A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 12 (Part 1)

Deuteronomy 12:1-4—1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.” Again, Moses is telling the people to remember and to do all the commands that were given to him by God. And here he is telling the people to utterly do away with all vestiges of pagan worship they will encounter when they enter into Canaan, specifically where the worship of these idols took place. “On the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.” For the people of Israel there was but one place where the true worship of the one true God was to take place, and this was at the Tabernacle of Meeting. Idolaters had their own places where they worshipped their idols. Here is an example of a “high place”, this is the one found in Megiddo:

 

 

One of the places for pagan worship was “on the high mountains and on the hills.” We read many places in the books of the Kings and the Chronicles that a king, no matter how he walked in the ways of God, did not remove the high places where pagan worship took place (see, for example, 1st Kings 15:14, 1st Kings 22:43; 2nd Kings 12:3, 2nd Kings 14:4, 2nd Kings 15:4, 2nd Kings 15:35) or the kings who did not walk in the ways of God sacrificed at the high places (see 1st Kings 12:31, 1st Kings 14:23, 1st Kings 16:4, 1st Kings 17:11; 2nd Kings 17:29, 2nd Kings 21:3; 2nd Chronicles 21:11, 2nd Chronicles 28:4, 2nd Chronicles 28:25, 2nd Chronicles 33:3), or even some who followed God still built the high places for pagan worship (see 1st Kings 3:3). The reason for these high places was simple: they thought it would bring them closer to whatever god they worshipped. It was only natural for them to believe this way, as many times we read of worship and communicating with and sacrificing to YHVH taking place upon a mountain. Genesis 22:2—Then [God] said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 1st Samuel 9:19—Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.” In Exodus 19, Moses hears from God from atop Mt. Sinai. In 1st Kings 18 Elijah confronts the prophets of Ba'al atop Mt. Carmel. 

Another reason they were commanded to remove all the high places was because of what happened at Babel. Genesis 11:3-4—3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." This tower was probably what we now call a ziggurat and was built high because the people thought this would make them closer to their “god”. And it may have looked something like this:

 

But what were these people worshipping? Self. “Let us make a name for ourselves.” These people were not looking to make a way to be closer to God, but to be closer to god—the god of self. Matthew Henry:

 

It seems designed for an affront to God himself; for they would build a tower whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a rivalship with him. They would be like the Most High [see Genesis 3:5—ed.], or would come as near him as they could, not in holiness but in height. They forgot their place, and, scorning to creep on the earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the door or ladder, but some other way. They hoped hereby to make themselves a name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the world. Rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly.

 “But what of the injunction about destroying the trees? If the people thought that worshipping on a hill brought them closer to their god, why would they worship under trees?” Trees were another place where God met His people. Genesis 12:6—Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. Genesis 13:18—Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD. Genesis 21:33—Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. In the account of Gideon, it is said in Judges 6:11—Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress. And idolaters used that principle in their worship. They thought meeting their idols on hills or under trees was adding to their worship and would make them more acceptable to their idol. Bu this was obviously not the case, since their idols were false and they were simply talking to themselves during these rituals. 

But as long as the people had the Tabernacle of Meeting, that was the only place they were to come to worship God. “You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.” They were not to seek hills and mounds and trees as places to worship. They were to worship at the one place God had directed them to worship, and that was at the Tabernacle. Exodus 29:43-44—43 “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests.” And it was there they were to worship God and God alone. They were not to entertain any thoughts of any other gods which were not gods, but idols of man’s imagination. They were to pay tribute and honor only to the one God who brought them out of Egypt and made them His people. Keeping in mind this covenant was a suzerainty contract (see part 1 of the introduction to Deuteronomy). And as such, the people were beholden to God and God alone to be their superior. In his commentary on Deuteronomy, Meredith Kline says:

 

"The centralization requirement must also be understood in terms of Deuteronomy's nature as a suzerainty treaty. Such treaties prohibited the vassal's engaging in any independent diplomacy with a foreign power other than the covenant suzerain. In particular, the vassal must not pay tribute to any other lord. Similarly, all the requirements and prohibitions of Deuteronomy 12 were calculated to secure for the Lord all Israel's tributary sacrifice and offering. Israel must not pay any sacrificial tribute to other gods, for such an impossible attempt to serve two masters would be rebellion against the great commandment of God's covenant."

To breach the terms that God laid out for the people was to rebel against God and to put them in danger of being left out of the collective of His people, and risk destruction. 

This is a message for us still today. How many times do we see a church bring elements of the world into a worship service today? Last year, there was a church that kicked a Bible across the stage in a celebration of the Super Bowl. Yes, you read that right. A “Christian” church’s pastor kicked a Bible.

 

[“Pastor” Alli] Patterson is then seen taking a few steps back as another pastor squares up the Bible — which had a football-style book cover on it — before kicking the Bible off the stage and into the crowd. Patterson then high-fives her colleague in celebration.  “Patterson back with the kick ... Oh my goodness!” the announcer is heard saying over the PA. “For the first time in 18 years, there’s a touchback for the kickoff.” In another sequence, the Bible is kicked yet again — this time a shorter distance — as the rest of the “players” on stage jump on top of the book as they tackle one another. “We’re gonna get some emails; here we go,” the announcer remarks. (ibid.) 

How low does one’s view of God’s word have to be to kick it like a football? Think you’d ever see a Muslim kick a copy of the Qur’an? Or an LDS kick a copy of the Book of Mormon? Do you think a Jew would kick a copy of the Mishnah? Or a Buddhist kick a copy of the Bhagavad Gita? No other religion would kick a copy of their texts across the room like this “Christian pastor”. That is nothing short of mocking God. He was using the world’s methods to somehow make church “fun”:

 

In an introduction to the video, Andy Reider, community pastor for Crossroads Anywhere, the church’s mobile app, offers a greeting — and a disclaimer — warning viewers the church service has “little to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl.”

 

“Today, you are tuning in for a church service that is unlike any other,” said Reider. “Disclaimer: it has little to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl, but no matter what you believe, you're going to laugh. No matter what you believe, you might be a little confused at some point, but I believe you will and can experience God and church in a fresh new way.” Reider also acknowledged the question many viewers of the service likely had. “You might be wondering why on Earth would we do something like this,” he said. One of the reasons, said Reider, was because “we believe that church can and should be fun. You're going to experience hilarious commercials filled with middle school humor, really great music and some good old-fashioned smack talk,” he added. “But secondly, we believe that there are spiritual truths and realities that can be drawn out from sports and that's what each of our teachers are going to be doing today.” (ibid.)

Should a church service be a dark and dreary and dour thing? Should we dread going because we will sit there bored while some guy stands on a platform and speaks us into boredom? No. But here’s the thing: when we go to church, we are going to hear the word of God preached, to pay reverence to the very God who created the universe, created us, and it should be, truly, a service of worship of God, not simply something to do on Sunday morning. And it certainly should not be a place (as there is no place) where we should kick a Bible. Listen to what English clergyman Henry Alford had to say about this sacred text:

 

The Christian Church throughout the world is now the guardian of the Holy Scriptures.  All that the Jews had, we have, with the inestimably precious addition of the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These Scriptures all Christians regard as the revelation of God to man.  Other works rise and are built up from below: this alone we receive as let down upon us from above.  All art, all science, all theology, which is but a system built up by inferences from Scripture, these are of man, and constructed on earth.  They may rise higher, and become truer, as one race is advanced in skill or in knowledge; but they began below, and will ever carry with them the infirmity of all that is born on earth.  Whereas the sayings and the lessons of this book are not of man, nor did they take their beginnings here.  They have come to us indeed through human words, and by means of human action; but they did not arise originally in the breasts of men; they came from Him who is Himself the first spring of morals and the highest fountain of truth…because this Book is unlike all other books, because its voice comes to us from another place, and is heard in deeper and more secret chambers of our being than all other voices, because its sayings have for our humanity a searching and conserving and healing power which none other possess, therefore it is that to keep these Holy Scriptures in all their integrity as delivered down to her is the solemn trust of the Church throughout the world: a trust simple, direct, indefeasible [i.e., not able to be lost].

We are entrusted with this very book that God gave us, spoken to men to write down and pass along to other men and women. It is by this book that we know God, that we know His Christ, that we know how to please Him and how we know what things displease Him. It is how we know the way of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and His glory. It is by reading it and meditating on it that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a football. A church service is not a game. Neither should be treated as such!

Part 2 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The Golden Calf (Epilogue)

Last week we surveyed the episode at Mt. Sinai where the people convinced Aaron to make a golden calf to worship. What that episode really shows us is how foolish human beings really are. Many times people construct a “God”—or, an idea about God—and usually this “God” they create is nothing like the true God. The “God” they create doesn't require much out of them, he’ll let them go on living however they want to. And this “God” will brush aside their sins and say “It’s no big deal.” And when you confront these people about some sin they may have in their life—or in the life of someone they love—what these people tend to say is, “Well, that may be your God. But the god I worship doesn't condemn anybody for that.” And, without realizing it, they have hit the nail on the head. They are absolutely right—the god they worship won’t judge anybody or condemn anybody. But that’s because they don’t worship the One, True, Living God, Almighty YHVH. They worship a god of their own making, and what is the term we use to describe worshipping a god of one’s own making?

Of all the sins that are talked about in Scripture, I don’t think there is one that is mentioned more often than idolatry. And I think that is because the world does not know God, or rather, they don’t want to know the true God. So they carve wooden and stone figures and bow to them. And this too shows how utterly foolish we humans are. These people who bow down to statues are worshipping something made by human hands—a block of wood or stone that was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed so it could be worshipped. They worship something that’s broken. Does that make sense? In Isaiah 40-46, God goes into this lengthy, intense diatribe against the sin of idolatry. Especially Isaiah 44. Listen to Isaiah 44:14-17—14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak; he secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat; he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire." 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" Those who worship trees and rocks and think there is such beauty in them—they are missing out on the beauty that is God. One more verse before we get to today’s text, Psalm 29:2—Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 

That said, we are going to begin with the merciful judgment of God. Exodus 32:27-29—27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" 28 So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother." Now, notice something here. In verse 29, what does God command the sons of Levi to do? “Put on your sword, and kill your brother.” But, in verse 29, Moses says that if the people repent, what might God do? "So He may bless you." Whenever and wherever there are righteous people surrounded by unrighteous people, and God has set His mind on destroying the wicked—but He does not want to destroy the righteous—He is perfectly capable of delivering those righteous ones. Listen to 2nd Peter 2:4-9—4 If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction…7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked…9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. If God were to send a lightning bolt to zap the person next to you for saying something foul—don’t worry. If God doesn't want to hit you, He won’t--he’s got really good aim. So in these commands of God, where first we see the order to destroy every idolater, and then in the next breath Moses tells the people that if they repent God may still bestow a blessing on them, we see what the apostle Paul refers to in Romans 11:22—Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. God knows how to destroy the wicked and preserve the righteous. 

Next we see Moses’ desire to see Israel become a great nation—even at his own expense. Back in Exodus 32:11-13, Moses pleaded with the LORD to not completely wipe these people out. And even though God relented of the harm He said He would do—that may have delayed the deaths of the idolaters who repented, but it did not take away their sin. And that is what Moses pleads for here, in Exodus 32:30-32—30 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." 31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." If you recall, last week God gave Moses a proposition—“Let Me wipe them all out and start over with you.” And Moses had the right to say, and could have very easily said, “Hmm…not a bad idea there. Let’s do it!” But in his spirit, Moses knows it’s not all about Moses. Yes, there will be times when his temper gets the better of him. But, like King David, the pattern of his life is one that is devoted to God and His righteousness, as well as to the people of God, leading them in righteousness. And nothing is more important to Moses than the name and the glory and the holiness of God. The one attribute of God that is greater than any other is His holiness. Not His love, but His holiness. And because of His righteousness, and to display His holiness, when He makes a promise—He keeps it.

For example, when Jehoram becomes king of Judah, and he kills his brothers and many of the princes of Jerusalem, God could have easily killed him and his children. But, listen to 2nd Chronicles 21:6-7—6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done..., for he had the daughter of Ahab as a a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 7 Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. As Moses pleaded with God, in Exodus 32:13—“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'” When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Titus 1:2—God, who cannot lie. Not “does not lie” or “will not lie”—CANNOT lie.

And here, once again, we see the simultaneous judgment and mercy of God. The people have sinned—something has to die. But God is also merciful and patient, and Moses pleads with God, saying, “LORD, you know these people. These are Your people. I know these people should bear Your judgment. But rather than visit Your judgment on all of them, allow ME to suffer the punishment THEY deserve.” This is the same plea that the apostle Paul himself made in Romans 9:2-3—2 I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. Did Moses take part in making that golden cow? And yet he begs God to punish him and him alone for the sins of the many people who committed that sin. Hmmm…one who did not commit sin, but asked to be punished for the sins of others. Sound like anybody we know? 2nd Corinthians 5:21—[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So you can see how Moses is growing in his office as mediator for the people of Israel. He may not realize it, the people definitely don’t realize it, but he is becoming a “type” or “visual prophecy” of Christ who is our mediator and was truly punished for our sins.

Now, the people did not become the righteousness of God by way of Moses or the Law, but we do become the righteousness of God in Christ. John Calvin—

“[Christ] assumed our place, that he might be a criminal in our room, and might be dealt with as a sinner, not for his own offenses, but for those of others, since he was pure and exempt from every fault, and might endure the punishment that was due to us—not to himself. It is in the same manner, assuredly, that we are now righteous in him—[not because we have rendered any] satisfaction to the justice of God by our own works, but because we are judged in connection with Christ’s righteousness, which we have put on by faith, that it might become ours.”

So Moses pleads with God to not only spare the physical lives of these people, but to spare them from the eternal punishment they deserved.

Which brings us to God actually demonstrating His ability to punish the wicked and spare the righteous. Exodus 32:33-35—33 And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." 35 So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. It’s simple—when a person sins, something has to die. Romans 6:23—The wages of sin is death. Ezekiel 18:20—The soul who sins shall die. Either that person dies, or something dies in their place. Period, paragraph. That fact would be driven home to those people for the next 1500 years or so. When day after day after day after day, week after week after week after week, year after year after year after year, they would take their animal, take it to the priest, the priest would kill it, cut it up and burn it for one simple reason—sin. There was a lot of blood, a lot of dead animals, a lot of burning carcasses and washing intestines and everything else that went with the office of priest, for one reason—sin. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:21—For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 

Now, this principle did not stop when the old covenant with its sacrifices and offerings was replaced by the new covenant in Christ. That’s the bad news. The Good News—and what word do we use that means “Good News”? The gospel is that this principle found its fulfillment in the death of Christ. Hebrews 9:8-15—8 The way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.  11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. The blood of bulls and goats, which were offered under the old covenant, only covered over sins—it did not take them away. That blood was symbolic of the blood that Christ would shed which would completely take away and forgive sins—not just for the time being, not just until you sin again—but forever. How many times did Christ enter the Holiest of All in the Heavens? Hebrews 9:12—Once for all. Christ went into the Holiest of All, in the Heavens, the one not made with hands, and presented Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe. Once for all. Not over and over and over and over again—a point the writer of Hebrews makes in Hebrews 9:25—Not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another. He went in their once—it’s done.

So, this brings us now to Exodus 33:1-6—1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.' 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." 4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.'" 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Does He tell the people, “Go into the lands, learn their cultures, soften your tone with them, be sensitive to their felt needs, and bring them under the tent. Because I am God, and God is love.” No! He says, “I'm gonna drive the inhabitants of these idolatrous nations out of their land and give it to you.” 

That is the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Israel—does God keep His promises? And if we were to read through Joshua we would see that God does just that. But God would tell the people that not only was He going to drive out the idolaters, they were to have nothing to do with them or their ways. Exodus 34:11-16—“11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.” And all the people did exactly that and they lived happily ever after. Right? Wrong. After the book of Joshua, with the conquests of the lands, comes the book of Judges—and I think we all know what happens there. But sadly, many churches today have forgotten that we are supposed to be different from the world.

Are we supposed to walk around in sackcloth and ashes? Not hardly. But should a worship service—where the people are supposed to be worshipping God—should that service feature the “praise band” playing music form AC/DC? Or The Beatles? Or Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”? Yet these are the kinds of music that many “Seeker-Sensitive” churches are playing during their services. Like, for example, the fellow pictured below. 2nd Corinthians 6:14 (NASB)—Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Should a lost person be able to walk into a church and be hammered on and beaten down because they're lost? In no way! BUT—should that church be a place where the lost person can feel as if the way they are living and the sin they are holding on to is OK? In no way. The lost person entering a church building should be made welcome—but they should also be discipled and taught that sin is sin and without Christ they are lost. And as Peter said, 1st Peter 3:15—Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23—22 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. That is how we are to lead the lost to Christ. Not by beating them over the head, but by gently and patiently leading them. Not by embracing their sin and incorporating it into what is supposed to be a time of worshipping God. That is why God told the people not to enter into any covenants with the pagan nations, because He knew if they did the pagans would have more of an effect on the Israelites than the Israelites would have on the pagans. Or, as Paul said in 1st Corinthians 15:33—Bad company corrupts good morals. 

Exodus 33:7-10—7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. How many ways did the people have of seeking God? Exodus 33:8—Everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. How many entrances did the curtain around the tabernacle courtyard have? ONE. How many entrances were there into the Tent of Meeting? In fact, how many entrances were there into the Garden of Eden? Genesis 3:24—So God drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. There was only one way in and out of the Garden of Eden. Now, how many ways are there into the presence of God the Father today? John 14:6—“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” God hasn’t changed in this regard in 6000 years of human history. If you want to have access to Him, you do it HIS way. Yet there are many who hold fanciful notions, and teach them to others, that they can somehow gain some “new insight” and some kind of new revelation about how to reach God. Rodney Howard Browne’s “ministry” supposedly got started when he said to God, “Either You come down here and touch me, or I will come up there and touch You.” Wow, a God that can be bossed around. Can God be bossed around and have His arm twisted to make Him give us what we want? No. Yet there are many who teach that. They're making a ton of money. The people that listen to them and send them their money—not so much. That is a false idea about God. And what term did we use earlier to describe false ideas about God? Not banging the gavel on these people—just a warning to be careful about what you hear. Even if it’s me saying it. There is ever only one way to God. It’s either HIS way or it’s no way.

Exodus 33:11— 11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Let me just say a little about the phrase “face to face.” You will hear skeptics say, “In Exodus 33:20 God says no one can see His face and live! That’s a contradiction!” On the flip side, the Mormon relies on Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” as “proof” that he was a prophet. Joseph Smith supposedly saw, in his “First Vision”, God the Father and Jesus Christ. And when we mention that “In Exodus 33:20 God says no one can see His face and live! Joseph’s vision is a contradiction!” They say “Well, yeah, but it also says that Moses spoke with God face-to-face.” That defense is also used by those with fanciful ideas about God. But the phrase “face-to-face” is an unfortunate product of the evolution of the English language. “Face to face” in this instance does not mean that God revealed His face to Moses—that would indeed be a contradiction. What this refers to is the mode of communication by which God spoke with Moses. How did God descend on the tent in Exodus 33:9—The pillar of cloud would descend…and the LORD would speak with Moses. The first time God communicated with Moses—how did He do it? Through the burning bush. But here, He’s simply speaking to Moses as a man speaks to his friend. So “face to face” means that God was not speaking through an intermediary, or an angel or any other medium. He was communicating with Moses personally. Today we use cell phones and texting and e-mail. God spoke with Moses as we are doing right now. No one in between, no vision, dream, etc. Just God speaking with His friend. 

Exodus 33:12-23—12 Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people!' But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, 'I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' 13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people." 14 And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?" 17 The LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name." 18 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" 19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" 21 Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." 

Anybody know what old church hymn comes from this passage? Does God set boundaries? Are there consequences for stepping over those boundaries? If God promises to do something will He do it? So if Moses caught a glimpse of God’s uncovered glory, what would have happened? Look at Moses’ plea in Exodus 33:18 (KJV)—“I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory!” He doesn't say, “I'm going to see your glory or else!” He doesn't try to boss God around. He wants so badly to know God, but is humble enough to know that if God doesn't want to fully reveal Himself, He won’t. Matthew Henry—

“Moses had lately been in the mount with God, had continued there a great while, and had enjoyed as intimate a communion with God as ever any man had on this side heaven; and yet he is still desiring a further acquaintance. All that are effectually called to the knowledge of God and fellowship with him, though they desire nothing more than God, are nevertheless still coveting more and more of him, till they come to see as they are seen. Moses had wonderfully prevailed with God for one favour after another, and the success of his prayers emboldened him to go on still to seek God; the more he had the more he asked: when we are in a good frame at the throne of grace, we should endeavour to preserve and improve it, and strike while the iron is hot: “Show me thy glory; make me to see it” (so the word is); “make it some way or other visible, and enable me to bear the sight of it.” Not that he was so ignorant as to think God's essence could be seen with bodily eyes; but, having [until now] only heard a voice out of a pillar of cloud or fire, he desired to see some representation of the divine glory, such as God saw fit to gratify him with.”

But one day we will see God in all His glory. Not in this life or in this body. But, as it says in 1st John 2:28-3:2—28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. Moses could not see the glory of God with his own eyes. But I dare say he’s seeing it now. And we will one day as well.

Jesus Christ is Lord
Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--Aaron's Golden Calf

Let’s just kinda recap what has happened so far. In Exodus 20, God calls Moses up the mountain, and gives him the Ten Commandments. He takes them down, announces them to the people, and they cry out, “You go talk to God, lest we die!” So Moses goes back up the mountain, and from Exodus 21 through Exodus 23, Moses receives the commandments that the people were to obey, and in Exodus 24 the people cry out “All that the LORD has said we will do and be obedient!” And God establishes His covenant with Israel. God reveals the specifications for the Tabernacle and all its furnishings—the altars and the lampstand and the Ark of the Covenant and the tent itself—basically, He tells Moses, “This is how I am to be worshipped.” He then gives Moses the sign/token/pledge of this covenant, the 7^th-day Sabbath. And then in the very last verse in Exodus 31, we see how the covenant was put in writing. I love this verse. Exodus 31:18—When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

And now we now get to one of the most well-known events not only in Exodus, but in all of Scripture. It is an event that really doesn’t require much explanation. But it does contain several applications to our own lives. And this passage gives us a term that is used even today when we talk about people’s ideas of God and who He is and what He is like. I am talking of course about the golden calf. Now, keep in mind, back in Exodus 24, when the covenant was being established, that Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7). That was now several days ago. One of the commandments which the people swore that they would “do and be obedient” was Exodus 20:4—“You shall not make for yourself a graven image.” What is the command? No graven images. Remember that. No graven images.

Exodus 32:1-6—1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." 2 And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" 5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD." 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 

What was the commandment? No graven images. What did the people make? A graven image. That’s how stupid and stubborn we human beings are. Now, in this whole mess, who should have known better? Aaron. Aaron was up on the mountain back in Exodus 24:9-10—9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. But, what Aaron did was not too much different from what another fellow did a few hundred years earlier. Another fellow received a command from God to not do something. His wife did what she wasn’t supposed to do, he saw her do it, and he thought it looked OK and said, “Hey, why not?” Any idea who I’m talking about? Genesis 2:16-17—16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." What happened? Genesis 3:6—She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. That’s how stupid and stubborn we human beings are. We hear what we’re supposed to do, and not supposed to do, we go on our merry way and do what we want. 

Exodus 32:7-8—7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'” Look at verse 7. When a parent catches their child doing something wrong, and they call the other parent, how do they refer to that child? “Do you know what YOUR son did today?” God tells Moses “These are YOUR people.” And we’re gonna talk more about that later. For now, notice something else. This is a very clear example of the omniscience—or “All-Knowingness” of God. While God was speaking all these words to Moses, what’s going on down at the bottom of the mountain? They’re making the golden calf. They're drinking and carousing and doing all sorts of wickedness. Does God see what the people are doing and even hear what they're saying? He’s speaking to Moses up here—and seeing the idolatry going on down there. And that is one thing we don’t often think about when we think about how God sees everything. We try to turn our eyes away from wickedness don’t we? When we see something filthy on TV, or see some of the magazines at the checkout, we stop and look away, right? We don’t watch pornography. We don’t engage in the sinful things that go on in the world. consider not only the wickedness that goes on in public—let alone the most bizarre stuff that goes in in the places that are hidden away in the darker corners of the world. Those places where the people think no one sees them—God sees it all. Hebrews 4:13—And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. He has seen all the wickedness I used to do before I knew him. And believe you me, I don’t even want to think of what He saw. And yet He is not tempted by seeing it, He is not corrupted by seeing it. He is offended by fact that it takes place. He looks on it all and will judge it all one day. Just as He will do here. 

Exodus 32:9-10—9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." He presents to Moses a proposition that must have sounded very appealing to his flesh. But it’s not so much that God is tempting him—I really think this is a place where God is testing Moses to show Moses the weight of the office God has called him to. Keil and Delitzsch—

“God puts the fate of the nation into the hand of Moses, that he may remember his office as mediator, and show himself worthy of his calling. [By placing] the preservation or destruction of Israel in the hands of Moses, coupled with a promise, which left the fullest freedom to [Moses’] decision…this constituted a great test for Moses, whether he would be willing to give up his own people…as the price of his own exaltation. And Moses stood the test. The preservation of Israel was dearer to him than the honour of becoming the head and founder of a new kingdom of God. True to his calling as mediator, he entered the breach before God, to turn away His wrath, that He might not destroy the sinful nation.” 

Besides, it wasn’t as if the entire nation of Israel was participating in idolatry. And if God had wiped out all the people, He would have taken out the innocent with the guilty. And we see Moses' plea, his mediation, in Exodus 32:11—11 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: “LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” What did God call these people in Exodus 32:7—“Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt.” But here, Moses shows that he understands just who these people belong to, and who really brought them out of the land of Egypt. God said to Moses, “These people belong to you.” Moses says, “No, LORD, they belong to you.” Exodus 32:12-14—“12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. Moses knew the real reason why God does every single thing He ever does—and that is His glory, His name. That is what prayer is all about. It’s not about getting what WE want. It’s about God. This event is the basis of some of the most long-debated questions in all of theology.

First, “Can we change God’s mind?” Second, “Does God change His mind?” Third, “If God does not change His mind, and if we can't change His mind—then why pray?” Well, we need to understand one basic principle about prayer. And that is: Prayer is not about changing God’s mind—it’s about changing our hearts. And I don’t think it’s as if God was telling Moses, “I am going to wipe these people out,” so much as He was telling Moses, “Give Me a reason why I shouldn’t wipe these people out.” Moses understood the reason for prayer, and he knew that the honor and glory of God’s name was to be upheld even if it meant having to put up with these stubborn, stiff-necked people. Did God know Moses what Moses was going to pray? Does God know what we’re going to pray? Does God know what we need when we pray? Matthew 6:8—“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Yet what do many of our prayers sound like? “God do this for me” or “Lord do that for me” or “Lord I need help with something else.” Who and what is the center of that kind of prayer? ME and my needs. Should ME and my needs be the center of our prayers? Who and what should be the center of our prayers? God and His glory and His name. In the “Model Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13), what is the first thing we should pray for? Matthew 6:9—“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name.” Right after the commandments against having other gods or making graven images, what is the very next commandment? Exodus 20:7—“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” This, by the way, another commandment the people broke, giving the name of God to the golden calf (Exodus 32:4-5).

Moses understood this. He remembered the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. And he knew that if God did indeed wipe the people out, the pagan nations would have great reason to blaspheme His name. When the prophet Nathan rebuked David for his transgression with Bathsheba, the main point of his rebuke was not that he had committed adultery and killed one of his soldiers. Yes, he did rebuke him for those things. But listen to 2^nd Samuel 12:13-14—13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." The child died because David gave the enemies of God a reason to blaspheme. This sounds very cruel to us, doesn't it? It was David that sinned—why should this child, who had not committed such a sin, bear the penalty for his father’s sin? Keil and Delitzsch— 

“As his sin had given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme or ridicule his religion and that of all other believers, the child that was begotten in adultery and had just been born should die…on the one hand, so that the father should atone for his adultery in the death of the son, and, on the other hand, that the visible occasion for any further blasphemy should be taken away: so that David was not only to feel the pain of punishment in the death of his son, but was also to discern in it a distinct token of the grace of God.” 

We will see the same thing here shortly—that even though God will not destroy them for this sin, they will be punished in a very visible and very memorable manner. 

Exodus 32:15-19—15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." 18 But he said: " It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear." 19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

A couple things here. First, think back to the very first verses of the chapter. Where was Aaron? He was right in the middle of the rabble and riff-raff—and in fact HE was the one who fashioned the golden calf! Where is Joshua? He’s up the mountain a ways off. Was he in the middle of the wickedness? No. Was he kind of milling around the scene, checking things out? Was he trying to see how close he could get without crossing the line? And yet there are those who claim to be Christians who will date or even marry those who are not followers of Christ. Some will simply get as close to sin as they can, thinking they won’t cross the line into sin. Can't say I haven’t done that a time or two. But what do you always hear them say? “I can handle it! I'm strong enough!” or you’ll ask them, “Are you sure you should be doing that? There’s gonna be a lot of temptation with that.” And you hear these famous last words—“I would neeeevvvvverrr do that!” When you hear a Christian say something like that, get ready for some bad news. The sin that every Christian will fall into is the one they say “I would neeeevvvvverrr do that!” Because that statement is filled with one thing and one thing only—and what is that? Pride. Pride in their own flesh. Proverbs 16:18—Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 29:23—A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor. Mark 7:20-23—“20 What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” Notice how Jesus lists pride among all these other sins that defile a man. And He says that pride will indeed defile a man. So when you hear a Christian say, “I would never fall into that sin”—get ready, because they're about to. Because they're speaking out of pride, which lives in our flesh, and their flesh will make sure it gets its way.

Now, we’re gonna talk for a minute about the Ten Commandments movie. Of course, the way they depicted this scene was quite a bit tamer than what it actually looked like. And we should be very glad for that. This was a drunken orgy, and not many people—if any—had a shred of clothing on. And the scene was much more depraved than what we see on the screen. But does anybody remember what Charlton Heston does with the stone tablets? He throws them at the golden calf, and they make this huge explosion, and the earth opens up and swallows all the idolaters? Well, it makes for fascinating cinema—but bad theology. Which doesn't really make much sense when you have the script right in front of you. What actually happened was Moses slammed them to the ground and they shattered—a quite literal metaphor for how the people “broke the Law.”

 

Now, look at how the people were punished. God did not destroy the people, lest He give the pagans a reason to blaspheme His name. But, Exodus 32:20—Then [Moses] took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. In other words, he made them take their sin into themselves, that they may get just a taste (for lack of a better word) of how abominable their sin was to God. Now, keep in mind, this would not have been a swift process. They would have heated up a large fire, cast the idol into it, and would have had to watch it melt and watch it get beaten down, spread on the water before they drank it. And this was a symbolic act on Moses’ part, teaching them that sin is not something that is exclusively external—that sin pollutes the inner person.  Proverbs 19:28—A disreputable witness scorns justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. Job 15:15-16—15 If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, 16 how much less is man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water! But, if we are in Christ, our “inner man” is not dying and decaying—it is being refreshed and renewed every day by God Himself. Romans 7:21-22—21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 2^nd Corinthians 4:16—Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

Lastly, we’re gonna see just how foolish we human beings really are. Exodus 32:21-24—21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?" 22 So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, 'Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' 24 And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out."Aaron is saying a couple things here. First, in verse 24 he makes this miraculous declaration--“Moses, it was amazing! You wouldn’t believe it! I took their gold and I randomly threw it in the fire, and—**POOF**—this fully formed golden calf just jumped right out!!” 

Second, but more importantly, what else is he trying to do? look at verses 22-23. Who is he blaming for his actions? “You know the people! They MADE me do it—It’s THEIR fault!” And again, we go back to the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:11-13—11 And [God] said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" 12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Who does Adam blame for his sin? The woman. But also, he blames God, the One who gave him a wife. “The woman YOU gave me…” Who does Eve pin the blame on? The serpent. Remember the Flip Wilson character Geraldine Jones? What was her famous line? “The devil made me do it.” The devil doesn't MAKE us do ANYTHING. Our sin is our own. And by reading Aaron’s foolish reply, don’t we get a glimpse of our own foolishness when we dismissed our own sins for so many years and blamed them on someone else? We see it all around us today. A person commits a horrific crime and they blame society for it. Or they blame the fact that they were raised in the projects by a drug-addicted mother and an abusive father. But there are plenty of people of all races who grow up in such circumstances who don’t give themselves over to a life of crime. Otherwise, this city would be full of serial killers. Notice though, with Adam and Eve, that God holds each one of them accountable for their own sin. “Adam, did eat from that tree? Eve, what did you do?” And even Aaron had to drink the water that was littered with the gold from the calf he made. 

Exodus 32:25-28—25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the LORD's side—come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" 28 So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

Everyone who did not commit himself to the LORD God, but instead sided with the idolaters, was killed. Period, paragraph. No mercy. God said, “If they want they to worship their calf, then let them die.” Ezekiel 18:20—The soul who sins shall die. Were the Levites to spare anyone? They could not say, “Well, I know Yitzhak is still on the side of the idolaters, but he’s my cousin and I just can't do it.” What did we say was the most important thing to God? His name and His glory. God tells the sons of Levi, “Let these people be an example of what I will do to those who blaspheme against Me and worship other gods.” And I dare say, if any of the sons of Levi did not carry out these orders, they would have been counted as being among the idolaters, and would have been, more than likely, slain with the sword as well. In fact, listen to these words of our Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:34-37—“34 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; 36 and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” And listen to this one last verse from Exodus, Exodus 32:29—Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother." Sound familiar? Think Jesus’ words might have reminded the Jews of a certain event in their history? Methinks.

More next time.