(This post would serve you best if you first read Exodus 32 and part 1 of this devotional series.)
Are we to think of Moses as more loving and forgiving because he interceded for Israel to a ANGRY God?
NO!
First, Moses was not the one being sinned against, God was. Second, Moses did not yet know what God was angry about when He told him His plans.
However, I would argue that would God had not have been gracious to keep Moses from seeing what Israel had been doing, when relaying His plan, Moses would NOT have interceded!
Now that’s a thought!
I believe this can be argued by the response we see of Moses when he does see what Israel had been doing (Exodus 32:19b-20,26-27). Which is significantly different than what we see in Exodus 32:11-13.
One more thing should be commented about in this age in which we live in. What caused Moses to act so violently and angry for what Israel was doing? I believe it was born out of a zeal for the LORD!
Moses had removed himself from the sin of the world and had spent along time in the presence of God’s holiness. So when Moses returns to behold sin, we see the manifestation of how one should respond to sin. That is, out of a love for righteousness and hatred against unrighteousness.
This is the proper reaction against sin out of a zeal for the LORD and His HOLINESS!
Questions to ask yourself:
1. Whats does this inform me about the music I listen to?
2. What does this teach me about: God, my heart, and movies?
3. What does this call for with what we allow before our eyes?
4. Does my heart respond the same way as Moses does when I sin or am exposed to it?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
A Devotional on Exodus 32 (part 1)
(For this devotional to be most effective read Exodus 32 first and perhaps even thumb through Exodus to get a general idea of the context.)
When God states to Moses that He would destroy Israel because He saw what they were doing Moses steps in and intercedes for the people.
Before diving in though, a few things must be pointed out.
It should be noted that Scripture is setting the stage with a shadow of the Christ. Moses is the shadow of Jesus. We see in the text a legitimate cause for the LORD to destroy His people. Moses steps in as a representative of Israel and pleads for MERCY.
His basis to see God relent is that God has made a promise that He must fulfill and God will be mocked if He lead a people out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness because He couldn’t make them obey.
Because of this intercession of Moses, God “relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.”
However, this all being said it should be understood that what God stated He was going to do He could not have without lying and disgracing His name. Both of which are not possible for God. (II Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2) Secondly, we already know from this point that YAHWEH is all knowing and doesn’t forget. So, the arguments that Moses brings to His attention, He already knew.
This makes the whole event seem pointless until you remember the point of the text is to point to Christ in which the real dilemma is solved.
How can a righteous God save a wicked people, for His name, when the very act of saving seems unjust?
Imagine a judge today pardoning a serial killer and letting him go free on the basis that he felt loving and forgiving that day, this would cause every man and woman to stand up and cry out against the injustice!
But in the Moses account no answer is given for how God can do this; because, he was the shadow, but in the Christ account it is.
Just as Moses presented himself as atonement for the people, so did Jesus Christ. However, Moses atonement offer was rejected, Jesus Christ’s atonement was not! He offered himself to appease the wrath of God and therefore became a public display of God’s justice (Romans 3:24-26) even in His justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5).
When God states to Moses that He would destroy Israel because He saw what they were doing Moses steps in and intercedes for the people.
Before diving in though, a few things must be pointed out.
It should be noted that Scripture is setting the stage with a shadow of the Christ. Moses is the shadow of Jesus. We see in the text a legitimate cause for the LORD to destroy His people. Moses steps in as a representative of Israel and pleads for MERCY.
His basis to see God relent is that God has made a promise that He must fulfill and God will be mocked if He lead a people out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness because He couldn’t make them obey.
Because of this intercession of Moses, God “relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.”
However, this all being said it should be understood that what God stated He was going to do He could not have without lying and disgracing His name. Both of which are not possible for God. (II Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2) Secondly, we already know from this point that YAHWEH is all knowing and doesn’t forget. So, the arguments that Moses brings to His attention, He already knew.
This makes the whole event seem pointless until you remember the point of the text is to point to Christ in which the real dilemma is solved.
How can a righteous God save a wicked people, for His name, when the very act of saving seems unjust?
Imagine a judge today pardoning a serial killer and letting him go free on the basis that he felt loving and forgiving that day, this would cause every man and woman to stand up and cry out against the injustice!
But in the Moses account no answer is given for how God can do this; because, he was the shadow, but in the Christ account it is.
Just as Moses presented himself as atonement for the people, so did Jesus Christ. However, Moses atonement offer was rejected, Jesus Christ’s atonement was not! He offered himself to appease the wrath of God and therefore became a public display of God’s justice (Romans 3:24-26) even in His justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5).
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