Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Exodus 33-36. I’m calling today’s episode “Alone.”

Comments on Exodus 33

Chapter 33 begins where chapter 32 left off, immediately after the people made the golden calf. The Lord is angry, and tells Moses to quickly leave this place. And he tells Moses that He will not go with them, but will send an angel to go with them instead, because, “you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

There are two things I would like to talk about in this short scene.

1) Do you think God really was considering whether or not to destroy them when He said, “…I might destroy you on the way.”? Did He really need to remove Himself from their presence so He wouldn’t destroy them in a fit of anger? Would He have wiped them out because they built a golden calf and worshipped it? 

I remember when my sons were just young boys. There were times when I would catch one or more of them doing something they knew they shouldn’t do. Sometimes I would discipline them on the spot. But other times, I would send them to their room. And with a stern look and firm tone, I would say, “I’ll be in to deal with you later.” And then when they were very young, they’d trudge off to their room, crying all the way. The waiting for the other shoe to drop was sometimes worse than whatever punishment might come.

Beloved, God was not surprised when the people built that golden calf. When we sin, it doesn’t shock God. But He does want us to learn to obey His Word. So I believe that He said He “might destroy them on the way” so that they would think about what they had done, and know that God does not take their sin lightly.

2) God did not remove His presence from them to restrain Himself. He had no intention of wiping them out. Their sin was not going to change God’s plan for the redemption of mankind! No, in removing His presence from them, He was testing them. Up to this point, God had been with them in a very close way. He was in the midst of them, rescuing them from Pharaoh and beginning their journey to the Promised Land. And He promised to protect them along the way and bring them victories as the took the land. God was with them visibly with the pillar of cloud in the daytime and the fire at night. Now He said, “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

What was the test?

What if their response to this new arrangement was, “OK. Cool. We can live with that.”? What would that say  about them? It would say that as long as they got the goodies, they didn’t care about God! 

But to their credit, they mourned when they heard God was withdrawing from them. Commentator Martin Lloyd-Jones put it this way: “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.”

Beloved, every believer, every Christian has an even greater presence of God than a pillar of cloud or fire. We have the Holy Spirit living in us! God is with us in a very real way! Can you imagine if He was to withdraw from your life? Think of it. Imagine how bleak life would be. Imagine the loneliness. The hopelessness. It’s a terrifying thought.

And this, dear one, is why we must share the Good News. Non believers, though they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them, do benefit from living in a world where God’s influence is all around. They may not acknowledge Him. They may not be aware of Him. But God is here, and He truly does restrain a great deal of evil. And the entire world benefits from God’s presence.

But when a non believer dies, they are forever removed from any presence of God. There truly is no hope of redemption. 

As I said on yesterday’s show, we have a responsibility to tell people of God’s saving grace. They need to know that Jesus came to save them from that terrible, eternal fate. “16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18

How will they know unless we tell them?

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 33 NET; Ch. 34 NIRV; Ch. 35-36 ERV

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The Team

Transcript Correction: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise
Podcasting 2.0 Chapters: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Sean of San Pedro and Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Michael Haner
Show Art: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider and Lifespring Family Berean Jason Paschall
Newsletter Publisher: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney

Transcript

Transcript not corrected.