Stand By Me

Exodus 32

I Am With You

As many of you know, it has been a crazy stressful hectic couple of weeks. I am the Lead Pastor here at Next Step Church, but during the week I am also a Software Engineer at a company in Westminster. We have been going through some major stresses, major upheaval, resulting in half the company being furloughed last week.

And as we walked through this, all of a sudden so much of the future looked uncertain, looked scary, was unknown and uncertain. And all of the disaster scenarios loom in my mind: unemployed for months, my kids starving, my family homeless.

And I shared what I was going through here and there, and I have been so blessed, so comforted, so encouraged as person after person, in person, by email, by text, stood beside me and let me know that I was not alone in this. One text said this and captured the spirit of so many: “Dusty, standing with you however I can.”

Seriously, y’all rock.

I only hope each one of you has a list, a growing list, of people you can call on when “life” hits the fan. When you’ve made a huge mistake. When everything goes wrong. When the hammer is about to fall…

Who is going to stand with you? Who is going to intercede for you, who is going to help you?

We are going to take that question into our text this morning. In one sense, Moses is exactly the kind of friend you want when the hammer is about to fall. In another sense, he is a total failure.

Moses’ Intercession

For any who were here two weeks ago, you will remember Moses is finishing his 40 days up on Mount Sinai and God tells him that the people of Israel are making a huge mistake.

Exodus 32:7-8

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

And God then says “Go away, so I can kill ‘em all and start over with you…”

And why does he say this? He is inviting Moses to intercede. This is hold-me-back mercy, you remember. Real emotion, real threat, but also an invitation to Moses to change his mind.

And so Moses intercedes for his people.

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.’”

Moses appeals to God’s investment of effort. “You have already brought them out of Egypt… how cool was that? Remember that?”

Moses appeals to God’s reputation among the nations. “Think about what people will say if you destroy them… is that what you want the Egyptians to say about you?”

Moses appeals to God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. “Remember how you promised Abraham his descendants would be numerous as the stars? Not so good if you start over with an 80 year-old man!”

Now, how convincing are any of these arguments? There is a long Biblical tradition of reminding God of His promises… but it is certainly hard to understand how any of this works. Is God like “oh yeah, the promise, thanks, it totally slipped my mind!”?

I don’t know. And there are hundreds of be like Moses sermons out of this passage… I’m not sure we can draw universal principles out of Moses’ response. 3 Easy Tricks to Change God’s mind. Maybe not so much.

But we have this amazing theological surprise, a revelation of who God is and how he operates, a surprising reversal… God actually listens to Moses’ intercession and changes his mind.

14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Ignorant Intercession

Now last time I went on and on about that verse, it still blows my mind. I still have a million questions. But this week, we are going to focus in on Moses’ intercession.

We asked: who is going to stand with you when the hammer is about to fall?

That is exactly what Moses does here. He steps in, he intercedes. The hammer of God’s justice is about to fall on the people of Israel, and Moses jumps into the gap, into the breach, and he draws every convincing argument he can think of and throws it at God. And it works!

Moses is exactly the kind of friend you would want to have, the kind of friend I hope you have. Go Moses.

However, what Moses does here is not what really impresses me in this story. At this point Moses only knows the story. He only knows what God said the people were doing. And we know there is a world of difference between hearing and seeing.

Maybe he is thinking “it’s probably not so bad. A few people got carried away. I’ll sort it out and we will be good to go.”

Moses’ Revelation

Then Moses goes down the mountain, and he discovers, first hand, the reality.

19-20

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. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

I love this scene. This is anger. The same language where God’s anger burned… Moses’ anger now burns. He sees it.

And the mechanics of that anger: Grinding a gold statue to powder. And then turning to all the people…

DRINK IT! Now! Drink it!!! This guy is furious, he is mad with rage, he is doing crazy things!

He’s not done. He turns on his brother, “What did these people do to you that you did this???”

And Aaron’s like “I don’t know, the people wanted it, gave me gold, I threw it in the fire, and the calf just sort of came out.”

Moses is still angry… and it seems he is embarrassed. The people have become a laughingstock to the enemies.

And this is difficult… he calls out to all who are faithful to Yahweh and his tribe, his family, the Levites rally to the cause. And Moses says, and he says he is speaking on behalf of Yahweh, to go through the camp and kill “brother and friend.”

And they do it. And three-thousand men die. Presumably they went around and discovered those who were guilty of participation in the idolatry, or maybe those who refused to renounce their adultery or profess allegiance to Yahweh…. We don’t know. We know that it certainly wasn’t everyone else in the camp, a fraction of the men of Israel.

But we know that idolatry was a matter of life and death.

Being reprimanded by Moses wasn’t enough. Being forced to drink ground up golden calf wasn’t enough. Being punished wasn’t enough. Three-thousand were put to the sword by their fellow Israelites… and those Levites were blessed for their part in this act of Justice.

Difficult for us to hear, offensive even… but this idolatry is a matter of life and death.

Moses 2nd Intercession.

Now Moses knows. Moses knows what the people have done. He has seen it. He has touched the golden calf. He has been so personally enraged… he broke the most valuable holy artifact on the face of the planet at this point, the tablets of the 10 words. He has overseen the slaughter of thousands as a reaction, as an act of Justice on behalf of Yahweh.

Now Moses knows. He has been disgusted and embarrassed and enraged by the sin of His people.

But what he does now blows my mind. I put myself in his shoes… I’m not sure this is me. I’m not sure if I am this great a friend, this great a leader. Here it is:

Exodus 32:30-32

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

Moses, in effect, says this:

It’s bad. I know it’s bad. I make no excuses for what they did. It isn’t about how long we left them alone, it isn’t about how powerful the cultural influence of 400 years in Egypt was, it isn’t about any of the reasons or excuses that led us here.

Oh… what a great sin! It is bad.

They are with me. I am with them. We are a package deal, we go together.

They are with me. I am with them.

Now this is beautiful.

The Book of Life

Moses says, I am with them, blot me out of “the book” if you don’t forgive the people their sin.

Now what is this book? This is the Book of Life. This is a powerful reference, but it has very simple roots.

All through written history, wherever human beings have gathered together in groups, it has been valuable to have a working list of who lives there. This is the local directory. This is necessary for tax records, for example, for any census. So a scroll or book would be maintained and updated whenever someone was born, moved in, moved away or died. It was quite literally the Book of Life for the local town, tribe or city.

So God has His book, all those who “Live” in His eyes. This is kind of a big deal. John’s vision of the end of days mentions this “Book of Life” like the roll call of salvation. And all who are not in the book go for a quick swim in the eternal lake of fire. So being “in the book” is a big deal.

What exactly did Moses understand or get or believe of all of this? I don’t know. But whatever he knew, he courageously, sacrificially, attempts to bind his fate to that of his idolatrous, sinful people.

Now that’s a friend: I am with you. I stand with you in any way I can. Including, my eternal future.

Sweet bearded Moses! That’s amazing.

God’s Response to Moses

And what is the result of this amazing act of intercession. This second intercession is incredible, courageous, and now it is full understanding and first-hand knowledge of the people’s sin.

Moses’ early intercession was successful enough that God did not straight up destroy the people and start over with Moses. But now Moses is asking for a forgiveness of their sins.

Exodus 32:33-34

33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

So what is God’s response to Moses’ courageous intercession? No.

Go ahead, go forward, continue the mission, maybe to that extent Moses’ intercession is successful. But Moses seeks to “obtain atonement” for the people. He asks for forgiveness of their sins.

And God says, “they are out of the book of life…” and nothing Moses can do fixes that. His intercession is beautiful and courageous and self-sacrificial and all of those things.

They are with me. I am with them. We go together.

But the answer is no.

Moses is a great friend to have, an incredible intercessor, and he goes to bat for his people. But there are mistakes and situations and disasters that he simply does not have the power to do anything about.

And as scary as it is to consider, there are situations where having every single one of you all the way on my side… doesn’t help. It is beautiful and it is together… but it is futile. Not. Enough. Power.

In Jesus name, amen.

A Better Intercessor

Wouldn’t that be depressing? We leave it there… and there are mistakes you can make that no one can do anything about, they get your name blotted out of the Book of Life, killed and killed forever.

So this weekend, you may have noticed, we celebrate Easter. We celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ.

We ponder his death, and the crucifixion of Jesus has this profound meaning to us. Because in his death he took on our sin. Not just seeing our sin and experiencing some of the burning wrath of God, like Moses did. Jesus took our sin, all of our mistakes, all of our betrayals and deceptions, he took those all on to his shoulders… knowing them then in such a personal way… he took those and he died with them.

And then He resurrected. And we celebrate that because it means hope, it means life after death, life after sin, all of that. That is the gospel, the good news, and it is enough to celebrate that forever.

Do you ever wonder what it is Jesus is doing now? What is he up to? He left, he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and he sent the Holy Spirit in his place, and the Holy Spirit resides within us and gifts us and directs us and empowers us…

What is Jesus up to now? What is he doing?

Jesus at the Right

Again and again in Scripture, we get this answer. What is Jesus doing right now? He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you and I. Two quick references.

One in Hebrews, where we keep turning to see the fulfillment of all of this activity at Mount Sinai, Hebrews 7 speaks of Jesus as the fulfilled high priest, and it describes his current activity this way. In contrast to previous priests who died:

Hebrews 7:25

25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus always lives! He is resurrected to eternal life, that is what we celebrate. And what is he doing?

He is standing by you. He is interceding for you.

As you make mistakes, as you sin, as you do something stupid, as you stumble. When you do something that you think you’ll regret forever. Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father.

And he says: I am with you. You are with me. He is interceding for you.

And no matter who points the finger. NO matter who judges you, no matter who condemns you. Whether it’s your neighbor or your pastor, Satan himself.

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.

Jesus, in heaven now, constantly, ongoingly, presently and continually, interceding for us before the Father.

Jesus says: I am with them. They are with me.

That is the kind of friend you need when the hammer is about to fall.

Better than Moses. Because where God responded to Moses, “whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book…”

The Father says to His son, “Here is your book.” For the “Book of Life” is also called “the Book of the Lamb.”

I need to know that. I need to hear that. Because, full disclosure, I have taken other Gods. I have setup idols. I have used God’s name for my own purposes. I have broken the Sabbath. I have dishonored my parents. I have lusted, I have hated, I have deceived, I have been greedy and I have coveted.

And I deserve to have that Hammer of Justice fall upon me. I have messed up.

It was a relief, it was good news, these past weeks, to know that many of you were standing with me.

It is a relief, it is such good news, such gospel, such glad tidings… those all sound so tame

SWEET-BEARDED-MOSES-I’M-NOT-GOING-TO-DIE good news.

Jesus is standing with me, interceding for me, right now. And He has all the power and all the authority to save me. And you too. Let’s worship.