Exodus
34:1-35
Verse 1-9, And the
LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I
will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou
brakest. {2} And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount
Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. {3} And no man
shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount;
neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. {4} And he hewed two
tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and
went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand
the two tables of stone. {5} And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with
him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. {6} And the LORD passed by
before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, {7} Keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
{8} And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
{9} And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I
pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity
and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
Verse 10-28,
The New Covenant.
The key verse is 27. The fulfilling of the law of God is love. In order to show our love to God we do certain things. The two type of work are recorded in verse 10-28: (1) work toward God and (2) work toward our fellowmen.
I.
Verse 10-17, And he said, Behold, I make
a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done
in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art
shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with
thee. {11} Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out
before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite,
and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. {12} Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a
snare in the midst of thee: {13} But ye shall destroy their altars, break their
images, and cut down their groves: {14} For thou shalt worship no other god: for
the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: {15} Lest thou make a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their
gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his
sacrifice; {16} And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their
daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after
their gods. {17} Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. Worship only God (They had
just got through worshipping a golden calf.
This command needs to be taught again.
A. Verse 11 - I will drive out the 6 nations. Compare to the angel driving them out before (33:2)
B. Verse 12,13 - If God goes to all the trouble to drive out these people why should we go against God and make a pack, or treaty, or become friends with them?
C. Verse 13 - Israel's place is to totally destroy false worship from their nation. It is not Israel's place to destroy false worship from the world. It is not the church's place to destroy false worship from the world, but from our midst (from the membership of the church).
D. Verse 16 - No intermarriage with false religions because this leads to compromising in all other areas of life.
Verse 18-20, The
feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened
bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib
thou camest out from Egypt. {19} All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every
firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. {20} But the
firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not,
then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem.
And none shall appear before me empty.
II. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (The Passover is also included). Israel had just proclaimed another feast (32:5,6), and the proper feast days must be taught again. Note: Satan has his holidays and God has His. Do we know the difference?
A. Verse 19,20 - The first of all belong to the Lord. This further strengthens the command against idol worship and establishes again the proper sacrifice.
B. A lesson of redemption.
1. An ass is an animal of humility, royalty, and wealth.
2. This typifies the human race.
3. The lamb typifies Jesus Christ.
4. Either the lamb or the ass must die.
5. Either Jesus Christ or us must die.
SUBSTITUTION
The Ass - donkey - needed a substitution in order to live, so do we.
Donkey is a symbol of: patience, gentleness, intelligence, meekness, submission, and great power of endurance - a prized animal by people in the Bible.
1. Balaam rode on a donkey - The donkey was the only animal in the Bible that talked.
2. Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
3. The donkey is a symbol of peace, the horse a symbol of war.
4. For every firstborn donkey you saw during the Bible days, you would know there was an innocent lamb that gave its life that the donkey might life.
5. For every saved person you see today, you know an innocent saviour gave His life that they might live.
I. We are lost because we have a sinful nature we inherited from Adam. Some people don't like this, because they want control of their lives themselves, and think it is unfair to be charged with Adam's sin.
A. Gen. 1:28 - Be fruitful and replenish the earth. This command was not only given to Adam, but intended for all. At least we take this command to mean us too.
B. Gen. 3:17-19 - Earn living by sweat of face. This not only applies to Adam, but also to us.
C. Gen. 2:16,17 - Tie in "A" and "B" to "C". If we accept Gen. 1:28 and 3:17-19 as applying to us when God was plainly talking to Adam, why don't we also accept Gen. 2:16,17 as also applying to us when God was plainly talking to Adam? Note: Adam is the "first Adam", Christ is the "second Adam", I Cor. 15:22.
D. Why do babies die? To show to all that:
1. It's original sin that causes death, not just the sin in a person's life.
2. Babies have original sin without committing actual sin.
3. This puts all under condemnation, for all have been born.
II. The substitute must be right.
A. The lamb must be a special lamb, not just any lamb.
B. Phil. 2 - Jesus was born of a virgin - with a human body.
C. Conceived by Holy Spirit - Matt. 1:20.
D. Rev. 5:1-7 - Jesus is the one that opened the 7-sealed book.
III. Scriptures that show Christ paid the price for us.
A. Is. 53:4-12.
1. Every verse tells of Christ, our substitute.
2. Verse 4 - middle of verse 10 - Isaiah speaks as if the sacrifice was already complete. He was looking by Faith. He was already saved. {This ought to reveal to us that Old Testament people were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by the keeping of the law.}
3. Middle of verse 10 - First of verse 12 - Shows future tense. Isaiah looking forward to the coming sacrifice and the reward on Christ because of the sacrifice.
4. Latter part of verse 12 - past tense again.
B. Gal. 3:13 - Christ has been made a curse for us - paid law for us.
C. Heb. 2:9 - Christ tasted death for every man.
D. Heb. 9:28 - Bare the sins of many.
E. I Peter 3:18 - The just suffered for the unjust. We suffer unjustly for the stand we take for Christ, He suffered unjustly because of our sins.
F. I Peter 2:24 - Bare our own sins in His own body on the tree.
G. I John 3:5 - He took away our sins. This verse takes us back to Ex. 34:19,20. Our Text. The donkey needed a substitute, and we need a substitute today. Jesus Christ is our substitute. Back
III. Verse 21, Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. Under no conditions shall the worship of God be put off to work, or anything else.
A. Farming operations must cease so God can be worshipped.
B. All other business operations must cease so God can be worshipped.
C. All pleasure operations must cease so God can be worshipped.
IV. Verse 22, And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Feast of Weeks (first fruits). So Israel will remember who gives them the harvest.
V. Verse 23,24,
Thrice in the year shall all your men
children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. {24} For I will cast out
the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire
thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the
year.
A. Three times a year all men must appear before the Lord for formal worship.
1. This is, of course, not the only times during the year they must worship. They should remember the Lord every day.
2. We are commanded to attend weekly services (Heb. 10:25), but should worship every day.
B. God will take care of your material possessions for you. (He will ours too.)
1. No man will desire your possessions.
2. War will not disrupt your feasts.
VI. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning. {26} The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. No compromises.
A. Give all of a pure sacrifice to the Lord.
B. Take no shortcuts and do not bring any heathen practices into the Lord's worship.
VII.
Verse 27,28, And the LORD said
unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have
made a covenant with thee and with Israel. {28} And he was there with the LORD
forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he
wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Moses spent an additional 40 days and nights on the mount, sustained by God's power, being father instructed by God while God writes on the Tables of stone prepared by Moses. Note: The Jews didn't rebel this time, but remained faithful to God. I don't think it was because of love (for they couldn't stand to look upon Moses when he came down from the mount), but for fear, that God would do what He had threatened to do. What a way to live!!
Verse 29-35, And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. {30} And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. {31} And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. {32} And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. {33} And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. {34} But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. {35} And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Showing the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Moses received the spirit of the law and the Jews received the letter of the law.
A. II Cor. 3 - Israel failed to see Christ's sufficiency. They only saw their own sufficiency.
B. The spirit.
1. Moses had been with God for 40 days and 40 nights.
2. This instruction does not come to those who wont' leave the affairs of this life to spend time with God.
3. Moses didn't know his skin shone. This spiritual knowledge seems so elementary, it is often thought that everybody knows it. (It is the plain truth that saved people ought to believe God's Word.)
C. The letter. I am reminded of the attitude shown by "The Baptist Examiner". They do seem to have the right doctrines, but it is very seldom any article concerning "Christian living" appears in the paper.
1. Fear (verse 30) - This is why saved people are often afraid.
a. Not only of situations that hurt them.
b. But of listening to those that have the truth, (or any other idea than their own).
c. They have no faith in God or in what they have learned, only sight.
d. They are not looking for the truth, only for those people that agree with them.
2. Vail (verse 33) - A hiding from the truth.
a. Moses hadn't hid his face, they would have left.
b. They couldn't have listened to Moses because all they could see was the shining skin (with God's glory).