Exodus 33:1-11
The Command to Leave Sinai
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.
Moses Meets with the LORD
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. 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.
Moses was given his marching orders from the LORD to journey on towards the land promised to the desc of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) at last after the failure of the people who worshipped an idol while waiting for God’s word and nearly being blotted out of God’s book as His people. If not for the intercession by that servant of the LORD, there would have been a reset on the plan and a new people would have had to be made. God’s sovereign plan allowed for their error and used Moses as their mediator which hinted to the future Mediator, Jesus the Messiah, to deliver the people of God and lead them to the heavenly promised land (Hebrews 11:16) as the final destination of our spiritual and physical journey. The LORD also sent His Angel before them to safely lead the way through the wilderness and bring them home as promised, a shadow of the journey of our own sanctification as we follow Christ through this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) until we attain the promise of eternal life finding ourselves in His presence and kingdom come to earth as it is written. The difference we see between them and we who are in the righteousness of Christ is that we do not need to fear God’s presence among us destroying us along our pilgrimage when we sin against Him again like He told Moses in verse three, though physical death is possible as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-2, 3, 5, 10) but not a judgment to spiritual death. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised to keep us and lead us to the kingdom heavenly country because it is a certain promise based on His perfect work (Galatians 3:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, Hebrews 9:15, 1 John 2:25) and not our imperfect attempts to keep what we cannot lose by that promise. The children of Israel were saddened by the fact that the LORD would not travel with them because of their sin but we have the promise of His presence based on His promise and righteousness and not our own peril of disobedience changing our destination with Christ. Unlike them, we no longer have to wait outside the temple while their mediator meets face to face with God and then comes out to give us directions for our journey through life. We have His Spirit present in each of us as living temples where Jesus speaks with each of His children through His word as He interprets our understanding of His will. We have no fear to hear without being destroyed when we sin as in the time of Moses here. His perfect love casts out all fear of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46, 1 John 4:18) on our joyful journey in our Lord Jesus Christ as we are found blameless in the righteousness of our Lord! We have our marching orders (Matthew 28:19-20) as we head towards the upward call (Philippians 3:12-13, 14) of God towards that promised heavenly land as we bear witness of the power of the gospel to add to our number and to live to please and honor Him in how we live.
No comments:
Post a Comment