Theme: The golden calf
The book of
Exodus......
Scott Langston, an American author has
written a whole volume on the Book of Exodus...... and he shows just how influential
the book has been in American history. Its story of the people of Israelites
suffering as Egyptian slaves, their rescue, and their journey to the Promised Land, has left its mark in American history. He tells us that a couple of months after the
American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain, a small committee
got together, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, and John Adams proposed a design for a seal that would be used in
the great state documents. It showed pharaoh’s
chariots surrounded by surging waves, while the people of
The message of the
book of Exodus, has been inspirational for many peoples down through the
centuries, with its
astonishing story of rescue
of the Israelite slaves by the living
God........
the
living God brought them out of
opened
up a path for them, through the clashing
seas. When, in the desert, they ran out of food, He sent them manna. When they
came to the oasis at Rephidim, to find that the water
had run out........ He brought them to the rock........where water flowed.....
More than this the same Lord invited His people to
come into a living relationship with Him
! If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, He said, then out of all nations
you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation.'
In the days that followed.......they
stood at
But while the Book of Exodus has been inspirational in this way for many,
it
also has another side........ it is also utterly
realistic about the people of
as
human beings.......... Exodus does not gloss over this............chapter
32.......tells us this:
you see, Moses once again goes up the
mountain to speak with the living God.....this time to receive the law from
God........... but then this happens..............
We are told:
When the people saw that Moses had not come down from the mountain but was staying there a
long time, they gathered round Aaron and said to him, "We
do not know what has happened to this man Moses, who led us out
of
An extraordinary thing.......... after all the people have experienced.........
what
we find is this: that the people of
These days - if television or the newspapers, are anything to go by,
what we can see has become the most important.....
fame, influence, celebrity........
wealth....... or talent, all of these seem to becoming the main things that count.......
The things that can be seen.........
Well, in Exodus 32 we find
just that the people of
they
can see, ......a golden calf........."
the things that can be seen..........
For the Bible, however, the key thing, the cornerstone of life lies in things that cannot be seen...........
In Luke chapter 5 there is a
wonderful account of this:
After teaching the people gathered at the lakeside, Jesus stayed with Simon Peter’s in Simon Peter’s boat.
After a while the Lord Jesus asked Simon Peter to move the boat out into the deeper water, and asks Peter, to put his nets out once again. Peter tells Jesus that he has been fishing these waters all night and he has seen nothing, caught nothing........
Caught nothing, seen
nothing.............
All the same, Peter, listens to the word of Jesus lowers the nets, and the catch is so great, the boat nearly keels over………….
At the command of Jesus, trusting in Jesus, where Peter had seen nothing,
a catch so great and abundant, the boat nearly sinks...........
This is why the writer to the Hebrews says:
Let us Fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith……
He, the unseen, is the One who begins, shapes and creates faith in us, and He is the One who will bring our faith to completion, as He works in us,
Here’s how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4: We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
the
people of
they can see, ......what they have made.......a golden calf.........saying, ludicrously,
"
they turn to things that can be seen..........
But the great declaration of the Bible, is that the key to life lies in things that cannot be seen...........
the never
failing grace and love of our Lord Jesus.........
the forgiveness
we experience at the Cross,
the Father’s guidance and protection we know......each day.........
all
these not seen....... but unseen and utterly real...............
but
the people of
they can see, ......what they have made.......a golden calf.........saying, ludicrously,
"
It is a fact that down through centuries the wisest Jewish writers on the Scriptures, Rabbis, found Exodus 32 almost impossible to read. So some didn’t mention Exodus 32 at all - they found it difficult to understand why the people should have done this. Many of the ancient Jewish writers, and mourned deeply over all this..............
the sheer waywardness of people, in the midst of such wonderful blessings.........
they
turn away from the living God..................
But, you know, one of the
striking things about the men and women we meet in the Bible is that they are real
men and women, like ourselves………..
Abraham, that great commanding figure, journeying in old age from his
homeland, in wonderful faith, waiting faithfully for God’s promises to
unfold…….. we
find him lying to the Egyptian king, about who he is, who is wife is, where he
has come from.
Elijah – the great prophet of
the Lord, moving in the power of God, at
and
he runs away in fear from the threatening power of
King David – warrior, leader,
general, songwriter, King in Israel’s golden age, involved in the murder of an
innocent man, and guilty of adultery………
Jesus tells us that this is because of the human heart. Where the living God should have been life for us, at the very centre of life, where we should have lived life loving God with all our heart soul mind and strength, we turned our backs on Him, turned away from full, and abundant life. That’s the problem.........we see it in Exodus 32, the people in their sinfulness turn away from the living God........
So what’s the solution ?
for
this heart of ours ?
The Bible certainly shows us human life in its sinfulness
but also declares this......
what God has done
about it
This is a true saying, writes Paul in 1 Timothy 1 to be completely accepted and believed,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners !
what is the solution for this sinful heart of ours ?
The man who wrote that beautiful hymn The Old Rugged Cross knew the solution ! He wrote........In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see, for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me !
that’s
the solution for this sinful heart of ours, for our human condition
comes
from God Himself......... He has acted decisively to save us, to redeem us, at
the cross. The moment when Jesus took the sin of every heart here, all human
hearts, the sin of the all world upon Himself, the sin and guilt that burdens
our hearts was dealt with once and for all
Whatever the burdens we bring, whether of sin, of guilt, of sorrow at our own sinful life we know that entering into the presence of the living God, we will find, not judgment, not condemnation, but mercy, love forgiveness,
there for us...........