Part 2 - God's Laws, Decrees & Glory
When we think about God's laws and decrees, we tend to think of them of as restrictions that stop us from doing what we want, but we aren't looking at them in the right way.
The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than much pure gold and sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.
God's commandments and laws are for our benefit, to prosper us not to harm us, as warning not punishment, and in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:9-11).
God is holy, righteous and perfect. In order to be worthy of the promises He has for us, we need to raise our standard, crucifying our passions and desires that lead us into temptation and sin.
Let us follow God's commands and allow Him to lead us to the place He has laid for us at His table, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived— the things God has prepared for those who love him (2 Corinthians 9).
God Spoke His Ten Commandments
God called Moses to the top of the mountain, so Moses went and He told him to warn the people not to force their way through to see Him, lest they perish, and to bring Aaron up with him, and Moses went down and told them (Exodus 19:20-25).
God spoke the commandments they were to follow (Exodus 20:1-17), and the Israelites heard God's voice, which was unmistakeable, resounding and loud.
When the people saw the thunder and lighting and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear and stayed at a distance.
They told Moses to speak to them himself and they will listen, but not to have God speak to them or they would die (Exodus 19:20-20:1-19).
The Israelites were afraid and didn't want God to speak to them, wanting Moses to be God's spokesman, preferring boundaries and limits over hearing God speak to them directly.
Moses Made Spokesman
Moses told them not to be afraid and that God had come to test them, so that the fear of God would be with them to keep them from sinning.
The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was (Exodus 20:19-21).
God wants to speak to us directly, He does not want us to remain at a distance, He wants to draw us close and bring us to Himself.
God wants us to stand before Him in His Presence.
He longs to speak to us directly through His word and whisper life into our hearts by His Spirit.
God Gave Moses His Laws
God told Moses to tell the Israelites that they had seen for themselves that He had spoken to them from heaven.
He told them they must not make for themselves gods of silver or gold and to make an altar of earth for Him and sacrifice on it their burnt offerings, sheep, goats and cattle.
In saying this, God knew what the Israelites would do whilst Moses was with Him on the mountain.
God then told Moses the laws he was to set before them (Exodus 20:21-23).
God shows Himself to us many times throughout our lives, yet we are quick to fall away. We must remember God, seek to know Him and seek his wisdom in everything that we do.
God's Angel Prepares The Way
God told Moses that He is sending an angel ahead of them to guard them along the way and to bring them to the place He has prepared.
He told them they must pay attention to him and listen to what he says, and that they must not rebel against him for he will not forgive their rebellion, since God's Name is in him.
If they listen carefully to what he says and all that God says, God will be an enemy to their enemies and will oppose those who oppose them, and He will wipe them out (Exodus 23:20-23).
God warns them again about the important of listening and the consequences of disobedience.
The only way that we can draw close to God, is for us to go up higher, like Moses did when he went up the mountain, in order to receive the reward He has for us.
The Israelites' Borders Established
God told Moses He will send His terror ahead of them and throw into confusion every nation they encounter and make all their enemies turn their backs and run.
He will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous, but little by little, until they have increased enough to take possession.
God brings us into our destiny little by little so that we are able to handle and manage what He has prepared for us.
He told Moses that He will establish their borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River (Exodus 23:27-33).
God wants to bring us into our inheritance, He wants to plant us in fertile soil and give us everything He has for us, He wants us to trust Him and His words are trustworthy and true.
God's Covenant Confirmed
God told Moses to come up to Him with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 of the elders and told them to worship at a distance, and Moses alone was to approach God.
When Moses told the people all God's words and laws, they said that everything that God had said they will do.
Moses then wrote down everything God had said, built an altar, set up 12 stone pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel and made sacrifices and offerings, putting half the blood in bowls and splashing half on the altar (Exodus 24:1-6).
God made His covenant with the 12 tribes of Israel and the covenant was a blood covenant, which is poured out (by Jesus) for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28).
The blood of the covenant is holy and it sanctifies us through the Spirit of Grace (Hebrews 10:29), for the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ (Romans 6:3).
The Book of The Covenant Read Aloud
Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.
They said that they would do everything the LORD had said and that they would obey.
Moses then sprinkled the blood on the people and told them it was the blood of the covenant that the LORD had made with them in accordance with all these words (Exodus 24:7-8).
The God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought Jesus back from the dead, equips us with everything good for doing His will (Hebrews 13:20-21).
We are commanded to keep God's covenant (Hebrew 9:20) and we break it through sin (Ezekiel 44:7), trampling the Son of God underfoot by treating it as an unholy thing, insulting the Spirit of Grace, and resulting in severe punishment (Hebrews 10:29).
74 People Saw God
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.
Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).
As with any scripture, we must interpret this passage in light of all scripture, and further on in Exodus, God tells Moses that he cannot see His face, for no one may see Him and live (Exodus 33:20), and John says that no one has ever seen God (1 John 4:12), bringing up a question mark as to what exactly they did see.
When we take a closer look at this scripture, exactly what they saw becomes clear, as rather than God's face, they only saw His feet and the pavement underneath, and we can safely assume that this was because when they found themselves in the presence of the LORD, they were terrified and fell on their face prostrate, as Moses had done in Deuteronomy 9:25 and as is evident throughout scripture, when in the holy presence of the LORD.
God Gave Moses The Stone Tablets
God told Moses to come up to Him on the mountain and stay there, and He will give him the tablets of stone with the law and commandments He had written for their instruction.
Moses went up on the mountain of God and told the elders to wait until they came back, and whilst he was there, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.
For 6 days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the 7th day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.
To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain and stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:12-18).
A Sanctuary For God To Dwell Amongst Them
God told Moses to tell the Israelites to bring Him an offering from everyone whose heart prompted them to give and He gave Moses a list of what was needed.
He then told Moses to have them make a sanctuary for Him, and He will dwell among them.
They were to make the tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern that God shows him (Exodus 25 to 31).
God wants to dwell among us, He wants fellowship with us, this is how it was since the very beginning in the Garden of Eden and how it will be again in the new Eden, when everything is made new.
The whole bible is the story and instruction of how to return to God, and how, without Him, we cannot live, for how can we live disconnected from the Source from where we came? We cannot.
The Golden Calf
When the people saw that Moses was so long coming down, they told Aaron to make them gods who would go before them and he made them an idol in the shape of a calf from their gold earrings.
Aaron built an altar and announced that the next day, there would be a festival to the Lord, and they got up early, sacrificed, presented offerings, ate, drank and indulged in revelry (Exodus 32:1-6).
Seeing what the Israelites had done, God told Moses to go down because the people had been quick to turn away and had made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf, which they had bowed down and sacrificed to.
They gave no thought to God's miracles and they did not remember His many kindnesses. Instead of waiting for God's plan to unfold, they forgot what He had done for them and rebelled.
They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass, forgetting the God who saved them, who had done great things, miracles and awesome deeds (Psalm 106:6-22).
God's Anger Burned Against The Israelites
God told Moses they were a stiff-necked people, and to leave Him alone so His anger may burn and that He may destroy them.
But Moses sought God's favour and implored Him to turn from His fierce anger and relent.
He told God to remember His servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob), to whom He swore by His own self, to make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them the land He promised them as their inheritance forever.
And God relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened (Exodus 32:7-14).
Moses, acting as intercessor, intervened and begged God for mercy and stood in the breach for them to keep God's wrath from destroying them (Psalm 106:23).
Moses Smashed The Stone Tablets
Moses went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law, inscribed and engraved on both sides, by the writing of God.
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.
He burned the calf in the fire, then ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it (Exodus 32:15-20).
This is synonymous with our having to eat the fruits of our deeds, but woe to the wicked, for disaster is upon them, they will be paid back for what their hands have done (Isaiah 3:10-11).
Moses told the Israelites they must remember this and never forget how they aroused the anger of the Lord, for from the day they had left Egypt, they had been rebellious against God (Deuteronomy 9:7).
3,000 People Died By Sword
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughing stock to their enemies.
So he stood at the entrance to the camp and called for whoever was for the Lord, to come to him, and all the Levites rallied.
Then he told them that God said that each man must strap a sword to his side and go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.
The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about 3,000 people died.
Then Moses told them they had been set apart for they were against their own sons and brothers, and God had blessed them (Exodus 32:25-29).
God Struck The Israelites With A Plague
The next day Moses told the people that they had committed a great sin and that He will go up to God to try and make atonement.
So Moses went back to God and asked Him to forgive them, but if not, to blot him out of the book He had written.
Once again, Moses fell prostrate before the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights, eating no bread and drinking no water, because of all the sin they had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and so arousing His anger.
Moses feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with them to destroy them. But again the Lord listened to him. And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but Moses prayer for Aaron too (Deuteronomy 9:7-21).
God told Moses that He will blot out of His book whoever had sinned against Him. He then told Moses to go and lead the people to the place He spoke of, and His angel will go before them. But when the time comes for Him to punish, He will punish them for their sin, and He struck them with a plague (Exodus 32:30-35).
The Journey To The Promised Land
Then God told Moses they were to leave and go up to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God said that He will send an angel before them, but He will not go with them, because He might destroy them on the way.
When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.
For God had told Moses to tell them that they are a stiff-necked people and that if He were to go with them even for a moment, He might destroy them.
God told them to take off their ornaments and He will decide what to do. So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments (Exodus 33:1-6), in the same way the wicked are stripped of their dignity and riches.
The Tent of Meeting
Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.”
Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting and whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered.
As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses.
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance, they stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp (Exodus 33:7-11).
God Agrees To Go With Them
Moses asked God to teach him His ways so that he may know him and continue to find favour with Him, if He was pleased with him and reminded Him that this nation is His people.
He asked God to let him know who He would send with him and God told him that His Presence would go, and He will give him rest.
Moses asked God how they would know that He was pleased with them unless God Himself goes with them and also what would distinguish them from all the other people.
God told Moses that He would do the very thing that he had asked because He was pleased with him and knew him by name.
The only way that we can enter into God's rest, is for God to be pleased with us and go with us; may God work in us what is pleasing to him (Hebrews 13:21) and may God speak to us, as one speaks to a friend (Exodus 33:11).
Moses & The Glory of The LORD
Moses asked God to show him His glory and God said that He will cause all His goodness to pass in front of him, and that He will proclaim His name, the Lord, in Moses' presence.
God tells Moses that His glory is all His goodness, that He will cause to pass in front of him.
Then God said that there is a place near Him where he may stand on a rock and when His glory passes by, He would put him in a cleft in the rock and cover him with His hand until He had passed by.
Then He would remove His hand and Moses would see His back; but His face must not be seen, as no-one may see Him and live (Exodus 33:18-20).
So, God's glory is something that moves, it goes with God, it is both separate from Him and part of Him, and it's visible and powerful as God had to put Moses out of the way and shield him as it has the power to kill anyone that sees or even gets close to it.
Moses Prepares The New Stone Tablets
God told Moses to chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and He will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which he broke.
God told Moses to be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai and present himself to Him on the top.
No one was to come with him or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.
So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded, and he carried the tablets in his hands (Exodus 34:1-4).
God Made A Covenant With Moses & Israel
Then God came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name.
Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshipped and asked God to go with them, if he had found favour in His eyes, and to forgive their wickedness and sin, and take them as His inheritance.
God told Moses that He was making a covenant with him and that before all his people, He will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world.
The people Moses lives among will see how awesome the work is that God will do for them and that they must obey what He commands them and He will drive the nations out before them (Exodus 34:5-11).
God Gave Moses The New Stone Tablets
God spoke all His commands they were to follow and told him to write down the words, for in accordance with those words, He made a covenant with him and with Israel.
Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights without eating bread or drinking water.
And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:12-28).
God set His commandments in stone, they are fixed and unchangeable, in the same way that God Himself doesn't change (Malachi 3:6), He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
God is the Rock of Israel, the Rock of our Salvation. He is solid and reliable, and we can build our house on Him.
The Radiant Face of Moses
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with God.
When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
But Moses called to them, so they came to him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai, and when he had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out.
And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant, then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD (Exodus 34:29-35).
The Significance of The Veil
Moses' face was radiant because he had spoken to God. He put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away (2 Corinthians 3:12-13).
In addition, because Moses' face was unveiled when He was with God, he was being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, and God's radiant glory was on him (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The veil also signifies a barrier between God and the Israelites, as God spoke to them through Moses, because that's what they had asked, whereas Moses spoke to God directly.
In creating a barrier, their minds were made dull and a veil covers their hearts, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).
The gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age (satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Part 3 - Entering God's Rest
As we get to know God, and the depth and breadth of His mysteries begin to be revealed to us, we can only stand in awe.
I find myself shaking my head in astonishment as God leads me through the vastness of His Kingdom.
Even though we are only scratching the surface, it's truly glorious to know the Source from where we came, and the Source to whom we will one day return.
I bow in deep reverence to the LORD of lords and KING of kings, the great unknowable mystery and majesty who we are privileged to be in the presence of.
Let us continue onwards, going ever deeper into God's rest, allowing Him to permeate every part of our heart, transforming us from the inside out.
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