This point in the journey of the Israelites is the climax of the book of Exodus because here the special relationship between God and his people is established. All that came before was just a warm-up for this meeting with God at Mt. Sinai. And everything that happens after this is the report card of how they did. In general, their report card is a failure – they disobeyed God’s Law and rejected God’s leaders and prophets, which led to God’s judgement for their disobedience - 70 years of exile and domination by foreign powers.

Nonetheless, they were and remained God’s chosen people. God never abandoned them - He remained faithful to his unilateral covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:18). In addition, to them were given the oracles of God - through them the Holy Scriptures were written. They were the first to believe the gospel (Eph. 1:12), which was “to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles” (Rom. 1:16). From them came the Saviour. By them and through them the gospel was preached to the world.

So, here they are – this rag-tag band of ex-slaves - united under Moses after being delivered from Egypt by God’s powerful intervention. And now they are about to meet God, not face-to-face of course, but nonetheless through a visible and verbal manifestation of God.

By now, they had been 3 months on the road from Egypt to Canaan. After leaving Rephidim (17:1) they “came to the Wilderness of Sinai” (19:1). God had told Moses at the time he called him to lead his people that after bringing “the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (3:12). The purpose for leaving Egypt was to worship God, and here it is about to take place.

That’s the subject of this message: A 40 Meeting with God. The lesson we learn from this passage is that when God’s people meet with Him they have to be prepared and ready. Before Moses ever received the 10 commandments during his 40 day meeting with God he made 7 trips up and down Mt. Sinai, receiving God’s instructions for the people’s preparation.

The first thing that happened is...

I. God Covenants With His People (19:1-8)

The covenant establishes the relationship between them. Notice that…

1. The basis of the covenant is God’s salvation (19:4). Before calling them to covenantal obedience, God reminds them of his saving deeds in the past: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself (19:4). He reminds them of what he did to the Egyptians (presumably in the plagues and the Red Sea), and how he carried them “on eagles wings,” ultimately bringing them to himself here at Mt. Sinai.

Here the “eagle” is not seen as a bird of prey but a bird of strength, soaring to heights beyond the reach of enemies. Israel had been carried up by God’s mighty power beyond the reach of the Egyptians and safely delivered into God’s presence here at Sinai. They had seen the “Eagle” snatch them out of harm’s way (1) at the Red Sea where God divided the waters, (2) at Marah (15:22ff.) where the bitter waters were made sweet, (3) at Elim (15:27) with its 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees, (4) in the Wilderness of Sin (16:1-36) where God provided manna and quail morning and evening, and (5) at Meribah (17:1-7) where God produced water from a rock.

Isn't it true in our own experiences that we need to constantly reflect on what God has done for us? We need to be constantly reminded of the goodness and power of God for us, that we serve a redeeming God who never changes in his fidelity toward us. How often have we seen God deliver us by snatching us from the enemy’s grasp in the mighty “Eagle’s” talons and by carrying us aloft beyond danger. We have seen God deliver us from sin to salvation, from death to life, from spiritual darkness to his marvelous light. We have experienced God’s strength and deliverance from temptation, rescuing us as brands from the burning.

You can probably think right now of instances in your own life when you thank God for his deliverance and you wonder where you would ever be if God had not plucked you out of spiritual and physical danger and carried you on eagles’ wings. Surely, that should cause us to want to obey him and keep his commandments. God saved you for this moment and for this purpose, to bring you to himself to worship him.

The basis of God’s covenant with his people is his salvation. And…

2. The condition of the covenant is obedience (19:5a). “If you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant…” (19:5a). In order to maintain their relationship with God, they had obligations to meet. God calls his people to obedience, to keep his covenant. This is at the root of their relationship with Him – keeping God’s Law, His commandments.

And this is true in our own relationship with God. Don’t think you can be saved and live any way you want. There are conditions to maintaining our relationship with God. He has called us to obedience.

So, the basis of the covenant was God’s salvation. The condition of the covenant was obedience. And...

3. The result of the covenant is a special relationship (19:5b-6). Based on what they had seen God do and how He had delivered them and brought them to himself (4), “you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine” (19:5b). This is the climax of all that God has been doing for them – to bring them to himself out here at Mt. Sinai and to enter into a special relationship with them, a relationship distinct from all other people of the earth.

It’s a wonderful thing to know you’re special to someone, like when someone asks you to marry them, when you know you are loved by your spouse above anyone else. As God’s dear children, we have a very special relationship with Him. Do you ever stop to think whether your lifestyle and commitment to God are consistent with what He has done for you? Do you live as someone in a special relationship with God?

You may ask, “Is it right that God should select one nation to be his own special possession above all other people”? The answer is “Yes,” “because all the whole earth is mine.” As the apostle Paul says, “Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Rom. 9:20). God says. “I am sovereign. I can choose whomever I wish and no one can say, ‘Why have you done that?’” That’s the essence of sovereignty – no obligation to anyone to act or not act in a certain way. And because God sovereignly and unilaterally chose the Israelites as his “own possession,” they cannot boast of their relationship with God for it is solely God’s initiative. Indeed, as Moses told them, “The Lord set his heart on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors” (Deut. 7:7-8).

God’s choice of them was all of his grace. “If you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my own possession out of all the peoples…and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). This is who God’s people are to be…

1. A kingdom of priests - those who stand in the gap between the people and God; those who intercede on behalf of others to God.

2. A holy nation – people separated to God, separated from Egypt, and different from the Canaanite nations around them.

So, God covenants with his people. The basis of the covenant is his salvation, the condition of the covenant is their obedience, the result of the covenant is a special relationship. And...

4. The response to the covenant is their commitment (19:7-8). “After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him” (19:7). And their response was: “We will do all that the Lord has spoken” (19:8). God called them to obedience and they responded with whole-hearted commitment. Their commitment to do God’s will was only possible because God had chosen them. God did not choose them because they had been obedient – anything but - but obedience was the primary condition of their special relationship with him. For them to continue in relationship with God as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” they would have to keep “all that the Lord has spoken.”

God did not want a relationship with people who would disregard or disobey what He said. If the Israelites were obedient to the God who had powerfully and miraculously delivered them from Egypt, then, of all the people on earth, they would be God’s own special possession, a people with a unique relationship to him.

So, first, God covenants with his people. And, second...

II. God Prepares His People (19:9-15)

You can’t just meet with God any way you want – you have to be ready, prepared. God has set the standard he expects of us. Here, there are three pre-requisites for meeting with God…

1. To meet with God we must be attentive (19:9). “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you” (19:9). God himself would not be visible. He would be hidden in a thick cloud - there is a separation between God and his people. But He would be audible - the people would hear God speaking with Moses. How awesome is that! God wanted the people to be attentive, alert when He spoke. God does not reveal himself to people who are not willing to listen and obey.

To meet with God we must be attentive. And...

2. To meet with God we must be holy (19:10-14). The symbolic act of washing their clothes (19:10) indicated that they were spiritually clean internally and ceremonially clean externally.

You cannot meet with God until you are clean and pure – outside and inside. To be externally clean refers to your practice, what you do. To be internally clean refers to your heart - who you are, what you think, your desires and motives. God is holy and so must we be holy to meet with him. We cannot approach God with sin in our lives. “If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth” (1 Jn. 1:6).

We must be holy internally and externally to meet with God. As the Psalmist says: “³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? ⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:3-4; cf. Ps. 15:1-3). We seem to have lost the sense of fear in meeting with a holy God, the sense that we need to rid ourselves of all uncleanness in order to come before the One who has redeemed us from sin.

To meet with God we must be attentive, we must be holy, and...

3. To meet with God we must be reverent (19:12-13). “Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: ‘Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death’” (19:12). Just as the ground on which Moses stood at the burning bush was holy, so also the mountain here is holy ground.

God is to be approached in reverence, not familiarity. His presence is of such a holy nature that the people could not come too near – boundaries were to be erected to prevent them from coming too close. Only those whom God authorized were allowed to climb the mountain. All others were to stay at a stated distance. They were to have such respect for God that they weren’t even allowed to “touch” the mountain. God would allow Moses to come up and He would utter His words to Moses so that indirectly the people would hear God’s words. Anyone who breached this requirement would be put to death (19:12-13).

These three pre-requisites for meeting with God show us how utterly “other” than us God is. We must approach him in holy awe – not too near; not too far. And yet so many Christians today think they can be familiar with God, buddy-buddy. Some even irreverently call him “the man upstairs.” They come to meet God like they’re going to a backyard BBQ, with coffee in one hand and a donut in the other. Human beings always want to bring God down to our level, to make him more human, even a bit fallible and changeable just like us. They want God to be more like us and less like he really is. They cheapen God – trivialize Him, diminish His universal sovereignty.

But here we find that God insists on retaining his exalted, glorious, awesome position and keeps us within certain predetermined constraints. Make no doubt about it we are the lesser and He is the greater; we are the creature and He is the Creator; we are the sinner and He is the Saviour; we are the fallible and He is the infallible; we are the finite and He is the infinite.

Surely the same pre-requisites apply today. When we meet with God, whether in our private devotional times each day or our collective worship times as a church, we need to be attentive, holy, and reverent. We are, after all, in the presence of God! So, when we come together to worship God, let’s conduct ourselves with the reverence and awe that is due to the God of the universe. If you were ushered into the presence of some high dignitary, I don't think you would conduct yourselves the way some do when they come to worship God. We do not come to church primarily for social reasons, but we come specifically to worship God. And, when we do, God himself draws near to us.

So, let us examine ourselves before we enter His presence. Let’s ask ourselves: “Is my heart right with God? Are there thoughts and hidden motives and desires that I need to confess before God? Do I recognize and respect his awesome presence? Am I excited about meeting with God? Does this privilege fill me with wonder and awe?”

As we come to worship God, let us be focused solely on God. He is the audience, watching and listening to all that goes on. He is the purpose of our coming together – to exalt his name, express our love for him, and celebrate his mighty works on our behalf, most fully expressed in the death and resurrection of his Son, our Saviour.

This awesome reverence for God is described beautifully for us in the hymn: “Immortal, invisible, God only wise...”. It’s described in the apostle Paul’s doxology “¹⁵ He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.” (1 Tim. 6:15-16). This is reverence. This is dignified worship. That’s what we seem to lack so much today - dignity in our worship, a consciousness that we are in the presence of God, a sense that we fall under his all-seeing eye and are accountable to him for all that we say and do. If we try to unseat God from his lofty throne and bring him down to our level we will never have a true appreciation for the magnitude of his person or the scope of his salvation. Cheapen God and you cheapen your spiritual life. But hold God in awe and you deepen your spiritual life.

So much of Christianity seems superficial today, doesn’t it? I can certainly appreciate why unbelievers are so skeptical of church and Christianity. The reverence for God that the Puritans had is long gone. The “fear” of God is little known and practiced. Spiritual shallowness has replaced spiritual depth. Atheistic evolutionary principles are being embraced, thus reducing God to a force or process rather than the fiat Creator. Postmodern thinking is infiltrating the church, so that absolute, God-given truth is watered down to ever-changing, cultural relevance. “Thus saith the Lord” is now “perhaps the Lord said.” The 10 commandments are now the 10 suggestions. Preaching was once definitive and authoritative, marked by periods and exclamation marks, but now (as Fred Craddock puts it) those periods have curled up into commas and the exclamation marks have slumped into question marks (Fred B. Craddock, As One Having Authority, cited by R. Albert Mohler in The Master’s Seminary Journal vol. 22, no. 1, 91).

Nothing is certain anymore because the time has come when people “have an itch to hear what they want to hear” ( 2 Tim. 4:3). They want to be scratched where they itch, so they turn to preachers or counsellors who do just that. So, instead of the holiness of God, they only want to hear about the love of God. Instead of hearing that the righteous will go to heaven and the unrighteous to hell, they want to hear preachers who say that somehow, in some way, God is going to eventually save everyone or that hell is only temporary.

I sometimes go to churches where people bow their heads when they sit down and in that way immediately engage with God and acknowledge that the worship of God is why they came. When Isaiah came into the presence of God and saw him high and lifted up, he said, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). Ezekiel couldn’t express his vision of God in words and ended up just trying to describe what he saw in unearthly terms. Job repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:6). Peter fell at Jesus feet, crying out, “Depart from me because I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). That’s what a true vision of God ought to cause us to do – see our unworthiness in the light of his holy presence and fall on our faces before him.

Today God is reduced to a genie in Aladdin’s lamp, a wish when you blow out the candles, a servant who does our every bidding, a Disney World fictional character so that “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star as dreamers do.”

But the reality is, it’s the other way round. We bow to him; not he to us. We worship him; he does not serve us. We obey his command; he doesn't answer to us.

First, then, God covenants with his people. Second, God prepares his people. Then third...

III. God Meets with His People (19:16-25)

When God meets with his people...

1. God manifests his glory in power (19:16-20a). When the people are prepared and ready to meet God, God’s presence is announced with powerful phenomena: “thunder and lightening, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered… Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently” (19:16-18). This was the heavenly announcement that God was coming down and all the people in the camp trembled with fear, as well they might. The physical manifestation reflected the awesome power and glory of God’s presence, the like of which had never been seen before. This was the glory of God in a form that was designed to leave an indelible impression on the people as to the power of God. And the people “stood at the foot of the mountain” (19:17). The instructions that Moses had given them were followed exactly. They were not to come too close, not to touch the mountain, but to stand back in awe and wonder and fear. So terrifying was this sight that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear” (Heb. 12:21).

So awesome was this that at the end of his life Moses was still talking about it: “³³ Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?... ³⁶ He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire” (Deut. 4:33, 36).

Well, in contrast, we “have not come to the mountain that could be touched...” (Heb. 12:18-21). No, we have “come to Mt. Zion, to the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22) into whose presence we can draw near through the blood of Christ (Heb. 12:24). What a difference the work of Christ has made. We do not tremble with fear, but we boldly approach the throne of grace because of the blood of Christ.

What an introduction to such an historic, unprecedented meeting! Moses had met with God before at the burning bush which was not consumed by the fire. At that time, Moses heard God’s call. That was historic and unprecedented. It certainly got Moses’ attention. His days of caring for sheep in the Midian desert were over. God was calling him, not to lead sheep but to lead his people, a nation. Now, Moses has done exactly that – led the people out of Egypt and God meets with him again at Mt. Sinai.

At the burning bush Moses heard God’s call. This time, at Mt. Sinai, Moses hears God’s law. God is now giving instructions to Moses about how His people were to live in relation to Him and to each other throughout their wilderness journey. This was the very first written word of God, a word that has been preserved for us!

And later Moses will hear about God’s tabernacle. This would be the place where God would dwell among them. God gave them His word for them to obey and his tabernacle for him to dwell among them. This was the very first time God would dwell among his people since the Garden of Eden.

So, when God meets with his people, He manifests his glory in power. And when God meets with his people...

2. God warns his people in grace (19:20b-25). Only when God summons him does Moses go “to the top of the mountain” (19:20b). Sometimes perhaps we are too forward with God. We think we can set the time and place and the agenda. It’s our meeting not God’s and again we expect him to respond to our bidding, our list of wants and demands. Perhaps we need to be more attentive to God’s voice inviting us to meet with him and then go up to the top of the mountain.

So, why would God immediately send Moses back down the mountain? (19:21). Because in his grace and in his thorough knowledge of the human heart, he wanted the people to be safe from judgement. Lest they be tempted to break through the boundary in order to try and “see the Lord (19:21), God sent Moses down to give them another warning. For if they broke through the boundary at the base of the mountain, they would “die” (19:21).

God knows our heart. He knows our disobedience and self-will. He knows our precociousness to do what we want not what he has commanded, to go where he has forbidden us to go, to tread on holy ground for which we are not prepared.

Moses did not know what God knew. Moses said, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, since you warned us: ‘Put a boundary around the mountain and consecrate it’” (Ex. 19:23). But God insists that Moses give them this second warning (19:24). “so Moses went down to the people and told them” (19:25). Only Aaron could come up with him - the priests and the people had to remain at a distance. God knew what would happen later in the story. What an expression of God’s grace this is, not willing that any should perish.

Final Remarks

Remember the thesis of this message and Scripture passage: When God’s people meet with Him they have to be prepared and ready. Perhaps you’re saying, “I’m ready. I know him as my Saviour. I’ve been through the ‘Red Sea’ of redemption. I’ve been separated to him in the wilderness. What more do I need?”

You need to meet with God regularly in your own personal quiet time with God every day. Some time ago my wife received a phone call from someone who wanted to contact one of my wife’s aunts, because some 40 or so years earlier in Sunday School this aunt had taught her about daily Bible reading and prayer. Ever since that time she had only missed two days and she wanted to tell her what an impact she had had on her life.

1. Your daily meeting with God needs a place and a time. A place of separation from hustle and bustle, a place of uninterrupted solitude, a place where everyone in your household knows that this is your place for meeting with God, this is the time you meet with God. You need a place and time because this is not a casual meeting. It’s not a casual chat on the sofa. This is a preplanned appointment with God every day.

2. Your daily meeting with God needs you to be prepared. You need to be aware that you are in the presence of God. You need to be prepared. This isn't a meeting where you can “wing it.” No! It’s much too important for that. You need to be prepared in the same way God instructed the Israelites – (a) Your will needs to be obedient and submissive; (b) your mind needs to be attentive, alert, listening to God as he speaks from his word; (c) your heart needs to be clean, having confessed all known sin; (d) your attitude needs to be reverent, to remember whose company you are in.

In order to be prepared, you’ll need your Bible – read it systematically, read it for your personal development not study - and your prayer journal, an organized list of prayer items. You might also use a hymn book or a devotional book with daily readings.

This takes great self-discipline but yields great rewards. It will keep you in daily touch with God. It will develop your understanding of Scripture. It will keep you from temptation and sin. It will keep your Christian life on track spiritually. If you ask Christians who fall into sin about their daily devotional life in most cases they would have to admit they don’t have one. So, determine right now to begin a daily devotional time with God and keep it up for the rest of your life.

This is a continuation from the last message titled, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Last time we covered part 1 (Ex. 32:1-14), the overall teaching of which I summarized as follows: We are so prone to forget God and turn to new gods of our own making. But God does not change – his grace remains.

Today we are going to cover part 2 (Ex. 32:15-34:9). Our subject again is: “The sin of idolatry.” The summary of this message is: If we sin, there is a process for restoration.

The theological principles that we noticed in part 1 were:

I. If You Lose Sight of God, Idolatry Can Easily Overtake You (32:1-6).

II. If Idolatry Overtakes You, You Will Incur God’s Anger (32:7-10).

III. If You Incur God’s Anger, Your Only Recourse Is To Plead For God’s Grace (32:11-14).

Now notice principles IV, V, and VI...

IV. God’s Grace Does Not Exempt You From The Consequences Of Your Sin (32:15-29)

“Then Moses turned and went down the mountain” (32:15). There is no record that God told Moses what to do, so what’s Moses going to do or say? How can he restrain these people who were in a state of uncontrolled frenzy?

Moses has been on the mountain with God for some 40 days. While there, he has received (1) God’s law written on tablets of stone by God himself, and (2) God’s plans for the tabernacle, God’s house. During that short period of time, the Israelites have (1) turned from the living God to worship a new god of gold; (2) turned from Moses their leader to Moses’ assistant, Aaron; and (3) turned from crediting God with bringing them out of Egypt to crediting their new god with bringing them out.

Now Moses displays the true power of his leadership. He already knew what had happened even before he saw it with his own eyes because God had told him on the mountain. Evidently, Joshua (whom we have not heard about since Ex. 24:13) was either with Moses on the mountain or had met Moses part way up the mountain, because now he accompanies Moses down. Before they ever see anything, they hear the noise of the frenzied party below, and Joshua says to Moses: “There is a sound of war in the camp” (32:17). Joshua seems incredulous: “Whatever could that noise be? It must be war.” And Moses says: “It’s not the sound of a victory cry and not the sound of a cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing!” (32:18).

When they come close enough, Moses sees what’s happening. He saw the golden calf and the people dancing, the orgy, the unrestrained behavior, acting like pagans. Just as God’s anger grew hot, so now does Moses’ anger (32:19-20). He throws down the precious tablets of stone, the only copy of the written word of God they had, breaking them in pieces. They had broken their covenant with God, literally and symbolically – literally, in the way they behaved, and now symbolically, in the breaking of the stone tablets. Their relationship with God was shattered just like the two tablets.

Moses’ anger here is a reflection of God’s righteous anger. He tears down the golden calf, throws it into the fire, and pulverizes it into powder, just as God had said they should do to the Canaanite idols (Ex. 23:24). Destroying the idol was an act of total abhorrence. Grinding it into powder prevented them from ever remaking it again. Then, he mixes the powder with water and makes the people drink it (32:20), just as some mothers used to punish their child by washing out the child’s mouth with soap if they said something bad. Making the Israelites drink the contaminated water gave them a taste of the bitterness of their sin, as the bitter liquid passed through their bodies.

Moses chides Aaron (32:21): “What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?” (Ex. 32:21). “How did they get you to do this? Why did you give in to them?” The truth was they had done nothing to Aaron. He had easily and quickly capitulated.

Then, Aaron tries to pacify Moses with excuses (32:22-24). Just as Moses once made excuses to God (that he could not speak properly), so here is Aaron’s excuse to Moses: “Don't get mad with me. You know what these people are like – rotten sinners that they are. They’re impossible, set on doing evil.”

That was true, but it was no excuse for his actions. Just because others want to act sinfully is no reason you should concede to it or condone it. Rather, a godly leader will resist the people’s sin, expose it for what it is, and lead them in a right direction.

How hypocritical is Aaron’s response? “They are the sinners, not me. They talked me into making this golden calf because you were gone so long. They didn't know what happened to you. I just did what they demanded. And anyway, I merely threw the gold into the fire and, bam, out came this calf. How bizarre is that, Moses!” (32:22-23).

Aaron is the antithesis of a godly leader. He doesn't oppose the people, doesn't chastise them, doesn't intercede for them. He obviously couldn’t care less about them – just took the easy way out. Just did what they wanted. Didn’t care if they died under God’s judgement.

What a contrast between Aaron and Moses. Aaron’s words of defense and his actions condemn him. Aaron, the public speaker, responds pathetically; the great assistant becomes so weak. But Moses, the meek man, becomes so powerful and decisive; the inarticulate man becomes so eloquent.

There is no limit to how far sin will go. No limit to how far sexual lust and lewdness and nakedness and drunkenness will go if you start down that path. It’s so easy to get caught up in the emotion and frenzy of a larger group. Loss of spiritual control leads to loss of physical and emotional control.

This kind of behavior is satanic. If you are under the control of the Spirit of God, your behavior will be marked by self-control, self-discipline, God-honoring behavior. We are called to be disciplined people and to do all things decently and in order.

Moses sees that the people were “out of control” (32:25a). Even worse, Israel’s unrestrained partying “made them a laughing stock to their enemies (Ex. 32:25b). Now. they were no different than the Canaanites. It appears that they were still carrying on with their indecent behavior even after the drink of gold powder. If so, the degree to which they were out-of-control is even more shocking.

Is it any wonder why, when the world sees Christians engage in sinful behavior, they say of us, “They’re no different than we are. They drink like us, curse like us, divorce like us, fight like us, watch movies like us. So why bother being a Christian?” When the world sees sinful behavior among the people of God, dishonor is brought on the Lord’s name, derision and shame are heaped on Him.

Moses challenges them to make a decision (32:26). He now does what Aaron should have done. Aaron’s failure to restrain the people contrasts with Moses’ call to commitment: “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me” (32:26). Everyone in the camp could have come and been spared judgement, but only the sons of Levi responded to the call. And Moses sent them throughout the camp carrying out the death sentence on brothers, friends, and neighbors – no favoritism. This was God’s command: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says (32:27). Three thousand men had to die before order was restored and God’s name was cleared (32:28). Only then did they realize the seriousness of what they had done and stop the debauchery. That’s what it took!

That’s what it took then and that’s what it takes now sometimes – the severity of God’s judgement. That’s what it took at Corinth where some died under God’s judgement (1 Cor. 11:30). And that still happens today. Back in the late 1950’s the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York had to deal with a race issue in the church, where 85% of the members were against the integration of whites and blacks in the church. After months of teaching on the subject, all but eleven members agreed with him that blacks could and should be equal members of the church with whites. Of those eleven members, seven said they would still support him even though they were against integration. The remaining four opposers all died and were buried by the pastor buried within six months. That’s the judgement of God!

Once the discipline had been carried out, only then did Moses talk about God’s blessing. “Today you have been dedicated to the Lord, since each man went against his son and his brother. Therefore you have brought a blessing on yourselves today” (32:29).

Ironically, there’s a blessing for carrying out God’s discipline. There are times in the life of the church when discipline is necessary to honour the holiness of God, to protect the credibility of the testimony of the church, to cleanse the church of sin, to warn others of the dangers of sin, and to maintain the purity of the Lord’s table.

So, the provision of God’s grace does not exempt you from the consequences of sin (32:15-29). And…

V. The Only Relief From Sin Is Confession And Forgiveness (32:30-35)

Remember our thesis: If we sin, there is a process for restoration. Carrying out discipline is right and necessary, but the people still have to get right with God, have to be restored to a right relationship with him. Notice the order that Moses deals with this.

First, Moses confronts the people with their sin. “³⁰ You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin. ³¹ So Moses returned to the Lord” (32:30-31). Now, he acts as their priest before God. What must the people have thought as they saw Moses go one more time up the mountain? Would God grant his forgiveness? Could their relationship with God ever be restored? Their only hope was that Moses was their mediator and that God would be gracious. Here we see true intercession. First Moses confronts the people with their sin...

Then, Moses confesses their sin before the Lord: “Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves” (32:31). Notice that true confession of sin involves naming the sin specifically.

After confronting them with their sin and confessing their sin before the Lord, Moses asks for forgiveness for their sin: “Now if you would only forgive their sin” (32:32a). This request for forgiveness is based on sovereign grace alone. There was nothing they could do to earn it. If God does not grant forgiveness, then Moses offers to be their substitute: “But if not, please erase me from the book you have written” (32:32b). This is the heart of a godly leader: “Take me as a substitute for them if someone has to die.”

And God responds: “³³ The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin’” (32:33-34). Everyone is responsible for their own sin - there’s no such thing as a group sin - and the penalty for sin is death (Rom. 6:23; Ezek. 18:4).

But notice that God’s judgement is not carried out immediately. Although Aaron had not restrained the people, God’s grace restrained his sentence of death. His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob needed to be fulfilled first. So, God’s angel will go before them, they will reach Canaan, but when the punishment is carried out, they will die for their sin. “And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made” (32:35). In the interim, they suffered from the consequences of their sin and subsequently they died because of what they did. That entire generation died in the wilderness and a brand new generation went into Canaan.

We must take sin seriously, the same way God does. Don't try to downplay it or excuse it or deny it. We must deal decisively and lovingly with those who sin and we must quickly judge sin in our own lives.

We must hate sin, just as God does. This applies to our families and the discipline of our children. You do not love your children if you tolerate their sin. And this applies to the church as well. God’s judgement may be delayed but it will come. It will come on sinning believers who do not confess their sin. And it will come on unbelievers who do not turn to him in faith. These Israelites sinned over and over again during the next 40 years. Many of them were not believers and they died, but this didn’t prevent God from fulfilling his promises.

Thank God that we, as Christians, have a Saviour who has died to wash us from our sins, so that we do not live under the cloud of coming judgement - we have the assurance of eternal life. Thank God we live under a new and better covenant. We know that our sins are forgiven – past, present, and future. We do not face the wrath of God, for that has been dealt with at the cross by our Saviour. He has atoned for our sins. We have been declared righteous because of his righteousness.

Thank God we have a great High Priest, the sinless Son of God. Our high priest is not a sinner like Aaron, who would become Israel’s first high priest and offer annual sacrifices of atonement for his own sins and the sins of the people, annual sacrifices which never did or could atone for their sins. Those sacrifices only cleansed them ceremonially until the next time. Those sacrifices only delayed the judgement of God for another year. But our high priest is not a sinner like Aaron. Our High Priest is the sinless Son of God, the once-for-all substitute for us, the perfect sacrifice for our sins, a sacrifice that never had to be repeated, a sacrifice of infinite and eternal value.

So, the provision of God’s grace does not exempt you from the consequences of sin. The only relief from sin is confession and forgiveness. And then…

VI. After Confession And Forgiveness, We Receive God’s Assurance (33:11-34:9)

If ever Moses needed assurance from God, it was now. The people he had led out of Egypt were in a shambles; they had turned from God to idols (contrast Thess. 1:9). Moses must have felt isolated and alone. The job of leadership was getting harder with time, not easier. Moses had offered to give his life for the Israelites and God had temporarily delayed his judgement on them, but what now? What he needed now was assurance from God, that God’s grace still rested upon him. Well, God “remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). His angel would still go before them (32:34), and the proof of that would be the manifestation to Moses of God’s way and God’s glory. If he could see the ways of God and the glory of God, then he would know that God’s favor rested on him and this would give him renewed courage and perseverance.

Moses is the consummate intercessor. Moses’ first intercession in 32:11-14 is why God should not destroy the people. His second intercession in 32:31-35 is his plea for God’s forgiveness of the people’s sin or else take Moses’ life.

Now we come to his third intercession with God (33:11-17). Here is recorded one of the most fascinating conversations in the Bible between God and his servant-leader, Moses. The people have repented and shown the reality of their repentance in removing their ornaments (33:4-5), those symbols and reminders of their former pagan gods. Now Moses meets God outside the camp at a special tent of meeting. “The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend” (33:11), with intimacy, warmth, trust, confidence, transparency.

Moses’ intercessory appeal for assurance has two parts. First, Moses asks God for the manifestation of God’s ways. “Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people” (33:13). The concrete evidence that Moses had favor with God would be for God to show him His “ways,” show him God’s standards, purposes, methods, plans. Moses says, “For the sake of this nation, your covenant people, show me your ways, so that your people will know that you are still faithful to your promises, so that I can enter into a deeper relationship with you and understanding of you, so that I can be reassured of my standing before you – that I have found grace in your sight.”

And God replied graciously and reassuringly, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (33:14). That’s all Moses needed – the assurance of the Lord’s presence with him as it had been from the beginning.

To know the Lord’s ways is to have the Lord’s presence. That’s how it had been throughout the wilderness journey. The presence of the Lord went with Moses and showed him the way in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. We cannot know the ways of God without the presence of God. The Lord’s “presence” implies not only accountability and guidance but also security and “rest.” “I will give you rest,” the Lord says. Rest is the necessary result of the Lord’s presence. The Lord’s presence grants rest, for when we take his yoke on us we find rest for our souls (Matt. 11:29).

Don’t you find yourself crying out for a renewed assurance and experience of the Lord’s presence? Are there not times in your life when you feel you are dry spiritually and you hunger for more of God? What we desperately need is a renewed experience of God’s presence, just as Moses cries for here. As D.A. Carson puts it, “What any people must have is the presence of the living God. It is not enough in any church simply to have the right rituals and the right sermons and the right kind of music. If God does not manifest himself in some way; if he is not present, then what is the point of the whole exercise?...There’s no point in merely being different because we have rules. We must have God. (D. A. Carson, The God Who Is There, 67).

When we gather as the body of Christ, do we “have God”? Or, do you sense that God is not there. Do you ever get the sense that church worship has become so routine, you’ve done this for so long, that you no longer expect to meet God there? Or, have you allowed things into your private life that have robbed you of the manifest presence of God? What we need more than anything else is the presence of the living God among us, active and powerful, changing us, shaping us, drawing us to himself, filling us with awe and wonder and adoration.

We don't come together to maintain religious form or because that’s what Christians do or just to make it look good to our neighbors. We come together to experience the presence of God and when we experience the presence of God, we find rest and peace and forgiveness and reconciliation and hope.

“ If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here” (33:15). In other words, “there’s no point in taking one step more toward the promised land if you are not with us. That’s the only way that the Canaanites will know that we are your favored people. That’s what makes us different from all the people on the face of the earth” (33:16).

“The Lord answered Moses, ‘I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name’” (33;17). God says to Moses, “I will do exactly what you ask. My presence will go with you for you have found grace in my sight and everyone will know it by my manifest presence with you exclusively.” To “find favor in (God’s) sight” is to know the grace of God experientially, to have concrete proof of it. For God to know you “by name” is to have personal intimacy, relationship, and fellowship with God.

First, then, Moses asks for the manifestation of God’s ways. Second, Moses asks for the manifestation of God’s glory (33:18-23). “Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory” (33:18). This is ultimate boldness. Surely God’s presence and rest and favor should be enough. Clearly Moses was desperate for renewed assurance. After all, perhaps the idolatry of the people had permanently severed their relationship with God. Perhaps they had permanently lost the marvel and experience of God’s glory. Perhaps “Ichabod” was written over the people of Israel. Perhaps God’s glory had departed from them. Could God’s wrath be yet assuaged? Or, was all hope of reconciliation gone?

That’s why Moses wanted a further manifestation of God. Yes, God had shown himself powerfully at the Red Sea and Sinai. But was all that for nothing? Had it all been squandered by this rebellious and stiff-necked people? Moses needed to know God in the most intimate, powerful way possible by seeing his glory. And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (33:19). God’s goodness is God’s glory – it’s the overpowering aspect of who God is. He is good and He is sovereign. In his sovereignty God expresses His grace and compassion to whomever He wishes. God says to Moses, “I will do what you ask, Moses. I will grant your request. But remember, that no matter how much you see and know of me, no matter how much of myself I disclose to you, no matter how close we are, always remember that I am the sovereign Lord. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” In other words, “You cannot bargain with me, Moses, nor force me to do anything. Remember, I don't need you, but you need me.”

“But (the Lord) added, ‘ ²⁰ You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.’ ²¹ The Lord said, ‘Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, ²² and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen’” (33:20-23). God says, “It’s one thing to converse with me, Moses, as a man converses with his friend, but it’s quite another to see my glory, for no one can see me and live. You will see my back, Moses, but not my face.” Moses had pushed God to the absolute limit of his self-revelation. Moses would see all that can be seen of God’s glory. Remember, God is the sovereign, supreme One. He alone determines who will receive his grace and compassion (33:19). He alone determines how much he will reveal of himself.

So, how and where will this manifestation of God’s glory take place? Here are the Lord’s instructions (34:1-9). First, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke” (34:1). Sometimes in shops that sell breakable items you see a sign: “Break it and you’ve bought it.” That’s not how God dealt with the broken stones. In his grace, God gives Moses a new set.

Second, “Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop” (34:2). No one else could come with him nor even be in sight (33:3). So, “Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him” (34:4). And once again, “The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, ‘the Lord’” (34:5). Moses was in the crevice of the rock and the Lord passed by him (34:6a).

Though Moses’ sight of God is limited, what he hears is an incredible self-declaration as to the character of God (34:6-7). This is who God is: “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth” (34:6b). That’s who God is. What God is revealing to Moses in word is far more than in sight. God tells Moses who he is and what he is like. This is awesome! This is more than had ever been directly revealed by God and about God before - not in the 10 plagues, not in the vanquishing of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, nor at the first Mt. Sinai experience.

And then, this is what God does: “…maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation” (34:7). Moses received more than he had bargained for. He didn't just see a partial manifestation of God’s glory, he heard a full revelation of God’s character – a character that would one day be seen in Jesus.

On the one hand, God is love. He is a God of compassion and grace. He is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, forgiving. On the other hand, God is holy. He is a God of justice and truth – “He will not leave the guilty unpunished,” even to the point of “bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren” if they continue in their fathers’ sins and do not repent. God will not turn away from pursuing and judging sin. Those who are guilty and do not repent will be judged and punished by the God who is absolute holiness.

You can’t defend yourself with: “But I was born this way.” Or, “It runs in the family - my father lived like this and his father as well.” No, you will have to do with God. So, how will you meet God? Will you meet him as your Saviour – the God who is love. Or will you meet him as your judge – the God who is holy. What we need is mercy, not justice. According to God’s justice he could condemn us all to hell, but according to his mercy he has provided a way of escape.

And Moses responds: “(He) made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped (34:8). That’s what worship is – our response to who God is. And Moses said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession” (34:9). Whoever said there is no grace in the O.T.! What a prayer of intercession this is! Moses identifies himself completely with his people and pleads on their collective behalf. May that prayer be ours also!

Final Remarks

What a contrast between the godly leadership of Moses and that of Aaron. Notice these ten contrasts in their leadership styles:

(1) Moses represented God; Aaron represented the people.

(2) Moses told the people God’s message; Aaron told the people what they wanted to hear.

(3) Moses led the people; Aaron capitulated to the people.

(4) Moses led on principle; Aaron led on pragmatism (by what worked).

(5) Moses called the people to obedience; Aaron aided the people’s disobedience.

(6) Moses kept the people under control; Aaron was controlled by the people.

(7) Moses called the people to act for God; Aaron permitted the people to do what they wanted.

(8) Moses worked with the minority; Aaron wanted the approval of the majority.

(9) Moses trusted the word of God; Aaron was swayed by the words of the people.

(10) Moses trusted the power of God; Aaron succumbed to the power of the people.

Remember our thesis for this passage: If we sin, there is a process for restoration. We need to confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness and then walk in the assurance of God’s presence. It’s simple but so often we don't want to follow it. If you need to get right with God, why not do it now and rest in the sweetness of his presence and the confidence of his ways?

Does anyone here like snakes? I don’t, that’s for sure. Many people think that Africa is full of snakes but the truth is that, in all my trips to Africa, I have never seen one there. In 2009 I was in Lusaka, Zambia, at the home of some missionaries from Canada. When I was leaving their house to walk back to my room in the mission guest house, they said, “Be sure to walk in the middle of the laneway away from the bushes on either side. A few days ago we killed a cobra in our backyard!” That’s the closest I have come to a snake in Africa.

One time I was going to lead a team from our church on a short-term missions trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa. At one of the preparatory meetings with the team, one of the questions that was asked a couple of times was: “Are there snakes there?”

Some years ago, a young woman at our church encountered a snake in her apartment here in Canada. She came out of the shower and discovered a snake in her bedroom - that’s too close for comfort!

Well, in our passage today, the Israelites also encountered deadly snakes. The subject of our study is: “Faith – the cure for sin.” The theological principle that we learn from this passage is that salvation is by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ.

Consider the background to this story for a moment. Just before the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, Aaron had died because of his rebellion against God at the waters of Meribah (20:24) and the Israelites had been mourning his death for 30 days. Then they continued their journey toward Canaan and, as had happened many times before, “the people became impatient because of the journey” (21:4).

Impatience often causes us to complain against God. Complaints against God are the expression of discontent with God. Sometimes we might not even be aware of what we are doing, but...

I. Discontent Is Sin Against God (21:5)

The Israelites frequently expressed their discontent and complained against God. From a human perspective you can understand why. How would you feel if you had traipsed for 40 years in the scorching heat of a barren wilderness, if you had eaten the same food day after day, if your fathers and uncles etc. had all died along the way and you were left all alone to face the unknown future, if you didn't know where your next meal was coming from, if you were thirsty and there was no water in sight, and now one of your beloved leaders was dead?

But for all these years, God had proven himself faithful. Surely, they knew by now that he would bring them through, that he would provide for them and protect them. Even though this generation had not seen the Red Sea miracle, they had seen God’s faithful day-after-day provision for the last 20 years at least. How much more evidence did they need? Why did they still not trust him? I think the answer is because of discontent and discouragement.

So, once again the people spoke against God and against Moses. “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” (21:5). It seems like this has become their “wilderness refrain.” In fact, they had used these or similar words of complaint at least nine times by now. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die here? ... We wish we had stayed in Egypt... There’s no food or water... We hate this detestable bread – it’s worthless and contemptible.”

These were direct accusations against God’s gracious provision all these years. They threw God’s grace and goodness back in his face. In fact, their complaint was completely untrue and their discontent was thoroughly unwarranted. They complained that they had “no water,” when in fact God had provided them with water over and over again. They complained that they had “no bread,” when in fact God had faithfully provided food every day.

Their real complaint was that they did not like the food – “this worthless bread” is how they described it. They considered God’s provision to be “worthless.” I wonder sometimes how often we consider God’s provision for us to be worthless. Oh, we may not actually use that word but in our attitudes and ingratitude isn’t that what we say to God? I sometimes wonder how often our complaints are unwittingly complaints directly against God. You may not mean it that way but ultimately that’s who you are complaining against, for “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). And yet, often we don't appreciate what God has given us, do we?

Like the Israelites, we think it should be better - not just bread but meat and all the trimmings; not just water but good, tasty drinks; not just a 3 bedroom home in the suburbs but an estate in the country; not just a middle management job but an executive position; not just able to meet the monthly rent but able to take exotic trips once in a while.

It’s so easy to become discontented with our lot in life. We seem to have very short memories when it comes to God’s provision, protection, and power. We seem to operate on such a short time line that, not long after one manifestation of God’s provision or protection, we expect another display of his power. And if that doesn’t happen, we become discouraged and discontented and start thinking bad thoughts about God. There’s no knowing how critical of God we can be when our hearts are filled with rebellion and discontent. And the root of discontent and rebellion is unbelief.

A critical spirit spreads like gangrene so that even God’s grace in Christ comes under attack. Nothing can satisfy the human heart until you are reconciled to God, until you have an intimate, saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And even then, we have to watch our hearts. Negativity, disunity, complaining, and accusations spring from our hearts so easily and so quickly. If you allow a root of bitterness to spring up (Heb. 12:15), it can destroy you. Only God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit can fully and eternally satisfy our hearts. And yet, so many people are complaining and critical. Why is that? Because of rebellion which is rooted in self-centeredness and, ultimately, in distrust of God.

If you don’t maintain an intimate, vibrant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you will never be satisfied - you’ll always want more or something different. As St. Augustine said: “Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee.” Or, as King Solomon observed, everything under the sun is futility without God. He tried to find satisfaction in wine, women, wealth, and music. “All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them… When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. Here is nothing to be gained under the sun” (Eccl. 2:10ff.) He continues, “I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it” (Eccl. 8:17). What then was Solomon’s conclusion? “¹³ When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity. ¹⁴ For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13-14).

Only when your heart is right with God and you live with an eternal perspective will you be fully satisfied. On previous occasions when the Israelites had complained, God had responded in grace and provided what they wanted. But this time, God did not provide them with what they wanted. Enough is enough. The time had come for punishment for their sin - their constant sinful words, actions, and attitudes; their constant complaining and discontent.

There comes a time when...

II. Ultimately, God judges sin (21:6)

“Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died” (21:6). This time, God did not respond to their complaints with the provision of food and water but with immediate judgement in the form of poisonous snake bites. This would certainly get your attention, wouldn’t it? Deadly snake bites.

The black mamba is one of the world’s deadliest snakes. It is the longest species of venomous snakes in Africa. It is the second longest venomous snake in the world after the King Cobra. It is also one of the fastest moving snakes on earth, if not the fastest. The venom of the black mamba is one of the most rapid-acting. In severe cases, a bite from a black mamba can kill an adult human in as little as 20 minutes. In fact, a black mamba can kill an elephant.

Some time ago, my wife and I heard a missionary tell his life story. He grew up as a missionary kid in a remote village of Ivory Coast where they had deadly snakes. One day, when he and his little friends were out playing, one of the boys was bitten by a deadly snake. Being 100 miles from a hospital, there was nothing they could do. He told how he held his little seven year old friend in his arms, how the little boy’s arm, where he had been bitten, swelled up so much that the skin of his arm split. The pain was excruciating and all he could tell his little friend was, “It’s alright. Soon the pain will be over and you will be in heaven with Jesus.” He held him until he died and then he and his friends had to bury him. A deadly snake bite for which they had no cure.

Death is the last enemy for which we have no cure. But one day even death will be destroyed by Jesus Christ. When he returns in power and glory, death will be swallowed up in victory.

None of us knows when we will die. None of the passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, knew that it would be shot down over eastern Ukraine and that all 283 passengers and 15 crew would be killed that day. None of the passengers on TransAsia Airways flight 222, flying from Taiwan to Penhu Island on July 23, 2014, knew that the plane would crash during the approach to land in bad weather at Magong Airport and that, of the 58 people on board, only 10 would survive. None of the passengers on Algerian Airlines flight 5017, flying from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, on July 24, 2014, knew that it would crash near Gossi, Mali and that all 110 passengers and 6 crew would die that day.

None of us knows when we will die and none of us wants to die, do we? But all of us will die in due course, unless the Lord Jesus comes in our lifetime. That’s the Christian hope - the coming of the Lord while we are alive. Satan doesn’t want us to have hope in Christ. He doesn’t want anyone to trust Christ for salvation. Nor does He want Christians to have the joy of their salvation. He wants us to abandon our faith in Christ or, at the very least, to rob us of the joy of our salvation in Christ. And one of his primary methods of doing this is through discontent and discouragement.

Snake bites, then, are a picture of God’s judgement for sin. And the only recourse when we recognize that we have sinned is to repent and cast ourselves on the mercy of God.

III. Repentance Is The Only Escape From Judgement (21:7-9)

How quickly the Israelites recanted and confessed their sin. When they recognized that God was judging them, how quickly they changed their tune from complaining and discontent to repentance and confession. “The people then came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us” (21:7). The Israelites recognized that this was God’s judgement on them for their sinful complaints and discontent. The prospect of dying certainly got their attention.

God’s judgement can only be assuaged by repentance. That’s why the people responded as they did. They knew that they had sinned and needed to get right with God. The only cure for “snake bites” is repentance and confession of sin, which is exactly what the people did. They said, “We have sinned,” and they named the sin - “speaking against the Lord and against you (Moses) (21:7a). And they begged Moses to intercede for them with God again to “take the snakes away from us. So Moses interceded for the people” (21:7b). We don't know what Moses said, but we do know that...

Once more, God responded in grace. God’s gracious response was to provide a substitute in the form of a brass serpent on a pole. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover” (21:8).

Why did it have to be set up on a pole? Because it was a sign for everyone to see and because it was available for everyone. All they had to do was look at it and they would be healed. Anyone who looked at it with understanding and belief (that’s the connotation) would live and not die. “So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered” (21:9).

The cure for “snake bites” is a look of faith. The cause of death becomes the source of life. This was not some sort of mid-eastern magic or ritual. This was a test of faith. Were they willing to look at a symbol of the cause of their death in order to have healing, forgiveness, and life? This could only be a look of faith for it would take faith to look at a brass serpent in the expectation that they would be healed, wouldn’t it? Just as the sacrifice of innocent animals in the O.T. was sufficient for sinful people to live, so here, those who were dying because of snake bites could be restored to life by looking at the image of a dead snake. The only pre-requisite was that they must identify with the substitute. In the case of an innocent animal, they identified with it by a touch of faith - laying their hand on the animal’s head. Here they must identify with the brass snake by a look of faith.

The question is: How would the Israelites have viewed this remedy? How would they have understood it? Would they intuitively connect it with the garden of Eden, where sin came through the “bite” of the serpent and death through sin? Would they have understand that the brass serpent was symbolic of what they were and what they deserved? Would they understand that, instead of killing them, a look of faith at the brass serpent would heal them? Would they understand that when the brass serpent was raised up on a pole, its activity was dead, its bite was impossible, its poison impotent, and that they were free from its tyranny?

The question is: Would the Israelites see in the symbol a reflection of the reality to which the symbol pointed? That either they would die or a substitute must take their place, that what was causing their death must itself be put to death in order for them to live, that death was the consequence of their sin - unless God provided a way of escape. The way of escape was through God’s provision of a substitute sacrifice that atoned for their sin, and their acceptance of that substitute sacrifice indicated by a look of faith, without which they would die.

So, the gospel of God’s grace to them was that the death of their sin must be put on public display and they must trust in God’s word that their look of faith would give them life. To look in faith at the symbol of what was causing their death is a “paradoxical act of faith in a God who controls all power over life or death” (R. Dennis Cole, Numbers, 350). This, of course, is an illustration of the death of Christ by which people who are dying spiritually can be saved, healed by the death of a Substitute on the cross. This brass serpent looks forward to the one final sacrificial Substitute in the death of Jesus Christ.

God said that “the wages of sin is death” but God also said that “the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Jesus took on himself our sin and died our death to satisfy the holy demands of God against our sin, so that by faith in him we would not have to die eternally, but have the present possession of eternal life. In fact, in speaking with Nicodemus, Jesus himself refers to this passage in Num. 21 as analogous to his own death. He said, “ ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil” (Jn. 3:14-19).

In explaining the nature and necessity of new birth, Jesus reminds Nicodemus of the O.T. experience of the brass serpent. The analogy is as follows...

1. Sin is like a venomous snake bite - it will kill you. It courses through your entire body so that no part of it escapes the deadly venom. We are tainted by sin in every part of our being. Of course, the analogy of the snake bite goes back even further to Genesis 3, where sin was introduced to our original parents by Satan through the serpent. And thus, the disease of sin spread through the entire human race – i.e. sin permanently corrupted all the human race; it was permanently engraved on our spiritual DNA. Thus, like the Israelites, we need healing from the disease of sin. As with the venomous snake bite, there is no time to be wasted to save your life. Thus, God, at just the right time, provided his Son to be our Saviour, so that by his death we can live.

So first, the analogy is that sin is like a venomous snake bite. Second, the analogy is that...

2. Sin demands God’s punishment. Because the Israelites sinned by complaining against God, they were punished. God does not overlook or excuse or water down sin. Sin is sin and God is holy – he cannot tolerate sin. God said, “The person who sins is the one who will die” (Ezek. 18:20). Sin is rebellion against God, disobedience. Sin blinds us and binds us so that we cannot please God, cannot accept the truth of God about ourselves. Sin separates us from God. This was true of Nicodemus, who approached Jesus at night - a reflection of the darkness of his soul. He needed new birth. He needed his spiritual eyes opened.

The analogy then is, first, that sin is like a venomous snake bite; second, that sin demands God’s punishment. And third...

3. God has provided a way of escape. In our place, God offered his Son, the only perfect substitute, the sinless One who died for sinners like us. By looking to Christ by faith, we can be cleansed from sin, just as the Israelites could be healed by looking at the brass serpent. Jesus also said, “‘ ³² As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.’ ³³ He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die” (Jn.12:32-33).

Remember our thesis: Salvation is by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ. Our sin was laid on Jesus. He bore our sins in his own body on the cross. He took our curse and bore the punishment of God for our sins in our place. He died our death so that we could live his life. And by identifying with him on the cross (i.e. by analogously looking at the brass serpent on the pole), we are healed! This is incredibly good news.

And yet for some it is so hard to accept. They ask…

(a) How could someone else pay the penalty for my sin?

(b) Isn't that cruel of God to hold a sinless person responsible for other people’s sins?

(c) How can I trust Christ’s atoning sacrifice for my eternal salvation? Can’t I earn God’s favor for myself? How do I know it’s true?

Here are the answers...

(a) Our substitute had to be perfectly acceptable to God. Obviously, God could not accept a sinner to substitute for other sinners – that would be like a murderer on death row substituting for another murderer on death row. Each must pay his own penalty. But there was one person who was suitable and acceptable as our substitute – Jesus, God’s holy, sinless Son.

(b) God did not cruelly lay our sins on Jesus. Rather, Jesus willingly agreed to take them and pay the penalty for them. He and his Father were in eternal agreement as to his taking our place on the cross.

(c) Trusting God’s provision for our salvation is so hard for people to accept. But that’s the nature of faith - not blind, unthinking faith but faith in the God who has revealed himself to us in creation, in our conscience, in history, in the person of his Son, and in his Word. When you consider all that God has revealed to us about himself, is it really that hard to trust him?

Final Remarks

Two things set this event in our passage apart. First, the very quick response of the people, whose unqualified repentance was accompanied by an unqualified confession. Second, the means of their salvation: (a) It was a simple remedy - to look in faith – which anyone of any age or condition could do. (b) It had an immediate effect. (c) It was a complete remedy - nothing to add, no other conditions, nothing else to do, the only and all-sufficient remedy.

And so it was, that “whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered (21:9). God always keeps his word. God does what he says. If you don't look to Christ in faith, you will die in eternal separation from God. If you do look to Christ in faith, you will live in eternal fellowship with God in heaven.

In this event, we see a picture of our salvation, that in the death of Christ...

1. “He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).

2. “What the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering” (Rom. 8:3).

3. “(God) made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

4. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).

Remember the primary theological principle of our study: Salvation is by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And your faith can be expressed in something as simple and easy as a look to Him. Will you do that today? As the old hymn says:

There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.

Look! look! look and live!
There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee.

Oh, why was He there as the Bearer of sin,

If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid?
Oh, why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood,
If His dying thy debt has not paid?

It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers,
But the blood, that atones for the soul;
On Him, then, who shed it, thou mayest at once
Thy weight of iniquities roll.

Then doubt not thy welcome, since God has declared
There remaineth no more to be done;
That once in the end of the world He appeared,
And completed the work He begun.

Then take with rejoicing from Jesus at once
The life everlasting He gives;
And know with assurance, thou never canst die
Since Jesus, thy Righteousness, lives.