INSIGHT OF EXODUS CHAPTER 32 SECTION TWO We are continuing with the insight of Exodus chapter 32 and we are going to see how Moses interceeded for the children of Israel, though GOD wanted to eliminate all of them. Moses then pleaded with the LORD his GOD Ex.32:11, Moses refused to do nothing, he did not fatalistically say, Well, whatever GOD will do, let HIM do, but he pleaded with the LORD, according to what he believed to be GODS heart intercession. GOD loves intercessors, Moses prayer was not long but it was strong. It is not the length of prayer that appeals to heaven but the strength . In Moses prayer, he first of all gave GOD back the people to HIM for the people actually belonged to the LORD, Moses said Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt Ex.32:11, they belong to You, not to me, I don’t want to be god over these people, only YOU are their GOD The statement the people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, was an apealed which Moses asked GOD on the basis of grace, in other words Moses meant LORD, we didn’t deserve to be brought out of Egypt to begin with, You did it by Your grace, not because we deserved it, please don’t stop dealing with us by grace. Moses further prayed and said Why should the Egyptians speak and say you brought them out for mischief Ex.32:12, Moses appealed to GOD on the basis of HIS glory, in order words LORD, this will bring discredit to You in the eyes of the nations, the Egyptians will think of You are a cruel GOD who led Your people out to the desert to kill them, don’t let anyone think that of You, GOD. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self Ex.32:13, Moses finally appealed to GOD on the basis of HIS goodness, in order words LORD, keep Your promises, You are a good GOD, You who is always faithful, don’t break Your promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The prayer of Moses was not long, but it had an effect on GODS heart that made GOD to change HIS mind, many of us Christians will not pray like Moses did, we will be happy that people have fallen and we are the only faithful ones standing, but this prayer of Moses promoted Moses the more in Spiritual things of the LORD. Do you interceed for people? Can you give your life for the people if GOD was to destroy them? As we read this chapter learn and try to interceed for people for that is what GOD wants. Another lesson we will see in this chapter is how GOD relented from HIS anger in Ex.32:14. So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people GOD answered Moses prayer, GOD was going to destroy the nation and all Moses had to do was leave GOD alone do it, but Moses did not leave GOD alone, he laboured in intercession according to what he knew was the heart of GOD. The statement So the LORD relented in the KJV bible this phrase is translated as LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people based on this, some Christians believe GOD sometimes needs to repent of evil, or that GOD changes HIS mind, it will be helpful to read other translations of this passage, Then the Lord relented (NIV), So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people (NASB), The Lord turned from the evil which He had thought to do (Amplified) The Lord was moved with compassion to save His people. (Septuagint Bible). So do not dwell in sin thinking the LORD will repent and forgive you when you get into heaven, in heaven there is no forgiveness of sins, let us learn to obey GOD in HIS laws and commandments now that we are on earth and we will enter heaven and dwell with HIM. Moses prayer did not change GOD, but it did change the stand of the people in GODS sight, for the people were now in a place of mercy, when before they were in a place of judgment. GOD did not destroy Israel and HE knew that HE would not destroy Israel, yet HE deliberately put Moses into this crucial place of intercession, so that Moses would display and develop GODS heart for the people, a heart of love and compassion and Moses prayed just as GOD wanted him to, as if heaven and earth, salvation or destruction, depended on his prayer. This is how GOD waits us to pray for others who have fallen into sin too. We as Christians do not have less privilege in prayer than Moses had, we do not have less access to GOD than Moses had, the only thing we may have less of is Moses heart for the people, for we dont have heart for the people we lead today. So if you are out there, leading GODS people try to have a heart for them, put on the breast plate of the LORD while leading the people and GOD will be please with you. Another lesson we are going to learn is how Moses confronted Aaron as outline in Ex.32:15-23. Moses turned and went down from the mountain, in the midst of this great idolatry, Moses and Joshua came down from on Mount Sinai, he carried the two tablets of the Testimony, written with the finger of GOD Ex.31:18. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God verse 16, it is significant that the tablets were written by GODS hand directly, all law and morality came from GODS standard and character, GOD alone is the author of law and justice, so HE alone can write them on the heart of man. Joshua was right when he said There is a noise of war in the camp Ex.32:17, however, the noise of the people reflected a spiritual war and not a material war. Moses had to put an end to the disgrace and confronted Aaron as the bible says Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them Ex.32:19. Israel broke the covenant of GOD by involving in idolatry and immorality with the golden calf, while Moses also broke the tablets of stone which was a covenant to the Israelites, because of anger. There is something wrong with the anger of Moses, we learnt that GOD by asking Moses to put his hands into his bossom Ex.4:6-7, he dealt with Moses anger, because in his anger he killed an Egyptian Ex.2:11-12, in his anger he beat the rock GOD commanded him to speak to Num.20-10-11, it is this last display of anger that kept Moses out of the promise land, but here again the anger of Moses burnt and he broke the tablets of stones written with the finger of GOD. There are times when our flesh try to over come us into sinning especially what we use to do before coming to JESUS CHRIST, all we need to do is to invite JESUS daily to take that sin away and it will subside gradually. So if you fine yourself doing the same error of sin that you had done before, just invite JESUS in your life to take over, for HE said without Me you can do nothing John 15:5, it means without JESUS taking over the sins in our lives we cannot live a righteous life. Therefore as leaders we should be careful the way we get angry, that is why as a leader we must deal with the spirit of anger no matter what. The only way we can deal with it is to ask the LORD JESUS CHRIST to help us out of it, well not only anger but any sin that wants to dominate the flesh. However Moses destroyed the golden calf and made the children of Israel to drink of it verse 20. Moses ground up the calf and made the people drink it for three reasons. (1) To show that this god was nothing and could be destroyed easily. (2) To completely obliterate (remove all signs of) this idol. (3) To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin. Moses said to Aaron What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them? This was an extremely perceptive question, Moses understood that this plan didn’t originate with Aaron, but that he allowed it and implemented it. Therefore as we study this chapter we should be careful what we implement and allow in our midst as Christians, things that does not glorify the LORD, should never and never be implemented and allowed, no matter who tries to persuade us, remember on the last day, we shall all stand before the judgement throne and GOD will not judge us in groups or according to the church we attend here on earth, but according to how we obey and implemented HIS laws in our lives and others. If in any way we have allowed and implemented wrong ideas or things that does not line up with the commandments of GOD, we should repent and make things right with the LORD. Another lesson we will learn here is Aarons excused, Aaron said Do not let the anger of my lord become hotEx.32:22, with these words Aaron meant, Moses be calm it is not so bad as you think Aaron had no sense of the consequences of his sin, for he had no fear of the LORD. Aaron further said You know the people, that they are set on evil Ex.32:22, Moses also knew as well as Aaron that the people like evil, but Moses had the wisdom to stop the people from doing evil which Aaron did not have. Aaron quoted the people to Moses by saying Make us gods that shall go before us Ex.32:23, he defended himself by saying I cast it into the fire and the calf came out Ex.32:24, Aaron lied. Aaron meant the calf was produced by a miracle, it just happened Moses, everyone esle as well as Moses could see the human engraving marks on it, so Aaron claimed it was a mircalous work, but the evidence of his workmanship were all over it. Aaron gave a classic excused, but the calf did not just miraclously come out from fire as he claimed, he melted the gold, moulded it and fashioned it carefully with an engraving tools verse 4. Aaron did evil by making the golden calf and he excuse himself, by lying adding sin to sin, Aaron sin was so great that only the intercession of Moses save his life, Deut.9:20. Aaron was just a lazy person, for the people kept under his care he could not be spiritually alert to stop them from sinning even if they wanted their own gods, he would have gone to the LORD in prayer as Moses did when the people cried out for water and GOD would have given him a solution, but he did it his own way, the laziness to pray and communicate with GOD cause him to sin. Lazy people always find fault in their Christian life and those who do not intend to work always find some excuse or other and then, they make up for their laziness by having spiritual dream. Many of us Christian like dreaming and we consider that by having this spiritual dream due to laziness, we are doing the work of the LORD. We are only being deceitful by putting dreaming into the place of real service to the LORD, therefore if we are not prayerful and spiritual alert we are dreaming to serve the LORD, if we not committed to reading GODS word, we are dreaming to knowing and hearing the voice of GOD, if we cannot asked the Holy-Spirit to lead and guide us, we are dreaming to lead GODS people and as such we become lazy Christians and any little driff or shake can make us sin against the LORD. We should therefore wake up from our slumber and be spiritually alert from our services to the LORD, we should have spiritual discerment and always asked the LORD for directions when confronted with issues that is against the laws of GOD, if Aaron had consulted GOD he wouldnt have fallen into such a terrible sin. Another lesson we are going to look at, is the call to GODS side or idolatry, Moses stood up and said Whoever is on the Lord’s side; come to me Ex.32:26, Moses gave the people of Israel the opportunity to make a stand for the LORD. The Levites, were the only ones that to their honor, sided with the LORD and with Moses, sadly, it was a Levite Aaron, that moulded the golden calf. About three thousand men of the people fell that day Ex.32:28, this seems to be the atonement for the sins of the children of Israel for the LORD had spoken to them saying whosoever shall sacrifice to idols shall die Ex.22:20. Moses also learned on Mount Sinai that God’s penalty for idolatry was death, he who sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed, he was more aware than ever of the distance between the people and God and sensed the urgency to intercede. We should know that anyone who sacrifice unto idols GOD will utterly destroy such a person, because GOD does not share HIS glory with anyone, if there is anyway we are sacrificing to idols, let us decease from it. Moses interceeded for the people the second time, he prayed again for them because now he saw the sin with his own eyes, and was struck with the depths of the people’s sin. Oh, these people have committed a great sin Ex.32:31 Moses did not minimize the sin of the people or put it in soft terms, he told GOD the people were guilty of worshipping a god of gold. Many Christians still worship gods of gold and at the same time worship the LORD ALMIGHTY. However Mose said Yet now, if You will forgive their sin Ex.32:32, Moses knew the enormity of the people’s sin, yet he still asked for forgiveness he appeal to GOD for HIS mercy and grace on the peoples behalf. If not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written Ex.32:32, Moses asked GOD to forgive Israel on the basis of his own sacrificial identification with the sinful people, if GOD would not forgive, Moses asked to be damned in sacrificial identification with his sinful people. The sacrifical heart of Moses was the same heart JESUS had when HE died for our sins, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit 1 Peter. 3:18. The LORD responed to Moses plead and said Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book Ex.32:33 GOD agreed to spare the nation as a whole, but HE definitely reserved the right to judge individual sinners. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you Ex.32:34, this was God’s promise to stay faithful to Israel and to keep HIS presence with them My Angel shall go before you Ex.32:34, this meant GOD was not going with the people again though HE had forgiving them, but only HIS angel will now lead them to the promise land. Sin had its consequences especially if we know the truth and we decide to tempt the LORD into sinning against HIM, the Israelites tempt the LORD into sinning against HIM after knowing the truth of sacrificing to idols is death. As a leader when people that we lead fall into sin we should quickly go before the LORD and plead to the LORD on their behalf as Moses did and GOD will forgive them. We should also not tempt the LORD by sinning agains HIM, if we know the truth and the consequences of sin. CONCERNING LEADERSHIP 1. A Leader should interceed for people that he is leading who falls into sin. Moses interceded unto the LORD twice on behalf of the Israelites Ex.32:11-13 and Ex.32:31-32. 2. A Leader should learn to deal with anger in his life. Moses anger cause him to broke the tablets of stones written with the finger of GOD Ex.32:19. 3. A Leader should admit his faults and not lie. Aaron tried to excused himself for making the golden calf by lying Ex.32:24. 4. A Leader should learn to sacrifice himself for the people he is leading. Moses asked the LORD to sacrifice him (to kill him) on behalf of the people Ex32:32. As we study this chapter let us try to do away with anything that has to do with idols in our lives, let us honour the LORD with our hearts, by obeying and keeping HIS commandments. Let us always lift up our brothers who are weak in faith unto the LORD, by interceeding for them, let us avoid lies and anger, for they hinder our spiritual growth and give the devil a chance to mock our Christian life. Above all let us learn to be broken Christians, by humbling ourselves to one another, quick to apologize when we are at fault and always forgive one another to the glory of GOD, with these characters we will be sure to make heaven and JESUS will be please with us.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:15:38 +0000
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