Decision Time
The Israelites finally arrives at Mt Sinai. With a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm God delivered Israel from Egypt. The Israelites
boldly crossed the Red Sea. Then, they went in the wilderness and came
to Marah. The water of Marah was bitter. Moses cried out to God, and God
turned it into sweet water. Then, they came to Elim, beautiful oasis.
Then, they camped at Rephidim. They found no water, so they grumbled and
protested with God. So Moses named this place Massah and Meribah
– a place of testing and protesting. Then, the Israelites were caught off guard
by Amalek. After a miraculous victory, they finally arrived at Mt Sinai. Israel’s
journey from Egypt to Sinai took about 50 days.
Mt Sinai is a very important place for Israel’s journey, because there they received the Ten Commandments – the rule of life for God’s people. “Love God, love others.” “Be holy, as I am holy.” “Be different from other nations. Live as holy, peculiar people.” Decision time has come. Jesus welcomes us and loves us just as we are, but it doesn’t mean that he condones our old ways of life. “If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!” (2 Cor 5:17) A new journey begins. Christian journey is a journey of transformation.
Unholy Cow
So now the Israelites are at the
crossroads – the two paths of life – the path that leads to life (“God’s way”)
and the path that leads to destruction and death (“my way”). Unfortunately,
they chose their old ways of life. They chose “my way.” While Moses was
receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people were making a golden calf.
This golden calf was made in the Egyptian style. The Egyptians worshiped
Hathor, who was represented by the head of a cow, Then there was Menwer, the
sacred bull of Ra, whose skin was covered with gold.[1]
So this gold calf was basically representing the Israelite’s old ways of life.
They were going back to their old ways.
I shared earlier that Christian journey is a journey of transformation. If we want to worship and follow one true God, we must change and reorder our lives. It is painful but lifegiving. But if we choose to worship idols, we don’t have to change. We don’t have to reorder anything in our lives. We are still in charge. R. C. Sproul rightly said, “The cow gave no law and demanded no obedience. It had no wrath or justice or holiness to be feared. It was deaf, dumb, and impotent. But at least it could not intrude on their fun and call them to judgment. This was a religion designed by men, practiced by men, and ultimately useless for men.”[2] The Israelites chose the golden calf, a false god, whom they could control and manipulate.
God’s Way Vs. My Way
Today’s story was written down for
our spiritual benefit. The Bible says, “These things took place as examples
for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some
of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose
up to play.’ . . . Now these things happened to them as an example, but they
were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has
come” (1 Cor 10: 6, 7, 11).
The purpose of the exodus was for God’s people to worship God in the proper way and live worthy of their calling as his holy people. But rather than waiting for God, they decided to come up with an alternative religion, “my way” religion. God said “Do not make a carved image,” but they turned the immeasurable God into a visible and tangible image. God commanded them to worship in appointed times (ex. Sabbath and feasts of the Lord) and appointed locations (ex. Tabernacle and later Jerusalem temple), but they did it their own way. Rather than worshiping God the way he pleased, they did it the way they pleased.
The Israelites were not willing to wait for God. They were impatient. They knew what they wanted, and they wanted it now! They didn’t like “waiting.” They didn’t like the “uncertainty.” God didn’t tell them that they would need to wait for 40 days. God didn’t tell them what would be the next destination. God didn’t give them a big picture, master plan. Instead, they just had to trust and obey God. They just had to follow God’s lead day by day, moment by moment – the pillars of cloud and fire. What they needed was to give him full control. The Israelites didn’t like this new way of life.
Like the Israelites, we too are often tempted to be in control. So we are tempted to be impatient in our wilderness journey. We get impatient for God to heal us or provide for our needs. We get impatient for God to show us the big picture. We get impatient for God to lead us out of the wilderness now. If God doesn’t satisfy our needs, we then make the golden calf instead of waiting and trusting. We do things our own way instead of being formed and shaped and transformed.
Law Vs. Grace
Why did the Israelites make and
worship a cow? Because they still cherished and loved their old gods, their old
ways of life in Egypt. Why do we make a golden calf? Because we love our old
ways of life. So when things get difficult, we are tempted to go back to old
self. We fall right back into the same old sins. The only remedy for this is to
get to the bottom of the problem and put sin to death in the heart.
So how can we be saved? It is not enough to know and recite the Ten Commandments. The Israelites knew God’s law, and it still didn’t save them. They knew they weren’t supposed to make idols or worship other gods. The problem was that they couldn’t keep the Law. What they needed was a Savior. They needed a Savior who would trust God and his timing. They needed a Savior who would do things God’s way rather than his own way. They needed a Savior who would intercede for them and turn their hearts to the Lord. In today’s story Moses was the Israelite’s savior who was trusting, waiting and interceding for them.
So how can we be saved? What we need today is someone like Moses. We need someone to come down and intercede for us. The Good News is that God has given us a mediator. When he saw our sin (constantly making idols), he wanted to save us, so he sent his Son to intercede for our salvation. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16). As Tim Keller rightly said, “Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant,” that we are to be saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Revival
Today’s story, the story of the
golden calf, is a devastating story. But after this, revival comes. They
return to God, and their spiritual fervor is renewed. Israel’s revival begins
with this question: “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Ex 32:26) When Moses asked
this question to the whole congregation of Israel, the people of Levi realized
that they were on the wrong side. They realized that they were turning away
from God. So they repented and turned back to God. That’s the very first step.
Let us examine ourselves, “Where am I today? Am I on the Lord’s side? Am I on the right path?” If we turned aside, now is the time to return. I don’t know about you, but for me, I get impatient for God to do something and to show something. The other day I prayed, “God, the church is at the crossroads. The church is in crisis. But I don’t know what to do next. I don’t see the way forward.” Then, I realized that I was called to intercede for the church, to get down on my knees and pray for the church members, rather than to do something and show something. So I repented and returned to God, praying for the church with all my heart.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, now is the time. As followers of Jesus Christ, now we are called to pray for the church. Now is the time to pray for revival. Now is the time to pray for the unity in the church. Now is the time to pray for our worship service to be filled with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to pray that our church will share the good news of Jesus Christ and become a hope-giving community. Now is the time to pray that we will become disciples and make disciples.
Starting from last week, every Wednesday at 6 pm we gather to pray in person and virtually. Some of us may be offline or not able to come after dark, but wherever we are, I exhort all of us to pray for the church every Wednesday at 6 pm, and every day at your appointed time. If you feel led to join our prayer team, please let me know. We are planning to start a prayer chain. May the Lord rekindle our “first love” for him.
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