After the Israelites had broken the covenant with God, Moses had broken the tablets on which God had written the commandments. Now that they had repented, God told Moses to cut new tablets and come up to Mount Sinai.
Verses 4-9, "So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.' So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.' ”
Moses intercede on behalf of the people for God to renew His covenant with them, and dwell among them once again. God then proceeds to proclaim His character, allowing Moses to understand who He is in a deeper way. Psalms 145:8, "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy." People love to tell others of these characteristics, and it is the truth. However, He is also just and reserves the right to punish sin and iniquity. Preaching only one side of God does not make the other untrue. Therefore, we fall upon His grace and accept the payment for our sin, so that we may be justified in His sight. Romans 3:23-26, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Verses 11-16, "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. 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. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 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, 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."
God did not want His people to dwell with the inhabitants of the lands He would give them, He wanted them driven out completely. Otherwise there would be a temptation to make a covenant with the people for the sake of unity with man, and the people and their ways would ensnare the Israelites causing them to go astray and turn their backs on God. You see, God knows the condition of man, even when we don't acknowledge or admit that we are weak and prone to sin. God is a jealous God, and He doesn't want to share worship. In order to protect ourselves from falling, we need to keep ourselves away from these temptation and safeguard our families. 2 Corinthians 6:17, "Therefore 'Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.' ”
Verses 29-33, "Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face."
Moses had previously asked God to see His glory, and God answers that request too. Although, it wasn't His full glory, God appeared to Moses in a cloud in a veiled way that he could handle. It had such an impact on Moses' physical appearance that his face shone, which frightened the leaders and the people. When we spend time with God, we also can reflect His awesomeness to others. Our face may not glow, but others can see that we've been in the presence of God. Peter and John are prime examples. Acts 4:13, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." May our prayers be to shine the light of Jesus in this dark world.
2 Corinthians 4:1-6, "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
"And the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.” God called Moses up on that mountain again to receive the 10 commandments. God wanted no man to come with him, and didn't want anyone on the mountain. Moses did not see the Lord entirely, but the Lord appeared to him in a cloud.
ReplyDelete"Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord . And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord , the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” Moses quickly bowed as he was in the presence of the Lord! Moses was pleading with the Lord to remain with the children of Israel even though they were wicked and their hearts were evil. The Israelites had done nothing to deserve God's presence and protection, just like we have don't nothing to deserve his love and forgiveness. We are all fuilthy sinners, and no one can earn God's grace.
"And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord . For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 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. 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. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord , whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 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, 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. “You shall make no molded gods for yourselves."God made and covenant with the children of Israel, and He would drive out all those who were dwelling in the promise land. God would do this miraculously, showing once again his power and glory. The Lord strictly warned the Jews to not make a covenant with the inhabitants, and not to intermingle. These people were evil. And would only drag the Jews down. He strictly told them to destroy everything from these people. They worshipped false gods, and God wanted all the altars burnt and for the jews to have no association with them. He didn't want the sons marrying the daughters of these people, He was very clear about it.
Often times, when we try to hang out with people who are of the world, it drags us down with them. We should want to obstain from the world and look and act different. Right now for instance, Halloween is approaching, and many churches and christians have harvest parties etc which is just a mimic of the world. We shouldn't try to fit in, but be separate. II Corinthians 6:17-"Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” those who have been filled with the holy spirit should be disgusted with the Lord and want to be separate.
Delete“The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. “And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year." God still called them to observe the different feasts that are in the Jewish law. They were still expected to obey the Lord. “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” again, they were still expected to obey the Lord by tithing. God still deserves our firstfruits today. And so many people try to make excuses for why they can't give to God. These are all just excuses. Anyone who is a believer should want to give back to the Lord their firstfruits because the Lord is the one who provided the job, the money, etc. He could take it all away from us if He chose. We should desire to give to the Lord and obey Him!