Grace in Rebellion

How Moses intercedes for the People

THE WRITING OF THE LAW

Illustration:

As a young kid with brothers, typically find myself falling into one of two categories.

The tattle tale. - Some great injustice has occurred. I must tell an adult and incriminate my brothers!

Now this is a terrible role to play. Nobody wants to be the tattle tale.

Especially with brothers, this seems to break some dude-code.

As a violator, I am now a self-inflicted punching bag for my brothers.

The more I tattle, the harsher the punishment from my brothers.

But there is another role you can play too…

2. The intercessor. - The mediator between parents and siblings who desires to protect the siblings at all cost from the great evil that is mom and dad.

Not really, but that’s how it felt as a kid right?

Brothers especially, we covered up a lot of our shenanigans as long as possible by defending one another.

I remember one time we had a decent snow that provided some sledding.

My brothers and I had cleared out a path through the woods and were sledding very aggressively through a narrow path.

However, I wrecked during one attempt and slammed my leg into a tree spraining my ankle.

I did my best not to limp around my parents, but eventually they figured it out and took me to get an x ray.

Yet through all of that, my brothers and I advocated for my health. I was fine.

In a much more serious manner, Jesus is our intercessor.

He is constantly reminding God that He has paid the full price of our sin.

That even though we fail, we sin, we rebel against the heart of God…

Jesus looks at the father and says, Remember my blood…

The price is paid. The debt is cancelled.

DO we know that?

Do we live from that?

This is something different today living after the cross.

Israel was before the cross.

The giving of the law was before the cross.

This morning I want to walk us through The writing of the law on the tablets and then look at Israel’s immediate rebellion so that we can see their need and - consequently- our need for the intercessor… JESUS.

The Writing of the Law

Exodus 31:18 “18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.”

Why did God give them the law on stone tablets?

Permanent, No changes, no erasing, No additions.

Look at what Moses told the Israelites about the law God gave him.

Deuteronomy 4:2 “2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”

Have you ever wondered why there were two tablets?

Typically if you sign a document, you get a copy and the other party keeps one as well.

I think that’s what God was doing here.

I’ve normally seen the stone tablets portrayed with half of the commandments on one tablet and half on the other, but I don’t think that’s what happened.

I think there were two tablets as a sign that one belonged to God and one belonged to man.

God told Moses to store the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant which would reside in the tabernacle when Israel was not moving.

Deuteronomy 10:5 “5 Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.”

If one was for God and one for man, why were both kept in the ark?

This was a constant reminder of God’s presence and to whom they belonged, whom they worshipped.

In the tabernacle, the ark resided in the holy of holies, the inner most part.

Only the high priest would go there and intercede for the people.

The ark and the tabernacle was a constant reminder of God’s presence with the people too.

Thus, God’s law at the center of that was a constant reminder of the Living God.

In addition to the 10 commandments, Moses wrote down the rest of the law for the people and it was read every 7 years.

Deuteronomy 31:9–13 “9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.””

This morning, All of this should teach us something about God.

God reveals Himself to man using language that Man can understand.

Moses heard God audibly and wrote down what God told him.

Moses didn’t “feel” like God told him this message.

He didn’t have good vibes.

He didn’t have an “impression” that God wanted Him to write this…

He heard the voice of God.

Moses was not alone.

The people also heard God.

Deuteronomy 5:22–24 “22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24 And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them.”

God wants to communicate. He wants to be heard.

He wants to be known.

Now some of us may look at this and be like, man… that’s not fair.

God spoke to them?

Why won’t God speak to me?

Friends, God has spoken and continues to speak to us through His written word.

What we have today, Anyone living in Bible times would have loved to have!

The Bible.

Throughout time and still today, God uses words, His written word, to communicate with us.

Psalm 33:6 “6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”

Psalm 33:9 “9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

John 1:1–4 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

Knowing all of this though, It’s important to see the different ways God has communicated throughout History.

*Show graphic page 6*

There were specific times and specific generations where God spoke audibly to them, but then there were long periods of time where God did not.

God chooses to speak following this pattern:

God reveals himself in certain ways to people through events.

People must remember what God has said and what He has done.

How do we remember?

We teach things about God to one another.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 “4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

This is a command given to parents to teach our kids to remember God’s words and what He has done.

Parents are to teach our kids to see God and remember what He has done.

However parents don’t always do this well.

And, children do not always listen.

Sadly, because of sin in our world, we struggle to see, hear, and listen to God’s Words.

We in our age may even ignore God’s word altogether because we are distracted.

We have so much information and so many voices fighting for our attention, we may miss the voice of God altogether.

This is one way we are like Israel.

As Moses was still on the mountain receiving the law, the people rebelled.

Exodus 32:1 “1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.””

Aaron should have pointed the people back to God and to what was happening right in front of them; however, Aaron fell to peer pressure.

Exodus 32:4–5 “4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.””

What a tragedy.

As Moses was coming down the mountain, he saw what was going on.

We read in later in Exodus 32:19 “19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

This was not a good start to this whole law thing.

What is God’s response to the people’s idol worship?

Exodus 32:7 “7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.”

Exodus 32:9–10 “9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.””

Was God going to break his covenant with the tribe of Judah?

Moses was not from the tribe of Judah, he was from the tribe of Levi.

We know from previous OT stories that God’s covenant would continue through Judah culminating of course in Jesus.

So what was God saying here?

God was using this incident to grow Moses.

Moses began as a reluctant leader at the burning bush.

Moses didn’t want to go to Egypt to free the Israelites.

Moses didn’t believe himself to be a good speaker.

At every possible excuse, Moses told God no.

God helped Moses learn how to shepherd people who were rebellious.

Exodus 32:11–14 “11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

In vs. 11, Moses affirms the truth. God… these are your people.

Moses knew God’s heart, that God wants all people to follow Him. The message Egypt would receive from God destroying Israel would be wrong. Again, God knows all of this, but He is solidifying this in Moses’ mind.

Moses was confident in God’s character. Abraham remembered himself what God had done through Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

This interaction is powerful, because through moses essentially arguing with God, he helped solidify what he himself believed.

This is really a picture of Jesus.

This is what Jesus does for us. He interceded for us.

For all the dumb, stupid things we do.

Jesus stands at the right hand of God the father and says, “I paid for that”

Romans 8:34 “34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

Hebrews 4:14–16 “14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

This is the God we serve.

This is the God we need to remember.

Like Moses, always, may we remember His grace and mercy.