Exodus 32 illustrates our own capacity for depravity and God’s capacity for mercy. The chapter begins, “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain“…they asked Aaron to, “make us a god that will go before us“. Moses is gone for less than forty days and they are ready to dismiss him and replace God. And what does Aaron, Moses’ right-hand man say? “Take off your gold earrings … and bring them to me“. There is no hesitancy, no restraint, no leadership. Aaron carves an idol out of gold and announces, “This is your god…who brought you out of Egypt“. Aaron then builds an altar and proclaims, “tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord“. And early the next morning (they couldn’t wait) they offered burn offerings and afterwards they “ate drank and got up to indulge in revelry“. Can you imagine that while they were toiling in Egypt as slaves, or while they were being pursued by Pharaoh’s army that they would have turned to a golden calf? But how quickly we can turn from God and trust our own ability when times are good. How many of us have set up our own set of rules when it is convenient? Amazingly, this ‘god’ of our own creation agrees completely with our own desires!
But look at God’s reaction, “Go down, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt“. God rejects the people as no longer belonging to Him. Then after explaining to Moses what they have done, He tells Moses, “Leave me alone that My anger may burn against them and that I might destroy them. Then I will make you a great nation“. God is offering Moses the opportunity to become the father of a new nation after He wipes out the old one. But Moses immediately reminds God of three things; “theses are Your people“; “What will the Egyptians say about you?“; and “Remember Your promise to Abraham…to whom You swore by Your own self“. “Then the Lord relented and did not bring His people to disaster“. Moses demonstrates the effectiveness of intercessory prayer. God does not change His mind because of Moses’ slick argument, but because Moses simply reminded God of His Word. God does not desire to discipline us in order to destroy us, He disciplines us out of love. Ezekiel 33:13-16 tells us, “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live“.
Moses turns from God and heads back down to the camp of the Israelites, “with the two tablets of the Testimony…the writing of God, engraved on the two tablets“. As Moses and Joshua approach, “there was a sound of war in the camp“. These Israelites were having a wild, drunken party. What a contrast, Moses carrying the Law of God, and His people in complete rebellion. We must never forget our God is a God of Grace AND Truth, the two go together. In 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul reminds the church members “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” He then lists the type of unrighteous behavior that includes… fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and swindlers… and we have all made that list somewhere. But Paul adds the most profound verse in the scriptures to me. “And such were some of you“. Do you get that, WERE- it is in the past and is no more. Paul continues, “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God“. We need to do more than just pray for our lost friends, we need to also bring them the word of truth and life.