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Exodus
31:1-18 “And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2 See, I have called by name
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3
and
I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and
in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4
to
devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5
and
in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in
all manner of workmanship. 6 And I, behold, I have
given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise
hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; 7
the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy
seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, 8
and
the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture,
and the altar of incense, 9 and the altar of burnt
offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot, 10
and
the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the
garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office, 11
and
the anointing oil and the sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded
thee shall they do. 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 13 Speak thou also unto the children
of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you
throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify
you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath
therefore; for it is holy unto you:
every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein,
that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15
Six
days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy
to the LORD:
whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be
put to death. 16 Wherefore the children
of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their
generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17
It
is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. 18
And
he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount
Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of
God.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED562] “Chapter 31, we have finished
many of the descriptions of the Tabernacle and the furnishings of the
Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the Bronze Laver and the Altar, the
Table of Showbread and the Menorah and so forth, and then the priests and the
priest’s garments, the anointing of the priests, and the setting aside of the
priests, the Incense and the Anointing Oil and all of the different things that
were placed in it, and the particular aromas that it had that were never to be
copied and so forth. And as we come now
to chapter 31 we come to those that were set aside to do much of this
work. Now, remember, this is still Moses
up on the mount with God receiving the description of all of these things. The
Calling Of Two Spirit-Filled Construction Workers: Bezaleel & Aholiab And chapter 31 begins by saying “And
the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I
have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of
Judah:” (verses 1-2) Now Bezaleel doesn’t know this yet, Bezaleel
is down in the camp. But God says “I
have called by name” that should be an encouragement to you. You know who Bezaleel is? No, that’s right, it puts us all in the same
camp, doesn’t it. “I have called by
name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:” (verse 2) Now Bezaleel, his name means “in the shadow
of God.” Is that where you live? Is that where you are determined to live,
even if you’re not doing a great job at it?
Is that where your heart is? You
mind if we just call you Bezaleel? His
name means “in the shadow of God,” Bezaleel, this one that’s called. Look in verse 3, “and I have filled him
with the Spirit of God,” first “in wisdom, and in understanding, and in
knowledge,” lastly “and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning
works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones,
to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of
workmanship.” (verses 3-5) This is a
Spirit-filled construction worker. God,
don’t laugh, that’s what you want to be, if you’re a doctor you want to be a
Spirit-filled doctor, and if anybody’s working on me that’s a doctor, I want it
to be a Spirit-filled doctor. If ever
there’s a surgeon working on me, I don’t cherish the idea of being unconscious
if someone’s cutting me, but if that ever happens, you want that to be a
Spirit-filled doctor. Ah, Spirit-filled
goldsmith, Spirit-filled computer programmer.
This person, as we come to the construction of the Tabernacle, is just
as anointed as the priests. No less
anointing, certainly a different job description, as necessary, without the
Tabernacle and the furnishings the priests would have nothing to do. So as necessary for the whole thing to
function. But this is a man, Bezaleel,
who is a construction worker, God is giving him particular insight and talents
in regards to working in gold and so forth, but he says first, “wisdom,
knowledge, understanding,” man of character.
Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, through the Spirit of God, to do the
work that God called him to do. We have
all kinds of people working around here, doing all kinds of things, and the
majority of them are not in public view.
But they’re faithful, and they work hard, I have incredible staff,
assistant pastors and secretaries and the guys who do maintenance here, and I
believe that none of them are here just as a job. Sometimes occasionally if that happens, you
know, there’s an attitude. But the guys
that are here, there’s a calling, and the gals that are here, I believe, are
here as a calling, and they see it more than just employment, and how important
that is. I want a spiritual secretary on
the phone, I want the guys that are alongside of me, Spirit-filled. Ah, this guy Bezaleel, “in the shadow of the
LORD,”
is a man here, it says that he is Spirit-filled, spiritual gifts as we
see them, as we see them anywhere in description, are for building. Spiritual gifts are not for tearing down. I can always tell if someone comes and ‘While
there’s so many needs, and they’re not being met, and this needs to happen,’ here’s
somebody that’s etching out a little place for themselves, you know. Spiritual gifts are given to construct, not
to dismantle, God gives them out, ‘the apostle, grace given to the
Church, apostle, prophet, evangelist, teaching-pastor, four gifts there, for
the edifying of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up,
until we all come to the unity of the faith,’ and so forth. God’s gifts when they’re given, are not
tearing down gifts, they’re building up gifts.
And these guys are here to build, to do construction, to do work, to
devise cunning works of gold, and of silver, and of brass, just imagine how
beautiful some of these things looked, there was a touch to them when they met
the eye, there was something about them that would just, the level of
workmanship, the appearance of it had God’s touch on it. “and in cutting of stones, to set them,
and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab,
the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan:
and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that
they may make all that I have commanded thee;” (verses 5-6) So he’s put people alongside of
Bezaleel. Interesting, Aholiab means
“father of the tent.” Now who’d have
named their kid “father of the tent”?
Maybe Ahisamach, just to get even with his mom for naming him Ahisamach,
he might have named his kid Aholiab. But
you know, Kathy and I picked out names for four kids, we didn’t think “father
of the tent,” let’s go for that. But
here he is, when he’s a babe he’s named “father of the tent,” and here comes a
guy whose working on the Tabernacle with Bezaleel, putting it together for God,
which would be the place where the nation comes to worship. I mean, there’s craftsmanship here that goes
back decades that nobody sees, and it’s in the fingers of God, the beautiful
design of human lives. Look, he’s in
this situation, he’s anointed, and he’s there to assist Bezaleel. Some people are anointed by God to assist,
he’s not there to do Bezaleel’s job in the process of construction, he’s there
to assist. He’s just as important, he’s
just as necessary, he’s just as anointed, but they have their jobs, their
calling, their gifting put there. Ahisamach,
his father’s name means “brother of aid,” or “brother that brings assistance,”
I’m not sure if that has anything to do with the work that’s being done
here. But he said God’s put his Spirit
on them, “that they may make all that I have commanded thee;” (verse 6b) So, God’s calling, God’s enabling. If God has called you to do something, his
enabling comes with it. God doesn’t call
somebody to do something and then sit in heaven and say ‘Oh boy, they’re
never going to get it together, got another lemon, I should’ve picked somebody
else.’ No, if God calls you, he
enables you. If he calls you to do
something, he gifts you to do that.
We’ve all seen people who, you know, that swear on a stack of Bibles
that they’re called to do something, but we never see it happening. ‘I’m called to be a pastor,’ pastors
to me are usually recognizable, they got as bunch of sheep behind them. ‘I’m a shepherd,’ really, ‘Ya, just
nobody believes me and nobody will follow me, I’m a shepherd.’ Again, on the West Coast, Kathy and I
were in this ministry, it was a little bit weird, and I remember one night we
were having this all-night prayer-meeting and there was this guy there, he was
a little bit of a charismaniac, and we were praying for somebody that needed
their hearing healed, and he would be carrying on, you know, and all of a
sudden he went Woooh! did this crazy thing, and I thought ‘Well, this
is Pentecostal, I’m not surprised,’ and I knew he was going to tell me, and
I just looked at him, and I said ‘OK, what was that?’ And he said ‘I sensed the power of the
Holy Spirit come through to heal her,’ and he said ‘it got to her, and
she didn’t have enough faith to receive it, and it bounced back and it hit me,’
and I felt like saying ‘No, that’s alternating current you’re talking
about, that’s not the Holy Ghost.’ These
guys were called, and because they were called, they were anointed, God gave
them the gifting to do the things that he called them to do, and of course
that’s a wonderful thing to see in action.
It says ‘to make’ “the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the
furniture of the tabernacle, and the table and his furniture, and the pure
candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, and the altar of
burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot, and the
cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments
of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office,” and he’s 83 years old at
this point in time, Aaron, he’s going to be learning some things, “and the
anointing oil and the sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded
thee shall they do.” (verses 7-11)
And God is putting his Spirit on these men who will be in the process of
building and putting together all of these things. God’s
Sabbaths “And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths
ye shall keep: for it is a sign
between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am
the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is
holy unto you: every one that defileth
it shall surely be put to death: for
whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among
his people.” (verses 12-14) Now if you look over in verse 17 it
says “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever:” So
if you want to understand what the Sabbath is, it is a sign between Jehovah
[Yahweh] God and the children of Israel forever. Not between God and the Church, between God
and the children of Israel, it is a sign, he gave them two specific things in
regards to symbolism that were very clear, one was circumcision, and the other
was the Sabbath. [Comment: It says “sabbaths” plural, in verse 12, which
if you turn to Leviticus 23, it includes the weekly Sabbath (Leviticus 23:1-3)
and all the other Holy Days, which were called by the Jews “High
Sabbaths.” Sabbaths, plural here is
referring to the keeping of all the Holy Sabbaths, which were statutes, given
in Leviticus 23, verses 1-44. Then these
verses go on to discuss God’s weekly Sabbath.]
It was something that was to go from generation to generation between
God Almighty and the children of Israel.
The Church has always kept the first day of the week, the Church has
always met on the day of the new creation, the Seventh Day is the day of the
rest in regards to the completion of the old creation, the 8th day
is the completion of the new creation, and the Church has always worshipped,
you go through the Book of Acts, chapter 20, 1st Corinthians chapter
9 and so forth, you go through the New Testament, the Lord’s Day was Sunday,
Resurrection day is when the Church gathered and the Church worshipped. [Comment:
Now this is what most Sunday-observing Christians sincerely believe, and
all Calvary Chapels believe and teach.
But if you do a careful study of early Church history, that started out
in Jerusalem right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the Day of
Pentecost, based on some pretty significant modern research done by historians,
and you will see that the early Christian Churches of God, starting out in
Jerusalem, and migrating on into Asia Minor, for their first 300 years, these
churches were Sabbath and Holy Day observing, basically keeping the Sabbath and
Holy Days spelled out in Leviticus 23.
This is something the Messianic Jewish believers also firmly believe. To read an article researched out, based on
both the Word of God and these historians, see https://unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm. Also another article that looks into this
question is given at: https://unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/Has%20the%20Sabbath%20Been%20Abrogated.htm. There is a huge dichotomy between the
Sabbath-keeping Churches of God and the Sunday-observing Christian churches
over this issue. The Sabbath-keepers,
and I say wrongly, believe because the Sunday-keepers are not keeping the 4th
Commandment, that they are not true Christians, can’t possibly have the Holy
Spirit indwelling them. That is not
true. If you read my “About the Author”
section you will see that I had spent about 7.5 years attending a fledgling
Calvary Chapel, which grew in size over that period of time, from 12 members
initially, topping out at about 400. I
was attending that loving congregation due to
the horrible breakup of the Worldwide Church of God, which threw me into the
midst of this loving Sunday-keeping Calvary Chapel crowd whilst I was on spiritual
survival mode. The Holy Spirit was plainly evident within
their pastor and most of their members, enabling their obedience in keeping 9
out of the 10 Commandments, right to the spirit level, as specified in Matthew
5:21-48, that is exactly what I witnessed.
Whilst the New Testament is somewhat silent on making a direct command
on Sabbath observance, it in no way has abrogated the Old Testament command for
its observance, as seen in my Sabbath Abrogated article linked above. But the Sabbath-keepers are just as wrong in
saying that Sunday-keepers are not real Christians, and thus don’t have the
Holy Spirit indwelling them. If you can
see the Holy Spirit operative in any Sunday-keeper and group, it is proof that
they also are true believers. In this
link you will see evidence of a violent inmate of a Soviet gulag who became a
very peaceful Sunday-observing Baptist upon conversion (see https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/my-experience-american-russian-prison). If you see something like this happen, where
this violent individual actually experiences a change in his very nature to
that of reflecting God’s Holy Spirit of love and becoming devoutly peaceful, so
much so that the Soviet guard was converted by witnessing this, and you as a
Sabbath-keeper continue to deny it, you are close to blaspheming God’s Holy
Spirit. Be extremely careful, for the
spiritual ground you stand on is very unstable.
Whilst the Sabbath command may not have been abrogated anywhere in the
New Testament, these Calvary Chapel folks are genuine Holy Spirit indwelt folk,
genuine believers in Jesus Christ. Part
of the solution to this dichotomy may be explained in the very meaning of what the
literal Sabbath is a shadow-picture of, which is explored in the following two
links, one of which is an actual Calvary Chapel sermon given in that local
Calvary Chapel I attended for 7.5 years.
See https://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/Mark2-3.html and scroll to “What
About The Sabbath, The 4th Commandment? Mark 2:23-27; 3:1-5” Also see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews4-1-16.htm.] The Sabbath is a day between Jehovah and
Israel, it couldn’t say it any more clear right here. And for Sabbath-keepers today, what happens
if you blow it, you shall surely die? We
don’t see that with the Church, if you miss Sunday we don’t send out uncle
Noseo and his friends to track you down, this is under the Law, the keeping of
the Sabbath, is under the Law, it was complicated, it involved every 7th
day, every 7th year, every 50th year, it was no simple
process. But here God says it is to be
between him and Israel for ever, whoever doesn’t keep it they shall surely put
to death, “for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be
cut off from among his people. Six days
may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the
LORD:
whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put
to death.” (verses 14b-15) Now the 7th Day was hallowed by
the LORD, that was the day that we’re
told that “he” rested, not that they rested, and we’re told this in Isaiah in
regards to the Sabbath, ‘Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, the
Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the
ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, and there is no searching of
his understanding.’ So God didn’t rest on the 7th Day
because he was tuckered out, after working for six days, 24/7. He rested on the 7th Day, it was a
rest of satisfaction, it was, he ceased from his work, because he saw
everything was good. And it was Adam’s
first full day of existence, the 7th Day. And God fellowshipped open-face with Adam, in
the cool of the day. He had invested in
Adam an intellect unlike anything we can imagine, understanding, language, in
the day he created him he gave him the capacity, considering the Programmer you
can imagine the software [called in the Bible “the spirit in man” or “the
spirit of man,” in various places]. And
God is introducing this here, I think at an interesting point, because
sometimes construction can equal distraction, spiritually. Sometimes when we really get involved in
spiritual things, that is busy, and God’s blessing can be there, his anointing
can be there, there could be great things going on, we can get so busy in the
Work of God, that it becomes actually a detriment to our fellowship with
God. Sometimes we get so busy serving
God that we forget to fellowship with God, and God is always more interested in
the servant than the service. It’s
something I always have to guard my heart against. We can get so wrapped up in being busy in all
of those things, and forget about him, forget about sitting alone with Jesus,
forget about listening to his voice, and finding his presence, in communion
with him, and actually hearing him speak to us, and lead us, and pouring our
hearts out before him. And in the middle
of this description of all of these workers and all this, that all of a sudden
God says ‘And the Sabbath, Moses tell them to keep it, to set it aside,
not to profane it, it’s a sign, something between me and them forever, it is a
holy rest, it’s a holy rest.’
And look, Paul says, ‘one man considers one day above another,
another man considers every day the same,’ (Romans 14) if you want to
keep Sabbath you can do that, and that’s fine.
I know people who do that, but just don’t try to impose on the Church
that the Sabbath is imposed on the Church by the Lord or by the Scripture,
because it is not. You enjoy Saturdays,
that’s wonderful, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, have a great time, and
God bless you, and find fellowship with him.
But it isn’t imposed on the Church as a statute. [Interestingly enough, all of Leviticus 23,
from the Sabbath all the way through all the Holy Days commanded, are statutes
of God’s Law. Fascinating, the only
specific parts of God’s Old Testament Law that were abrogated were the
Sacrifices, as the apostle Paul explained in Hebrew 10, that Jesus’ sacrifice
took the place of all the sacrifices commanded in the Old Testament Law.] A here, interestingly, I think in the midst
of all this, the LORD challenges them to remember his
holy rest, this time to sit with him. “whosoever
doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant. It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel for ever:
for in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” (verses 15b-17) the idea is, he was
satisfied, everything he made was exceedingly good. “And he gave unto Moses,” notice the
timing, “when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two
tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” (verse
18) So he wasn’t up there 40 days to
get the two tables of stone, he was up there 40 days getting the description of
the Tabernacle, all of the details, the order of worship, all of these things,
and it says, and “when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount
Sinai, two tables of testimony,” gave him the two testimonies of stone, “written
with the finger of God.” imagine, what was that like? I’d love to see a handwriting analyst look at
that and try to tell us, ‘What do you think about the person who wrote
this?’ Exodus
32:1-35 “And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before
us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of
Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2
And
Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the
ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them
unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the
golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto
Aaron. 4 And he received them at
their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten
calf: and they said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5
And
when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6
And
they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought
peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play. 7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go,
get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest 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 them a molten calf, and have
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9
And
the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen
this people, and, behold, it is stiffnecked people: 10
now
therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may
consume them: and I will make of thee a
great nation. 11 And Moses besought the
LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath
wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of
Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12
Wherefore
should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to
slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the
earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and
repent of this evil against thy people. 13
Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own
self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they
shall inherit it for ever. 14
And
the LORD repented of the evil which he
thought to do unto his people. 15 And Moses turned, and
went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in
his hand: the tables were written
on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the
work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the
tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of
war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is
not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the
voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them
that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass,
as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the
dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and
he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And
he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and
ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the
children of Israel drink of it. 21
And
Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon
them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger
of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the
people, that they are set on mischief. 23
For
they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24
And
I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came
out this calf. 25 And when Moses saw
that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their
shame among their enemies:) 26 then Moses stood in
the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves
together unto him. 27 And he said unto them,
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put
every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate
throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his
companion, and every man his neighbour. 28
And
the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about
three thousand men. 29 For Moses had said,
Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon
his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the
morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall
make an atonement for your sin. 31
And
Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this
people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32
Yet
now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book which thou hast written. [cf. Rev. 22:19] 33
And
the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath
sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book. 34
Therefore
now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto
thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before
thee: nevertheless in the day when I
visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35
And
the LORD plagued the people, because they
made the calf, which Aaron made.” ‘When
The People Saw That Moses Delayed To Come Down Out Of The Mount’ Now, it says ““And when the
people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people
gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods,
which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us
up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.” (verse 1) Now we’re back down off the mountain, sorry,
we’re coming back down from the heavenlies to the human. “Moses delayed” wrong, Moses was not
delaying, he was right on schedule.
Wrong, Moses didn’t bring them out of the land of Egypt, he ended up on
the backside of the desert trying to deliver them when he killed an Egyptian,
it was the LORD that brought them out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty and an outstretched arm, it wasn’t Moses. But you know, this is Edward G. Robinson ‘As
for this Moses,’ you saw the movie, ‘the man that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, I don’t know what’s become of him.’ Now isn’t it interesting, here they are
picking on Moses, Moses is over 80 years old, he’s just giving it his all, and
they are chewing away at him. It’s
interesting, Allen Redpath said “If you’re interested in being in spiritual
leadership, you need to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and
the hide of a rhinoceros.” I think
he’s right. And here’s Moses, man
they’re chewing on him, he’s not late, he’s not delaying, he’s up there to
bring them the most remarkable things that anybody could ever imagine, and the
people are down there complaining. Now
look, what’s going to get them in trouble here is their impatience. How many times does our impatience get us
into trouble? I’m glad there’s not a
tape recorder in my car when I’m driving sometimes. My wife when she’s there she’s the Holy
Spirit, ‘Oh honey, stop it! Oh honey
stop it! He’s probably lost,’ but
impatience, when we get impatient we don’t want to wait for God. How many times do I see somebody going out
with an unbeliever? ‘I’ve had it,
I’ve waited three months [try 21 years, then you can say something], and
there’s no believing guys that aren’t weird.’
Oh really, we’ve got 40 weddings on the book at any given time,
somebody’s finding somebody, I guess you get desperate and take anybody as time
goes on, but. ‘God’s never going to
do this, so I’m going to take care of it.’
And how many times is it impatience, really it’s unbelief, we get
tired of waiting, we’re going to take things into our own hands, we’re going to
do it in our own way, and we’re going to make it happen, and we’re going to
huff and puff and blow this house down.
And they’re impatient, ‘Where is Moses? brought us out of Egypt,
brought us out here in the desert, Make us gods to go before us,’ that’s
what they were used to, Egypt. Only
they’re not that long out of Egypt here, they’re used to that, they grew up
with that, ‘it’s their culture, you have to be sensitive to them, give them
some golden gods to worship in the mean time.’ “And Aaron said unto them, Break off the
golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and
of your daughters, and bring them unto me.” (verse 2) notice it
doesn’t say out of their belly buttons, out of their tongues or their noses, at
least we know why it was called an earring in those days. “And all the people brake off the golden
earrings which were” thankfully, “in their ears, and brought them
unto Aaron.” (verse 3) He’s going to
make a golden calf out of them. Now isn’t
this amazing, he’s [Moses] going to say ‘You’ve done a great evil’ Why? Because they watched all of the judgments
that came on Egypt, the Nile River turning to blood, lice and frogs covering
the land, hail and fire coming out of the sky, Egypt caught in blackness for
three days while the sun was shining in Goshen, the angel of death going
through the camp, and those with the blood of the lamb on their doors being
spared, coming out of Egypt and the Red Sea parting, a pillar of fire by night
and cloud by day leading them, manna falling from heaven, over 40 tons a day to
feed them, being terrified as they stood at Mount Sinai when God spoke the Ten
Commandments, spoke them out loud, and they came to Moses and said ‘Hey
Moses, tell him not to talk to us anymore, you go talk to him, whatever he
tells you we’ll do whatever he says, he’s our God, we’re going to worship him.’ How short-lived, how short-lived. And I’m sure this broke Moses’ heart when he
comes down, just to see this. And I
wonder what their kids where saying, the little kids? Because I know that with little kids they
were saying ‘Mommy, Daddy, this isn’t right, is it? Are we supposed to be worshipping a golden
calf? Is the golden calf the one that
took us through the Red Sea? is it the golden calf that did that?’ So I know there were kids asking that,
because God’s going to say a number of times, ‘Your carcasses are going
to fall in the wilderness, and your little ones who didn’t know right from
wrong, they’re going to go in and inherit the land.’ And again, I remember years ago at the old
building, my son Josh and Hannah when they were little, they had studied this
lesson that Sunday morning in church on the golden calf, then afterwards they
were hanging out, they’re stuck in church waiting for us to get our lives
together, and came into Frank’s office, and Frank’s in his office, my assistant
pastor Frank has a photograph of a big steak sandwich, with cheese, sauce and
onions hanging out, and tried to make Josh get on his knees in front of the
picture of the steak sandwich. And Josh
and Hannah came home from church and said ‘Frank tried to make us bow in
front of the steak sandwich, but we wouldn’t do it, because we know it was like
the golden calf, we learned that this morning, we’re not supposed to bow down
and worship any other god but the Lord your God, and we wouldn’t bow down and
worship the steak sandwich.’ And I
said ‘Good kids, even if it’s not a steak sandwich, whatever he says, please
don’t listen to him.’ [loud laughter]
But I had to believe there were kids here saying ‘Why are we doing
this? We shouldn’t be doing this.’ Kids can do it, can’t they? Right at the family dinner at their
grandparents ‘Is grandma and grandpa going to hell because they don’t
believe in Jesus?’ ‘Sssh.’ ‘Well we talk
about it at home, why can’t we talk about it here?’ ‘Ssssh!’… You know, you can always depend
on kids to say some of these things. My
father-in-law on the West Coast, he had crows feet that like covered both sides
of his face, just happens, he was wrinkled, and we were sitting at the table
out there, and one of my kids said ‘Why does Grandpa look like a crocodile?’ [loud laughter] So I’m trusting there was some kid that spoke
up here and tried to make sense out of all this. So it says “And he received them at
their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten
calf: and they said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” (verse 4) I think, holy cow, what is he thinking? This is Aaron, this is the future high
priest, he’s supposed to be running things while Moses is up there, you know
he’s probably thinking of the Apis bull, the calf they worshipped in Egypt,
which was one of their primary deities, and they’re doing a very interesting
thing here, they’re making an image and a likeness of Jehovah, they’re not
saying ‘We’re worshipping some other god,’ they’re saying ‘We’re
worshipping the LORD, there’s going to be
a feast to the LORD,’ but they’re catering
to their need, their carnal need to see something they can embrace, to see
something they can relate to, because they don’t want to walk in faith, they
don’t want to walk in faith. They want
to entertain their senses. Paul says ‘In
the last days there will be those who heap up to themselves teachers having
itching ears,’ only the senses.
There are times, just times in our lives, when we will not sense his
presence, and he will be as close as his Word tells us that he is, and that is where
faith will be exercised. There will be
times when he will ask us to step out of the boat onto the water. And logic will have no role. And here they’re asking, this is the felt
needs of the people, ‘I just feel like I need to see something, I feel like
I need a sense of his presence, I need something, we need something, oh,
there’s so many needs.’ Hey wait a
minute, that’s not what Aaron is supposed to be doing, that’s not what God has
raised up Moses for. The greatest need in
man is the need of truth, the greatest need in a human being is to hear the
truth of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, returning [that is the Gospel in a
nutshell, see https://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm], the truth. And we want to do religious stuff all the
time that appeals to our senses, because it just makes it easier, and it
doesn’t force us sometimes to walk by faith.
Here, you know, they fashioned with a graving tool, we all have
different kind of graving tools that we kind of carve around sometimes, and put
something together, that seems easier for us, and they put this molten calf
together, and said “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt. And when
Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation,
and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.” (verses 4b-5) Look, Jehovah
[Yahweh], capital L, capital O, capital R,
capital D, “To morrow is
a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and
offered burnt offerings,” according
to the law, no doubt, “and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down
to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” (verses 5c-6) And they were not playing volleyball. They ended up drunken and naked and in an
orgy. Moses is going to come down into
the middle of this. He’s been up on the
mountain with God, and he’s seen the most remarkable things, and this is what
he’s going to come down to. And wait
till we get to Aaron, Moses is going to say ‘Aaron, what did you do? I left you in charge.’ And Aaron’s going to say ‘Nobody
is more surprised than me, we threw the gold in the fire, and this calf comes
out! And then we just thought, Well
let’s just get drunk and take our clothes off, it’s the only thing that makes
sense here.’ I mean, he’s going
to come up with the lamest excuse, you know they have the top ten on the SPN,
it would be up at number ten for a long time, lame excuses. ‘They brought burnt offerings, peace
offerings, and they ate, they drank, and they rose up play.’ ‘Moses,
Get Back Down There!’ “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go,
get thee down;” please
notice what starts to happen here, “for thy people, which thou
broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:”
(verse 7) he’s giving them to Moses, he doesn’t want them now. You know, if you’ve raised kids, it’s like
you come home from work, and your wife says ‘Your son,’ I figure
whatever he’s done, he ain’t yours anymore, you know most days she says ‘Don’t
hurt him,’ now like this day I come home ‘He ain’t hers, he’s mine,’ so
he must have been up to something. “And
the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee
down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of
Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they
have turned aside” please
notice, “quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” (verses
7-8) God knew this, the whole time
he’s given Moses the description of the Tabernacle, the description of worship,
the description of the priest’s garments for Aaron and his sons, the whole
time, and he’s telling Moses what to do to install Aaron in the priesthood, the
whole time he knows that Aaron is down there, and he’s lost his mind. He’s making a golden calf. God’s not surprised by any of this. And again, Aaron will enter into his office
completely aware that it’s all of grace.
And that the first blood that has to be shed has to be shed for him and
his sons. “And the LORD said unto Moses, I
have seen this people, and, behold, it is stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may
wax hot against them, and that I may consume them:” and we’ll start over,
“and I will make of thee a great nation.” (verses 9-10) ‘Moses, we won’t scuttle the plan, we’ll
incinerate them, and then we’ll start over with you.’ And Moses could have thought ‘You
know, they’ve been giving me a hard time the whole time, let me think about it
a day or two, I’m not sure, but let me think about, I’m not going to do it, but
just let me think about it a day, it feels so good.’ “And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath
wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of
Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?” Moses is giving them
back, he doesn’t want them either, “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak,
and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and
to consume them from the face of the earth?
Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy
people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto
them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that
I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it
for ever.” (verses 11-13) Notice he
doesn’t say “Jacob,” ‘remember what a scoundrel he was, and you wrestled with
him, and you changed his name, Jacob the old heel-catcher became a man who was
governed by God, remember LORD, your faithfulness
with them.’ ‘LORD, it’s your glory
that’s at stake, if this whole program turns into a failure, the Egyptians,
your enemies are going to mock you and your people saying ‘You took them out
into the wilderness to slay them, slaughter them?’ and what happens with the
promises that you’ve made to Abraham, to Isaac and to Israel?’ Now look, I don’t believe that
God was doing anything at this point in time but refining the heart of
Moses. [Don’t forget, Moses will be one
of the top leaders under Jesus Christ in the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of
God, it is Moses who is really in spiritual training here, just as we
are.] I think God is justified to say
what he was saying, and I think God was right in what he was saying. And Moses will finally get to the point where
he’s had enough. In Numbers chapter 20,
he’s finally going to grab that rod, he’s going to start beating that rod, and
flowers and almonds are going to be flying everywhere, and he’s going to say ‘Yoou
rebels!’ and then God’s going to say to Moses, ‘Moshe, come here,
let me talk to you for a minute, did I tell you to smack that rock? I just told
you to speak to it, and you did not sanctify me in the hearts of the people,
you did not represent me properly, because if they think I’m like what they
just saw you act like, they’re going to think that I’m angry, and I’m not
angry. And because you’ve done this
thing, you’re not going to enter into the land.’ So at this point I think God is dealing
with the heart of Moses, speaking to Moses, raising up Moses, refining Moses,
and Moses says ‘No LORD, they’re your people,
you brought them out, they have your name on them, your covenant on them.’ And verse 14 says “And
the LORD repented of the evil which he
thought to do unto his people.” Now look,
we’re going to run into this all through the Old Testament. This is not New Testament repentance,
repentance in the New Testament, metanoia, “to change the mind,” is when
a New Testament believer, and that’s what God calls us to, when he says he’s
sending the Spirit into the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness
and judgment, when he comes to an unbeliever, repentance is what he wants. If that unbeliever says ‘My life has been
going away from God, it’s empty, it’s futile, I’m repenting, I’m turning away
from all that, and I’m turning to God,’ it’s a change of the mind, and it’s
a turning away from sin and evil, and turning to God for forgiveness. Well God can never repent in that sense. He doesn’t turn away from evil and sin, he’s
not sinful. In fact the word in the
Hebrew has the idea of sorrow, the root of it has the idea of sighing in deep
heartbreak. And because God is who he
is, now Moses is writing to us in Exodus, making an observation about God. God changed what he said he was going to do,
and he gives us the word “repent” there.
Because God is unchanging, God must change in this sense. If God says to those in the Old Testament ‘If
you keep my Law and Ordinances and you do these things, then I will bless you,’
then he must do that. But he also
says ‘But if you turn away and worship other gods, then I will take my
blessing off of you and I will do this…’
Now is he changing? No, he’s
unchanging, he’s unchanging, that’s why he has to do that in the Old
Testament. He will bless them as long as
they walk in his ordinances and his statutes and keep his commandments. When they turn away and worship other gods,
then he has to take his blessing away from them. Because he’s changing? No, because he is unchanging. He can never bless sin, he can never bless
rebellion. So his action is relative to
their obedience, it isn’t repentance the way you and I think of it. So Moses making an observation, says, as he
pleaded with the LORD on behalf of the children of
Israel, that God then turned, his observation was God turned from the evil he
thought to do unto his people. Moses
Goes Back Down To Deal With The People “And Moses turned, and went down
from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his
hand: the tables were written on
both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they
written. And the tables were the
work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the
tables.” (verses 15-16) What an amazing archeological find that would
be. [Comment: If Ron Wyatt really did find the lost Ark of
the Covenant under Golgotha, with the two tables of stone inside of the Ark, as
documented in his dvd, then they’ve already been found. But when some Israeli archeologists tried to
follow up on his discovery and went into the cave where they were at, they were
struck dead¸ being unbelieving Israeli Jews, so the Jews cemented up the
entrance to the cave. If this is all
true, well, the Israelis know where it’s at, but it’s classified as top secret
to them, because such knowledge might stir up a serious Arab-Israeli war. To order that dvd, go to: http://www.ArkDiscovery.com
and order "Revealing God's Treasure]
“And
when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There
is a noise of war in the camp.” (verse 17) and he’s an optimist, and he’s a
warrior, so everything sounds like a battle to a guy like this. ‘Listen, Moses, they’re down there
whupping somebody, it’s the sound of war in the camp.’ “And he said, It is not the voice of them
that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry
for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear.” and
they weren’t praise songs, “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh
unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot,” just what he
asked God not to do, “and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake
them beneath the mount.” (verses 18-19) again,
the only guy to break all Ten Commandments at one time. Certainly a symbolic act, he’s going to go
back up again for 40 more days, he threw down the tables of stone, he broke
them, because they were down there breaking the Covenant of God. “And he took the calf which they had made,
and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it
upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.” (verse 20)
so there’s a possibility it was wooden overlaid with gold, he burnt it in the
fire. But of course if they can burn
your god, you have the wrong god. They
burned it with fire, and then they ground it to powder. If they can grind your god to powder you have
the wrong god. And then they threw it in
the water, if they can throw your god in the water you have the wrong god. And then they made the children of Israel
drink it. And if you can drink your god,
you have the wrong god, and sadly there are too many that do drink their god on
a regular basis. Whatever you bow your
knee to in your life is your god, whatever you give the most allegiance, obedience,
thought, passion to, that’s your god.
Idolatry is not just bowing down in front of a stone statue or a gold
statue, we often can find ourselves caught up in something, and realize ‘Wait
a minute Lord, this is more important than you are. I’m so disappointed over this, or I’m so impatient
about this, or I so desperately want this to be right, even spiritually, that
I’m acting the way that your Word says that I shouldn’t act, because I’m not
getting what I want,’ and we have to stop ourselves and say ‘Wait,
that’s idolatry, Lord, because this is what your Word says, and this is what
you want from me.’ But those are
just good pointers, if they can burn your god, it’s the wrong god, if they can
grind up your god, it’s the wrong god, if they can throw your god in the water,
if you have to drink your god it’s the wrong god. “And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this
people unto thee, that thou hast brought
so great a sin upon them?” (verse 21) ‘I was only gone 40 days, what did you
do? What were you thinking?’ “And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my
lord wax hot: thou knowest the people,
that they are set on mischief.” (verse 22) ‘They come up with
these crazy ideas all the time.’ “For
they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any
gold, let them break it off. So
they gave it me: then I cast it
into the fire, and there came out this calf.” (verses 23-24) ‘You know, I didn’t know what to say,
so I tried to placate them and make them happy.
I said Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off, so they gave it
to me, I cast it into the fire, and I thought that would be the end of it, and
this calf came out!’ that’s what he says here, look, “and there came out
this calf.” ‘Isn’t that amazing?’
And Moses said ‘Stop right there!
Don’t even try to tell me the rest of this story.’ And Moses looked around “And when
Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked
unto their shame among their enemies:)” (verse 25) And when we turn around, and our hearts are
turned away from the Lord, in one sense we always end up naked before our
enemies, and vulnerable, we turn our heart away from the Living God. And leadership, the Kingdom of God is not a
democracy, it’s an Order, and leadership that’s led by the flock, not by the
Great Shepherd, you know, people can get themselves into a mess, they want
everything their way, their felt need, ‘we need this, we need that, we need
to feel our god, we need to see our god, we need to feel that he’s close, we
need to feel this, we need to feel that.’ “then Moses stood in the gate of the camp,
and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves
together unto him.” (verse 26) and notice, all the sons of Levi, now that’s his
tribe, Moses was of the tribe of Levi, “And he said unto them, Thus saith
the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his
sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the
camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every
man his neighbour. And the children of
Levi did according to the word of Moses:
and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.” (verses
27-28) And we’re assuming those were 3,000 naked
men, that were involved in this orgy and idolatry, there’s two to three million
people, so 3,000 were put to death this day.
Paul makes mention of this in 1st Corinthians chapter
10, where he says ‘Neither be ye idolators, as were some of them,
as it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to
play,’ and then he goes on to say these things are written for our
instruction and our admonition upon whom the ends of the age are come. And God has never put a temptation in front
of us that’s too great for us to bear, but with each one of those, there is a
way made of escape. So, there’s a lesson
for us, 3,000 of them here, no doubt the ones that are identified, that were
naked were put to death. “For Moses
had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon
his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this
day.” (verse 29) He’s calling them to repentance. “And it came to pass on the morrow, that
Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall
make an atonement for your sin.” (verse 30)
Moses
Returns To God On The Mount “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this
people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--;
and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”
(verses 31-32) and the King James
here, I’m not sure what your translation has, I have a line with a semi-colon,
it is a mark in the Hebrew that identifies an unidentified amount of time, so
the sense in verse 32 is, Moses is saying to the LORD, ‘Yet now if
thou wilt forgive their sin—unidentified length of time,’ no
doubt Moses for a long time is laying before the LORD, beseeching him,
saying ‘O LORD, please, will you
forgive their sin? LORD, will you do this,
will you forgive them?’ And it doesn’t tell us how long that time
period is, Moses says then finally to the LORD, “and if not, blot
me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (verse 32b) Now I don’t know what book Moses knew of [I
have in my margin (cf. Rev. 22:19)].
Him and Paul were both able to say that.
What remarkable leaders, maybe besides Jesus Christ, two of the most
remarkable leaders, human leaders no doubt, that ever lived. I mean, I love you guys, but I have never
said to God, ‘Lord, blot me out.’ You
know, because I feel there’s plenty of room in heaven [and the Kingdom of
heaven, which will end up on earth (cf. Revelation 21:1-23)], that it’s not
necessary for me to be blotted out so you guys can get in, we should all get in
there together. You know, just think of
this ‘Blot me out of thy book, LORD, if you’re not going
to forgive them.’ Think of what he’s saying, and he for 40 days
he had just been witness to glory, and now he’s gone back up to the presence of
the LORD, and he’s willing to relinquish
that, ‘LORD, blot me, I pray thee
out of thy book which thou hast written.’
Now
by the way, that is the reflection of the heart of God the Son, ‘Blot me
out, Father, Forgive them for they know not what they do. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, why have you
forsaken me?’ cut off from the Father, ‘Tutelisti, it is
finished, paid in full.’ “And
the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath
sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book.” (verse 33) ‘I’m not
going to do that to you.’ “Therefore
now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will
visit their sin upon them.” (verse 34)
“Mine Angel” his presence, we’re going to read about the person of his
presence, which is of course the Angel of the LORD, the theophany, the
Old Testament appearances of Jesus Christ [most of the places where it says LORD in the Old Testament
is Yahweh, the great I AM identified in Exodus 3:13-15, whom Jesus identified
as himself in John 8:58]. “And the LORD plagued the people,
because they made the calf, which Aaron made.” (verse 35) And we’re not sure, that’s very unspecific of
what that means, because they had made a calf which Aaron had made. I wanted to get to verse 7, but I’m not going
to get there. God now is going to tell
the children of Israel ‘I’m going to take you into the land that I
promised to bring you into, I’m going to do that. I’m going to send my Angel before you, my
presence is not going to go with you, but I’m going to send my Angel with you
into this land that flows with milk and honey, that I promised unto your
forefathers.’ God is going to
keep that promise. And Moses is going to
say, ‘LORD, if you don’t go,
don’t send me.’ Did you ever feel that
way? Anybody here ever feel that way, ‘Lord,
if you’re not going, I’m not going, don’t send me.’ God will say ‘Moses, take the tabernacle,
move it outside the camp.’ Now it’s
not the Tabernacle that’s just been described, because it hasn’t been
constructed yet. This is a tent that Moses
evidently dwelt in, and it becomes known as “the tabernacle of meeting,”
because the Pillar, that instead of being in the middle of the camp, abides
over this tent outside the camp where Moses goes to find fellowship and
instruction from the LORD. It becomes called “the tabernacle of
meeting,” until the Tabernacle of the Testimony is finished, which will be in
the midst of the camp. So it’s a picture
of God’s presence. Look, when we sin,
you and I in the New Testament, he’s still our Father. What happens when we sin, John says, is we
don’t walk in the light, it says if we walk in the light, and that’s not how we
walk, it’s where we walk, if we walk in the light we have fellowship with one
another, we have fellowship with the Father.
If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in
us, if we confess our sin, which is the way we should walk, he’s faithful and
just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make God a
liar. So walking in the light is being
transparent, keeping all of our accounts current with God, being honest with
him, by the hour, by the day, ‘Lord, help me with this, I’ve failed here,
I’m so sorry Lord, strengthen me here Lord, this is wrong, and I know it’s
wrong, forgive me for that.’ There
is a place that we walk where fellowship is maintained. If we sin without repentance, the picture is,
his presence moves outside the camp, he’s still our Father, he’s still our God,
but if we live willfully in sin, the fellowship is broken down between us. When I was on the West Coast for a number of
years, my father was still my father, he lived in Philadelphia, but we didn’t
have fellowship because we were 3,000 miles apart, but he was still my
father. This evening he loves you, he’s
your God, we’re under a new covenant, wonderfully we’re not under the Old
Covenant, we’re under a better covenant in the blood of his Son. And if you as a believer have sinned, if
you’re living in sin now, what you’re sacrificing is the fellowship with the
Lord, who loves you. I’m not willing to
do that. I am desperately in need of his
presence every day. Moses is going to say
‘LORD, if you ain’t going,
I’m not going.’ Every Sunday, at the bottom of these steps, I
think of Paul’s verse in 2nd Corinthians, where he
said ‘All men forsook me, I was left alone, but the Lord stood with me,
and enabled me.’ And every
Sunday I say ‘Don’t make me go up there alone, Lord. My wife is right, I’ve been a jerk this week,
I’ve done all kinds, Lord, I’m begging, Lord, don’t send me up, don’t let me go
up there alone, Lord, you gotta go up there with me.’ And you and I should both feel that way, “Lord
I need your presence, be there with me, this is all about relationship, it’s
all about your love, and it’s all about your forgiveness, I blew it Lord,
forgive me.’ And it says if we do
that, he’s faithful, remarkably, and just to forgive us, because he’s paid the
price in full. And he’s just to forgive,
and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.
I encourage you this evening, as the musicians come and we sing a last
song, if you’ve got that gap, that distance between you and him right now,
settle that tonight, you can, as we lift our hearts, God says, I don’t want you
just to lift your voices and not your hearts, great time to say ‘Lord, I’ve
been at a distance, and I’ve been a prodigal Lord, right now, I need your
strength, I need to renew, I’m repenting now, I admit what you tell me all day,
every day, I know it needs to get straightened out, here I am, I’m your son,
I’m your daughter.’ If you’re here
tonight and you don’t know him, I encourage you when the service is over, make
your way down here, we’d love to pray with you and give you some literature to
read, see you accept Christ. And those
of us that are just rejoicing, what a great time, what a great time, the Lord
of lords and the King of kings is coming, and he’s getting us outa here. We’re his purchased possession, we’re his
Bride, and he’s coming for us….[transcript of a connective expository sermon on
Exodus 31:1-18 and Exodus 32:1-35, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of
Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116] related links: Which days of worship did the
Early Church observe? https://unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm Do Sunday-observers have the Holy
Spirit, do they exhibit the fruits of the Holy Spirit? see https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/my-experience-american-russian-prison Part of the solution to this
dichotomy may be explained in the very meaning of what the literal Sabbath is a
shadow-picture of, which is explored in the following two links, one of which
is an actual Calvary Chapel sermon given in that local Calvary Chapel I
attended for 7.5 years. See https://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/Mark2-3.html and scroll to “What
About The Sabbath, The 4th Commandment? Mark 2:23-27; 3:1-5” Also see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews4-1-16.htm Audio version:
https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED562 |