Donkey Talk, Numbers 22

Numbers 22 gives the account of the donkey that talked.

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.[i]  (Proverbs 4:23)

Animals do not talk.  What would it be like if one of your animals talked to you?  I do not mean the usual communication that we have every day with our pets.  My dog lets me know he wants to go out to go to the bathroom, and my cat lets me know he wants food.  What would it be like if one or your animals started reasoning with you?

The story of Balaam fascinates me.  Balaam’s donkey talked to him.  Balaam apparently had this donkey for quite some time and they were quite familiar with each other.  The donkey left the road and Balaam beat him and forced him back onto the road.  Then the donkey pushed up against a wall and Balaam’s foot was caught.  So again, Balaam beat him and forced him back onto the path.  The third time the donkey sat down.  This time Balaam was in a rage.  However, when he started to beat the donkey, the donkey said, “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?”  (Numbers 22:28) 

Animals do not talk.  Therefore, the story of Balaam’s donkey talking is one of the better-remembered stories in the Bible, on the level of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish.

Historically, this incident takes place at the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  Numbers 22 and 23 record the events.  Numbers 20 tells us of the death of Aaron, Moses’ brother, and Numbers 21 tells us how Israel began defeating the nations on the east side of the Jordan River.  Therefore, this story takes place near the end of Moses’ life, and at the beginning of the conquest of Canaan.

The Israelites traveled up the east side of the Jordan River and camped in the Jordan Valley.  Here is a picture, taken from Wikipedia, of the Jordan Valley.

[ii]  Can you imagine this valley filled with 2 million people?

They were in the territory of the Moabites.  The Moabites were the descendants of Lot, born to him through his daughters.  Thus, they were related to Israel because Abraham was Lot’s uncle.  However, by the time the Israelites camped in the valley, the then king of Moab, Balak, had forgotten all the family connections.  To Balak, the Israelites were a vast horde of people who came out of Egypt.  He said, “Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt.  They cover the face of the earth.” (Numbers 22:5-6)  As a result, his concern was (and I quote), “This mob will devour everything in sight, like an ox devours grass in the field!”  (Numbers 22:4)

Although he made an alliance with the Midianites, Balak did not believe he could challenge Israel’s strength with his military.  Balak’s solution was to send for a prophet or diviner with an international reputation.  Balak said of Balaam, “I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on people you curse.”  (Numbers 22:6)  Because he was convinced of Balaam’s power to bless or curse, Balak’s plan was to pay Balaam to curse Israel.

Balak sent men to hire Balaam, but God warned Balaam not to go with these men to curse Israel.  God explained that Israel was blessed, and therefore could not be cursed.  Balaam sent the officials back.  However, his explanation was, “God will not let me go with you.” (Numbers 22:13)

This seems minor on the surface, but let’s look a little deeper.  Is Balaam telling the truth?  Well, he is not lying, but he is not giving the men the information they should have.   God said, “You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed!”  Balak’s message and request made it clear that he wanted these people cursed.   A straightforward answer or a complete answer should have made it clear to Balak that God had blessed these people and they could not be cursed.  As it was, Balak took the prophet’s refusal as a negotiation.  He sent more men who were also more distinguished men to persuade Balaam. 

This is how Balaam responded:

Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the LORD my God.  But stay here one more night, and I will see if the LORD has anything else to say to me.  (Numbers 22:18-19)

Here we see that Balaam is playing a game with these men.  He is trying to get more money.  God had made it clear that the people were already blessed.  Nothing Balaam could do was going to change that, but in a show of “trying” Balaam says he will consult with God overnight.

As a result, God tells Balaam to go ahead and go.  God says, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them.” (Numbers 22:20)  However, God was angry.  This is stated plainly in Numbers 22:22.  We also see it in the “since” of this statement.  If Balaam had been clear, these men would not have wasted their time.  As it was, Balaam left the door open when he sent the first men away.  He also makes money an issue when he says, “Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the LORD my God.”  (Numbers 22:18)  Why did he not say something like, “I am sorry you wasted your time?  I apologize.  I was not clear the first time.  God says these people are blessed.  Therefore, there is nothing I can do to help you.”

Let’s look at how the Apostle Peter understood Balaam’s motivation.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter says, [Balaam] . . . “loved to earn money by doing wrong.  But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.  (2 Peter 2:15-16)

God used the voice of a donkey to get the attention of this man, Balaam.

However, in spite of even this extreme, Balaam still helped Balak.  Oh, he did not curse Israel, but he told Balak how to entice Israel to sin against God with sex and idols.  (Numbers 25)

Balaam shows up a couple of times in the New Testament.  In 2 Peter and in Jude, he shows up in connection with false teachers.  In Jude, it is especially significant that he name is listed with Cain and Korah as comparable.  Cain killed his brother over sacrifices and Korah led a rebellion against Moses.

The story of Balaam is given to us as a warning.

We must guard our hearts.  Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Jesus taught us that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength.

Let’s quickly consider the lessons we learn from Balaam.

First, God’s will is clear.

For Balaam, this meant God stated clearly that Israel was blessed.  For us, it means that God tells us clearly what He wants.  The Ten Commandments are clear as to how we are to treat God and others.  However, God makes it clear that the only way to please Him is to believe in Him.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  God has given us the Bible, His Holy Spirit and His people to help make it all clear to us.   If this is not enough, what can be known about God is clear from what He has made.  So that, humanity is without excuse.  You and I have no excuse for mixing up the truth.  The only way to please God is by believing in Him.

In spite of this clear communication, there seems to be massive amounts of confusion about this. 

This is because the enticement of sin is powerful.  For Balaam, we are told, “He loved to earn money by doing wrong.”   The king offered to give Balaam anything he wanted.  For us, the temptation is the same.  The world offers to give us exactly what we want.  1 John lists the desires we have as, 1) the lust of the eyes, 2) the lust of the flesh, 3) the boastful pride of life.  The world appeals to these desires that are born into us.  And, in this lies the powerful enticement of sin.  The heart is the issue.  What do we want?  It is our desires that put us into conflict with God.  False teachings do not arise from misunderstanding the Biblical text.  According to 2 Peter and Jude, they arise from evil desires, self-centered desires.

In all the confusion created by this powerful enticement, what does God do to get our attention? 

God can reach us.

With Balaam, God used a donkey.

If one of my animals talked to me, it would scare me.  It would scare me really bad.

God has never resorted to using animals to talk to me.  He speaks to me from the Bible.  He speaks to me in dreams.  He speaks to me through my wife and children.  He speaks to me through His people and His preachers.

God speaks to the world through creation, through the Bible and through His Church.  He does not normally use donkeys, even though He can.  During the tribulation, God will speak to the world with the megaphone of suffering and judgment.

How does God speak to you?  Are you fighting God on something right now?  Maybe this talk has been a donkey talk to you.  I mean by that, perhaps God is trying to get your attention.  God has been clear and you are confusing the issue because of your desires?

All of us must guard our hearts.  An easy question to ask is, “Do you have peace in you heart?”

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[i]  Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Valley_(Middle_East)#/media/File:Jordan_Valley_Panorama.jpg

Grasshoppers

Numbers 13-14 

We have been following the descendants of Jacob on their journey out of Egypt to the Promised Land.  They left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea and traveled across the wilderness to Mt. Sinai.  They stayed at Mt. Sinai 11 months and 5 days as God gave the law.  Moses went up and down the mountain several times meeting with God.  From Mt. Sinai, they traveled toward the Promised Land and camped at a place called Kadesh Barnea.  (Numbers 32:8)

It has been quite an adventure.  The people have seen the presence of God in an unprecedented way.  The miracles they have seen are incredible.  For example, they saw Egypt devastated with plagues.  They saw the waters of the Red Sea part before them.  They saw water come out of a rock.  They saw bread from heaven every morning and flocks of quail every evening.  They saw the mountain shake and felt the earth tremble.  On top of all of this, there was the pillar of fire that stood in the camp day and night.  These people were living daily with the presence of God in their camp.

It has been an adventure in another way as well.  At every step along the way, the people have rebelled, resisted and complained.  They sound like a broken record, repeating the same thing over and over.  They complained about Moses and blamed him for taking them out of Egypt.  Along the way they said, “Is the LORD here with us or not?”  (Exodus 17:7[i])  In view of His presence and His miracles, this was especially offensive to God.

At the beginning of Numbers 13, when at the Lord’s command Moses sent out twelve men to spy on the land of Canaan, it had been two years since the people left Egypt.  They traveled two years to this point, and experienced the mighty hand of the Lord.  Moreover, Moses sent out men who were leaders of their tribes.  These experienced leaders spent 40 days traveling through the land of Canaan gathering information.  They all saw the same things.

First, they saw the abundance of the land.  They picked a cluster of grapes so large it took two men to carry it.  I have never seen anything like this, and could not find anything comparable in Google images.  In addition, they brought back samples of pomegranates and figs.  Here is what they said, “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey.”  (Numbers 13:27)

Second, they saw the cities of the land.  They said, “Their towns are large and fortified.”  (Numbers 13:28)

Third they saw the people of the land.  Their report on their findings included, “But the people living there are powerful.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!” (Numbers 13:28)

All 12 spies report these three things.  They all saw the same things.  However, they reached two different conclusions. 

These men were all leaders of their tribes.  There were twelve tribes.  For this reason there were twelve spies.  Each tribe originated from one of the sons of Jacob, and each tribe was named for the son it was descended from.  The tribe of Reuben was named after Jacob’s son Reuben and was made up of those descended from Reuben.  The spy or leader from the tribe of Reuben was Shammua son of Zaccur as we are told in Numbers 13:4. Given that these men were leaders of their tribes, it is only natural that they should go beyond reporting their findings and give their opinions about those findings.  Thus, the conclusions they reached are reported.  Furthermore, it was for this reason the conclusions they reached were so influential.

First, Caleb son of Jephunneh of the tribe of Judah gave his conclusion.  Joshua son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim was in agreement.  They said, “Let’s go at once to take the land.  We can certainly conquer it!”  (Numbers 13:30)

However, the other 10 leaders who had explored the land disagreed.  They said:

 We can’t go up against them!  They are stronger than we are!  The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there.  All the people we saw were huge.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak.  Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!  (Numbers 13:31-33)

These 12 men all saw the same things and yet arrived at opposite conclusions.  If we go with the majority view, then it would seem that this thing is impossible since 10 out of 12 said, “It can’t be done.”  Why did the majority arrive at such a conclusion?  Why did they seem like grasshoppers in their own eyes?

There are two things that will help us understand.  First, we will understand their thinking if we look at their complaint.  In addition, we will further understand their thinking if we look at God’s judgment.

First, let us look at their complaint.  Numbers 14:2-5 tells us about the people’s complaint. It says:

²Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron.  “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.  ³“Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”  ⁴Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”

When we look at this in order to understand the conclusion they reached in their report on the land, we see that this complaint is very similar to the complaint they had each time they encountered difficulty.  It is the same complaint they have made over and over.  Their two years of experience have not changed their attitude.  Attitude is the issue.  The challenges changed.  However, the response and attitude did not. 

God’s judgment on their attitude also helps us to understand.  God says, “How long will these people treat me with contempt?  Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?”  (Numbers 14:11)  We see two things in this.  One of these things is their stubborn refusal to believe God.  They had every reason to believe God, but they refused.  In addition, a second thing we see is their contempt for God.  Although God provided everything they needed and proved continually that He had their best interest at heart, it was not what they wanted.  They wanted to go back to Egypt.  Egypt was wealthy.  Egypt had spicy, delicious food instead of Manna and camp food.  Egypt had houses and beds instead of tents.  Egypt was known instead of unknown.  1 Corinthians 10:6 tells us that they craved evil things.

From their complaint and God’s judgment, we understand that the conclusion of the 10 spies was arrived at based on their attitude. In addition, we understand that their attitude was shaped primarily by what they desired.

This is true of us as well.  Our conclusions are based on our attitudes and our attitudes are shaped primarily by what we desire.

Let’s consider the conclusion reached by Caleb and Joshua.  They started with the same information.  They saw the same thing.  However, they reached the opposite conclusion.  They said, “Let’s go at once to take the land.  We can certainly conquer it!”  (Numbers 13:30) 

When the people complained and started talking about going back to Egypt, Joshua and Caleb defended their conclusion.  In their defense and in God’s judgment, we understand the difference in attitude that brought the different conclusion. 

First, Let’s consider their defense.  They said:

The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land!  ⁸And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us.  It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.  ⁹Do not rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land.  They are only helpless prey to us!  They have no protection, but the LORD is with us!  Don’t be afraid of them!”  (Numbers 14:7-9)

In their defense, Joshua and Caleb focus on the Lord and what the Lord would do.  They had spiritual eyes with which to see the truth of the situation.  Therefore, their conclusion was completely different.  We understand then that their attitude was informed or shaped by their faith in God.  Where the others refused to believe God, they accepted the evidence of God’s presence and leading and believed that God was at work.

In addition to the understanding we gain from their defense, we also gain understanding by God’s judgment.  God says of Caleb, “My servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have.  He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored.”  (Numbers 14:24)  This is God’s judgment of the attitude of Caleb and Joshua that led to their different conclusion.  Where the NLT has translated the statement as, “He has remained loyal to me,” other translations have rendered it, “He has followed me fully.”  Here, like the case of the ten, the issue is primarily the desires of the heart.  In contrast to those who desired the things of Egypt, Caleb and Joshua desired the things of God.

We understand then, that it was the desires that shaped the attitudes that determined what they concluded from what they saw.

This could change your life.  Do you seem to be a grasshopper in your own eyes?  What is your response to the challenges that face you?

My default response is “Oh no, I am going to die!”  It really does not matter the challenge.  The water pipe breaks.  “Oh no, I am going to die!”  The car blows an engine.  “Oh no, I am going to die!”  You name it.  “Oh no, I am going to die!”  Whenever I revert to the default response, I have to check my desires.  What is my heart set on? 

Do you know what the Bible says?  It says, “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”  (Philippians 4:13)

The people who died in the desert because of their unbelief asked the wrong question.  The question is never, “Can I do this?”  The question is, “What does God want me to do?”

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

To the Ends of the Earth

Luke wrote for us an account of all that Jesus began to do from the time of His birth until His crucifixion.  The Gospel of Luke is one of the four eyewitness accounts of the story of Jesus’s life.  One of the unique aspects of Luke’s account is that he treats the story as more of a historian than the other gospel writers do.

Luke, the historian, continues the story of what Jesus was doing in his account of the work of the Apostles.  We call the account “Acts.”  The full title is “The Acts of the Apostles.”  Another way of translating or saying this would be “the Works of the Apostles.”

It is the continuing story of what Jesus began to do. During His three years of public ministry, Jesus trained 12 men whom He called Apostles.  Apostle means sent one.  Strong’s Greek dictionary says it means, “a messenger, an envoy, a delegate.”  The word missionary or missions originated from the Latin word meaning to send. 

The idea of mission in English has come to mean “any important task or duty that is assigned, allotted, or self-imposed” according to dictionary dot com.

The Apostles were sent by Jesus with a very important mission.  They were given the office and authority to carry out that mission.  The book of Acts tells how they carried out that mission.  Church history is the continuation of that story, just as the book of Acts is the continuation of Jesus’s story.  Church history is also the continuation of Jesus’s story.

The world persecuted Jesus as the religious leaders of His day along with the help of the Romans crucified Jesus.  This persecution continued in the book of Acts as the same leaders stoned Stephen.  It continued in the Middle Ages as believers were burnt at the stake in Europe and crucified on crosses in Japan.  It continues today as believers are beheaded in the Middle East and imprisoned in Asia.

Jesus said, “I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”  (Matthew 16:18)[i]  This is the story of Acts and it continues in the story of the Church.  The Church is the Body of Christ.  We are His hands, His feet and His voice in this world.

When the Apostles kept asking, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”  (Acts 1:6) they had no idea of what was to come.  Jesus told Pilot: “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.  If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders.  But my Kingdom is not of this world.”  (John 18:36) 

The Apostles knew Jesus was God’s anointed servant that had been prophesied.  They knew Jesus was the long awaited Savior.  Now that Jesus was raised from the dead, they looked to Him for what was to come next.  They had no idea of worldwide conquest or grandiose schemes.  They were asking, “What comes next?” this is when Jesus said, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.  ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:7-8) 

We still wait for His return.  He has promised to return.  But the dates and times are not for us to know.  However, He did lay out what was going to be happening in the meantime.  What follows in verse 8 of Acts 1 gives an outline.  First was the receiving of power when the Holy Spirit was given.

The Apostles at this point had no idea who the Holy Spirit was.

Jesus had told them, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come.  If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”  (John 16:7)  They did not yet understand what He meant when He said this.  He said this to them when they were worried and upset because Jesus was telling them that He was going away. 

Jesus had also told them, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”  (John 14:12)  They did not put the two things together.  The Advocate coming and the greater works were part of the same thing, the giving of the Holy Spirit.

This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

Our world sees power in the ability to perform wonderful works.  For example, in Star Wars, the mighty Jedi, Yoda, lifts what amounts to a small fighter aircraft from the swamp by concentrating and using the “force.” This is how our world sees power, power to change things with the wave of one’s hand.

However, consider this.  In 2010, 2.2 billion people called themselves Christians.[ii]  That is over one third of the world’s population at the time.  I would go with a much smaller number because I believe that many that are called “Christian” by the world do not know the Lord Jesus Christ.  Even given this, billions of Christians around the world in spite of hell’s best efforts to stop the building of the Church is a great testament to the power of the Holy Spirit.  What is lifting objects with one’s mind when compared to shaping world history and defying the power of hell? 

This power is still at work in us today.

Once the Apostles received power, the work of the Church began.  The outline in the book of Acts continues.  The story of Acts is how the gospel spread through Jerusalem and then through Judea to Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.

The story is wonderful and it is varied.

Philip was traveling in the desert and met an Ethiopian Eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53.  Philip explained to the Eunuch how this prophecy was about Jesus.  The Ethiopian believed and the Church was established in Ethiopia.

Stephen was stoned and a great persecution of Christians started in Jerusalem.  The Church spread through the region of Judea as believers in Jesus moved out of Jerusalem.

Acts 11 tells us how these believers, scattered by persecution, established the Church in Antioch of Syria.  Later, in Acts 13:2-3 we are told:

“One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”  So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.”

The remainder of the book of Acts tells how through this endeavor the Church was spread to the ends of the earth.

  This is where the missionary endeavor started.  The Church spread organically as believers followed Jesus.  We are all to make disciples.  And, the statement is true that everywhere we go is the mission field.  According to 2 Corinthians 5:20,) “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.  We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”  This is the mission of the Church.  It is our task.

However, in Acts 13 we learn the practice of dedicating or setting apart certain ones from amongst us for the special work that God has called them to.  We call these people missionaries.  In this sense, we are not all missionaries.  When looked at in this way, a missionary is one set apart with a special calling from God.

A couple years back, we laid hands on Kirk and Becca, dedicating them to the special work that God has called them to do.  We watched in alarm and prayer as the churches burned in Niamey.  We sent gifts to help our brothers and sisters in Christ rebuild from the ashes.  Later, we rejoiced as we heard the news of what God was beginning to do with the future leaders of the Church in Niger.

Friends, the story is not over.  It continues.  The Clearwater Evangelical Free Church started supporting Tom and Marcy Dorsch as missionaries shortly after the church began some 30 years ago.  It is through them that we are connected to Niamey.  This is part of Acts 1:8 in action.

The believers in Antioch did not send out Paul and Barnabas because the work was done there.  They sent out Paul and Barnabas because the Holy Spirit told them to.  The work is not done here in Clearwater.  With seven churches here in Clearwater, there are around 700 people in church in town this morning.  If another 300 traveled in to Wichita this morning to go to church, that leaves 1,500 people who are not in church in town this morning.  I do not know what the actual numbers are.  And even if my estimates are very low, I have a question.  Even among those in church this morning, how many of them are true believers?  Are half of our friends and neighbors on their way to hell?

We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses.  We have the privilege of being a part of the exciting things He is doing in the ends of the earth, and the privilege of participating with Him as He works right here in Clearwater.

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[i]  Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/04/02/397042004/muslim-population-will-surpass-christians-this-century-pew-says

Oops!

Oops!

Aaron said, “I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”

This is Aaron’s answer to Moses’s question, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”  (Exodus 32:21)

Have you ever made an excuse for what you did?  Or, have you ever tried to explain that it was not as bad as it was?  We all have opportunity to do this.  This is what Aaron was doing.

The idea of “Oops!” came to me as I was thinking about Exodus 32:35, which says, “Then the LORD sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.”  What a tragedy!  God says, “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people.  I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.”  (Ezekiel 33:11)  What had happened was serious.  People lost their lives.  And, Aaron did not have a good reason.  His story does not hold up to scrutiny.

The amazing part of this story is the grace and mercy of God.  To see this we need to go back to the beginning.

First, we have the making of the golden calf.

The descendants of Jacob had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years.  Their oppression became unbearable and they called out to the Lord for deliverance.  God sent a man, Moses, to lead the people out of slavery to a land that they could call their own.  God worked mighty miracles in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt.  There were ten plagues.  Then they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground with the water standing up as a wall on either side.  When they ran out of food, the Lord provided a bread-like food they called Manna.  When they ran out of water, God made water come out of a rock.  God led them each step of the way with a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.  The Manna and the pillar were there every single day.

After 2 months in the wilderness, the Israelites camped at Mount Sinai.  There the Lord descended on the mountain to meet with the people.  Exodus 19:16 says, “Thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain.  There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.” Verse 18 adds, “All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire.  The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.”

God spoke to them.  He gave them the 10 Commandments.  The 10 Commandments start out:

“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

“You must not have any other god but me.

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.”

The voice of God was so terrifying that the people asked Moses to be their go between and they would do whatever he said.  Exodus 24:3 tells us that they agreed to do everything that God had commanded. 

Moses then went up on the mountain to meet with God.  He took along some of the elders of the people, Aaron and Joshua.  Chapter 32 takes place after 40 days.  Joshua apparently stayed on the mountain waiting for Moses, but Aaron and the elders did not.

Verses 1 of Exodus 32 says, “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “ Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us.  We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

Two things you will notice right away.  First, they were still eating Manna every day.  Second, the mountain was still smoking and trembling.  No one had ever seen what they saw of the Lord’s presence and working on their behalf.  They had heard and agreed to God’s covenant.  However, they did not look to the Lord to lead them.  When Moses did not come down off the smoking, trembling mountain, they looked for Aaron to make gods to lead them.

This is way beyond “Oops.”  God calls it stubborn rebellion in verse 9 of chapter 32.  In view of it being in the very presence of God, it is hard to understand what was at the heart of this rebellion, but 1 Corinthians 10:6 explains, “These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did.”

This is what was behind the building of the calf.  We see it expressed in the aftermath of creating the calf.  Verse 5 tells us the people were excited when the calf was completed.  They immediately held a festival that included what the New Living Translation has termed pagan revelry.  The calf was probably fashioned after the Egyptian god “Apis” which was the god of strength and fertility.  According to Wikipedia, “Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, as with the others, its importance increased as time went on.”  The part the Israelites were excited about was apparently the pagan revelry, which was sexual in nature.  They were apparently going back to something familiar from Egypt.

At this point, God decided to destroy the people.  He told Moses, “Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them.” 

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death.  How am I any different when I desire evil things in light of the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made to free me from slavery to sin?  Our rebellion against God is serious, and we deserve His anger.

However, two things in this account give us great hope. 

First, the intercession of a godly person accomplishes much.  Moses intercedes for the people.  He pleads with God to spare them, and Exodus 32:14 says, “So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.”

Here is a great mystery.  How does an all-knowing, perfect God change His mind?  We cannot know or understand such a thing, but here it is.  It says that God changed His mind. 

This should encourage us to pray.  Pray for our children, relatives and friends who do not know Christ.  James 5:16 says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”  This is what we see here in Exodus 32.  There is great power in prayer.  God has chosen to listen to us when we pray.

First, we can have hope because God listens to prayer, and second because God is always willing to show mercy.

In this case, God withholds the deserved judgment.  He continues to provide Manna every morning.  His presence continues to be there with them.  These people, who in His very presence made an idol and said, “This is the god who led us out of Egypt.”  They were not deserving of God’s continued presence, leading and provision.  However, God is merciful, and often withholds the judgment we deserve. 

In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah says:

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.  The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (Lamentations 3:22-25, KJV)

Although none of us is perfect, without sin, God continues to provide everything we need.  God knew we would be unfaithful when He sent His Son, and yet He willingly paid the price for us.  Should we not then wait for Him?  How much should our souls seek Him?  Let’s not grow weary and seek evil things and someone else to lead us.  Rather, let us ask the Lord to remove the idols of our hearts that are the evil things so offensive to Him.  Let us ask God that we might worship with a pure heart.

Let’s put aside the “Oops, did I just do that!” of double mindedness.  The Israelites could not hold on to Egypt and follow God at the same time.  Neither can we.

The Law

What does it look like when people encounter the Almighty?  What does it look like when the Almighty steps into the lives of men?

He is our creator, and the maker of the universe. 

We see His appearance to Moses in the burning bush, and His presence in front of the descendants of Jacob in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

We have been studying the Almighty’s deliverance of the descendants of Jacob from slavery in Egypt.  God intervened and with mighty signs and wonders led the millions of Israelites out of Egypt.  He led them out of Egypt to Mount Sinai to meet with them there.

This was a pivotal point in the life of the nation of Israel.  This was a pivotal point in the history of the world.  It is probably safe to say that this occasion has done more to shape history than any other, apart from the life of Jesus Christ.

God gave the 10 Commandments on this occasion. 

God met with His people.

I have heard people talk about the God of the Old Testament.  The question, “Why is God so different in the Old Testament than He is in the New?” has been asked many times. 

A famous opponent of God, Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion says:

 “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”  (pg. 51)

This is an extreme statement of how many perceive God as He appears in the Old Testament.  Dawkins, along with many of us, must be suggesting that he knows better how the Almighty should interact with humanity.

As one goes through the book of Exodus, he or she sees how obstinate and unbelieving we as human beings tend to be.  One sees stubborn unbelief in the face of the most incredible miracles in recorded history.

In chapters 19 and 20 of Exodus, God gets personal and direct in His interaction with the people He has led out of Egypt.  He physically comes down to meet with His people.  Exodus 19:16-19 says:

¹⁶On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. ¹⁷Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.[i]

Can you picture this? 

It was terrifying.  Exodus 20:18-19 tells us what the people felt like when they saw the Almighty appearing like this.  Exodus 20:18-19 says:

¹⁸When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

¹⁹And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

In this terrifying setting, God begins to lay out the terms of His covenant.  This covenant represents the conditions by which people can remain in a right relationship to God.

The first condition or statement of the Covenant is, “I am the LORD your God.”  (Exodus 20:2)

This statement is not a command, but it prefaces the first commandment.  The first commandment is, “You must not have any other god but me.” (Exodus 20:3)  The statement, “I am the Lord your God,” is the answer to the questions we have raised.  “What does it look like when people encounter the Almighty?  What does it look like when the Almighty steps in to the lives of men?” It even explains Richard Dawkins’ extreme reaction against God and His policies.

The answer lies in the truth of who God is.  This statement, “I am the Lord your God,” contains two names for God, Lord and God, or Yahweh Elohim.

The name Elohim is used in Genesis 1:1 when it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This name generally refers to the fact that God is the Creator and Judge of the universe.  The root of the name is “El” which means “Strong One,” or “Mighty.”  It is the name that contains the idea of the Almighty.

The name Yahweh is built off the root of “I Am.”  Yahweh expresses who God is as far as language will allow.  

As the “I Am,” we understand that God never had a beginning.  This truth is beyond our ability to comprehend.  

As the “I Am,” He will never end.  

As the “I Am,” He is absolute reality.  Outside of Him, there is no other reality, unless He creates it.  There can be no emptiness of space except He sustains it.  

As the “I Am,” he is absolutely independent.  There is nothing that He depends on or needs outside of Himself.  Conversely, everything else depends completely on God.  The universe and all it contains depends wholly on God for its existence.

It is this “Yahweh Elohim,” that comes to Mount Sinai and says:

⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. ⁶And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.  Exodus 19:4-6

Look again at verse 5.  God says, “If you will obey me and keep my covenant.”

What right does God have to require obedience?  Why should it matter to Him? 

Besides the fact that everything is His and He made it all, there are also the natural results of rejecting Him.

The Canaanites, whose land the Israelites were going to possess show us an example of what happens when we reject God.  Deuteronomy 18:9-12 lists some of the things these people were doing.  It says:

 ⁹“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. ¹⁰For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, ¹¹or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. ¹²Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the LORD your God will drive them out ahead of you.”

Let us look at just one of the things listed here. 

The Canaanites were sacrificing their sons and daughters as burnt offerings.  In other words, the most innocent and helpless members of society were not protected by those entrusted with their protection.  They were not even given the status of human beings, and could be sacrificed for the benefit of those whose job it was to protect, nourish and love them.

This is what the Bible calls the deceitfulness of sin.  When we choose not to obey God, we naturally become the slaves of sin, of our own desires and appetites.  For example, most men have a desire for women.  If they do not control that desire, much harm and damage is done as they go from woman to woman to woman.  In other words, just because we are born with a desire does not mean it should be indulged.  God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door ready to master him.  He gave in to his desire and murdered his brother.

Our world today is full of the evidence of what men do without God.  God has given us true freedom of choice and we have filled the world with violence of every sort.  All the words that Dawkins uses to indict God are words that describe man’s inhumanity to man.  Priests, pastors and parishioners are no exception.  Abuse, crime, fraud and manipulation fill our governments, cities, homes and even churches.

Romans 6:16 says, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”

Should the judge of the universe stand idly by while innocent young children are abused and murdered?  No, He does not and He will not.  Have we forgotten the flood?  Have we forgotten what happened to the Canaanites? Richard Dawkins, along with this generation, is deliberately forgetting or denying what God has done to deal with the sinfulness and evil we have perpetuated in our world.

We think that we are nice and do not deserve to be punished, let alone sent to hell to suffer forever.  Mount Sinai and the Law were given to show us just how wrong we are.  God is not a sadistic megalomaniac as Dawkins suggests.  However, He is righteous, just and pure and will not stand idly by while His creation is missused for the benefit of the whims of us megalomaniacs who think we have the right to tell Him how to judge.

God is extremely patient.  Far from being vindictive, in His great love for us He paid for our crimes Himself.  

As the “I Am,” He is the only One who could pay the huge price for our sinful rebellion against Him.  

At Mount Sinai, the Earth shook in terror at the presence of its Holy Maker.  At Mount Calvary, it shook with sorrow as the Only Begotten Son of God laid down His life to satisfy the conditions of the covenant that we all have broken.   

What does it look like when people encounter the Almighty?  What does it look like when the Almighty steps in to the lives of men?

It looks like fire, smoke and a shaking trembling mountain, or it looks like a Father calling to His children to come safely home.  The difference is only one thing.  John 3:36 says it this way:

And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.

Through us, God is making His plea to all men to be reconciled to Himself through faith in Jesus Christ.  

Come to Him that you can have life, because without Him there is only the terrifying expectation of certain judgement.

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[i] Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.  Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.