We are called to leave our old lives with their fears and failures. The Israelites had to move on from their failures and renew the covenant with their God.
Exodus 33: The Command to Leave Sinai
1 The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.'
2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people."
4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'"
6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
The Tent of Meeting
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.
8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.
9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.
10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.
11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Moses' Intercession
12 Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.'
13 Now therefore, if I have found favour in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favour in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people."
14 And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
15 And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
16 For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"
17 And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name."
18 Moses said, "Please show me your glory."
19 And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."
21 And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock,
22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."
Exodus 34: Moses Makes New Tablets
1 The LORD said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain."
4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.
5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."
8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
9 And he said, "If now I have found favour in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
The Covenant Renewed
10 And he said, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
11 "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,
16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
17 "You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.
18 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
21 "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In ploughing time and in harvest you shall rest.
22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.
23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.
24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.
25 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.
26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
27 And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
The Shining Face of Moses
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.
32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34 Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,
35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Things to think about…
Look at the amazing promise of God for the Israelites, Ex 33:2,3, He said “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey”. All they had to do was be obedient and the Lord would clear the way. But they had just rebelled by making a gold calf in what seems to be a very short period when Moses was not present. Therefore the Lord reneges and says “but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.", Ex 33:4. Obedience is not an option for the Lord’s people. If you want to be blessed in your business, home life, relationships, church etc, then you need to follow the Lord’s revealed will for your life. Otherwise He affirms He will not bless you on your journey.
The ornaments that the Lord said to take off identified Israel as God’s people, Ex 33:5-6. We don’t know what the markings were, but the ornaments identified them as the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God said take off your ornaments - Your obedience is outward. You are stiff necked and hard of heart. This can happen with us. I know it happens with me at times. I can believe and have right doctrine, etc but my heart can be miles away from obedience, love and devotion to God. At these times I am in danger and need to repent.
Moses would enter the tent, the glory cloud would descend as others watched on from their tents. When the cloud descended as Moses spoke with God face to face, everyone else bowed and worshipped the Lord, Ex 33:7-11. This is symbolic of what Christ has done for us. We are able to worship and go directly to God because Christ has met with the Father and interceded on our behalf. Look at Joshua’s example. May we be like him and not depart God’s presence, Ex 33:11. We are now free to worship without fear or condemnation. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, Rom 8:1. Hallelujah!
Look at Ex 33:15. Moses is speaking face to face with the Lord and asks “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” The Lord had said if His presence went with the people he would consume them therefore they had to take off all their ornaments that identified them as the children of God. The Lord then answers Moses’ request in Ex 33:17 “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name." It seems that God would not lead them into the promised land because they were rebellious, this was right at the start of the wilderness journey. Moses, as we know would be taken into the Lord’s presence and not enter Canaan, but had a far better land to enjoy. Joshus of course would take the land, but only after many years of fighting and struggle. The angel certainly didn’t clear the way and make it easy, simply because they were still rebellious even after all their words of acknowledging the Law and agreeing to uphold it with a covenant on the two mountains of Ebal and Gerizim just after entering, Joshua 8:30-35 .
Moses received God’s favour and asked to see His glory, Ex 33:12-23. We go one better than Moses. We have Christ. His compassion and mercy will not fail. Although unlike Moses, through Christ we see God’s face and not His back.
I have wondered about Ex 34:1. God says Moses broke the first set of tablets. The text says he threw them out of his hands, in anger and they broke, Ex 32:19. It also represents the fact that the Law had been broken even before it had been given. Sometimes we get frustrated at the things around us, we leave off God or worse, we blame Him. Never do that. He is good – end of story. I have wondered whether those tablets are still lying at the base of Mt Sinai somewhere. Here in Ex 34:1 Moses is commanded to cut new stones himself and the Lord would again write His law on those. The first stones were made by the Lord in their entirety, Ex 32:15, 16. Often we have more care and concern for property when we have put our own effort into their existence and formation. I think this is the case with our children. We are concerned for them above others.
Moses again shows us he is a type of Christ, Ex 34:10-28. Christ makes a covenant with us, he conquers our sin (The Passover/Unleavened bread), He clears our hearts (the land) of sin (of enemies). As Moses was on Mt Sinai and fasted for 40 days/nights so Jesus was 40 days/nights fasting in the wilderness being prepared to His earthly ministry. God wrote the law on tablets of stone for Moses a second time, vs 28. Jesus writes His law on the tablets of our hearts.
Moses’ face shone after being with the Lord, Ex 34:29-35. Stephen’s face shone after seeing Jesus at the right hand of the Father, Acts 7:54-56. We are called to be lights that shine in this dark world as we go from glory to glory. Words with actions allow this to happen. Paul speaks about Christ taking away the viel of things to come, 2Cor 3:9-14. Jesus has a glory that far surpasses Moses. As we are in Christ we partake of this glory, we are unveiled and come to our Lord bodly. Sadly as the Apostle Paul says, there is still a veil over the eyes of Jews to this day, 2Cor 3:14. Pray it may be removed in our day.
Vision Point for Cell groups
CBC's Vision "To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission".
Cell group questions from Sunday morning’s sermon “What’s with the stones” Ex 28.
1. The High Priest had the 12 tribes of Israel represented by 12 precious stones on his breastplate. What was the significance of the stones, their placement and where they were taken by the High Priest in his ministry in the holy of holies in the tabernacle?
2. Doug brought out that Jesus is our Great High Priest. Discuss what this means and how the Old Testament High Priest was a type of Christ.
3. What did Doug mean when he said that if he had a choice of stone, a lump of coal would have been his choice. He also brought out that when sin is committed blood had to be shed. What does this mean in the light of Christ and the cross?
4. In the New Jerusalem the walls are made up of 12 layers of precious stones and we are personally given a white stone with a new name, Rev 2:17. Discuss.
5. Pray for new folk that have recently joined us that they be joined into the fellowship of the church. Pray for each other, our city and country.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Gary and Christine who lost their sister/sister in law Diane to a long battle with cancer. Pray for Diane’s husband Evan that his heart softens to Christ.
2. Pray for Catherine who has suffered many mini strokes, TIA’s. Out of hospital today.
3. People who have visited the church and have not been around for a few weeks.
4. Others who are struggling in their commitment to Christ and relationship strain/choices.
5. Sunday’s messages. The message this week – “Done decently and in order” Exod 36-40, Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. Faithful preaching by Doug Horne on Sunday.
2. Ras Beirut Baptist Church thankful for CBC’s partnership and support - $1500.
3. 5 young people stepping up to be trained on the words and streaming software.
4. Blessing Beirut ($1500). Thank you!
5. Unity, peace and grace at CBC.
6. Praise God for all those who serve at CBC.
Announcements
1. Prayer meetings back this week. Tuesday and Thursday mornings at church 5:30am – 6:30am.
2. Carols Sun 20thDec 6pm. Start with a meal. Carols to start after the meal around 7pm.
3. Training for words and streaming – 6pm Friday night – young people.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Kids Church in the house this week when the message is on.
