God is not the easiest thing to do.
Sometimes though; it is the ONLY thing to do.
This all reminded me of a conference I attended once where we studied a course called “Experiencing God’ that was created by a great man named Henry Blackaby. One of the first questions we were asked is: “What do you do when you come to a place where you don’t know what to do next?” We learned that the answer was always the same. You wait until God shows you the next thing. This was where Moses was.
Moses was in one of those agonizing times of waiting on God to reveal his next step.
He knew with all of his heart that he could not make it on his own without the help of God.
He wasn’t about to move to the right or the left until he could find a way to get God to change His mind and go with them.