Message 178
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 34
Exodus 34 is a chapter that is not easy to understand. After we read through this chapter, we still may not be able to grasp what is spoken in it, because so many matters are covered. Therefore, at the beginning of this message I would like to point out two matters that may help our understanding of this chapter.
The first is that when we, the New Testament believers, read the Old Testament, especially certain books, we need to realize that in the Old Testament there are types, figures, and shadows of the divine and spiritual things revealed in the New Testament. Things that are divine and spiritual are mysterious, beyond the understanding of our natural mentality. However, we may understand these divine, spiritual, and mysterious things by the types, figures, and shadows in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, there is a problem here in that we may read about all the Old Testament types, figures, and allegories, but find it very difficult to see the significance of these things.
As a help to knowing the significance of the Old Testament types, we should realize that the record in the Old Testament does not merely concern the history of an ancient people. This record is also about us. Hence, when we read the Old Testament, we are reading about ourselves and not only about the children of Israel. We should not read the book of Exodus merely as history. We need to see ourselves in this book. Exodus contains not only the history of an ancient people; it also contains our story. It is the story of our present Christian life. Moreover, many spiritual and divine things related to our Christian experience are typified in this book. It is very important that we realize this.
Second, as we come to chapter thirty-four with this understanding, we also need to see that in this chapter we have a full recovery of the broken covenant. For this reason, many things recorded in this chapter are a repetition of what was given earlier. Exodus 34 is a chapter of repetition, a chapter that repeats what God has already spoken. Nearly everything in this chapter is a repetition.
The covenant God had made with His people during Moses’ first stay with Him on the mountain had been broken. The two tablets of testimony, which signified that covenant, had been broken and cast aside. This covenant was not broken by God, the One who gave the law; it was broken by the one who received the tables of the law. We have seen that if it had not been for Moses as God’s companion, everything would have ended there with the breaking of the covenant. The special relationship between God and His people would have been seriously damaged. However, this companion of God knew God’s heart, and he knew that God would not give up His purpose with the children of Israel. Moses knew that this purposeful God had a very strong intention, and that no one could stop Him from doing what He intended to do. Perhaps God may be temporarily delayed or frustrated, but He cannot be stopped.
Because it was necessary for God to keep His standing, His position, He needed a companion to be the mediator between Him and His people. This mediator could make propitiation in behalf of the people and appease God’s anger in that situation. As we have seen, Moses went to God as a mediator. Every point that Moses covered in his talk with God was a matter related to what was on God’s heart. This was the reason God sanctioned what Moses said and granted his petitions.
After God had been appeased, it was necessary for the broken covenant to be recovered. The tablets signifying the covenant had been broken. Now in order to recover the situation between God and His people, it certainly was necessary for the broken covenant to be recovered. Chapter thirty-four, therefore, is a chapter concerned with the recovery of the broken covenant.
Exodus 34:1 says, “And Jehovah said to Moses, Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write upon the tablets the words which were on the first tablets, which you broke in pieces.” Because God had been appeased and because Moses had made propitiation in behalf of the people, the Lord had the ground to speak this way to Moses. The proposal in 34:1 was not made by Moses; it was made by the Lord. The propitiation made by Moses for the people meant a great deal to God. Apart from that propitiation, God would not have had the ground to do anything to recover the broken covenant.
In 34:2 the Lord went on to say to Moses, “And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and stand by Me there on the top of the mountain.” It was necessary for Moses to come up to the mountaintop to meet with the Lord. The Lord could not go down to where Moses was. The mountaintop was the meeting place for both parties, for both God and Moses. The meeting on the mountaintop involved Moses going up and God coming down.
Verses 4 and 5 say, “And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first ones; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as Jehovah had commanded him, and he took in his hands two tablets of stone. And Jehovah descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah.” In these verses we see that Moses went up to Mount Sinai, and the Lord descended to Mount Sinai. Hence, to Moses it was a matter of going up, but to God it was a matter of coming down.
In verse 2 the Lord charged Moses to be ready in the morning and to come up in the morning to Mount Sinai. According to verse 4, “Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him.” I appreciate this word about meeting with the Lord in the morning. How marvelous it would be if we could meet together every morning!
If we read chapter thirty-four carefully, we shall see that God did not tell Moses explicitly to meet with Him in the morning of the next day. Rather, God simply said for him to come up “in the morning.” However, this must refer to the next morning available to Moses, that is, to the morning of the next day.
To meet with the Lord in the morning means not only to meet with Him early in the day; it also means that we should meet with God in a situation that is full of light. Our meeting with God should be at sunrise, not at sunset. The entrance both of the tabernacle and of the temple was toward the east, toward the sunrise (27:13-15). The way we take should be in the light. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The way we take should be toward the sunrise, not toward the sunset.
In 34:3 the Lord said to Moses, “And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen on all the mountain; neither let the flocks and the herds feed before that mountain.” Here the Lord told Moses not to bring anyone with him on the mountain. Moses was not permitted to bring Joshua, Aaron, or anyone else. He was to come to the Lord alone. Furthermore, he was to leave all the flocks and herds. No doubt, he was also to leave behind all his possessions. This means that when Moses went up the mountain to meet with the Lord, he was not to bring with him anyone or anything except the tablets of stone.
The Lord’s charge to Moses in verse 3 indicates that we all need a time to contact the Lord alone. We all need a private time to meet with the Lord. During this time alone with the Lord, we should not bring with us anyone or anything. When we go to the Lord early in the morning, we should go to Him alone. We need to leave even our husband or wife behind. Some brothers have the practice of taking their wives with them wherever they go. This practice is good. However, when it is time to meet with the Lord on the mountaintop, a brother should leave his wife at the foot of the mountain. When we meet with the Lord in this way, we need to forget everything and everyone. Forget your possessions, your education, your occupation, your future. Go to the Lord alone without anyone or anything.
When it is time to meet with the Lord alone, we should be free even from our necessities. Moses did not bring anything to eat or drink, and he did not have something on which to sleep. This indicates that when we stay with God, we need not be concerned for our eating, drinking, or sleeping. Actually, there is no time for these things. When we go to meet with the Lord alone, we must be totally free from everything. We must be free from our relatives, our possessions, and even our necessities. Moses was free in this way when he went to the mountaintop to meet with the Lord early in the morning.
We have seen that in order to meet together, Moses went up and the Lord came down. They met at a neutral place, and this neutral place was the mountaintop. This indicates that the Lord was not too demanding of Moses. On the one hand, He asked Moses to come up. On the other hand, He came down to meet with Moses on the mountain.
Exodus 34:29 says, “And it came about, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai — and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hands when he came down from the mountain — that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone in His speaking with him.” The last part of this verse is a problem for Bible translators. Should the rendering be “in His speaking with him,” or “in his speaking with Him”? The rendering “His speaking with him” indicates that the Lord was speaking with Moses. But the rendering “his speaking with Him” means that Moses was speaking with the Lord. I definitely prefer the former because here the main thing is not Moses’ speaking but God’s speaking. Therefore, verse 29 is saying that the skin of Moses’ face shone in the Lord’s speaking with him.
Actually in this chapter Moses spoke hardly at all. In fact, when the Lord was declaring His name, Moses may even have been frightened. Verses 6 and 7 say, “And Jehovah passed by before his face and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and great in kindness and faithfulness; keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the sons’ sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.” According to verses 8 and 9, Moses bowed himself down and said to the Lord, “If I have found favor in Your eyes, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray, go in our midst, for it is a stiff-necked people; and forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your possession.” After Moses spoke like this to the Lord, the Lord continued speaking with him. The point here is that this was not the time for Moses to speak. Instead, it was the time for God to speak. Moses received an infusion not through his speaking to God, but through God’s speaking to him.
When we meet with the Lord alone early in the morning, we should not speak too much. Rather, we should let God speak to us. If we talk too much in our meeting with the Lord, we shall not receive an infusion. God’s infusion comes with His speaking. If God would not speak to you, this indicates that He would not infuse you with anything of Himself. But if God speaks to you, you will receive an infusion from Him.
At the very beginning of this chapter, the Lord told Moses that He would “write upon the tablets the words which were on the first tablets.” But, instead of doing this right away, the Lord talked to Moses about many other things. Only toward the end of His long conversation with Moses did God write upon the tablets “the words of the covenant, the ten words” (v. 28). This indicates that it was not God’s main intention to write the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets. God’s main burden was to speak to Moses concerning the things covered in this chapter in verses 10 through 27. In these verses we have a lengthy record of God’s conversation with Moses, a conversation that covered many points. In these verses nothing is mentioned regarding the Ten Commandments. If I had been Moses, I may have asked God about this and said, “Lord, what are You doing here? You asked me to bring two tablets, and here they are. The tablets are ready for You to write on them. Why, then, are You talking to me about so many other things?” Moses, of course, may have been frightened at that time, and he did not presume to say anything about what the Lord was doing.
Before God did anything, He first gave Moses a warning by declaring His name (v. 6). For God to declare His name means that He assumed His position. He would never leave His position, but He would keep it by declaring who He is. When Moses heard this declaration, “he hastened and bowed his head toward the earth, and bowed himself down” (v. 8).
After declaring His name, the Lord went on to say, “Behold, I am making a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels which have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in all the nations; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Jehovah, for it is a fearful thing which I am doing with you. Observe what I am commanding you this day; behold, I will drive out from before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite” (vv. 10-11). Here we see that the Lord promised to do marvelous things before the people, and these marvelous things were to be accomplished for a specific goal — to bring His people into the good land. Whatever God did for the children of Israel, whether in giving them manna or in defeating their enemies, was for the purpose of bringing them into the good land. The good land was God’s goal.
God wanted His people to enter into the good land so that eventually He could have a temple on earth. That temple was to be God’s testimony. The temple was to be for God and also for His people. As long as God could have the temple as His testimony on earth, the situation with His people would be all right. When the Israelites had a proper relationship to God’s temple, they were in a proper condition in the land. But when they lacked a proper relationship to God’s temple, they had serious difficulty. Eventually, they lost both the temple and the land.
We have seen that God’s goal in doing marvelous things for His people was to bring them into the good land. In typology this indicates that God is doing marvelous things for us and with us with the intention of bringing us into Christ. According to the record in the Old Testament, it was not an easy matter for the children of Israel to enter the good land. Outwardly they were frustrated by circumstances and by the enemy; inwardly they were frustrated by certain things within themselves. This was the reason it took forty years for them to be brought into the good land. Today it is also difficult for us to be brought into Christ. I know this from experience. For more than fifty years I have been laboring in the ministry for the one purpose of helping the saints to get into Christ as the good land. How many of us have been brought into Christ experientially? Some may say that we are all in Christ. Of course, this is true doctrinally and objectively. But how much of Christ are you enjoying day by day?
God’s marvelous doings are for the one goal of bringing His people into the good land for the building up of the temple. God told Moses that He would bring the people into the land. He would take care of their needs and defeat all the enemies. He would do everything necessary to bring the children of Israel into the good land.
Then the Lord went on to give a warning concerning the snare of idolatry: “Guard yourself, that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, that it may not become a snare in your midst. But you shall break down their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and cut down their Asherim; for you shall not bow yourself down to another god, for Jehovah — Jealous is His name — is a jealous God” (vv. 12-14). In verse 17 the Lord continued this warning: “You shall not make for yourselves molten gods.” In these verses the Lord seemed to be saying, “Beware of the snare of idolatry in the land of Canaan. At present, the whole land is occupied by idols. There is the danger that after you come into the land, you will be snared by pagan idolatry.”
This is not only a word for the children of Israel; it is also a word for us. There are many idols among God’s people today. These idols preoccupy them and keep them from the enjoyment of Christ. It is possible for almost anything to be an idol to us. Even a necktie or a tiepin can become an idol to us. Many Christians are fully occupied by things, matters, and persons other than Christ. As an example of these occupations, I would refer to talking on the telephone. Some saints claim that they are too busy to pray. However, they have much time to spend talking on the telephone. For them, talking on the telephone has become an idol.
An idol is anything that keeps us from the enjoyment of Christ as our good land. This means that any thing, matter, or person that preoccupies us and keeps us from the full enjoyment of Christ is an idol.
According to the history in the Old Testament, many of the wars and battles in which the children of Israel were involved were due to the fact that they had idols. Whenever God’s people had idols, the enemies came to attack them. Today we all desire to live a victorious life, a holy life, and a spiritual life. However, many Christians experience failure because they have idols. Actually, if we have idols, things that preoccupy us and keep us from enjoying Christ, we have already lost the battle against the enemy. We simply have no way to fight. With God there is no problem bringing us into the full enjoyment of Christ. But with God’s people there is still the problem of idolatry. Therefore, at the beginning of a chapter concerned with the remaking of the broken covenant, God declared that He would do everything to bring the people into the good land. But He also pointed out the danger of idolatry. God seemed to be saying, “I am fully able to bring you into the good land. But idolatry will nullify your enjoyment of the land. It will cause whatever I give you to be destroyed.”
God has done many marvelous things for His people. But the experience of Christians testifies that much of what God has done has been nullified or destroyed by preoccupations, by idolatry. How many Christians enjoy Christ? There are a great many Christians who know very little of the enjoyment of Christ. Many of us may know about the enjoyment of Christ. But to know about it is one thing, and to actually have the enjoyment of Christ is another thing.
Many of us have been kept from the enjoyment of Christ by different kinds of preoccupations. Why would you spend so much time talking on the telephone, yet you would not take ten minutes to pray? You have the time and the energy to talk, but you seem to have no time or energy to pray. This indicates that for you talking on the telephone has become an idol. Others may be able to spend much time reading a newspaper, but they easily become tired when reading the Bible. Some may say that they simply do not have the appetite for the Bible or the desire to read it. Yes, that is their situation. They do not have the desire to worship God, for their desire is to worship an idol. Spontaneously and unconsciously, they care for their idols. What a pitiful and tragic situation!
God’s warning in 34:12-17 concerning idolatry was actually a repetition of the first three commandments. On the positive side, these commandments are related to God; on the negative side, they are related to idolatry. Idolatry involves having another god. To practice idolatry is to make an image and then serve it and worship it. Idolatry also involves taking the name of God in vain.
Later in this chapter God spoke a word concerning the fourth commandment, the commandment about observing the Sabbath. Therefore, in this chapter the first four commandments, those related to God, are all covered. However, in this word of repetition, the six commandments concerned with our relationship to others are not repeated.
I hope we shall all be impressed with the fact that the Lord has promised to do everything necessary to bring us into the good land, into the all-inclusive Christ for our enjoyment. But we must take heed to His warning concerning idolatry. On the one hand, God will bring us into Christ. On the other hand, He condemns idolatry.
