A Mediator for God's People

In this passage from Exodus 32, the story of the golden calf is recounted. The people, impatient for Moses to return from the mountain, ask Aaron to make them gods. Aaron collects gold earrings from the people and creates a golden calf idol. The people worship the calf and indulge in revelry. God becomes angry and threatens to destroy the people, but Moses pleads for mercy and reminds God of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. God relents and does not destroy the people, but a plague is sent as punishment. Moses breaks the tablets of the Ten Commandments, burns the golden calf, and makes the Israelites drink its ashes. Moses then confronts Aaron about his role in the sin. The Levites are called to execute judgment on the people, resulting in the death of 3,000. Moses continues to intercede for the people and asks for forgiveness. God promises to punish the people but also leads them to the promised land. The passage also refers to reading of Scripture. We continue in Exodus and today we're in chapter 32 and this is a little bit of a longer read. It's 35 verses so it's the whole chapter. Exodus chapter 2 verses 1 through 35. You remember this story from way back if you're like me and you went to Sunday school when you were a little kid and you remember this story and you've heard it before but it's always good for us to revisit these truths of Scripture and so today we're studying the story of the golden calf and it's in Exodus chapter 32 verses 1 through 35 and this is God's Word. When the people saw that Moses was so long and coming down from the mountain they gathered around Aaron and said come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us about of Egypt we don't know what has happened to him. Aaron answered them take off the gold earrings that your wives your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf fashioning it with a tool. Then they said these are your gods of Israel who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this he built an altar in front of the calf and announced tomorrow there will be a festival unto the Lord. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings and afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses go down because your people whom you brought up out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bound down to it and sacrificed to it and have said that these are your gods of Israel who brought you up out of Egypt. I have seen these people the Lord said to Moses and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone that my anger may burn against them that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. Oh Lord he said why should your anger burn against your people whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce anger. Relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to whom you swore by your own self. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land that I promised them and it will be their inheritance forever. Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides front and back. The tablets were the work of God. The writing was the work of God engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting he said to Moses there is a sound of war in the camp. Moses replied it's not the sound of victory it's not the sound of defeat it is the sound of singing that I hear. When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire then he ground it to powder scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron what do these people do to you that you led them into such great sin? Do not be angry my lord Aaron answered. You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us about of Egypt we don't know what's happened to him. So I told them whatever has any gold whoever has any gold jewelry take it off. They gave me the gold and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf. Moses saw that the people were running wild and Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughing stock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance of the camp and said whoever is for the Lord come to me and all the Levites rallied to him. Then he said to them this is what the Lord the God of Israel says each man strap a sword to his side go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other each killing his brother and friend and neighbor. The Levites did as Moses commanded and that day about 3,000 of the people died. Then Moses said you've been set apart for the Lord today for you were against your own sons and brothers and he has blessed you this day. The next day Moses said to the people you've committed a great sin but now I will go up to the Lord perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. So Moses went back to the Lord and said oh what a great sin these people have committed. They have made themselves gods of gold but now please forgive their sin but if not then blot me out of the book you have written. The Lord replied to Moses whoever sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go lead the people to the place I spoke of and my angel will go before you. However when the time comes for me to punish I will punish them for their sin and the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf that Aaron had made. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated." Wow what a story that we have for us today. Today's message about a mediator for God's people and here's how we'll study the scriptures. We break this passage down in several places. First verses 1 through 6 we read about the worship of the golden calf and then verses 7 through 16 we read about Moses standing in the breach. In verses 17 through 20 we find that the golden calf was no God at all. Verses 21 through 24 we hear Aaron's excuses and in verses 25 through 35 we read of a judgment carried out and then we'll take a few minutes at the end to read about Jesus in the wilderness. So Moses the man of God has been called by God to come up on the mountain. There he meets with God and there he receives from God the commandments of God the covenant that God has made with his people. Recall last Sunday Exodus chapter 24 verse 3 Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws and they responded with one voice everything the Lord has said we will do and then verse 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said and then verse 7 he took the book of the covenant read it to the people and they responded we will do everything the Lord has said we will obey and then we noticed the last verse of the end of Exodus chapter 31 when the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai he gave him the two tablets of the testimony the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God and then we recall that last week's text Exodus chapter 24 also depicted the ratification of this covenant between God and man Exodus 24 verses 5 and 6 they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord and Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls and the other half he sprinkled on the altar so this was of course God's side of the people delivered by Moses that God indeed accepts and endorses the covenants and then Exodus 24 verse 8 Moses then took the blood sprinkled it on the people and said this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words God signed to the people delivered by Moses that the people accept and endorse the covenant the covenant agreement between God and man between God and his people so we saw that Exodus chapter 24 presents for us this glorious picture and this beautiful description of God's devotion to his people and the people's devotion to God yes the people are in the wilderness yes they have no permanent home yes they are sojourners in a foreign land and yet they know that they are loved by God and that God is delivering them to the promised land God will bring them home and last week we also briefly considered our lives as believers in Christ as being on our own wilderness journey navigating through the sin and the darkness of this world looking forward to our eternal home we trust in Christ and we place our faith in Christ and we find hope in Christ and so then we journey forth confident that God will finish what he has started within us and over his people so the picture that we considered last Sunday is the scene of God's people resting under God's presence and God's wisdom and God's instruction and yet in the text we also see that the people were not fully engaged as God had not fully made himself known to the people we still see a bit of separation Exodus 24 verses 15 through 18 remember the text says the text said that Moses went up on the mountain the cloud covered it the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai for six days the cloud covered the mountain and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud and to the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain then Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain and he stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights recall that we saw that God invited Moses and Aaron and Nahab and Abihu and 70 elders to come up to the mountain and it was there that the invitees saw God and they enjoyed the meal prepared for them but we saw that this was not a general invitation so really only a relatively few people witnessed the divine scene where most of Israel did not see God they saw something happening on the mountain but they they couldn't really see God in that day they witnessed it as a distance they were uncertain as to what they were seeing nevertheless the Israelites did understand that God was present they knew this they understood this about him and the Israelites knew Moses and they knew that he was a servant of God now with all that let's jump into our text for today Exodus chapter 32 notice verse 1 because it was when the people saw that Moses was in so long that coming down from the mountain that the people became concerned about Moses was he consumed by the power of God on the mountain was he was he around no longer who knows as for this fellow Moses who brought us about of Egypt we don't know what's happened to him perhaps Moses is alive no longer so then here out of the confusion of the uncertainty of this moment we see the most bizarre scene the last line of verse 1 they gathered around Aaron and said come make us God's who will go before us and here Aaron complies with the request look with me in verses 2 through 4 Aaron answered them take off your gold earrings that your wives your sons your daughters are wearing and bring them to me so all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron and he took what they handed him and he fashioned it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf fashioning it with a tool Aaron makes the golden calf as the people have requested a God to worship now what we see here is something that is of course interesting because it's a direct violation of the second covenant the second commandment the commandments that have just been handed down to the people they haven't had these commandments long and they're already in violation commandment number 2 Exodus chapter 20 verses 4 and 5 you should not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below you shall not bow down to them or worship them the second commandment and did not the people of Israel just sign on to the Ten Commandments did they not just take a vow to obey everything that God has commanded yes they did if they most certainly did in fact what they said is this we will do everything the Lord has said we will obey so why are the Israelites so quick to fall for this phony scheme that's now presented in front of them well here's actually what we think is happening the people falling for this scheme are not Israelites right now here's what we mean why we say that the people falling for this scheme are not Israelites at least the first group of the people that are asking for this golden calf they're not Israelites here's what we mean recall back in Exodus chapter 12 when the plagues have taken their toll among the Egyptians and Pharaoh finally releases the Egyptian the Israelite captives remember that story where the ten plagues have gone on and Pharaoh finally says fine you guys can leave and it's in Exodus chapter 12 verses 37 and 38 that we find that we find this information it says there about 600,000 men on foot besides women and children and so we estimate that if there's 600,000 men and there's also women and children that this number of the total nation of Israel is somewhere in the midst of two million people it's a big crowd and there's about 600,000 men on foot besides women and children but look at verse 38 the text says many other people went up with them now who were these many other people well we don't precisely know it's likely that they were Egyptians who wanted to leave Egypt behind perhaps also they were slaves from other nationalities that took this opportunity to find freedom we really don't know exactly where they're from who they are whoever they are they've left Egypt along with the Israelites and now they're traveling with the Israelites through the through the wilderness we we don't know who they are they've left Egypt along the Israelites and we would expect that we could expect that as they are they are journeying with the Israelites they bring with them their particular pagan religious practices they would have their own religion their own worship that they would do and they would bring this along with them okay so what evidence do we have that these many other peoples that left Egypt with Israelites are the same people in Exodus 32 are these the same groups of people well let's look a few things in the text that make us take note and make us think that it's very possible that these two groups are the same groups of people first we notice in verse 1 that the group of people that wants the golden calf they refer to Moses as this fellow Moses they're not acknowledging Moses call as God's servant they're not acknowledging Moses call is the leader of the Israelites he's just some guy to them second let's consider the golden calf the word rendered here is calf is more specifically a male a young bull that's the the word in the language of the day that's there and the word rendered here is calf but it really refers to a male or a young bull and we would also recall in our knowledge of the the pantheon of ancient Egypt that the Egyptians worshipped a God named Apis and Apis is a deity and this deity was typically characterized as a sacred bull third we notice in verse 5 that once the golden calf is formed that the people who requested a God then say these are your gods Oh Israel these are your gods so these people are not identifying themselves as Israelites they are pushing their pagan religious practice though on the Israelites and then fourth we notice the activity in the last line of verse six it says after where they sat down to eat and drink which is something God's people would do but notice what they also do then they get up and they indulge in revelry and the word revelry here means to have fun or to jest or to mock or to make sports it's the kind of crowd that's having a party down the street that you know is going to get out of hand at some point it's the kind of crowd that you always hope your kids weren't going to hang out with it's that kind of party that's going on here in the midst of the people of Israel it's getting a little rowdy and from all appearances it's going to get worse as the day goes on it's going to get out of hand now we see this going on but we know that this is not the typical behavior of the Israelites this is not the way the Israelites worship this is not the way the Israelites celebrate how do the Israelites celebrate well for example when they crossed through the Red Sea and they were on the other side and then saw the destruction of the Egyptian army what did they do when they celebrated they worshipped they didn't have a big party and they didn't engage in revelry they worshipped this is what the Israelites do the scriptures say the Israelites worship God now keep this description of the revelers in the back of your mind because it's going to come up later on in our story so how many people are we thinking of what then this this people that have asked for this golden calf how many people are we thinking of here how many non-israelites are accompanying the Israelites well we think it's about three thousand people the text kind of bears this out hang on to that truth we'll see this in a little later in scripture as well so here Aaron is complicit in this pagan worship because he's the one who's formed the golden calf after all notice again verse 2 Aaron answered them take off your gold earrings that your wives your sons your daughters are wearing and bring them to me and of course the Israelites looked at their clearly drawn into this thing now because look at verse 3 it says so all the people not just the non-israelites but all the people took off their earrings and brought him to Aaron and in verse 4 we see Aaron's response he took what he handed him made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf fashioning it with a tool Aaron here's the claim of the pagans and so it follows us in verse 5 when Aaron saw this he built an altar in front of the calf and he said tomorrow there'll be a festival to the Lord so the Israelites respond we see in verse 6 the next day that people rose early sacrifice burnt offerings presented in fellowship offerings so we can see that this parade is moving along we can see that this is heading in a certain direction and Aaron has been drawn in and now the Israelites have been drawn in in their minds they're still worshiping God the God of Israel but what they don't really remember they're not thinking about is they've been they have bought into a pagan cult worship symbol which is the bull the golden calf and in fact they set it up on an altar and now they're in direct violation of the second commandment you see how how slowly step by step this has progressed and this is degraded throughout the text that we're reading the people of Israel now by violating the second commandment have broken the very covenant that they've just received that they've just adopted they have been deceived shortly and they've bought in and now the worship of the golden calf is going on on an altar in direct violation of the second commandment now let's pause here for a moment and let's consider just for a moment false prophets false teaching that leads to false worship false prophets and false teaching that leads to false worship clearly that's what happened here with Israel they slowly get drawn into this thing and then before they knew it they were participating in it as well and so now there's false worship occurring because of false idol that has been placed in front of them and this has happened very slowly but now it's there and now it's been evident for everybody to see false prophets false teaching false worship we've heard this story before just this past week think about how many false teachers incorrectly predicted the end of the world and the return of Jesus because of the eclipse and and with that of course this is where my mind goes how much money did these false teachers make off those predictions or consider consider the modern worship service in the effort to be hip and relevant and worship sounds more like a rock concert and feels more like a prime time celebrity driven game show you know what I'm talking about how often do we see this warning though throughout scripture 2nd Peter chapter 2 listen to what the warning of scripture is but there will also be false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you they will secretly introduced destructive heresies even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves many will follow their shameful ways will bring the way of truth into disrepute in their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories that they have made up believers in Jesus we must be ever so vigilant over the doctrine we profess and over the worship in which we engage especially in these last days and yes we're using the term last days for a particular reason especially these last days as return of Christ draws near and is this world and our society continues to devolve into the pit of hell the evidence is which is very clear all around us the people of Israel fell for it we tend to fall for it too and it's only the grace and mercy of Christ extended to us to the covenant of God that covers us and that sustains us and so let's remember that the second commandment remains as law on the books right it remains in force as if we need to debate that because our inclination what why is that there why does it take a commandment there just because God doesn't like an idol in the church no it's because our inclination is toward worship we will worship something that's why we contend that there's no such thing as an atheist everyone will worship something everyone will find a God somewhere everyone carries about some idol and everyone focuses their affections upon that idol and that's you and me we do this all the time it's part of the corruption that we now experience as a result of the fall it's now how we're wired this side of the garden God's command against the worship of man-made idols of graven images is also God's command to worship God to love him to submit to him to focus on him to meditate on him to learn from him to serve him and to lean on him all our days and through all our circumstances so we come to verses 7 through 14 now while all this is going on Moses has remained on the mountain alone with God he's received the law and receiving the tablets on which the law was described notice verse 7 the Lord said to Moses go down because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt they'd be quick to turn away from what I commanded them and it made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf they abound down to it they have sacrificed to it verse 10 leave me alone God says to Moses so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them God's not happy as we can see but as we can recall God has called Moses to be a servant and God called Moses to act as the mediator between God and the people of Israel and so we read in verse 11 Moses sought the favor of the Lord is God and look down with me the last line in verse 12 here we read Moses plea Moses please with God turn from your fierce anger relent to do not bring disaster on your people and then in verse 13 remember your servants to whom you swore by your own self Moses appears here as a servant of God appointed and anointed by God and he is the mediator between God and man he's he's the guy who points people to God and here in the text he's also the one who is pointing God to the people not God has forgotten his people not that he's taken his attention away from them but Moses acts in a mediator in that way the psalmist wrote these words Psalm 106 for starting with verse 19 at Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull which eats grass they forgot the God who saved them who had done great things in Egypt miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea so he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them the people engaged in pagan worship of this they were guilty and for this they were deserving of condemnation but we noticed some words here in the text relents and relented verse 12 relents verse 14 relented now some other training is English translations render these words and they render them erroneously God does not repent here he does not change his mind what does it mean for God to relent it means that God has compassion on his people when God relents that means that God has compassion on his people and you and I have experienced this we receive grace and mercy through Christ God has relented not because we deserve it not because we're wonderful because of grace and mercy God has relented from judging us and for bringing calamity upon us rather we are made new through Christ and we're declared to be God's children because God has relented God determined to be gracious and merciful toward his people and he did this as Moses served as the mediator who was standing in the breach between God and Israelites and then the Lord relented and he did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened and so this portion of text includes verses 15 and 16 Moses turned went down to the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands they were inscribed on both sides front and back and the tablets were the work of God the writing that was the writing of God engraved on the tablets we come to verse 17 Moses accompanied by Joshua comes back down from the mountain remember back in verse 6 with the non Israelites were indulging in revelry now the revelry includes singing and dancing conduct which of course is engaged in form of a worship in front of the golden calf there's nothing wrong with singing and dancing necessarily but it's being done here in a manner which is not prescribed by God keep this in mind we will visit this again notice response of Moses of verse 19 the guy who had just asked for grace and mercy for these people now his anger burns and he throws the tablets out of his hands bringing in the pieces at the foot of the mountain the tablets broke to pieces indicative of the covenant between God and his people which is now a broken covenant and verse 20 tells of Moses destruction of the golden calf and he took the calf that he had made and burned it in the fire then he grounded a powder and scattered it on the water the verse concludes with the Israelites directed them to drink the polluted water symbolism here of a deeper reality sin of course has real consequence in this life and unless God would directly intervene you and I and everyone all people feel the weight of these consequences we feel the weight of our sin is the reality we never count that cost when we're heading headlong into sin but we feel the weight of sin and here the people drink polluted water destruction the golden calf the scattering of its mains upon the water the drinking of that water also said as a testimony to all the people present both Israelite and non-Israelite that the golden calf that they fashioned and worshiped that golden calf was really no God at all because it bore none of the divine attributes it possessed no power it couldn't do anything it was a statue of a calf sitting on an altar it could do nothing it could generate no ability on its own from dust it began and from dust did it return and everyone got the message and we notice here Moses wiped out the phony religious practice and he didn't care one bit about which people group he offended in the process and did you notice this brief scene in verse 21 through 24 Moses says to his brother Aaron what happened and here we see Aaron's excuses verse 22 you know how prone these people are to evil verse 23 you were gone for 40 days we didn't know what happened to you and verse 24 and then and Moses you'll never believe this one I threw the gold jewelry in the fire and wow I'll pop this calf craziest thing I've ever seen here Aaron proved that he certainly was a direct descendant of Adam and Eve for here we recall the excuses of our first parents when God called them out for eating the forbidden fruit remember those excuses Eve said well wait a second the snake tipped me and then Adam said well wait a second my wife tempted me it was always someone else's faults same thing here Aaron's like I don't know what happened I'll pop this calf here's confirmation is it not that God's call upon Moses and not Aaron to lead the Israelites out of captivity was the correct call remember when when God first called Moses and said would lead my people and and Moses said use my brother Aaron he's more articulate than I am God knew what he was doing because he knew this was going to occur God would have been just in destroying Aaron because of his leadership of this pagan worship he was supposed to lead people in the worship of God yet he joined right in with leading of this pagan worship but then we find later in the scriptures Deuteronomy chapter 9 Moses says and the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him but that time I prayed for Aaron to Aaron received grace and mercy from God all right we come to verse 25 and remember the pagan worshipers those whom identified as non-israelites and in verse 6 we said they they were indulged in revelry and then verse 17 through 19 they kind of amped up the party so now to notice verse 25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies notice here the term is running wild and out of control these are the English terms we've employed but in their original form both these phrases read the same both the the phrase for running wild and the phrase for out of control they're actually the same word the same they have the same source and they should be actually should be interpreted to read to let loose as in to become naked so the inference of the text here is that the pagan worship in front of the altar has now become an orgy this is the final straw and Moses will tolerate it no longer he will not tolerate this pagan worship practice which is turned into an abhorrent display of sexual impurity and now he will act to remove this display of idolatry from the midst of God's people anyone who participated in this cultic practice be they non-israelite or Israelite is now going to receive judgment so now we go to verse 26 Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said whoever's for the Lord come to me and all the Levites rallied to him then he said to them this is what the Lord God of Israel says each man strap a sword to his side go back and forth through the camp from one end of the other each telling his brother and friend and neighbor and the Levites did as Moses commanded and at day about 3,000 of the people died judgment has been carried out this ungodly practice has been removed from the presence of God's people this is very similar is it not to the way in which God carried out the plagues in Egypt especially the 10th plague in which the death angel visited the Egyptian homes but passed over the Israelite homes I think it's safe to say here that God has demonstrated he is serious about sin and mercifully God has set aside his people he in fact has preserved Amir he has made a covenant with his people God ratified his covenant the people did accept and they endorsed this covenant this covenant had certain stipulations and provisions yes the tablets have been broken but even though the tablets were broken the covenant remains and through his servant Moses God now has enforced the provisions of the covenants just as he promised he would do judgment carried out so let's talk at the end here about Jesus in the wilderness this story found here in Exodus chapter 32 is usually referred to as a story of the golden calf if you're using one of our pew Bibles the red cover pew Bible it says the golden calf beginning of the chapter beginning of that of that paragraph your Bible if you have a different Bible that may be the same thing it may have that little heading that tells you this is the story of the golden calf but while a golden calf is a key part of the story there's a bigger story here and the bigger story is that there is a mediator for God's people that there is a mediator for God's people it's about God's call upon Moses life and Moses conduct in response to that call because here we see Moses serving as a mediator he is as the psalmist wrote standing in the breach in these last few verses Moses mediatorial role becomes quite evident so notice in our text in verse 30 the next day Moses said to the people you have committed a great sin but now I'll go up to the Lord perhaps I can make atonement for your sin Moses certainly loves God's people but he knows God's people are guilty of sin and he knows that their sin will not go unpunished so Moses goes to God and there he will work to atone for their sin Moses is perhaps I can make atonement for your sin so Moses goes to God and as we see in verse 32 Moses makes a startling offer but please forgive their sin but if not then then blot me out of the book you have written Moses love for the people is so great he's actually willing to give his own life to resolve the matter of the sin of Israelites but here God instructs Moses instead to continue leading the people and as with confirmation he sends an angel to go before them he confirms no Moses not going to take your life you're still leading my people through the promised land now God here confirms that the time of exacting a price for the sin of God's people will come someday in the future notice verse 34 however when the time comes for me to punish I will punish them for their sins though Moses serves as a mediator for God's people we see in the text that he will prove he will not prove to be the mediator he's a mediator but he will prove not to be the mediator God says no there's a punishment day coming and you're not gonna be a part of that that's coming later on but it is coming so that means that though Moses is a mediator that means that there's a day coming when that when he that means that he will not prove to be the mediator and here Moses foreshadows that mediator he he kind of he's like a prediction of the mediator we see Moses and we see something of a glimpse of a future mediator that would have to come and when that time comes that mediator will make atonement for sin and he will do so by giving of his life a sacrifice for sin which God will receive as the writer of Hebrews tells us Hebrews chapter 3 verses 5 & 6 where the text says Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house testifying to what would be said in the future but Christ is faithful as a son over God's house Moses is looking forward into the future and he sees the day when punishment will be carried out for sin but as the writer of Hebrews explains Moses sees it from a distance remember that in Hebrews chapter 11 Moses and the patriarchs they saw it and they observed it from a distance so he doesn't he sees it from a distance so he doesn't comprehend the whole story and it's it's not just that Moses won't be the mediator but of course Moses can't be the mediator he can't be the mediator because he can't atone for sin because he too is guilty of sin he's just like you and I so Moses can't be the mediator Moses can't be the Savior because Moses also needs a Savior so a day will come when the mediator will arrive on the scene and when that day comes by his sacrifice he will endure the punishment for sin for the sin of Moses and for your sin and for my sin too the mediator of course the one who comes will be Christ will offer his life as the atonement for sin the gracious and merciful gift poured out for the people of God through the blood of Christ shed on the cross. Let's pray shall we. Heavenly Father we confess that we are also a people who are quick to pick up our own idols to worship them to embrace them to claim that they are everything. Father forgive us for our for every time that we put something in front of you forgive us for all the times that we have looked to wealth or privilege or good looks or charisma or academic achievement or business acumen. We've looked for any of these things instead of looking to you. We've made gods out of all sorts of things and we carry them around. These gods get heavy because we place a lot on them. So Father today would we be so bold as to lay these gods aside and look to you. Thank you Jesus for coming to be the mediator that we needed saving us from our sin. We all need a Savior. Moses needs a Savior. We need a Savior and you come to be that Savior and we thank you that you indeed stand in the breach stand in the gap and you reconcile us to God. You pour out grace and mercy from the cross by the shedding of your blood. So this day Lord Jesus we praise you and we give you glory. We pray that you would equip us and strengthen us that we would be so bold as to set aside the idols in our lives and trust you always in all things. For you're a good God who loves his children and you pour out grace and mercy upon your children and you've promised never to fail nor forsake your children and you've established a covenant with your children and you fulfilled that covenant through Jesus and for this we praise you we give you glory and it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.