Message 176
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 32:30-35; 33:1-23
In this message we come to the record of a very particular matter, a record that reveals that Moses was a companion of God (32:30—33:23).
The making of the golden calf was a severe blow to both God and Moses. Before the calf was made, everything was going smoothly. Moses was on the mountaintop with the Lord, and the Lord was revealing to him the design of the tabernacle and its furniture and utensils. No doubt, God and Moses were very happy. But at the end of the forty days Moses spent on the mountain with God, the children of Israel did evil in making a golden calf and worshipping it. By doing that, they broke the first four of the Ten Commandments.
The worship of the golden calf caused a serious problem. What should God do? Should He give up the children of Israel? Should He forsake His purpose in bringing them out of Egypt? Surely God could not do this. If you had brought more than two million people out of Egypt, not according to your mood, but according to your promise, would you have been able to give them up? Certainly not. God delivered the children of Israel in order to fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God brought the people out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and brought them to Mount Sinai, where He gave them training. Suddenly, as a great surprise, the children of Israel did evil by worshipping the golden calf What the children of Israel did caused God a big problem. What should He do? In principle, we may have the assurance that God would not give up His people or abandon His project with them. On the contrary, He would still go on with them. But how could He go on with the children of Israel in such a situation?
The problem God faced with His people can be compared to certain problems between husband and wife or between parents and children. Although a wife may cause her husband a serious problem, and although the children may cause their parents serious problems, the husband cannot give up the wife, and the parents cannot give up their children. There must be a way for the husband and wife and the parents and children to go on together. Likewise, it was necessary for God to find a way to go on with His people. He needed a way out of the problem that had arisen regarding them.
God’s way out was through Moses as the middleman, the mediator. In order to be a middleman, a mediator, between God and the children of Israel, it was necessary for Moses to be intimately involved with both parties. Moses was uniquely qualified to be the mediator. He had had nothing to do with the worship of the golden calf. He had been kept from that evil thing and was preserved in the presence of God. Therefore, he was the only one among God’s people who was clean. Furthermore, Moses was very close to God. As we shall see, the way Moses expressed his petition to God indicates that his relationship with God was an intimate one.
I believe that, deep in His heart, God expected Moses to come in as the mediator between Him and the people. It was God’s desire that Moses would give Him a way out of the problem. Without a middleman who could speak to God intimately, God would not have had a solution to His problem. No doubt, God wanted to be appeased. In 32:30 Moses indicated that propitiation was necessary: “And it came about on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Jehovah; perhaps I can make propitiation for your sin.”
The offense caused by the children of Israel was extremely serious. What they did was inexcusable. They did not merely do something wrong; they made an idol and worshipped it as if it were God. They used the name of the Lord in vain. In so doing, they offended God to the uttermost, and it was as if they left no ground for Him to forgive them. It seemed that there was no possibility for God to come in to forgive this offense or to say anything to the people. Apparently, the only thing He could do was destroy the children of Israel there in the wilderness. Therefore, there was the need of a middleman, a mediator. How good that Moses was there to be the mediator between God and the children of Israel!
At this point I would like to say to all the saints, especially the young people, that to serve the Lord is not simply a matter of a way or a method. Serving the Lord is something very personal. If we would serve the Lord, we must be a person who has an intimate relationship with Him. Otherwise, we may be good Christian workers, but we cannot be those who are able to touch God’s heart.
Moses was a man greatly used by God. In previous messages we have seen how Moses was raised up by God and trained by Him. Moses was raised up by God during the first forty years of his life, and he was trained by Him during the next forty years. When Moses was eighty years old, God came in to call him and use him. God gave him a vision of a burning bush (3:2). Although the fire was burning in the bush, the bush was not consumed. Through this vision God seemed to be saying, “Moses, you are like this bush. I intend to use you, but I shall not burn you. I shall not consume you. I shall burn in you according to what I am.”
When Moses was called by God in Exodus 3, there was not yet any intimacy between him and God. Moses was new to God. Their relationship can be compared to that between an employer and a new employee. God, the employer, spoke to Moses, the new employee, and asked him if he would accept the job. We know that eventually Moses was convinced to take the “job” the Lord offered him.
The period of time from the day Moses was called in Exodus 3 to the conversation between him and God in Exodus 32 and 33 was probably not more than two years. During the course of this period of time, Moses became intimate with God.
According to the record in Exodus, Moses twice spent a period of forty days alone with God on the mountaintop. During the first forty days, God gave Moses the design of the tabernacle and the furniture. This is described in six chapters, Exodus 25 through 30. Do you think that the content of these six chapters occupied God for those entire forty days? This certainly would not seem to be the case. What were God and Moses doing all that time? They may have been enjoying intimate fellowship.
The children of Israel may have tried to excuse themselves for making the golden calf by the fact that Moses was gone so long. Some of them may have said, “We have not heard from the Lord or from Moses for a long time. They have left us here at the foot of the mountain, and we have been here for nearly forty days. The Lord and Moses brought us out of Egypt and led us to this place. But we don’t know what has happened to them. We can’t see God, and we can’t see Moses either. Therefore, we must do something for ourselves.” God, of course, did not give the people a chance to excuse themselves. Likewise, Moses did not allow the children of Israel, especially Aaron, to make an excuse. If Aaron and the children of Israel had been allowed to excuse themselves, they probably would have blamed Moses for being gone too long. They may have said, “Moses, where have you been? You have been gone too long. Does the Lord intend to have us for His people, or does He plan to have only you? It seems to us that you and God have forgotten about us.”
We may say that the Lord and Moses stayed together so long because they were intimate with each other. They had a happy time together on the mountaintop. But that pleasant time was a time of testing to the children of Israel. Later God asked Moses to go up to the mountain again, and they were together for another forty days. Moses and God simply liked to stay together. They loved each other, and they wanted to be together.
The record in the book of Exodus gives many details concerning the person of Moses. According to this record, before the first forty days Moses spent on the mountain with God, his relationship with God was not yet one of intimacy. But in the incident of the making of the golden calf, we see that Moses and God had an intimate talk. This indicates the beginning of Moses’ intimacy with God. Moses knew what was on God’s heart. He came down from the mountain, cast away the tablets, ground the golden calf into powder, and forced the people to drink water on which this powder had been sprinkled. He also called for a group of overcomers to slay the idolaters. Moses did all this according to God’s heart.
Moses knew that God did not want to give up the children of Israel. But he also knew that God needed a way out of the problem between Him and His people. If we read Exodus 32 and 33 carefully, we shall see that Moses had the assurance that he could work out the problem with God concerning the inexcusable offense committed by the people. Moses knew that he could appease God in this situation. In 32:30 Moses seemed to be saying to the children of Israel, “You have committed such a great sin that it seems you cannot be forgiven. What you have done is altogether inexcusable. But I shall go to make propitiation for you.” Moses had the assurance that propitiation could be made, for, as a result of staying with God on the mountaintop for forty days, he knew what was on God’s heart.
During the forty days he was with God, Moses gained a thorough knowledge of God’s heart concerning the children of Israel. Moses knew that God wanted this people to be His own, that He wanted to take them for His bride. Moses knew that not even the people’s sin of worshipping the golden calf could change the desire of God’s heart. Although this offense created an extremely difficult problem, Moses had the assurance that God could be propitiated. He knew God’s heart, and he knew the way to approach Him concerning His people.
As those who would serve God, we also need to know what is on God’s heart. Many Christians today emphasize the fact that we need to take the Word of God. Of course, we must know God’s Word and take it. However, if Moses had done nothing more than take the word of God, there would have been no way for him to work out a reconciliation between God and the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will wipe him out from My book” (32:33). That was God’s word, but was it the intent of God’s heart? No, it was not. God’s word was one thing, but the desire of His heart may have been something else. Moses realized that God said that He was about to wipe out the people. But, knowing God’s heart, Moses also realized that He would not give up His people. As the middleman between God and the children of Israel, Moses knew what was on God’s heart.
When Moses came to God about this situation, he did not pray in a religious way. He did not say, as we probably would do, “Lord, thank You that You are full of mercy.” According to 32:31 and 32, Moses spoke to the Lord in an intimate way, like a man talking to a close friend.
It is not sufficient merely for us to know the Word concerning the economy of God and the ground of the church. If you know the Word concerning God’s economy and the church, you may be only a man of the Word, but not a man according to God’s heart. In addition to knowing the Word, we all must come to know God’s heart. This is especially needed among the elders. All the elders should be those who are according to God’s heart. With Moses in Exodus 32 and 33, we see a man who is not only right in all he does; we see a man who knows what is on God’s heart and who is according to God’s heart.
The sin committed by the children of Israel in worshipping the golden calf caused a problem not only to God, but also to Moses. Moses may have said to himself, “What should I do about this? This whole situation may cause Pharaoh and the Egyptians to mock us and to mock God.” We are not told, however, that Moses considered the situation for a long period of time, or that he fasted and prayed to seek the Lord’s leading. There is no indication that Moses questioned whether he should go back to the Lord concerning the matter. Rather, immediately after he dealt with the idolaters, he told the children of Israel that they had sinned a great sin, but that he would seek to make propitiation for them. Moses could do this because he was clear concerning the situation of the children of Israel and especially concerning the desire of God’s heart. During those forty days on the mountaintop, the Lord surely did not leave Moses alone for long periods of time and then occasionally speak something about the tabernacle and its furniture. Moses and the Lord may have had some lengthy conversations. As a result of his intimate fellowship with God, Moses knew the real situation among the people, and he also had the assurance that he could appease the Lord.
At this juncture the Bible recognizes that Moses was a companion of God. Exodus 33:11 says, “And Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his companion.” The Hebrew word rendered “companion” here is different from the word for “friend” used with respect to Abraham in 2 Chronicles 20:7 and Isaiah 41:8. As a friend of God, Abraham had been separated from idolatrous people (Josh. 24:2-3), and he interceded for Lot (Gen. 18:16-33). The apostle James also tells us that Abraham was God’s friend (James 2:23). Not only was Abraham justified by God, but he also became a friend of God. God regarded Abraham as a beloved one, a person held in affection. However, Moses was not only a friend of God like Abraham; he was also a companion of God.
Between two people there is first friendship and then companionship. For example, before a couple get married, the two may be friends. Then their friendship develops into companionship. After they are married, they no longer regard each other as friends, but they continue to be companions.
The word “companion” includes the elements of friendship, but it goes much further to include the thought of intimate association. One meaning of the Hebrew word for companion is associate. A companion is an associate. If you and someone else are associates, you have a common interest, a common enterprise, in a common career. I do not wish to imply that there was no common interest between Abraham and God. They did share a common interest, but it was not of the same degree as that between Moses and God. To the uttermost, God and Moses were partners in a great enterprise. They were both involved in the same “career.” Moses and the Lord were not only intimate friends; they were associates, partners, companions.
In Genesis 18 Abraham behaved himself as a friend of God. God came to visit Abraham, and Abraham welcomed Him and served Him a feast. Not wanting to leave immediately, God lingered with Abraham for a while. Because God regarded Abraham as His friend, He knew that He could not conceal from him what He was about to do. Instead, He wanted to reveal to His dear friend what was on His heart. Therefore, He told Abraham that Sodom was soon to be destroyed. The Lord’s intention in making that disclosure was that Abraham would remember Lot and intercede for him. This means that God’s purpose here according to what was on His heart was to burden Abraham to pray for Lot. God’s intention was to save Lot. However, in keeping with His principle, God knew that He could not do anything for Lot without someone to intercede for him. In that occasion also God needed a middleman.
We have seen that God and Abraham were intimate friends. Sometimes when we want an intimate friend to do something for us, we do not tell him about it clearly. Instead, we may give hints and let the other party infer what we want or need. When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 18, He did not say anything explicit concerning Lot. Nevertheless, Abraham came to realize what was on the heart of his divine Friend. Therefore, Abraham prayed for Lot. But in his intercession, he did not mention Lot by name. Instead, he prayed for him in a rather indirect way. Eventually, God saved Lot in answer to Abraham’s prayer.
In Genesis 18, both parties, the Lord and Abraham, were friends. They both had the desire to do something for Lot. I believe that in Genesis 18 we have the basis for God to say that Abraham was His friend. If you read this chapter again, you will see that it is the record of a conversation between friends.
The point we are making here is that with the Lord and Moses there was something more than friendship. The conversation between them was not only that between friends but that between companions, partners. God and Moses were both concerned with their “corporation,” with their “enterprise” and “career.” Both parties had the wisdom not to speak about the situation in an altogether direct and detailed way. First the Lord spoke to Moses concerning the people and the golden calf. Then He left it up to Moses to deal with the situation. The Lord seemed to be saying to him, “Moses, I give this matter to you. Go down to the foot of the mountain and see what can be worked out.” Contrary to what we would expect, the Lord did not give Moses detailed requirements about grinding the calf to powder, scattering the powder on water, and forcing the idolaters to drink this water. Neither did the Lord tell Moses to call for the overcomers to slay the idolaters and, after that, to speak to the people in behalf of the Lord and then to return to the Lord again on the mountaintop. The Lord simply pointed out to Moses what the people were doing. But because Moses knew what was on God’s heart, everything he did concerning the worship of the golden calf was pleasing to God. For example, it was a very serious matter to cast away the tablets on which were engraved the commandments carved by God’s hand. But not even that act offended God, for it was done according to God’s heart. Moses realized that it was according to God’s heart to break those tablets. As a companion of God, Moses had an intimate relationship with Him and knew what was on His heart. Therefore, everything Moses did was according to the heart of God.
